December
2017 / January
2018 - Vol. 95
Getting Real
With God
.
Hannah's
Expectant Plea
.
By Jeanne Kun
Hannah stood
expectantly before the Lord when she had
nothing to give but her anguish. And God,
who is rich in mercy, did not disappoint
her..
– Craig
Morrison, The Word Among Us
Hannah was
burdened with grief and sorrow: she longed to be
a mother yet was childless (1 Samuel 1:2). Her
infertility was a source of anguish and misery.
Deeply distressed, Hannah was so spent with
crying that she couldn’t even eat (1:7).
In a society in which infertility was a public
disgrace, the failure to bear children was an
especially terrible burden. No only did Hannah
experience personal grief and heartache, but she
also endured shame and the ridicule of Peninnah,
Elkanah’s other wife. (Having two wives was a
practice common and acceptable in the culture of
that time.) Peninnah had borne many children and
never let Hannah forget her childlessness,
taunting and provoking her (1 Samuel 1:6). Yet
Elkanah loved Hannah and treated her with
compassion and tenderness (1:5, 8). Surely he
would have wanted Hannah to bear a child, but he
did not reject or upbraid her for not becoming
pregnant. As Carmelite Scripture scholar Craig
Morrison noted, “[Elkanah’s] reaction to her
infertility is not typical for men of that
culture. When Sarah was unable to conceive, for
example, Abraham complained to God that he
wanted an heir (Genesis 15). Clearly, Elkanah
and Hannah have a unique relationship. Theirs is
a love story. Still, Hannah wants to be a mother
and cannot be consoled.”
Each year the whole family went to the shrine at
Shiloh to offer sacrifice to the Lord (there was
as yet no temple in Jerusalem). It was
especially at those times, when Elkanah would
give a “double portion” of the meat from the
animal sacrifice to Hannah because of his love
for her, that Peninnah—probably out of
jealousy—would provoke her. Yet Hannah had not
given up hope: this particular year, as she
prayed to the Lord in her distress, she was also
filled with determination. Weeping bitterly, she
asked the Lord to look on her misery and to
“remember” her. It was a request insisting that
God listen, a prayer reflecting great faith.
Then Hannah made an amazing promise: if the Lord
would grant her a son, she would, in gratitude,
dedicate the child to the Lord from birth and
give him to God’s service (1 Samuel 1:11).
When Eli, the priest serving at Shiloh, saw how
Hannah prayed, silently yet with her lips
moving, he thought she was drunk. However,
Hannah explained, “I have been pouring out my
soul before the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:15). This
image reminds us of Job, another who endured
intense suffering and likened his anguish to his
soul being “poured out within me” (Job 30:16).
Once Eli realized that Hannah was not “a
worthless woman” but rather one earnestly
speaking to the Lord of her troubles, he said,
“Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the
petition you have made to him” (1 Samuel 1:17).
Then we read in verse 18, “The woman went to her
quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and
her countenance was sad no longer.” Author Heidi
Bratton points out just how striking this scene
is: “Even more amazing than what Eli said is
what Hannah did. She changed her attitude and
embraced the peace that Eli had offered her.”
Bratton continues,
Hannah’s
encounter with God in the temple marks the
height of conflict in her life story. To the
temple she brings her greatest burden,
childlessness, and basically throws it at
God’s feet. Then without any tangible proof
that God will positively answer her prayer,
she walks out, leaving her burden behind.
Hannah’s peace is restored, not because God
has yet answered her prayer, but because, with
the help of Eli, she has handed her burden to
God and trusted him with it.
This is good
news for those of us who are carrying great
burdens! If we are as authentic with God as
Hannah was in presenting our burdens to him
and then leave them with God in faith and
trust, we also can have the peace that Hannah
experienced. (Finding God’s Peace in
Everyday Challenges)
Although Eli
didn’t know specifically what Hannah was praying
for, his response to her—“the God of Israel
grant the petition you have made to him”
(1
Samuel 1:17)—prophetically anticipated the
meaning of the name of the son she would later
bear. “Samuel,” as Hannah named her child, means
in Hebrew “asked of God,” “heard by God,” or
“name of God” (1:20).
