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Mothers of the Bible — Hannah

Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut. ” As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!” “Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.” “In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.” “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad. The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.” The next year Elkanah and his family went on their annual trip to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow. But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “Wait until the boy is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the Lord permanently. ” “Whatever you think is best,” Elkanah agreed. “Stay here for now, and may the Lord help you keep your promise. ” So she stayed home and nursed the boy until he was weaned. When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there. Then Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me. No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. “Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions. The bow of the mighty is now broken, and those who stumbled are now strong. Those who were well fed are now starving, and those who were starving are now full. The childless woman now has seven children, and the woman with many children wastes away. The Lord gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up. The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the Lord’s, and he has set the world in order. “He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone. Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered. He thunders against them from heaven; the Lord judges throughout the earth. He gives power to his king; he increases the strength of his anointed one.” Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.
1 Samuel 1:9-2:11

Dear God, Hannah is a fascinating woman. She really wanted a child, she got her child, she lived up to her end of the bargain with you, and then she prayed a prayer of vindication pretty much directed at Peninnah. We will learn later that you blessed her with more children, but I can’t imagine how much she must have lived Samuel.

Life is so different for women than men, and, frankly, I’m probably foolish to even try to put myself in Hannah’s place. She had endured a lot of hurt and sorrow. She was childless. I remember the stress my wife and I went through when it took us a few months to get pregnant the first time we started trying. I can’t imagine the strain of years and years. I also can’t even begin to understand the complication of having another woman in the home who is having children with your husband. I know it was the culture, but that’s just messed up, although it seems to be a repeated theme for those you use (Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, etc.).

I really like the picture that the author paints later in 1 Samuel 2:18-21:

But Samuel was ministering before the Lord–a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home. And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy SAmuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

I love the image of Hannah working on Samuel’s robes. I don’t know how ornate they were allowed to be, but I’ll bet she made them as beautiful as possible. And I’ll bet Samuel loved getting a new one each year–at least until he was older and was probably embarrassed by it. I picture her running to him and hugging him. I picture his stoic father looking at him with pride. I picture her bringing the five new babies over the years. Maybe Samuel was a little jealous of the first one or two, but, like all older children, learned to deal with it and love his younger siblings.

Father, once again, Hannah wasn’t a perfect person and she wasn’t a perfect parent. It’s obvious she was still bitter towards Peninnah, and I’m sure Peninnah didn’t care much for her either. Their children. Probably didn’t get along much better than did Isaac and Ishmael. But that’s what you use. You use imperfect people, parents, and children to enter the world. You work through us all. As we saw with Samson, you sometimes work through us even when we have no relationship or regard for you. So I offer my life to you. It’s broken. It can be messy. It is most certainly flawed and even sometimes sinful. But it’s what I have to bring to your cross–to the altar. I give it to you and ask that you use it as you will.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Fathers of the Bible — Elkanah

10 Feb

There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not. Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat. “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”
1 Samuel 1:1-8

Dear God, before I talk about Hannah I think it’s important to not forget that Elkanah was part of Samuel’s life as well. He was apparently a loving, if not very perceptive, husband to Hannah, and fairly insensitive to Peninnah. It seems that his empathy was a bit lacking. Yes, he could tell that Hannah was suffering so he would do nice things for her (hurting Peninnah in the process), but his last line in this story illustrates his obtuseness: “You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?” Yeah…no, it’s not.

I think one of the great things about parenthood is how it helps us to grow. I’ll get to a nice exchange between Hannah and Elkanah tomorrow that will demonstrate some good sensitivity on Elkanah’s part. It is so great that these stories are captured in this way. No one is painted with a perfect brush. Everyone is flawed. We don’t know who wrote this story, but it’s obvious they wanted us to not only know something about Samuel’s origin story of why he grew up in the temple, but also that his parents were real people with real emotions.

Father, I know I’m still on this journey. You are shaping me every day. You are teaching me where I am insensitive and thoughtless. You humble me through my children, wife, and others. You are slowly filtering out the chaff and bringing me into alignment with your Holy Spirit. Maybe by the time I die I will be halfway there. Wouldn’t that be great?

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Hannah and Peninnah (and Elkanah) – 1 Samuel 1:1-8

02 Feb

[Photo from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups By Ned Bustard. The artist is Erin Cross]

1 Samuel 1:1-8 NIV
[1] There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. [2] He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. [3] Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. [4] Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. [5] But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. [6] Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. [7] This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. [8] Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Dear God, the first time I journaled on this story, I remember journaling about Elkanah’s ignorance of how women feel and how important things like this are. His question, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” is absolutely foolish, but he really just didn’t know any better.

But the artist for this story is giving me something else. There is a focus on the meanness and vindictiveness of Peninnah that I’ve never spent much time with. And it’s interesting that I just used the word “vindictiveness.” Why did I use that word? Why does that word fit this story?

It is easy to make Peninnah the villain in this story, but in a lot of ways, as I sit here and think about it, she was really set up for failure. Was her attitude towards Hannah really that different than Sarah’s towards Hagar? Or probably Hagar towards Sarah for that matter. Marriage to multiple wives must have created some terrible dynamics. In this case:

Elkanah felt bad for Hannah so he gave her extra portions. Hannah was also probably more available to him because she didn’t have any kids impeding her life, so that might have helped her to be a favorite to Elkanah as well. Then there is Elkanah’s obvious need to be appreciated, as is evidenced by his last question.
Peninnah had the children, but she didn’t have Elkanah’s favor. And he apparently made that clear. The artist shows this with Peninnah holding the children while Elkanah holds a despondent Hannah.
Then there is Hannah. In a time when worth for women was measured by an ability to have children, she had no worth in society’s eyes (but she still had at least one thing in Peninnah’s eyes that Peninnah didn’t have), and Peninnah used Hannah’s weakness to get a little revenge for the pain she felt. Elkanah could not be everything Hannah needed.

In my own life, I see rivalries among coworkers, children, siblings…in fact, they are all around me. We all look for some sort of validation that affirms our place in the world, but rarely do we just look to you for that.

I used to think I could be everything my wife needed and I thought that she could be everything that I needed. I entered marriage in a very needy way, and it was oppressive to my wife. She could never meet all of my insecure needs. Then I started to figure out (I’m still learning) how to tap into you and derive my peace and joy from you. What would it have looked like if Peninnah and Hannah had been able to do the same? How much better will I be when I have completely learned to dive into you?

Father, help me to be sensitive to the motivations of others. When I see someone acting like Peninnah, help be to see the reason for their vindictiveness and not just assume they are evil and mean. Show me how I might take that knowledge and use it to be your minister to them and heal the hurts that are down deep. And help me to also examine my own heart when I find myself wanting to lash out. Show me the hurt that needs addressed and then help me to take that hurt, give it to you for your complete healing, and then strike back in love.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

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Posted by John D. Willome on February 2, 2019 in 1 Samuel, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

Tags: 1 Samuel, Elkanah, Hannah, Jealousy, Peninnah, Vindictiveness