When I sit down to retell a story from Scripture, first thing I need is a close read. I look word by word and scribble on (not down) everything I notice. Then I have a list of questions I ask. Who, When, Where, Why, How? Are there any translation notes? Are there any cross references, direct quotes from other parts of the Bible?
I look for patterns, for repeated phrases. We all know from The Three Little Pigs’ “I’ll huff and I’ll puff” to the Odyssey’s “rose fingered dawn” that repetition and patterns are the dance steps of good storytelling. Patterns help us find the rhythms of transition or theme. So what words, what phrases, what images or patterns repeat in scripture?
All of this happens in one sitting, the first pass. It takes maybe five minutes, made easy by a pen in my hand. And by the time I’ve scribbled, asked and picked out patterns, my mind is exploding with so many insights that I have to take break to let it sit in!
This morning I did this with the first paragraph of 1 Samuel.
I stretched my tongue around all the names, circled the characters and the repeating phrases and underlined the key actions. All with my digital pen on a screenshot from a Bible app.
Chapter 1, verse 1. “There was a certain man…” That is the most storyteller opening ever. Just think how many stories begin “The Miller’s youngest son,” or “I knew this guy who…” People interest people and good stories so often begin with the characters.
So who is this man? We learn here that Elkanah is part of some group called the Ephraimites and lives in somewhere called Ephraim. We’ll come back to that. And we learn he has two wives. (I know this was common in that time so I don’t want to say he’s asking for trouble but…)
Look, verse 2 has a small pattern! The ladies are introduced in one order, Hannah and Peninnah. But the next sentence reverses the order. “Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” It’s a little thing in phrasing but notice how it shapes the emphasis. The last thing we read is “Hannah has none.” And now we have our conflict.
In a passing description of the tabernacle at Shilo in verse 3, we also meet Hophni and Phinehas, who are defined as priests and “sons of Eli.” (I’ve actually read this book before so I’m stunned to realize how many characters who are important later are introduced in the first two paragraphs! This is masterful set up.)
Verse 3 “Year after year.” What a phrase. Not “for several years,” not “every year.” Year after year has a relentless repetition. “But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her.” Year after year, Elkanah is trying to compensate for his wife’s social stigma will blatant favoritism. And year after year, the other wife with lots of children is “provoking” Hannah. You can just hear the way that women can tear at each other.
Wait, I know this pattern! This is the same family set up we see twice in the story of the patriarchs! In Genesis, Abraham has multiple wives but loves Sarah who can’t have children. A few chapters later Jacob has two wives but he loves Rachel who can’t have children! That’s how Israel’s story begins! So Samuel is a new beginning to Israel’s story and we start with a man who has two wives and the loved wife can’t have children! This is a reference, a whispering reminder we may know where this story is going because in those stories God interfered.
Also notice that “God closed her womb.” In scripture, the responsibility for children is on God, not on the woman, not even on the man. She’s not responsible for being barren and he doesn’t get credit for making her pregnant. It’s up to God. In a traditional society, that is huge.
So in the first two paragraphs we have six characters, two places, three patterns and a family drama par excellence.
For a book that later includes battles, miracles, and political intrigue, the first paragraph, the first thing we read is a little family melodrama, a tiny domestic fraction. But then again, Genesis starts with a family, so does Matthew, and Revelation ends with a wedding feast…
I’m only two paragraphs in and I want to know what happens next?
