Twelve Extraordinary Women, Week 15
Notes
Transcript
Love for Heaven
Love for Heaven
Hannah obviously had a deep and abiding love for God. Her spiritual passion was seen in the fervency of her prayer life. She was a devout woman whose affections were set on heavenly things, not on earthly things. Her desire for a child was no mere craving for self-gratification. It wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about getting what she wanted. It was about self-sacrifice—giving herself to that little life in order to give him back to the Lord. Centuries earlier, Isaac’s wife Rebekah prayed, “Give me children, or else I die!” (Gen. 30:1 NKJV).
Hannah’s prayer was more modest than that. She did not pray for “children,” but for one son. She begged God for one son who would be fit to serve in the tabernacle. If God would give her that son, she would give him back to God. Hannah’s actions proved that she wanted a child not for her own pleasure, but because she wanted to dedicate him to the Lord.
Naturally, then, the Lord was the One to whom she turned to plead her case. It was significant, I think, that despite the bitter agony Hannah suffered because of her childlessness, she never became a complainer or a nag. There’s no suggestion that she ever grumbled against God or badgered her husband about her childlessness. Why should she whine to Elkanah? Children are an inheritance from the Lord (Ps. 127:3; Gen. 33:5).
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Hannah seems to have understood that, so she took her case straight to the Lord. Despite her disappointment and heartache, she remained faithful to YHWH. In fact, frustration seems to have turned her more and more to the Lord, not away from him. And she persisted in prayer.
That’s a beautiful characteristic, and it was Hannah’s distinctive virtue: constant, steadfast faith. First Samuel 1:12 speaks of her prayer as continual: “She continued praying before the LORD” (NKJV, emphasis added). She stayed before the Lord, even with a broken heart, pouring out tearful prayers. Her trials thus had the benefit of making her a woman of prayer. She truly exemplified what it meant to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17; Luke 18:1–8).
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.
The value of persistent and passionate prayer is one of the central lessons from Hannah’s life. Notice how the passion of her praying is described in 1 Samuel 1:10–11: “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head’ ” (NKJV, emphasis added).
10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.
11 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.”
There were two parts to Hannah’s vow. One was the promise to give the child to the Lord. Subsequent events indicated that by this pledge she intended to devote him to full-time service in the tabernacle. The last part of Hannah’s promise entailed a vow never to cut his hair. This was one of three provisions of the ancient Nazirite vow (Num. 6:1–9). While it was not clear whether Hannah’s promise also entailed all the other provisions of the Nazirite vow, if it had, her son would have also been required to abstain from wine (or any product of grapes) and not come in contact with anything that would cause ceremonial defilement. These restrictions were signs of consecration to God.
Both parts of Hannah’s vow consecrated her son for life to duties that normally would have been only temporary. Levites, as we have seen, took turns serving in the tabernacle. No one had the responsibility for life. Nazirite vows were usually only temporary too. Of course, God had expressly commanded Samson’s mother to make him a Nazirite for life (Judg. 13:2–7). (Since Samson’s mother had been barren before Samson was conceived, Hannah’s knowledge of that history may be what prompted her to make this vow.) John the Baptist also seemed to have been under a similar lifelong vow (Luke 7:33). But normally such vows lasted a few weeks or years at the most.
Hannah obviously wanted her son to be a godly man, serving and glorifying the Lord all his life. These were not promises she made lightly, and when God finally answered her prayer, she did not recoil from the difficult duty her vow had placed on her as Samuel’s mother.
The intensity of Hannah’s prayer made her conspicuous in the tabernacle, especially in that backslidden era. She was so totally consumed by the passion of her prayer and so distraught with weeping (1 Sam. 1:10) that she caught the attention of the old priest, Eli. He had probably never witnessed more passionate, heartfelt praying, though he didn’t even know it was that:
And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”
And Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”
Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” (1 Sam. 1:12–17 NKJV)
Eli’s insensitive response was typical of him. It showed how utterly he lacked any sense of discernment or even basic courtesy. This is a large part of the explanation for why he was so incompetent in his roles as high priest to the nation and father to his own sons. His accusation against Hannah was the same accusation the unbelieving mob made against the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:13). Eli evidently did not recognize that she was praying.
