Part 1: Another warning still needed to reach Eli’s household. God could no longer speak through the high priest or his sons; their sins had formed a thick cloud that blocked the influence of His Holy Spirit. Yet even surrounded by corruption, the young Samuel...

"God is love." 1 John 4:8.The suffering and wickedness in this world do not come from His hands, but from our great adversary, whose constant purpose has been to corrupt humanity and weaken and distort our abilities. Yet God has not abandoned us to the ruin brought...

Eli served as both priest and judge in Israel. He occupied the highest and most trusted positions among God’s people. Chosen by God for the sacred responsibilities of the priesthood and appointed as the nation’s supreme judicial leader, he was regarded as an example...

Christ revealed to humanity a picture of God completely opposite to the enemy’s false portrayals. He sought to show the world the deep love of the Father, who "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not...

Part 2: Hannah’s inspired words were prophetic, speaking both of David, who would one day reign as king of Israel, and of the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed. Beginning as a response to the arrogance of a proud and contentious woman, her song expanded to foretell the...

“Let Me alone, that I may consume them.” Exodus 32:10.These were the words spoken by God. If the Lord had intended to destroy Israel, who would have been able to intercede for them? Very few would have resisted leaving the sinners to the results of their own actions....

Part 1: Elkanah, a Levite from Mount Ephraim, was a man of great wealth, influence, and devotion to the Lord. His wife, Hannah, was deeply pious—gentle and humble, yet her life reflected profound sincerity and an unwavering faith in God. The blessing so deeply desired...

He is infinite and omnipresent. No human words can express the fullness of His greatness and majesty. High above the noise and unrest of the earth, He sits enthroned, and all things are laid open before His divine gaze. From His vast and peaceful eternity, He directs...

Part 2: Had the Israelites been willing to unite with Samson and pursue the victory, they might at that very moment have freed themselves from the power of their oppressors. But the people had lost their courage and faith. They had failed to carry out God’s command to...

The brevity of time is often presented as a reason for us to seek righteousness and to make Christ our friend; yet this should not be our greatest motivation. Such thinking reflects selfishness. Must the terrors of the day of God be set before us to drive us into...

During a period of deep spiritual darkness, the faithful worshipers of God continued to cry out to Him for Israel’s deliverance. Though it seemed that Heaven was silent and, year after year, the power of the oppressor weighed more heavily upon the land, God’s...

The Lord holds back His judgments so that He may plead with those who refuse to repent. The One who exercises “loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth” longs for His wayward children and, in every possible way, seeks to teach them the path to...

Part 3: But when the news of Israel’s victory reached them, the Ephraimites became envious because they had not shared in it. After the defeat of the Midianites, the men of Ephraim—under Gideon’s direction—had seized the fords of the Jordan, cutting off the fugitives’...

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”...

Part 2: If Baal could not defend his own altar, how could he be trusted to protect his worshipers? All thoughts of violence against Gideon were abandoned. When he sounded the trumpet of war, the men of Ophrah were among the first to rally to his side. Messengers were...

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15. If Satan had been able, even in the smallest detail, to tempt Christ to sin, he would have bruised the...

Part 1: After settling in Canaan, the tribes made no determined effort to finish conquering the land. Content with the territory they had already secured, their zeal quickly diminished, and the war came to an end. "When Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites under...

Divine pity rested upon the countenance of the Son of God as He cast one lingering look upon the Temple and then upon His hearers. With a voice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears, He exclaimed: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and...

There were three annual assemblies of all Israel for worship at the sanctuary. "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in...

“And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the...