Psalm 78:1-39; 1 Samuel 1:21-2:11; Acts 1:15-26; Luke 20:19-26
Hannah made a vow to the Lord to give her child to Him and kept it. Elkanah had it within his rights to negate the vow as women’s vows were subject to nullification by their husbands and yet the man believes in his wife and that she has done what is right. Hannah is an extraordinary woman in that she did what had to have been a very difficult thing in acting as a surrogate mother for the child God wanted in place in Shiloh. Her joy, however, is clear in her prayer after she gave the child to Eli. She knows that God has heard her and answered her and in this one child Hannah exults to believe Him for more, “The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.” Her faith is established not only in God’s ability to open her womb but in all things through this one answered prayer. Are we as thankful as Hannah when God answers our prayers?
Craftiness is an art form but was there any possibility they could trick God? They were not dealing with a man but the Son of God in whom the Spirit was fully alive and active and here they propose a test of his loyalty to Caesar and to Yahweh. The test is double-eddged in the sense that if Jesus says they shouldn’t pay taxes (the position of some religious leaders of the time) they could press a civil charge against Him and if He says it is proper to pay taxes then they have perhaps a religious charge to press against Him for recognizing Caesar, who claimed to be divine. Jesus’ answer convicts on both grounds. Caesar’s face was on the coin, it belonged to him so paying it back to him wasn’t religiously wrong, but we bear God’s image so we owe Him our life. They got a lesson in true craftiness in this short reply but also a hanging question about themselves. They weren’t as clever as Hannah in understanding that all things come of thee O Lord and the obligation that exists as a result of that truth.
The apostles decide that twelve is the right number and that they should choose someone to take the place of Judas. The qualifications they decide upon seem impeccable and reasonable, the man must have been with them since the baptism of John until the day Jesus was taken up. Their witness must be unimpeachable, they had to have seen and heard all that the eleven themselves had heard if they were to be reliable witnesses. It makes perfect sense to all concerned but there is a presumption of sorts there that this is going to be a short-lived inter-regnum before Jesus returns. We who live 2000 years later know that the witness of the Holy Spirit, given several days later at Pentecost, assures us that our experience of Jesus is no less real than the apostles. Paul, the man seemingly chosen by God to be the next apostle, was not there with them but his ministry seems to us at least to have been the more blessed by God than that of Matthias about whom we know very little. God’s ways and ours are not always the same.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the sinful human eye thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
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