After worshipping before the Lord, Hannah and
Elkanah returned home to Ramah. Then, “Elkanah
knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered
her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a
son” (1 Samuel 1:19). After Samuel was weaned,
Hannah fulfilled her promise to the Lord by
bringing the three-year-old child to live with
the priest, Eli, at the shrine of the Lord in
Shiloh: “For this child I prayed; and the Lord
has granted me the petition that I made to him.
Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long
as he lives, he is given to the Lord” (1:27-28).
Hannah didn’t, as we might expect, grieve that
she would see her child only once a year (2:19);
rather, she proclaimed her joy and faith in
God’s goodness in a canticle of praise (2:1-10).
And, in the years to come as Samuel grew up “in
the presence of the LORD,” God graciously
blessed Hannah and Elkanah with three more sons
and two daughters (2:21). We hear echoes of the
Lord’s graciousness in Psalm 113:9: “He gives
the barren woman a home, / making her the joyous
mother of children.”
Hannah’s determined faith in God and the
offering of her child to God’s service would
greatly impact the course of Israel’s
history—and our own salvation history as well.
Samuel would grow up to be one of Israel’s
greatest judges; it was he who would carry out
God’s purposes for his chosen people by
anointing Israel’s first king, Saul, and its
greatest king, David. And it would be into the
house of David that Jesus, the promised Messiah
and Savior of the world, would be born.
Hannah found herself in a crisis that seemed to
have no end. Yet instead of keeping a stiff
upper lip and bearing this cross, she flung
herself before the Lord and poured out her
anguish to him. Hannah was not afraid to “get
real” with God. She was completely honest,
letting him know how deeply painful her
situation was. Her honesty before the Lord gives
each of us the courage and determination to
bring our own heartaches, unfulfilled hopes, and
disappointed dreams before the Lord. May we have
the grace, like Hannah, to hand over our burdens
to God and to trust in him, even when we don’t
know how God will answer our prayers.
In
the
Spotlight
Is It
Time to Let Go?
To whom do children ultimately belong? We
think and speak of them as ours, but we know
that people are not possessions. Though we
view biblical women as daughters, sisters,
wives, and mothers, we know that somewhere in
the midst of that web of relatedness a person
exists, solitary and simply herself. Not all
cultures honor that personhood, but it is a
fact of our humanity as abrupt as the cutting
of the umbilical cord that began our
independent lives, Family relationships,
however dear and precious, are finally only
roles in which we are called to participate.
Jesus would teach this difficult reality with
the hard words, “Who does not hate father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my
disciple.” He pointed to a deeper kind of
kinship when he turned from his family outside
the door and said, “My mother and my brother
are those who hear the word of God and do it”
(Luke 8:19-21). It’s no surprise that these
are among Jesus’ most unpopular sayings.
It is hard to surrender belongings, harder to
let go of those who are as close to us as our
own breath. How did Hannah, who wept and
prayed for and dreamed of a child, ever hand
that baby off to the priest of Shiloh? One
thing seemed clear to her: Children are
finally the property of their Maker, and so
she pledged her child yet unconceived to the
service of God. Wise parents still make this
dedication, early and often, and teach their
children by their own example.
– Alice
Camille, God’s Word Today
In
the
Spotlight
The Power of Prayer
In
this story Hannah begins the tradition of
private prayer. Hers is the first story of
someone coming to a shrine, not for public
worship or sacrifice, but simply to speak to
God from her heart. She knows how to pour out
her troubles to God and remain in God’s
presence. She is not afraid to explain to the
official religious representative [Eli] what
she is doing. He is persuaded by her words and
his scolding ends in a blessing. When she
leaves the sanctuary Hannah’s prayer is
already answered; God has given peace to her
heart.
— Irene Nowell, Women
in the Old Testament
Hannah is indeed the great example and teacher
of prayer. Her prayer is the word of her heart
(1 Samuel 1:13). It is poured forth from the
innermost center of her personality, which has
been torn open by her bitterness of soul
(1:10). Nevertheless her prayer is not a mere
drifting of the heart on waves of emotion. Her
lips move (1:13), which means that her prayer
consists of definite, formulated thoughts.
