This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 41, “Moms in the Bible–Hannah”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-hannah
Hannah is the mom in the Bible that women wrestling with fertility have looked to for hundreds of years. The name given to her miracle boy, Samuel, has been in the top 100 baby boy names since at least 1900. Her story gives women hope that God hears and answers. His answer to Hannah came at a cost, though. Even with that, Hannah chose to praise God, and for that, she is an example to all of us.
Married to Elkanah, Hannah was in a difficult situation. She longed to have a child yet she was barren. The pain associated with childlessness is significant on its own but Hannah also faced the heartache of sharing her husband with a fertile rival who delighted in provoking her. Elkanah tried to be supportive and encouraging, giving special attention to Hannah, but her heart was still heavy. Every year they would travel to Shiloh to worship the Lord. One year, Hannah was so distressed that all she could do was cry. Unable to eat, Hannah went to the temple to talk with the Lord. Desperate, Hannah made a vow to the Lord that if he would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord to serve in the temple. Eli the priest mistook her silent pleading for the actions of a drunk woman. Hannah quickly corrected him. Eli heard her anguish and spoke a blessing over her. Her time in the temple changed her whole perspective and she was no longer sad.
The Lord answered Hannah’s prayers and she did have a son. She named him Samuel and thanked the Lord for him. After she weaned him, she presented Samuel to the Lord as she had promised. Her heart overflowed with worship and she broke out in a prayer of praise. Samuel grew up in the temple, under Eli’s tutelage. Hannah visited him yearly and the Lord blessed her with three more sons and two daughters.
The beginning of Hannah’s story feels all too familiar. As we go further into it, we realize that it is so very different. Not because the situation is all that different. As with Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, and Samson’s mother, we see a barren woman. As with Hagar and Sarah, and Rachel and Leah, we see rivalry, brokenness in the family and a husband trying to appease everyone.
The difference is not in who God is or his interactions in the story. He is the same God always. He listens to our prayers. He answers us. He helps us. (Thank you, Lord!)
It is Hannah’s relationship with God that makes all the difference.
Just as in every other year, their family went to Shiloh to worship the Lord at the temple. Elkanah was faithful in his sacrifice to the Lord and made sure he brought his family with him. Each year, when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions of the sacrifice to his family, but because he loved Hannah, he would give her double. Year after year, Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah would see this and jealousy grew in her. Instead of taking up the issue with her husband, she chose to take out her feelings on Hannah. 1 Samuel 1:6 calls Peninnah Hannah’s “rival”, and says that she would provoke Hannah grievously, severely, to irritate her. What did she focus her ridicule on? Hannah’s barrenness. Peninnah knew Hannah’s Achilles’ heel and she used it to her advantage, to bring Hannah down.
What should have been a wonderful time of family connection and worship, was a time of pain and jealousy. It is just like the enemy to attack when doing so distracts us from our relationship with God. He delights in nothing else than to cause dissension, brokenness and pain that pulls us away from the one who could heal all those areas.
The Bible emphasizes that this happened year by year. Over and over and over again. This year, though, Hannah stepped away from her family and spent time alone with the Lord.
“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.’” (1 Sam. 1:10-11)
She took her pain and her desire to the Lord. She asked him to see her, to remember her, and answer her. It can feel like that when we see a request go seemingly unanswered. It can feel as though the Lord has forgotten us. How else do we explain the fact that he has not given us what we want? Hannah beseeched him to remember her and to answer her prayer. Then she took it a step further. She offered the child back to the Lord. She had probably asked for a child many times over, a child for herself. Maybe to spite Peninnah. Maybe to fill the hole inside of Hannah. Maybe to have the pleasure of raising a child. There are so many reasons that we seek to have a baby. This time, however, she asked for a child for God himself. If God would but rescue her from the state of barrenness and persecution at the hand of Peninnah, if God would but let her experience the joy of pregnancy and the feel of a child in her arms, then she would gladly give him to the Lord to be raised by and to serve.
As she prayed, Eli the priest stepped in. He mistook her for a drunken woman because her mouth moved but she made no sound. How sad that a priest had not seen such a heartfelt prayer before. Hannah corrected him quickly and Eli responded in kindness with a blessing. “Go in peace,” he said, “and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” (1 Sam. 1:17)
Her time in the temple changed everything for her mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are going to talk more about this in the “Learning from Hannah” section, how she walked away from this time no longer sad. After being in such anguish, that is a miraculous thing.
They went home and God chose to answer Hannah’s prayer with a child. What joy! A boy named Samuel, which means “God has heard[MS1] ” for she had asked of him from the Lord. Hannah joined the lineage of women who saw an empty womb bring forth life. She was able to rock her little boy, to feel him suckle, to see him smile. And then the time came for Hannah to fulfill her vow of giving the child back to the Lord.
She brought him to the temple and presented Samuel to Eli the priest. The same priest who had spoken a blessing over her after she prayed in the temple. Hannah then poured out a prayer to the Lord.
And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 “There is none holy like the Lord:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
3 Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
6 The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.
9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
for not by might shall a man prevail.
10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (1 Sam. 2:1-10)
Hannah’s song of thanksgiving was an incredible declaration regarding the sovereignty of God. Hannah began with exultation over what the Lord had done in her life. He saved her from the shame and anguish of barrenness. He gave her renewed strength. She saw him at work up close and personal as he changed both her heart and her circumstances. Her life seemed to be going one way but God completely altered its course, and Hannah recognized that was for his glory.
Hannah then moved from speaking of her life, to calling all who listen and read her song to reflect on who God is in us and the lives of those around us. She cautioned us against arrogance in light of the God of the universe. When we have a right perspective of God, we realize how very small we are, and how big he is. We also realize that his economy is vastly different from ours. God constantly flips things on their head. It might seem like a situation in your life cannot be changed, that what you are facing is going to be unending, but God delights in surprising us, mending and fixing what was broken, and exalting what has been brought low.
Hannah not only recognized but rejoiced in the truth that God is the one who is in charge. That is what sovereignty is, having the ultimate power. Those of us who like to be in control start to feel our skin crawl when we hear that someone else is sovereign over us. It seems unfair. It raises questions about why things do not happen or why things do. We buck against it, just as our children buck against our authority.
Instead of fighting it, Hannah leaned into the sovereignty of God. She prayed to it, seeking help from the only one who had the power to change her situation, and then rejoiced when she saw him answer.
One final, beautiful part of Hannah’s song is found in the last verse:
“he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed”
At the time Hannah sang this, Israel did not have a king. She was living near the end of the period of the judges. In fact, she had actually given birth to the one would anoint the first king of Israel. When the words flowed out of Hannah’s mouth, God was speaking through her, pointing to the coming Messiah. He took this woman of faith’s prayer and made it a declaration of what was to come. A time when everything would forever be flipped on its head as Christ took all our sins with him on the cross, rising victorious over sin and death, and when he will be exalted overall. For it is “at the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow” and all will proclaim that “He is Lord!” (Phil. 2:10-11)
Whether it is our personal situation or what we see in the world around us that bring us before the Lord in anguish and despair, let us remember that we pray to the Sovereign God, maker of Heaven and Earth, who does not sleep or get weary, who hears our prayers and sees us, and who is working.
Lyssa Stoyko 