A couple of factors may have contributed to his confusion. In the first place, it was customary in Israel to pray aloud, not silently. Hannah seems to have understood that God sees right into the human heart. He knows our thoughts even before they become words; and He knows our words before they are formed on our lips (Ps. 139:1–4). Furthermore, we are taught in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that can’t even be uttered (Rom. 8:26). So there was no need for Hannah to pray aloud. She wasn’t doing it for ceremony. She knew that the Lord knew her heart. By contrast, private prayer seemed to have been so foreign to Eli that he could not even recognize prayer when he saw it, unless it conformed to ceremonial customs.
A second thing that may have obscured Eli’s discernment was the fact that his own sons were known to consort with loose women right there in the tabernacle (1 Sam. 2:22). Eli certainly did not approve of his sons’ behavior, but he failed to take strong enough measures to keep it from happening. Apparently he was more accustomed to seeing immoral women at the tabernacle than godly ones, so he may have assumed that Hannah was one of those women.
His rebuke was nonetheless foolish and uncalled for. Drunkenness usually makes people noisy and boisterous. Hannah was silent and keeping completely to herself. There was no reason whatsoever for Eli to scold her like that.
Hannah answered with characteristic grace and humility. Of course, she was horrified by his accusation and denied it with a clear tone of chagrin. She explained that she was merely pouring out her heart in sorrow. She didn’t tell Eli the reason for her sorrow. There was no need for that. She understood that only God could answer her prayer; that was why her prayers had been silent in the first place.
For his part, Eli quickly changed his tone. He must have been somewhat embarrassed and chastened to learn how badly he had misjudged this poor woman. Because of that, he blessed her and called on the Lord to grant her petition.
Hannah’s final response to Eli revealed another of her positive spiritual traits. “And she said, ‘Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.’ So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad” (1:18 NKJV). Hannah cast her whole burden upon the Lord and left her sense of frustration there at the altar. She did what she had come to the tabernacle to do. She had brought her case before the Lord. Now she was content to leave the matter in His hands.
That demonstrates how genuine and patient her faith truly was. Scripture says, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you” (Ps. 55:22 NKJV). Some people will pray, “O God, here’s my problem,” and then leave His presence in complete doubt and frustration, still shouldering the same burden they originally brought before the Lord, not really trusting Him to sustain them. Hannah truly laid her troubles in the lap of the Lord, totally confident that He would answer her in accord for what was best for her. There’s a real humility in that kind of faith, as the apostle Peter noted: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6–7 NKJV).
When God finally did answer Hannah’s prayer by giving her the son she had asked for, her thankful soul responded with a pure, unbroken stream of praise. Her words, recorded for us in 1 Samuel 2:1–10, are a masterpiece. In the chapter that follows, we’ll examine Mary’s Magnificat, which is a close parallel to this passage both in its style and its substance:
And Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
“No one is holy like the LORD,
For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
“Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the LORD is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
“The bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
And she who has many children has become feeble.
“The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He has set the world upon them.
He will guard the feet of His saints,
But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
“For by strength no man shall prevail.
The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces;
From heaven He will thunder against them.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to His king,
And exalt the horn of His anointed.” (NKJV)
There’s enough solid content in that brief thanksgiving anthem that we could spend many pages analyzing it. If it were given to me as a text to preach on, I would undoubtedly have to preach a series of several sermons just to unpack its prophetic and doctrinal significance completely. Obviously, we don’t have enough space for that kind of thorough study of Hannah’s hymn of praise. But even the briefest overview reveals how thoroughly familiar Hannah was with the deep things of God.
She acknowledged, for example, God’s holiness, His goodness, His sovereignty, His power, and His wisdom. She worshiped Him as Savior, as Creator, and as sovereign judge. She acknowledged the fallenness and depravity of human nature, as well as the folly of unbelief and rebellion. In short, her few stanzas were a masterpiece of theological understanding.
