1 Samuel 1:1-2:11

Key verse 1:10-11 "In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head"

Hannah, a woman of prayer

Samuel was a judge, priest, prophet, and much more in Israel's history. God needed a man like him to bring about revival in the hearts of the people of Israel. God used him to establish a sovereign kingship, first under Saul and later under David. The prophet Samuel was one of the most important characters in God's history. But so was his mother. Behind the Samuel was his mother Hannah whose influence in God's history was so great. Her son Samuel was the fruit of her faith and prayer after years of intense suffering.

Hannah's story is the story of one woman's journey from the anguish of heart to the overjoy in God. Through her prayer life, a new history was made for Israel and for the world. In a sense, if David was a man after God's own heart, then Hannah was a woman after God's own heart.

Let's learn how God changed a woman of suffering to a woman of prayer. And also let's learn about the faith of Hannah praying to God with her life problem. Let's pray.

Part 1. Hannah's struggle with God in prayer (1:1-18)

Verses 1 to 8 describe the environment around the Hannah's life. The name of the Hannah's husband is Elkanah. He seems to have been a good man. He was from the tribe of Levi.(1Ch6:1,25-27) He was a godly man who never failed year after year to worship God together with his family. He made the sacrifices and offerings at Shiloh according to God's law. Elkanah was a loving and devoted husband and father. However, what's uncertain was that a godly man like Elkanah married two wives. The reason why he married two wives might be that Hannah, his loving wife, could not bear any children. Elkanah might have reasoned that he would marry a second wife for the sake of offsprings. But whatever reason Elkanah may have had for marrying two wives, the consequences were severe.

There was much strife in this family, especially between the two wives. Penninah was a very productive woman bearing many sons and daughters, while Hannah was a barren woman with no children. In those days, a woman's worth was measured by the children she bore her husband. When Hannah could not bear children, she must have felt useless and miserable. Nevertheless, Hannah was loved and favored by her husband, while Penninah was eager for Elkanah's love. To Penninah, being unloved by the husband became her life problem. So, Penninah could not control her rivalry against Hannah. The more Elkanah loved Hannah, Penninah provoked her until she broke down in tears. We can not blame Penninah too much for her behavior, because it's unbearable agony for a woman to be unloved by her husband. In any way, both women must have suffered severely although the reasons are different. But it is certain that Hannah's suffering was far more bitter than Penninah's.

Elkanah truly loved Hannah and tried his best to console her in his own way. "Honey, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" (1:8) The husband's love should be enough to wipe Hannah's tears away and bring a smile to her face. Hannah could counterattack her rival with a weapon of the husband's love and favor. "Penninah! how dare are you provoking me. You are unloved by Elkannah. Unloved wife has no worth to live in this house. Get away from me!" So, they might grab each one's hair and fight like dogs. But Hannah didn't revenge against the rival.

Year after year, Hannah suffered and there seemed to have been no end to her suffering. Her suffering intensified because her rival's provocation continues more severely. However, beyond the human point of view, there was a more fundamental reason for Hannah's anguish and suffering.

Look at verse 5b. "The Lord had closed her womb" From this sentence, we can find that Hannah suffered because the Lord had closed her womb. What does this mean?

First, it means that Hannah's suffering was caused by a spiritual problem. She suffered because God had closed her womb in purpose. In other words, she suffered because of God's intervention in her life. She grieved in her heart because she knew it was God who had closed her womb. However, she never fight against her rival, Penninah. She never blamed her husband. Instead, Hannah guietly suffered in all her years. Finally the intense suffering led her to God in prayer. Year after year, at the time of worship at Shiloh when Penninah's provocation was most severe and Hannah's anguish was most intense, Hannah prayed to God. Year after year, day after day, in her anguish, Hannah came to God in prayer. We don't know what she prayed for. Most likely she prayed for understanding. She prayed for a personal relationship with God. She also prayed that God would open her womb to bear child.

Hannah had life problem and Penninah also had one. However, the way to deal with it was far different. Penninah tried to solve her problem by provoking her rival. On the other side, Hannah came before God in prayer, which is called the faith. We can also have problem in our life, which might be money problem, troubled relationship with someone in family, or school or company. It can be a deep-rooted sin problem before God. Under that situation, how do we respond to our suffering? Do we follow the sinful nature like Penninah? or do we struggle with God in prayer? We should neither complain nor fight against others, but instead, we should come to God in prayer.

Second, "the Lord had closed her womb" means that God had a purpose in all of Hannah's suffering. In other words, Hannah's suffering had absolute meaning before God. Certainly, it was God who had closed Hannah's womb. The question is why? It's because God wanted to prepare Hannah as a woman of prayer. God was preparing Hannah as a mother of prayer for Samuel and a mother of prayer for all nations. In actual, God was molding Hannah into a clean bowl to receive God's blessing. God was forcing Hannah to surrender her earthly desire for a son to satisfy her motherly instinct. Rather, God wanted Hannah to accept God's desire to glorify God with her life. When God's people suffer, mostly we suffer not by chance, but by God's good purpose. We must remember to bring out suffering and struggles to God in prayer, so that we can find God's purpose in our lives.