Deeply significant is the way she addresses
God: “O Lord of hosts” (1:11). This is the
first time in the Scriptures that a prayer is
directed to God under this name. It signifies
God as the lord and master, the leader and
commander of the universe. . . . Hannah’s
petition ends in a vow through which she
solemnly binds herself never to forget that
the child is the fruit of her prayers.
Although it has risen “out of the abundance of
complaint and grief” (1:16), her prayer brings
her already the assurance of God’s mercy. “So
the woman went her way and ate and her
countenance was no longer sad” (1:18).
— Damasus Winzen, Pathways
in Scripture
Excerpted from Biblical
Women in Crisis: Portraits of Faith
and Trust, by Jeanne
Kun (The
Word
Among Us Press, © 2017). Used
with permission. This book can be ordered online.
Jeanne
Kun is a member of Bethany Association
and a senior woman leader in the Word
of
Life Community, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA. |
1
Samuel 1:1-28; 2:18-21
1:1There
was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite
from the hill country of Ephraim, whose
name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of
Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an
Ephraimite. 2He had two wives;
the name of the one was Hannah, and the
name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had
children, but Hannah had no children.
3Now this man used to go up
year by year from his town to worship and
to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at
Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. 4On
the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would
give portions to his wife Peninnah and to
all her sons and daughters; 5but
to Hannah he gave a double portion,
because he loved her, though the LORD had
closed her womb. 6Her rival
used to provoke her severely, to irritate
her, because the LORD had closed her womb.
7So it went on year by year; as
often as she went up to the house of the
Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore
Hannah wept and would not eat. 8Her
husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why
do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is
your heart sad? Am I not more to you than
ten sons?”
9After they had eaten and drunk
at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented
herself before the LORD. Now Eli the
priest was sitting on the seat beside the
doorpost of the temple of the LORD. 10She
was deeply distressed and prayed to the
LORD, and wept bitterly. 11She
made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only
you will look on the misery of your
servant, and remember me, and not forget
your servant, but will give to your
servant a male child, then I will set him
before you as a nazirite until the day of
his death. He shall drink neither wine nor
intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his
head.”
12As she continued praying
before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah
was praying silently; only her lips moved,
but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli
thought she was drunk. 14So
Eli said to her, “How long will you make a
drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away
your wine.” 15But Hannah
answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman
deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine
nor strong drink, but I have been pouring
out my soul before the LORD. 16Do
not regard your servant as a worthless
woman, for I have been speaking out of my
great anxiety and vexation all this time.”
17Then Eli answered, “Go in
peace; the God of Israel grant the
petition you have made to him.” 18And
she said, “Let your servant find favor in
your sight.” Then the woman went to her
quarters, ate and drank with her husband,
and her countenance was sad no longer.
19They rose early in the
morning and worshiped before the LORD;
then they went back to their house at
Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and
the LORD remembered her. 20In
due time Hannah conceived and bore a son.
She named him Samuel, for she said, “I
have asked him of the LORD.”
21The man Elkanah and all his
household went up to offer to the LORD the
yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. 22But
Hannah did not go up, for she said to her
husband, “As soon as the child is weaned,
I will bring him, that he may appear in
the presence of the LORD, and remain there
forever; I will offer him as a nazirite
for all time.” 23Her husband
Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best
to you, wait until you have weaned him;
only—may the LORD establish his word.” So
the woman remained and nursed her son,
until she weaned him. 24When
she had weaned him, she took him up with
her, along with a three-year-old bull, an
ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She
brought him to the house of the LORD at
Shiloh; and the child was young. 25Then
they slaughtered the bull, and they
brought the child to Eli. 26And
she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my
lord, I am the woman who was standing here
in your presence, praying to the LORD.
27For this child I prayed; and the
LORD has granted me the petition that I
made to him. 28Therefore I have lent him
to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is
given to the LORD.”
She left him there for the LORD.
2:18Samuel was ministering
before the LORD, a boy wearing a linen
ephod. 19His mother used to
make for him a little robe and take it to
him each year, when she went up with her
husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20Then
Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and
say, “May the LORD repay you with children
by this woman for the gift that she made
to the LORD”; and then they would return
to their home.