But this was not mere academic theology. Hannah spoke about God from her own intimate knowledge of Him. Her words of praise were filled with love and wonder. That love for God, and a love for all things heavenly, was one of the keys to Hannah’s lasting influence as a mother.
Love For Her Home
Love For Her Home
A third major characteristic of Hannah was her devotion to home and family. We see evidence of this from the beginning, in her love for Elkanah and his love for her. We see it in the way she rose above the petty strife and feuding Peninnah deliberately tried to sow within her own household with no other intention than to exasperate Hannah. We see it again in Hannah’s intense longing to be a mother. We see it best in how committed she was to her child in his infancy.
When Hannah and Elkanah returned home after her encounter with Eli in the tabernacle, Scripture says, “Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son” (1:19–20 NKJV). She named him Samuel, but the meaning of Samuel is not entirely clear. It could literally be translated “name of God.” Some commentators suggest it could mean “asked from God,” and others say “heard by God.” In Hebrew, the name is very similar to Ishmael, which means, “God shall hear.” Whatever the actual significance of the name, the essence of what it meant to Hannah is clear. Samuel was a living answer to prayer and a reminder that God had heard what she asked and granted her heart’s desire.
Hannah devoted herself solely to Samuel’s care for the next few years. When the time came to make the first trip to Shiloh after the baby’s birth, Hannah told her husband she planned to stay at home with Samuel until he was weaned. “Then,” she said, “I will take him, that he may appear before the LORD and remain there forever” (v. 22 NKJV).
She knew her time with Samuel would be short. Mothers in that culture nursed their children for about three years. She would care for him during his most formative years, while he learned to walk and talk. As soon as he was weaned, though, she was determined to fulfill her vow.
In the meantime, she would be a fixture in his life. She became the very model of a stay-at-home mom. No mother was ever more devoted to home and child. She had important work to do—nurturing him, caring for him, and helping him learn the most basic truths of life and wisdom. She taught him his first lessons about YHWH. She made her home an environment where he could learn and grow in safety. And she carefully directed the course of his learning and helped shape his interests.
Hannah seemed to understand how vital those early years are, when 90 percent of personality is formed. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6 NKJV). She prepared Samuel in those formative years for a lifetime of service to God—the high calling to which she had consecrated him before he was ever born. History tells us that she did her job well. Samuel, obviously a precocious child, grew in wisdom and understanding. Those early years set a course for his life from which he never deviated. The only blot on his record came in his old age, when he made his sons judges and they perverted justice (1 Sam. 8:1–3). Samuel’s own failure as a father was the one aspect of his life that obviously owed more to the influence of Eli, the old priest, than to the example of Hannah.
Hannah’s devotion to home and motherhood was exemplary in every way. Her devotion to her son in those early years makes her ultimate willingness to hand Samuel over to a life of service in the tabernacle seem all the more remarkable. It must have been intensely painful for her to send him off at such a tender age. In effect, the tabernacle became his boarding school and Eli his tutor. But it is apparent that Hannah’s influence on Samuel remained far more of a guiding force in his life than the spiritually feeble example of Eli.
No doubt Hannah kept as close to Samuel as the arrangement would allow. She and Elkanah naturally would have increased their visits to Shiloh in light of Hannah’s intense love for Samuel. It seems safe to surmise that they probably extended the duration of each visit too. Scripture says she “used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice” (1 Sam. 2:19 NKJV). Again, “yearly” in this case doesn’t mean “just once a year.” It speaks of the regularity and faithfulness of their visits. Hannah thus continued to exercise a strong maternal influence on Samuel throughout all his formative years.
Scripture says God blessed Hannah with five more children—three sons and two daughters (v. 21). Her home and family life became rich and full. She was blessed by God to be allowed to achieve every ambition she had ever longed to fulfill. Her love for heaven, husband, and home are still the true priorities for every godly wife and mother. Her extraordinary life stands as a wonderful example to women today who want their homes to be places where God is honored, even in the midst of a dark and sinful culture. Hannah showed us what the Lord can do through one woman totally and unreservedly devoted to Him.
May her tribe increase.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. 2005. Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books.