Episode 19 - Hannah
Welcome back to the Proverbs 9:10 Ministries podcast, No Trash, Just Truth! We’re your hosts and co-founders of Proverbs 9:10 Ministries, Rose Spiller and Chris Paxson. Today we’re continuing on with our series, Women in Scripture, and we’re going to take a look at a woman named Hannah.
If you’re not familiar with the Old Testament, you may not have heard of Hanna before. Her story is found in the book of 1 Samuel, and it’s appropriate that we tell her story on the heels of finishing the book of Ruth, because the time of period she lived in was at the end of or directly following the time of the Judges, which was the time period Ruth lived in.
And remember, the time of the Judges was a time when much of Israel was apostate – instead of obeying God, everyone was doing whatever was right in their own eyes.
Right. But not everyone was. Just like Boaz and Ruth were pictures of godly people living within that corrupt society, the book of Samuel opens with another Godly family, a man named Elkanah, and his wife Hannah who he loves, but who is barren.
Elkanah also has another wife whose name is Peninnah. Rose, maybe we should point out here that although polygamy became rampant in the Old Testament, even amongst God’s people, and even though God put up with it for a time because of the hardness of men’s hearts, Jesus points out that marriage was always to be one man and one woman who become one flesh.
Exactly. Marriage was supposed to be a picture of Christ and the Church. In fact, that first time polygamy is mentioned as happening was with evil Lamech in Genesis 4:19. It says that he took two wives, and then he goes on to describe himself to the two of them as an ungodly revengeful murderer.
That’s a lovely way for a husband to explain himself! But like we said, at this point in Israel’s history everyone is doing what seems right to them, and Elkanah has two wives. Unlike Hannah, Peninnah has born several sons and daughters, and the Bible says she “relentlessly provoked Hannah and tormented her” because she was childless. In fact, most of the barren women in the Bible had to deal with a rival wife who was very fertile, and who would be a thorn in their side.
That’s true; most of them did have someone like that! And Penninah provoked her to the point that Hannah wept and didn’t eat.
We aren’t told why she treated Hannah so badly, but we do know that Elkanah loved Hannah. This reminds me of Jacob and Rachel and Leah.
It does. But, you know what, Rose? If those other women had only known what God was up to, they might’ve kept their mouths shut. Whenever we read about a barren woman in the Bible, we know God is doing something big or important, so we need to pay attention.
We should always pay attention when we read the Bible, Chris!
Funny, Rose!
No, all kidding aside, you’re right … it should catch our attention when we read about a barren woman in the Bible. I’m thinking of Sarah, who eventually bore Isaac, Rebekah who eventually bore Jacob and Esau, and Rachel, who bore Joseph.
Not to mention, in the New Testament, Elizabeth, who bore John the Baptist.
But getting back to Hannah’s story, Elkanah and his whole family make one of their yearly trips to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord, following the Law about yearly sacrifices, festivals and feasts, which were times of worship for Israel.
This was supposed to be a happy time where God’s people gathered together to have their sins atoned for and to make offerings to the Lord.
They were to feast and rejoice because they were God’s chosen people.
But for Hannah, these times were hard! For her, they were full of sadness and heartache. Having a child in that culture was a big deal, and a woman’s value and worth was really tied up in her ability to have children.
Yeah, and not only was she dealing with the societal pressure of not having any children, plus the constant tormenting from Peninnah. but then there’s her husband. The Bible says after the sacrifice, he gave out portions of the meat to all of his family, but because he loved Hannah, he gave her a double portion of the sacrificed meat.
That sounds good, but the Bible also tells us that year after year, Peninnah would provoke and taunt Hannah to the point where Hannah would not eat.
So, giving her a double portion of the meat in all likelihood would have made have her feel worse. She wasn’t eating herself, and the second portion would’ve normally been meant for someone else – likely the child she couldn’t have!
Yeah, it could’ve been like a glaring reminder of her barrenness, instead of seeming like a kind act of love. And it only gets worse! When she’s too distraught to eat, her husband Elkanah says to her “Why are you grieving? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
He totally doesn’t get it. That’s not showing her sympathy and trying to comfort her! He’s saying, “Isn’t the fact that you have ME enough to make you happy?”
