STUDY THEME: GODLY WOMEN OF DEVOTION.

HANNAH: DETERMINED DEVOTION. 1 SAMUEL 1: 1-27; 2:2

1 SAMUEL 1: 1-3, 4-7, 9-14, 15-16, 17-18, 26-28; 2: 2

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 SAMUEL 1.

The Book of First Samuel records the transition in Israel from the period of the judges to the monarchy. This change in Israel’s national life revolved mainly around three men: Samuel, the last of the great judges; Saul, Israel’s first king; and David, whose early adventures before coming to power are interwoven with the accounts of Samuel and Saul.

The theme of this book, like that of other historical writings in the O.T., is that faithfulness to God brings success, while disobedience brings disaster. It is stated clearly in the Lord’s message to the priest Eli in 1 Samuel 2: 30 “I will honor those who honor Me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me.”

The Life Question in today’s lesson is “How do I deal with a family situation that breaks my heart?” How have your dreams turned out? I mean those childhood dreams you once had. For the vast majority of us, life never lived up to our dreams. I suppose if every boy lived out his childhood dream of being a professional athlete, there would be few people in the stands to watch us all play.

Even though we may not have lived out our childhood dreams, we outgrew them, developed other goals and dreams (usually more realistic), and worked toward those. God blesses our plans made in Him. But what happens when, through no fault of our own, those dreams or plans are kicked out from under us or the things we hoped for are shattered? What do we do then?

Our lesson this week takes us to a woman who experienced that very issue. The one thing she dreamed of was denied to her, yet we will see how she trusted God and how God worked.

1. PLEASE READ 1 SAMUEL 1: 1-3.

First Samuel 1:1 introduces us to a man named Elkanah. He lived during the same time as Naomi and Ruth, at the end of the period of the judges. Like Ruth and Naomi, Elkanah was an ordinary person. Samuel, his son, became famous as the last judge and the one who anointed the first two kings of Israel. Elkanah lived in a place with a long name (Ramathaim-zophim [ray-muh-thay-im-ZOH-fim] but in 1 Samuel 2: 11it is called Ramah. Samuel himself lived there later in 1 Sam. 7: 17.

Elkanah had two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. Since Hannah is listed first she was probably his first wife. The fact that she had no children may have been a factor in Elkanah’s marrying a second wife. Having an heir was very important to the people of Israel. Thus we can reconstruct what probably happened.

Elkanah married Hannah. Both expected her to have children. But when she remained barren for a while, Elkanah took another wife to have children.

This makes us think of Abraham and Sarah. Waiting for the son God had promised, Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands. Sarah gave her handmaid Hagar to her husband in order that she would produce an heir. Perhaps this is why Elkanah took a second wife. If so, he must have felt justified when his second wife had children.

A number of men in the O.T. had more than one wife. Jacob or Israel had two. His favorite wife, Rachel, was barren for years. Both she and Leah gave their handmaids to Jacob so he could produce more children

David and Solomon had many wives. So was polygamy or bigamy God’s plan? In the New Testament, Jesus told us to look back to the order of creation, where Genesis 2: 24 defines marriage as the one-flesh union of one man and one woman.

One of the reasons to have only one wife is the rivalry between the wives and their children. How do you think Hannah felt when her husband married another wife? Even before her rival had children, she must have felt ashamed for not giving birth to a child and this was only accentuated by the birth of children to Peninnah. Therein was the problem! Paninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

Elkanah was a devout man. He participated in the worship practices of the Israelites. He made the annual trek to the tabernacle, which was located at that time in Shiloh, to worship and to offer a sacrifice. This was probably the Feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated in the fall to thank God for the bountiful harvest.

The custom with the sacrifice was that a portion of the meat stayed with the priests, but the rest was to be shared as a family. Elkanah was faithful in this also. Meat was not a common part of the Israelite’s daily diet. With this festival meal, the head of the household would divide the meat proportionally among the family members.

Elkanah followed this custom with one exception. He didn’t deny any of his children his or her portion of the meat; he gave each one the expected portion. To Hannah, though, he gave a double portion. He did this simply out of love for her. It is possible that this loving generosity to her only increased because he knew she felt unfilled because of her barren condition.

Peninnah, Hannah’s rival, used the occasion of the festival and its accompanying meal, as an opportunity to taunt her severely. The Hebrew word for rival suggests a troublemaker, and Peninnah is pictured as a woman who went out of her way to taunt, to irritate, to excite, or literally to thunder against Hannah.

