The Lord of Hosts (I Samuel Part 1)

I Samuel is a record that completes the Judges era and transitions to the Kings era in the Old Testament timeline. Samuel was very involved as a judge and prophet during this transition time. Samuel was a great man for God.  He lived, as many of God's other prophets have, in the middle of difficult times. His great story starts with his family.

The opening record of I Samuel focuses on the family of Samuel. Elkanah was Samuel's father and Hannah was his mother. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, and this arrangement caused, as one would expect, many problems. It was a polygamous marriage and as such, was not the way God designed marriage. It is an indication of the downward spiral that was going on in God's people at that time. It was obviously a far cry from the idyllic life of the garden of Eden.

Hannah (whose name in Hebrew means 'grace'), was a great woman who loved God. In the beginning chapter she had no children with Elkanah.  The people of that culture at that time believed that the 'Lord had closed her womb'. They didn't know very much about how the devil worked the power and authority he had gained at the time of Genesis 3 when Eve had a run-in with the serpent in Eden.   God is the author  and offerer of love and encouragement, the devil is the pusher of evil and oppression.

Most believe that Elkanah was a levite and lived in Ephraim.  Levites didn't own land and therefore were found throughout other tribes.  Elkanah went yearly to worship at Shiloh were the Ark of the Covenant was located.  His two wives and children went with him.

3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. I Samuel 1:3

God is the true leader and protector of his people as the 'Lord of Hosts'  Hannah uses the same name when she prayed to God for a son as recorded in I Samuel 1:11.  A 'host' can can be an angelic army or a human army. Regardless, the effect is on protection. Since the events recorded in Genesis 3, another negative force gained access to the people of the earth as it still does today.  Where people chose to ignore God, things became contaminated and opened the door for a world to exist that was not like it was when God made it originally. Polygamy wasn't God's idea, it was man's.

God worked through those he could work through to protect his people. People in the Old Testament were in the dark about the devil and his influence.  Many attributed the evil struggles that existed to God.  People do the same today even though we live in in the New Covenant period of the risen Messiah. Jesus Christ's purpose (I John 3:8) in bringing in the New Testament Covenant, was to destroy the works of evil. God is all good. There is no darkness in him at all. We limit God when we accept the darkness that the world has to offer as being from God.

Hannah was someone who loved God. It is significant that she was instrumental in helping the dire situation that had developed in the culture of the twelve tribes. She had a baby named Samuel who would grow up, hear from God,  judge Israel, and anoint David who was also well aware of the Lord God of Hosts. David addresses God as the 'Lord of Hosts' several times in the books of Samuel. David relied on the Lord of Hosts.