He sounds like a blockhead (or dumbass). He should’ve said “I love you, regardless of whether you can have children or not!”
He should have. Now, I want to be clear for our listeners that Elkanah is a worshiper of Yahweh, and a godly man from everything we read about him. I think these things are in here to show the depth of suffering Hannah is experiencing.
True. Elkanah does love her, even though the things he’s doing and saying are probably causing more heartache.
Right. And there’s something else that’s interesting. We’re used to many of the versions of the Bible saying Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion of the sacrificed meat “because he loved her.”
That would kind of go along with other childless women in the Bible, where the husband loved the barren wife more than the other wife or wives.
It would. But the wording in verse 5 can be translated very differently than “he gave her a double portion”. It can be that he gave her the best portion, or that he gave her a choice of portions, BUT, it also could mean that when he gave her her portion, he did it with a sad face “because the Lord had closed her womb.” OR that he gave her “only ONE portion, for he loved her, even though the Lord had closed her womb.”
Some of those would be like he was rubbing salt in an open wound, even if Elkanah didn’t mean to do it.
They sure would! And like we said earlier, he is a godly man and we’re not trying to bash him. Any of these translations shed light on the amount of despair Hannah felt. You know, Rose, in many ways, God has put Hannah in a position where He has to be enough for her.
That’s a good point. And it’s a good thing to ask ourselves - if we had nothing but God, would that be enough?
That’s a tough question to ask yourself. And yet it’s good for examining where our heart is and what it’s trusting in and getting it’s comfort from.
And God will put pressure on His people to turn them back to Him. He does it with Israel, in fact He did it over and over with them through the whole time of the Judges.
Right! He’s not turning Hannah back to Himself as if she’d strayed from Him like most of the nation, but He has put her in a position with lots of tormenting, and zero human comfort!
Like we said at the beginning, Hannah’s story is found in the book of 1 Samuel, and if you know anything about the Old Testament up to this point, you may have guessed already that Hannah is going to have a child someday.
This passage states twice that the Lord had closed her womb. He is Sovereign over everything, and the chronicler is reiterating that fact, possibly so that we can start to wonder what God is up to.
Right. He has other plans that He’s providentially working out.
Right from the beginning of 1 Samuel, we’re not only introduced to this god-fearing family, we’re also introduced to the family of priests that are serving the Lord in the tabernacle at this time; Eli the priest and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, who also serve as priests.
If you read the book, you’ll see they fit the profile of many of the priests who were acting ungodly during the time of the judges.
So, Elkanah and his family go to worship, and at this feast, Hannah is crying praying in such a distressed manner the Bible says that she was “speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard.”
Most of us, if not all of us, have had times we’re so distressed we can’t even form the words. And in this case, Eli the priest doesn’t recognize that she’s actually praying but instead thinks she is drunk!
Right, and he confronts her about it, so she’s getting more bad stuff heaped on her. But, she explains she's not had any wine or strong drink, and that she’s only been pouring out her soul to the Lord, and she mentions her anxiety and her troubles. But the Bible doesn’t say that she told him what her troubles were.
No, but. Eli has softened his attitude towards her, and he tells her to “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 1 Samuel 1:17. This could be that Eli prayed that God would grant her petition, or that he was prophesying that God would grant her petition.
Either way, these were the first comforting words she heard, or at least the first ones we’re told about! And Hannah, for the first time in the story, is glad after she’s done praying.
The Bible says she actually eats after this! You know, Chris, sometimes when we’re the most burdened by something, if we cry out to the Lord about it, our whole mindset can change, even though we don’t know if our circumstances will or not.
I’m thinking of 1 Peter 5:7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
And Hannah did humbly go before the Lord! I was thinking of Philippians 4:6-7“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Neither of those verses says anything about getting what you want.
No they don’t; but they tells us to cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us and that because He can give us a peace that even we can’t understand how we have it!
That’s very appropriate in a situation like this because Hannah’s prayer was no ordinary prayer or petition to the Lord. She had made a vow of two things if God would give her a son. First, she 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,”
That would take tremendous peace that passes understanding – to give away a son you wanted so desperately! But Hannah wasn’t kidding when she vowed to give the Lord her son.