Surely Peninnah communicated this foul attitude toward Hannah throughout the year, but it appears she was especially troublesome during this festival. Perhaps the portions passed among her children reminded Peninnah of her motherly superiority over Hannah. Perhaps knowing that she was not loved like Hannah, even though she had given Elkanah children, embittered Peninnah toward Hannah. You may get an extra portion of Elkanah’s love, but I’ve got the children and the social status of a mother.

The Hebrew culture of that day tied a women’s sense of purpose and well-being to her role as a mother. As long as Hannah had no children, she felt like less of a person. Hannah didn’t need Peninnah to remind her of that. As we shall see, Hannah was a woman of faith, but that did not prevent her from questioning God. That the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving shows that Hannah’s infertility was an act of God. Hannah may have wondered why God did this to her.

Peninnah’s added taunts pushed Hannah to tears: Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah tried to console her. He meant well, but he did not understand. Elkanah was in some ways a good man who loved his wife Hannah, but his claim of love must have sounded hollow to Hannah. “For Hannah daily reminded by Peninnah’s very existence, that for him love without children most certainly had not been enough, his attitude might even have rubbed salt in the wound. Perhaps if he had said “Don’t you mean more to me than ten sons?” rather than “Don’t I mean more to you?” Hannah might have been a little more convinced.” Hannah was still weeping and in bitterness of soul.

From his male perspective, their loving relationship---his strong feelings for her---was worth far more than 10 sons. Ten, like the number seven, represented completeness. Elkanah reasoned that Hannah was already complete, with or without children. But Hannah’s heart was truly broken over her situation.

First Samuel 1: 1-7 teaches us a couple of key lessons:

1. God sometimes does things that we don’t understand, but we should trust that what He is doing is a part of His loving sovereign plan.

2. Showing favoritism can only fuel a rivalry between two people.

3. PLEASE READ 1 SAMUEL 1: 9-14.

In spite of her situation, Hannah was a woman of faith. She took her grief to the tabernacle to confront God with her heartbreak. The tabernacle had none of the great glory that was later found in the temple, but the tabernacle still had the most important element---it represented the dwelling place of God. The tabernacle had been erected permanently at Shiloh, and Eli was sitting by the doorposts. This was a porch placed just outside the curtain that led into the holy place. It would be a fitting place for the priest to sit, and it would be an equally fitting place for a person who wanted to pray and feel close to God.

Hannah was deeply hurt---she had, literally, bitterness of soul---but she prayed to the Lord. We should commend Hannah for her faith. Unlike Sarah, who took matters into her own hands when she was still barren. Hannah sought the help of God. In fact, there is not another woman quite like Hannah anywhere in Scripture.

She is the only woman in Scripture to go to the tabernacle to seek God. She is the only woman in the O.T. who prayed; and the only one who made a vow. Her prayer is one of the longest in Scripture, and no other woman is known to use the covenant name of Yahweh as much. Hanna appears as a truly devout woman.

In her prayers Hannah made a vow to God. Her prayer could be stated simply, “Give me a son, and I’ll give him back to you,” but it is a much richer prayer than that. For starters, Hannah made a rich declaration about God by calling Him the Lord of Hosts. This is the first time anyone called God by this majestic title.

Hannah was not presuming on God, but she came with humbleness and a submissive spirit. Twice she called herself Your servant, a term used elsewhere for a female household slave.

Hannah humbly said that if God would take away her barrenness and affliction, she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life and his hair would never be cut. To a degree, this was a commitment every Israelite mother was to make with her first-born son. But Hannah went further; her vow included the Nazirite vow.

Normally a Nazirite vow ws something a man voluntarily did for him self and for a set length of time. The only other instances of a lifelong Nazirite vow taken by proxy are Samson and John the Baptist. The Nazirite vow contained three elements: abstinence from the use of grapes in any form; no shaving of the hair; and the avoidance of dead bodies. The term Nazirite is not used in Hannah’s vow, but we can assume that was the vow she was making because of its similar features.

Hannah prayed silently, but her praying was not unnoticed. We’ve already been told that Eli was sitting at the entrance of the tabernacle, the place where Hannah would offer her prayer and vow to God.

Eli’s assessment of Hannah, thought, tells us something of his spiritual condition. In fairness to Eli, prayers were usually spoken out loud, and drunkenness often accompanied festive occasions. At festival time, Eli might easily have assumed that Hannah was drunk.

On the other hand, here was a distraught woman. Why would she be standing at the entrance to the tabernacle if she was not seeking the Lord? We would hope that as the priest before the Lord Eli had a great deal of spiritual maturity, but throughout the account of his life we see just the opposite.