21And the LORD took note of
Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons
and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew
up in the presence of the LORD.
(See also 1 Samuel 2:1-11)
Understand!
1. Note the adjectives and
verbs used in 1 Samuel 1:1-18 to describe
how Hannah felt about herself and her
barrenness. How did Hannah respond to her
infertility? What did she do about her deep
disappointment and her strong desire to have
a child?
2. What impression do you gain of Elkanah
from 1 Samuel 1:3-5, 8, and 21-23? From 1
Samuel 2:19-20? How did Elkanah respond to
Hannah? What does this show about his
character? In what particular ways was
Elkanah loving and supportive of Hannah?
3. Reflect on the progression of events in
Hannah’s life and pinpoint her various
postures throughout the course of these
events. How would you describe Hannah’s
disposition toward Elkanah? Toward the Lord?
Toward Eli and his words to her?
4. How did Hannah come before the Lord to
make her request to him for a child? What
characterized her prayer? What did Hannah
promise to the Lord if he would give her a
male child?
5. What have you learned about Hannah from
her prayers? From her actions?
Grow!
1. When have you asked the
Lord to “look at your misery” and “remember”
you? What did God do in answer to your
prayer? How have you experienced the Lord’s
compassion, even if your prayers were not
answered in the way you wanted?
2. Peninnah mocked and provoked Hannah, but
Elkanah showed Hannah love and compassion.
Have you ever suffered rejection or been
ridiculed because of your hopes and dreams?
Who in your life right now best understands
your needs and desires and is supportive of
you?
3. Imagine Hannah’s thoughts and emotions
when she gave birth to Samuel—and then
“gave” him to the Lord. Recall a time when
you knew deep joy because of God’s
graciousness to you. What did you do to
express your gratitude to God for his
kindness and mercy to you? Have you ever
offered something precious to you to the
Lord? What did this sacrifice cost you?
4. If you are a parent, what are you doing
to bring your children up in the Lord and to
help them know and follow the Lord’s ways?
How do you feel as your children make
decisions that shape the course and purpose
of their lives? In what ways might Hannah’s
example help you as a parent to “let go” of
your children and entrust them to the Lord?
5. What have you learned from Hannah about
“getting real” with God and expressing your
true feelings to him? About faith and
trusting in God? What qualities of Hannah
would you most like to imitate? Why?
Reflect!
1. This
story of Hannah gives us courage to
bring our anguish and sorrows to the
Lord. Reflect on how you handle the
disappointment of unfulfilled
expectations and longings.
At this stage of your life, what is your
deepest longing and as yet unmet desire?
What is your prayer or conversation with
the Lord like regarding this desire?
Complaining? Bold? Faith-filled?
Self-pitying? Take heart, and trust in
the Lord who loves, us, hears our cries,
and “remembers” us.
2. Reflect on these additional instances
of how God favored barren women with
children: Sarah, with the birth of Isaac
(Genesis 17:15-21; 18:1-15; 21:1-7);
Manaoh’s wife, with the birth of Samson
(Judges 13:2-3; 24); Elizabeth, with the
birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25;
2:57). Do you identify with these women
in any way?
Act!
Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 anticipates
Mary’s well-known Magnificat in the New
Testament (Luke 1:46-55). Hannah acknowledged
and “magnified” the Lord, who looked upon her
lowliness and blessed her far beyond what she
had expected or anticipated. As Scripture
commentator Jean-Pierre Prévost notes, “While
{Hannah] celebrates her own happy reversal of
fortune as a new mother (1 Samuel 2:5), she
testifies to a God who exalts the feeble, the
hungry, the barren, the poor and the needy,
who brings low the mighty, the satisfied,
those with many children, the rich” (God’s
Word Today). Mary echoes these same
sentiments centuries later in her own prayer
of wonderment, praise, and gratitude to the
Lord.
Recall a situation or instance in which you
were deeply distressed and you experienced God
at work to “raise you up from the dust” (1
Samuel 2:8) and bless you. Now, using either
Hannah’s canticle or Mary’s Magnificat as a
model, write your own prayer of praise and
thanks to God for his blessings and
graciousness to you.
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