1 Samuel 2

"Now it was the practiceof the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.” vv.14-16

Read chapter 2

Eli's sons were corrupt priests. In the law there were specific instructions of offerings that were for the Lord and portions that were for the priests yet Hophni and Phinehas extorted the law and even shows that the people knew better of what was for the priests and what was for the Lord only.  We read of these specific laws in Leviticus:

"Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be[c] presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people." Lev. 7:25.

"The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32 You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. 33 The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. 34 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their perpetual share from the Israelites.’”  This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests." Lev. 7:31-35

This corruption of Hophni and Phinehas led the people to abhorred the offering of the Lord.  Oh how sad when wicked leaders cause others to sin and go astray.  Also to see that Eli their father knew of their sin but didn't seem to discipline till it was too late.

1 Samuel 1

"Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat." vv.6-7

Read chapter 1
Hannah means grace in Hebrew and we see such grace given to her both by her husband and the Lord.  How hard would it be to be Hannah or Penninah having to share one husband.  Notice the bitterness, anger, jealousy, malice is between the two wives rather than at the husband who was the one treating each wife differently and the cause for these feelings.  So sad to see how evil women can be to each other, differently than men that would physically fight, woman go at the feelings and heart to hurt someone.  Bullying to the point of Hannah hurting herself by not eating. Penninah who had children and provision but not love from her husband uses where she knows she has power in and hides what she truly desires.  Whereas Hannah is loved by her husband but desires children.  Neither seem to be "winning."  They're focused on what they don't have rather than what they do.  Who can you relate to Hannah or Penninah both by how you either feel loved or not, have blessings or not, bully or bullied?  

Job 42

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.” vv.5-6

Read chapter 42
I believe this is the lesson of this whole book.  We see James say, "Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (5:11).  The end that was intended by the Lord when Job finally realized a humbleness in himself he needed and how the Lord appearing to him and speaking directly to him brought that on.  It wasn't by a whip that God had to beat him in to it, but by telling Job of who HE IS, the great I AM. This is what brought Job to his knees.  He abhorred himself and called himself "vile" or "unworthy" in 40:4, realizing his undeserving of God's mercy and compassion.
Even when you haven't done "anything wrong" are you able to humble yourself and say you're a sinner?  That the Lord's righteousness is greater than our own and that we are all deserving of death but because of His compassion and mercy we are saved?  What would be the end intended by the Lord if it were you in Job's shoes?

Job 41

"His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and burning rushes." vv.18-20

Read chapter 41

Dragons?  In these verses we read of fire and smoke coming out of this creature's nose.  Kind of sounds like a description of a dragon here in this chapter.  Yet did you know the word dinosaur didn't come into the English language until scientist Sir Richard Owen introduced it in the mid-1800s. Before then, large reptiles were called dragons. So really the word dinosaur and dragon mean the same thing, though each dinosaur/dragon is different in appearance and ability.  The Hebrew word tannin is defined by The Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon as “serpent, dragon, sea-monster.” Dragons today have been embellished as mythical made up creatures, yet we see dragons in many cultures today and in their past. "To name a few, there’s an Aboriginal depiction of a water monster that resembles a plesiosaur, an ancient historical account of serpents in Egypt with bat-like wings, the epic poem Beowulf with its account of a fiery flying serpent, and Native American petroglyphs (etchings in stone) that resemble dragons. Dragons are depicted on flags, emblems, tapestries, maps, pottery, pictographs, and more.  Although from disconnected cultures, the descriptions are remarkably similar—perhaps because dragons were real?" (answersingenesis.org).

Job 40

“Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you;
He eats grass like an ox.
16 See now, his strength is in his hips,
And his power is in his stomach muscles.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar;
The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
18 His bones are like beams of bronze,
His ribs like bars of iron."  vv.15-18

Read chapter 40
DINOSAURS!  Ah I love them and love that they're in scripture (this isn't the only place).  This shows not only that dinosaurs are real (yes some people actually think that the fossils are fake), but also that man lived along side them and not billions of years before man.  There weren't fossils being dug up back then so how else would Job be able to describe this creature.  Try drawing the dinosaur that Job describes in verses 15 through 24.  It's not just a elephant like some bible notes may have.  Last I checked elephants had skinny short tails and no more than a couple feet long.  Here the tail of this creature is described like a cedar tree; with something that big makes me think of the long-neck dinosaur with the huge long tail. 

   

Job 39

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?...Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding." vv.13,17

Read chapter 39
Ostriches instead run crazy fast up to the rate of 50-60 miles an hour.  The ostriches wings are valuable to man but they cannot fly like the stork's.  They may have many similarities to other birds externally but their demeanor would suggest otherwise.  
One of my biggest fears are birds and it all started when I was living in the mountains at a camp right outside of Georgia one summer.  I swear that an ostrich chased me in the woods one day as I was going back to my cabin.  Everyone says there are no ostriches in Georgia but I don't know what else this giant thing on stilts, a long neck and huge beak ready peck me to pieces could have been.  So at 19 years old this started my fear for birds and now reading these verses about the ostrich reminds me of that day.  She doesn't have wisdom and is mean and beat her children because she's dumb.
Who would not rather have the voice of the nightingale, than the tail of the peacock; the eye of the eagle and her soaring wing, and the natural affection of the stork, than the beautiful feathers of the ostrich, which can never rise above the earth, and is without natural affection?

Job 38

“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth[a] in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?" vv.31-33

Read chapter 38
I always think it's cool that some constellations are in the Bible.  The stars tell stories, the give warnings, they guide.  The Pleiades for example would rise about the time of the vernal equinox and would bring in the spring. Orion was know for binding up the air and earth, rising in November, and bringing in the winter, attended with storms of rain and hail, or frost and snow.  "The questions addressed to Job, throughout the chapter Is it he that effects what is observed to be done? not, Can he undo what is done, or do what is not done? Hence the questions here imply that the Pleiades are bound and that Orion is loosed, and Job is asked whether it be he that binds in the one case and looses in the other" (Cambridge Bible).
What about you?  How do you think of God's first words spoken to Job in this chapter?