The flagrant and continued disobedience of Eli’s two sons reflects on his own spiritual leadership. Later, when Samuel was with him and heard the voice of God, Eli was slow in seeing the spiritual reality that God was speaking. Eli is portrayed as a man with little depth 0of substance. So, here with Hannah, he confused the depth of her spirituality with drunkenness. Therefore, Eli chastised her for being drunk.

4. PLEAE READ 1 SAMUEL 1: 15-16.

Added to Hannah’s grief was now the accusation of wicked behavior. Her behavior was just the opposite! Hannah defended her actions, but she did so respectfully. Hannah responded to Eli’s rebuke with a deep respect for Eli’s authority by calling him my lord.

Instead of being a drunk, Hannah said, I am a woman with a broken heart. In her condition the last thing Hannah wanted to be considered was a wicked woman. The irony is that Eli initially attributed such behavior to this godly woman but it was his own sons who were wicked and worthless.

Hannah was pouring out her heart before the Lord, a phrase that indicates she was praying earnestly. Jeremiah called the people to pray in the same way in Lam. 2: 19 and the psalmists expressed the same level of earnest praying in Ps. 42:4; and 62: 8. Hannah also admitted to praying out of her anguish and resentment. Her conditions and feelings had moved her to persistence.

First Samuel 1: 9-16 teaches us several key lessons:

1. A vow is a serious commitment to make before God.

2. When we are consumed with anguish and resentment toward others or about our circumstances, we are to take our feelings and the problem to the Lord.

3. Those who see things from a worldly perspective will often misinterpret our spirituality.

5.PLEASE READ 1 SAMUEL 1: 17-18, 20.

To Eli’s credit, he saw his mistake in accusing Hannah of being drunk. So he changed from rebuking and accusing her. He heard her earnest and honest explanation and changed his rebuke to a prayer on her behalf. Seeing how agitated she had been, he told her, Go in peace. He said a prayer of blessing that he asked the God of Israel to grant her what she had asked.

The Lord may have answered her prayer exactly as she wanted it answered, or He may not have: either way, Hannah could still have peace. From our N.T. perspective, we can affirm that God does give us peace, a peace “which surpasses every thought,”when we bring our anxiousness and our prayers to Him. If we are willing to bring our concerns to Him and leave them there, trusting Him to answer in His way and in His timing, we walk away with peace.

We are given no indication that Eli had any idea what Hannah had requested. I’m sure that Hannah’s humble spirit before Eli convinced him that she had not made a request grounded in pride or arrogance. The level of devotion and humbleness Hannah displayed—coming to the entrance of the tabernacle to seek the Lord, praying so earnestly---would not be present in someone presuming on God or making rash requests of God. Whatever broke Hannah’s heart was legitimate, and Eli joined his desire with Hannah’s that God answer her request.

Hannah’s own prayer plus the priest’s blessing gave Hannah a sense of peace and expectancy. She referred to her relation to Eli as his handmaid, and she prayed that she might find grace in his sight. Earlier she had become so distressed that she stopped eating, but now she did eat. She also had a different look about her: Her countenance was no more sad.

How can we explain the transformation in Hannah’s outlook? She had taken her burden to the Lord and trusted Him to do His will. After completing their worship, the family returned home. We are not told whether Hannah explained all of this to Elkanah, but together they conceived a child. This, with the Lord’s help and blessing, for after leaving Shiloh in vs. 19 “the Lord remembered her. We are not told how long the time was between Hannah’s vow at Shiloh and the child’s birth.

The first part of vs. 20 could refer to a short time or to a longer time; but however long it was, Hannah continued to trust the Lord. He had given her no promise except the prayer of Eli. But the Lord gave her the child for which she had asked. The name Samuel probably meant “he was asked for.”

God had heard Hannah’s request. Throughout his life, Samuel carried a reminder that he was alive because of God’s gracious response to a humble woman’s prayer. The beauty is that Samuel’s name came to reflect the character of his own life. As a prophet and judge in Israel, he was also a man of prayer. In Samuel’s final speech after Saul became king, he told the people in 1 Sam. 12: 23 “As for me, I vow that I will not sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.”

The Bible teachings about prayer emphasize two aspects of faith. One is the bold belief that God will answer a sincere and earnest prayer---however difficult that it may be. This is the kind of faith that moves mountains. It builds on faith that God can do all things.

But prayer also includes trust in the goodness and wisdom of God. Sometimes we pray in faith and get what we ask: at other times we pray with the same kind of faith and do not get what we ask. The Bible gives examples of both. Hannah is one of many examples of God giving exactly what was asked for. How would she have responded if she had remained childless? Would she have continued to trust in God? Many of the people of the Bible did not get what they asked for, but they continued to trust God anyway.

Hannah had prayed for years that God would give her a child. She believed that He could and she trusted Him to do what was His will.

