December 19th, 2020

For all four Sundays in Advent in the ‘A’ series and for the first three Sundays in the ‘B’ series, the Old Testament texts have been from Isaiah. The Old Testament text for this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, goes to a significantly different section of the Old Testament. The text for this week is from 2 Samuel [7:1-11, 16], but ultimately you might see a connection to Isaiah.


These four books of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings are often simply seen as historical, but within them, there are more important things going on than simply history. Samuel is an important priest, and Israel’s desire to have a king is an important request—because it is clearly stated within the text that the LORD is their true king (see 1 Samuel 8). And the prophets show up to remind the ‘pseudo-king’ and the people who their true king is. And there are many ways in which they do this.


In Isaiah—but especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel—there is sometimes the phrase, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ This verb is in the present tense. The emphasis is not on that the Lord said something in the past or that he will say something in the future, but that he is saying something in the present. It is therefore something important that is being said.
In the translation of the Hebrew text of these four books (1 Samuel-2 Kings) into Greek, there is a frequent use of this present tense, where one would normally expect the past tense. And the first occurrence of this in 1 Samuel is already in the first chapter!


The people involved are Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, and they have traveled to Shiloh, the special place where the LORD is to be worshipped. The priest there at that time, Eli, interacts with Hannah—although in the Greek text (verse 14) it says that Eli’s servant is the one who initially talks to her. But it is Eli who eventually promises that the Lord would grant what she was requesting—a child. And the following is a somewhat literal translation of the Greek text (verse 19) after Elkanah and Hannah are given this promise:


And they rise early, and they worship the Lord, and they go their way. And Elkanah entered into his house….


Those first three verbs are in the present tense instead of the past. This is something to which the translator is drawing our attention. The LORD has just promised to do something wonderful. And these verbs which follow that promise are in the present tense because there are ramifications or results of what the LORD does, especially what he does as our true king.


These historical presents are frequent in these books because the LORD’s existence as king is important, and that truth has many different ramifications for his people. As a throne would show that a king is important, there would be some texts where what the LORD is doing is certainly important. You can see that especially in the New Testament with Jesus.
​
For more information about the presence of these historical presents in this part of the Old Testament, you may wish to look at the following article. It is in German, but things could be worse. “Das Praesens Historicum in den griechischen Samuelbüchern,” in In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes: Studies in the Biblical Text in Honour of Anneli Aejmelaeus. Peters Publishing in Walpole Maryland, 2014.