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218 Christmas Day/Year C
Christmas Day/Year C
For comments on the readings for Christmas Day/Years ABC, please see
Christmas Day/Year A.
First Sunday after Christmas Day/Year C
1 Samuel 2:18–20, 26
In the context of 1 Samuel 2:11–36, today’s lection is part of a vintage
Deuteronomic explanation for the fall of the house of Eli as a priestly
family and the rise of Samuel. While the narrator never criticizes Eli, the
narrator depicts Eli’s children (Hophni and Phinehas, 1 Sam. 1:3) as
unfaithful, scoundrels who “had no regard for God.” Samuel, in contrast,
is the picture of obedience (on Deuteronomic thinking, see Propers
17/Year B and 28/Year B). The events take place at the community’s center
of worship at Shiloh, located about twenty miles north of Jerusalem.
In a few years, Jerusalem would replace Shiloh as the primary place of
worship.
The food for priestly families came from offerings that people brought
to Shiloh. According to Deuteronomy 18:3, the priests were allotted specific
portions of the meat, but Eli’s sons simply poked a three-pronged fork
into the meat while it was boiling. According to Leviticus 3:16–17 (cf.
Num. 17:18; Deut. 32:38), the fat belongs to God, and so the priests should
not take the fat from an offering but should place it in the fire (perhaps to
burn as incense). Hophni and Phinehas kept the fat, compelling the narrator
to say they treated the offerings “with contempt” (1 Sam. 2:12–17).
The passage assigned for today, 1 Samuel 2:18–20, depicts Samuel in
direct contrast to Hophni and Phinehas. Hannah made Samuel a linen
ephod, a simple, white linen garment (perhaps a loincloth) that was characteristic
dress for priests (cf. 1 Sam. 2:28; 22:18; 2 Sam. 6:14). Samuel
faithfully carries out priestly duties. Eli acknowledges the validity of
Samuel’s ministry by praying for Elkanah and Hannah to have more children
as a sign of blessing (2:20–21).
The people brought negative reports about Hophni and Phinehas to Eli.
When Eli heard that his sons had engaged in sexual misconduct by lying
with women “who served at the entrance to the tent” (cf. Exod. 38:8), he
called them to return to faithful behavior, but they would not, for “it was
the will of [God] to kill them” (1 Sam. 2:22–25). By contrast, Samuel “continued
to grow . . . in favor with [God] and with the people” (2:26).