Catherine Marshall described what she called “the prayer of relinquishment.” It grew out of her experience battling tuberculosis in the l940s. She prayed and prayed until she was exhausted. Finally after 18 months in bed and no improvement, she prayed: “Lord, I’ve done everything I’ve know how to do, and it hasn’t been good enough. I’m desperately weary of the struggle of trying to persuade You to give me what I want. I’m beaten, whipped, through. If you want me to be an invalid the rest of my life, all right. Here I am. Do any thing You like with me and my life.” She said she felt a peace in this prayer, and the next tests showed the disease was leaving her.

6. PLEASE READ 1 SAMUEL 1: 27 THROUGH 2: 2.

As far as we know, only Elkanah and Hannah knew how Samuel’s birth was linked to her prayer. Eli had to be reminded of his meeting with Hannah. So no one could really have held Hannah to her vow. Now that she finally had a child, she might have forgotten her vow. Imagine how hard giving up your only child would be. But Hannah had no intention of forgetting her vow. She did tell Elkanah to go to Shiloh without her and Samuel until she weaned her son. She recognized that Samuel was a gift from God, and she loved him as only a mother can love a son; however, she never forgot her vow.

We don’t know how long Hannah weaned Samuel. It was probably about three years. Then she went with her husband to Shiloh. Hanna reminded Eli of the woman whose prayer he had mistaken for drunkenness.

She told him she had come to bring the child that she promised to the Lord. She said in 1: 28 she had lent him to the Lord for as long as he liveth. According to another translation: “I now give the boy to the Lord.”

Hannah turned Samuel over to Eli so the child could grow up in the house of the Lord. She saw him once a year when they went to Shiloh. She took him a little robe. God further blessed Hannah with three sons and two daughters.

Hannah honored the Lord by keeping a vow she had made to God. Some believers pray like a crooked politician running for office. They make promises they know they cannot or will not keep. During desperate times, our prayers often get deeper; our requests become more heartfelt. However, after the crisis passes or our prayers are answered, we should be equally as concerned with fulfilling promises we made to the Lord.

Making a vow, and keeping it is the only proper way to respond when one’s prayer is answered.

Hannah illustrates the basic principles of the stewardship of parenthood. We usually think of stewardship of money, but each of God’s gifts is also a trust. Children are gifts of God, to whom we are accountable for how we raise them. In a sense, each Christian parent should dedicate himself and herself and their child to the Lord for whatever use He plans for the child.

When our first child, Carolyn Sue, was born, we asked our Pastor Albert Louther, who married us, to come to our home at Wilsonville, Ok., and dedicate our child to the Lord. He did this for us, and the baby.

Hannah also honored the Lord by her words of worship. The closing verse of Ch. 1 speaks of worship. The first 10 verses of ch. 2 record the poetic praise Hannah spoke. This is the longest prayer of a woman in the O.T. The song of Mary in Luke 1: 46-55 has much in common with Hannah’s prayer. Hannah began by rejoicing in the Lord and in His salvation. Then she praised the God who is the only true God, saying, “There is none holy as the Lord…neither is there any rock like our God.” The rest of her prayer exalted the Lord who is sovereign over all things.

Hannah’s desire for a son affected the nation forever. She was no mere selfish woman asking for a selfish request. Hannah’s prayers and godly obedience participated in God’s kingdom work throughout the earth.

Without Samuel, the nation would have had no leading prophetic voice during the closing days of the judges. Without praying Hannah, there would have been no Samuel.

The Lord God answers prayers in three ways: yes, no, and wait. God lovingly says yes to Hannah’s prayer after He had said wait, and she received a son. No or wait answers to prayers, however, are not excuses for unfaithfulness in praying. We can still trust God and pray to Him in spite of His no or wait answers.

Prayer builds our relationship with God and strengthens our spiritual muscles just as exercise strengthens our physical muscles. Developing her relationship with God was a key result of Hannah’s prayer time with God. Hannah willingly offered her soul and actively sought God’s answer. Today we believers can respond to God in trust and find peace with Him, even when family situations break ones heart and immediate remedies do not appear.

The lasting lessons in 1 Samuel 27-2:2 are:

1. We should honor the Lord in every possible way.

2. When we make vows to the Lord, we must keep them.

3. Parents are to be good stewards of the children whom God entrusts to their care.

4. We should thank the Lord and praise His name when our prayers are answered.

NEXT SUNDAY’S HEROINE IS LYDIA. THE LESSON ANSWERS THE QUESTION: “HOW CAN I DO MY PART IN SERVING GOD IN MY CHURCH?

A.V. DAUGHERTY altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av/