Read verse 9a. "Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. "She accepted God's sovereignty and eagerly desired to renew her relationship with God. So, Hannah stood up. It was time to struggle with God in prayer. It was time for Hannah to surrender herself to God. It was time to make a decision of faith to abandon her own self-centered life and it was time to dedicate herself to serving God's purpose. Finally it was time for Hannah to make a vow to God.

Let's read verse 11 together. "And she made a vow, saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." When we love God, we are ready to offer God the most valuable things of our lives. When we love God, we are ready to sacrifice our best to God. Hannah asked for a son, but she made a vow to offer him back to God to serve God's purpose all the days of his life. Through Hannah's vow, we can find that Hannah's desire had been changed from just having a son to knowing God himself. She wanted to know that God remembered her and did not forget about her prayers.

In order to raise a Samuel, God needed a Hannah. For a long time God was searching for a woman of faith and prayer. And God found that woman who could graciously bear all kinds of sufferings. When God decided to work in Hannah's life, she was spiritually young. At that time, she could not receive God's blessing. So God gave her some spiritual training until she could receive God's blessing. For that reason, God closed her womb for a time. As a result, Hannah's life was fallen into suffering for many years. But her suffering has meaning and purpose. God wanted to train Hannah until she could surrender her self-centered life to God. God trained her until she was ready to abandon her own plan, but to accept God's plan. When Hannah made a vow to offer her son to God, it was a turning point in God's history as well as Hannah's life.

While Hannah prayed in her heart, Eli, the priest at that time could not tell a drunken woman from a woman of prayer. Eli misunderstood her anguished prayer as babbling of a drunken woman. When Hannah was rebuked by the unspiritual priest, she patiently explained that she was a woman in distress, pouring out her heart before the Lord. Through prayer, Hannah's heart was overflowing with gratitude to God. So, the inconsiderate rebuke from the priest could not takes Hannah's inner peace. After prayer, her face was no longer downcast. 
 

Part 2. Hannah keeps her vow(1:19-28)

Look at verse 19 to 20. Elkanah lay with his wife and the Lord remembered Hannah. Actually the Lord remembered Hannah's faithful prayer. The Lord also remembered her vow. And in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel because she had asked the Lord for him.

Look at verse 21 to 28. "When the man Elkannah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go." She wanted to wait until Samuel was weaned before she took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh to offer him to the Lord all the days of his life. So her husband Elkannah said to her, "Do what seems best to you... Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word" Elkannah did not hinder Hannah from what she planned to do with the boy. He respected her faith and her personal decision to offer the boy to God. Elkannah was a godly man who approved Hannah's faith and honored her vow. Elkannah also had the fear of God in his heart.

Until Samuel was weaned, Hannah must have taught Samuel the ways of the Lord, the life of faith and prayer. From her song of joy later on, we can see that Hannah's faith in God grew all the more. She had also grown in her personal relationship with God. Through in prayer, She had prepared for the moment she would leave him in the Lord's temple. Then the moment of painful decision finally arrived. The boy was now weaned. It was time to offer him to God. So what did Hannah do? Hannah delivered the boy at the temple and left him there in the care of Eli, the priest. She kept her vow.

Almost always, human beings are forgetful of God's grace. It's human nature. At that time of blessing, we easily become proud and unthankful especially towards God. So, this is why her faith is great. How could Hannah do this? How could she as mother separate from her son while he was still only a small boy? Furthermore, Samuel is the one and only son as the fruit of Hannah's faith and suffering for many years. What is the Hannah's resolution? Let's read the verses 27-28 together. "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

Hannah could offer her son Samuel to God because she had a personal relationship with God. Hannah could give up her son to God because she knew that her son belonged to God first. Most of all she offered her son to God because she loved God more than her son. When we love God more than God's blessings, we can offer anything back to God to serve his purpose. The anything includes our lives, the lives of our children, and anything else that the Lord may need in his work. When Hannah loved God more than the blessings, she was able to willingly give her son Samuel back to God.

What happened to Hannah after she offered her son to God? Did she fall into sorrow or suffer from emptiness? Did she regret? Not at all, we can hear Hannah' praise and song of joy in the next Chapter. Look at verse 2:1 "My heart rejoices in the Lord ; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance." Hannah's song of joy let us learn that her true joy was not in her son, but in the Lord. Likewise, true inner joy comes only when we fulfill God's purpose in our lives.

In conclusion, Hannah had suffered much in her life as a barren woman, repeatedly harassed by her rival, but Hannah did not struggle with her rival at all. Instead she struggled with God in prayer. In the course of time, she matured into a woman of prayer. Through prayer, she became a woman with deep understanding of God's purpose in her life. God filled her heart with vision and hope. So she can see the God's salvation and deliverance through his servant. Her faith in God became the source of Hannah's inner joy and strength. Her prayer with vow became the conerstone of God's redemptive work in history raising Samuel and King David.

This generation need such a woman of prayer who love God deeply and dedicate herself to God's purpose. May God raise many mothers of prayer like Hannah in our fellowship and in this generation.