That is hard for us to imagine, especially in light of the fact that she’d waited so long for a child, but you’re right that she wasn’t kidding as we’ll talk about in a bit. And the second part of the vow was, “and no razor shall touch his head.”
She was saying that she would raise him according to the Nazarite Law. The Nazarite vow meant that Samuel would not drink any wine or other fermented drink, not even using wine vinegar, and she wouldn’t either while she was pregnant with him. In addition to that, they would not cut their hair or become defiled by being near a dead body, not even a relative, and if they even somehow accidentally became defiled, they would have to cleanse themselves, shave their head, and start the vow period all over again from the beginning.
You know, Rose, I think it’s interesting that Eli accuses her of being drunk and she replies that she hasn’t had any strong drink. It’s like she’s already preparing for being pregnant and keeping the vow she knew she was going to make. I don’t know if she was not drinking, acting in faith that God would grant her request, or if she just hadn’t had anything strong to drink up to that point, for whatever reason.
Interesting. If Eli hadn't thought she was drunk, we wouldn’t know that she hadn’t had any strong drink.
We wouldn’t. I think we should point out here, though, that even if she acted in faith by not drinking, there was still no guarantee God would give her a child. Our faith needs to be in the fact that God is in control of all things and that He is working for our good, in all circumstances, regardless of whether He does things that we desperately hope He will or not.
That’s an important point. God is good ALL OF THE TIME, and He works for our good, and for His glory, which is the ultimate good, even through things that are not good, or even through things that are EVIL! Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Part of that good is that we’re becoming more and more like Christ, which is sometimes really painful. We’re told in the Bible that we will share in Jesus’ suffering. As we say all the time, being a Christian doesn’t mean that your life will be a bed of roses!
Certainly not! And if anyone’s teaching you the opposite of that, don’t let them teach you anymore! But getting back to Hannah, it’s also important to point out here that Hannah wasn’t trying to make some kind of deal with God. She wasn’t saying “if You do this, then I’ll give him to you.”
No, she certainly wasn’t. She wasn’t trying to make a deal with God!
And next, the Bible says that the family got up early the next morning and worshipped before going home. And it goes on to say, “Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.”
When it says that Elkanah knew his wife, we know what that means …. It means they, you know…
Had sex.
Yes. And “the Lord remembered her” doesn’t mean that God forgot about her and then one day, out of the blue, He remembers her problem! God knows everything, and He doesn’t forget!
It means He’s going to act. He’s about to further His plan of redemptive history.
Right! Like we said, this is not just about a barren woman named Hannah who God is going to eventually give a son to so that she can be happy– this is about Israel, and eventually King Jesus. Like we said earlier, God is doing something bigger here. Rose, I listened to Allistair Begg talking about this passage, and he made a really good point about this part. Elkanah and Hannah had been having sex all along. But unless God blesses the seed, nothing happens.
That’s a good point, and it’s the same with the spreading of the seed of the Gospel message! So, Hannah has the baby, and she names Samuel, “because she had asked for him from the Lord.” According to verse 20.
The next thing we’re told is that it’s time for Elkanah and the family to go and worship again, and they do. But, Hannah does not go. She says she’s going to keep the child at home with her until he is weaned, which was about three years in that culture.
Women could go to the yearly feasts if they wanted, but they weren’t obliged to go, according to Exodus 23:17. So Hannah is not doing anything wrong here.
No, she’s not. He couldn’t have served the Lord as a baby, so she kept him home for three years until he was old enough to start learning from the Eli. But Hannah had been proactive in his training. She raised him during those years to know the Lord, as we see later in verse 28 where it says that Samuel worshiped.
Right. He (or they are, depending on the translation) worship after the sacrifice right before they’re about to leave him there, in service to the Lord in the Tabernacle.
And each year she made him a new tunic and brought it to him when they came for the yearly time of worship.
While we can’t understand what this would be like for a mother to do, Hannah was devoted to the Lord and was thankful that he took away the shame and sadness from being barren, and she keeps her vow.
It’s an amazing picture of faith and thankfulness to the Lord.
Next, in 1 Samuel chapter 2 we have Hannah’s prophetic prayer.
Rose, before we take a look at the prayer, I want to say that the prayer we’re about to look at shows something about Hannah’s prayer life that’s I hate to say this, but is totally opposite what my prayer life when I was young. I think I talked about this in our first podcast episode, but back then, I would run to God when there was a problem, I wanted Him to handle, but that was about it for my prayer life! We’ve seen Hannah do the same – take her problems to God in prayer – but in the prayer of hers that we’re going to look at next, we’ll see that Hannah had a prayer life that shows deep relationship with God.
You’re right. This is a woman who doesn’t just take her problems to God, as if He’s some sugar daddy in the sky! This woman realizes that God is to be praised all the time, in all circumstances. She knows Him and has a true relationship with him!
One other thing I want to mention about Hannah’s character is that despite Elkanah’s other wife, Penninah, treating her really bad- I mean, the Bible refers to her as Hannah’s ‘rival’, it says she “provoked her greatly to vex her.” Vex means to bring trouble, distress, or agitation to- Hannah entrusted herself to the Lord, and pleaded her cause with him. Then, when He delivers her, she praises him. She doesn’t deal with Peninnah herself.
She has full confidence in the Lord and trusts that He will repay. He’ll do whatever He’s going to do with her enemy as well as the nation’s enemies!
What we refer to as Hannah’s prayer is actually more like a song of thanksgiving, and praise, very much like David’s prayer at the end of 2 Samuel, and much like the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise, which we’ll be talking about in an upcoming episode.
And it’s full of theology.
It is! Why don’t you read it for us, Rose.
I will! 1 Samuel 2 starts: “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.”
Starting with verse one, Hannah gives all the glory to God being the One who delivered her from her barrenness and gave her triumph over her enemies. She’s not in any way saying she did anything – she says it’s all Him! Then she goes on to say there’s no one holy like God. Rose, I listened to a sermon the other day by Paul Washer about prayer, and he said that when think about God’s holiness, a lot of us just think of that as meaning that God is sinless. But he made the point that it means much more than that. It means that God is ‘set apart.” There isn’t anything or anyone like Him – not even CLOSE!
The prophet Isaiah says that God is not just holy, but He’s holy, holy, holy, which means perfect in His holiness. I love that point from Paul Washer, and it is something we should keep in mind. As believers, we’re being made more and more holy by the Spirit’s work in us, and we’re to be set apart, or in other words ‘different’ from the world. Hannah obviously had a high view of God!
Yeah. And she goes on to talk about God’s omniscience – that He knows all things, she acknowledges that He controls life and death, poverty and wealth, that He humbles some and exults others. She uses the same imagery seen in Moses’ song from Deuteronomy 32 where he contrasts the fate of the wicked with those who are His. God guards His saints, but “silences the wicked in darkness” according to verse 9.
The Lord opened her womb again later, and Hannah had more children after Samuel, three sons and two daughters, which we find out in verse 21. But in her prayer, right after leaving Samuel to minister at the Temple, Hannah says in verse 5, “She who was barren has borne seven children,” and she doesn’t know she’s going to have more kids yet. This verse may seem like a miscalculation when you get to verse 21 and see how many children she does have, But the number seven is often used in the Bible as a number of “completeness.”
So, what she’s saying here, even at the time of having only one son, is that God is completely good; He has completely taken away her disgrace.
Just like Rachel, who was also barren, says in Genesis 30:23, right after she’s had her first child, “God has taken away my reproach, disgrace, and humiliation.”
Hannah’s prayer is also prophetic. She’s not just thanking God and talking about His dealing with the wicked in her own circumstances, but also for the nation Israel. She celebrates the sovereignty of God in making her womb fruitful, and that He will give strength to His king, and will ‘exult the anointed’, according to verse 10, which is the end of her prayer. Rose, Israel didn’t have a king at this point!
Exactly! And Hannah’s reference to God’s “anointed” is a messianic prophecy. The prediction that God would “exalt the horn”—which means increase the strength of—the anointed king was fulfilled, in part, during the reigns of David and Solomon. But the ultimate Anointed One is the Messiah.
We don’t know much more about this godly woman, Hannah, who vowed to leave her only son to minister before the Lord, and then did it! We’re told that he grew up in the presence of the Lord, and that yearly Hannah took him a linen tunic to wear.
And we know that Samuel led Israel from the period of the Judges through the first two kings of Israel – King Saul and King. David. You can read the rest of his story in the first 25 chapters of I Samuel.
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