A Troubled heart
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Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
What if I told you that there was a God that created the heavens and the Earth and he cares for you this morning. No matter what state you are in this morning, wether you are here because it is the thing to do on a Sunday morning. Or maybe you just come to church with the idea of lunch on your mind or what you will do this afternoon. You may have come to church with no expectation at all this morning or bad expectations because you never get anything out of this time at all because your heart has grown hard to the things of God.
Not matter the reason why you are here this morning their is a God who knew you would be in that pew this morning and he cares for you. Don’t you loved to be cared for by someone else. What about being cared for by a God that knows all about you but still cares for you.
I think we don’t fully understand the care that God has for our souls. If fact it is at times extremely hard to understand don’t you think? The Ten commandments paint the picture to us on how the God of all creation is to be worshipped but in our sin we simply often refuse to acknowledge him as savior and Lord. Here is the truth this morning. God will allow you as a fallen creature who has sinned against him to experience whatever he deems necessary to bring you to a place of reliance upon him and his goodness. Ultimately your life is for the Glory of God.
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
Introduce you to the people that are in this passage because the list is large.
Elkanah- husband of Hannah and Peninnah
Elkanah- husband of Hannah and Peninnah
Hannah-wife to Elkanah & mother to Samuel
Hannah-wife to Elkanah & mother to Samuel
Peninnah- wife to Elkanah, rival to Hannah
Peninnah- wife to Elkanah, rival to Hannah
Eli-Priest of Israel father to Hophni & Phinehas
Eli-Priest of Israel father to Hophni & Phinehas
D. Relevance of the text
To be in a place that we understand the power of our Lord and our lack of power is what brings each of us to a place of surrender before our God. This text will allow us to see exactly that in life of Hannah.
I. Family dynamics
I. Family dynamics
1 Samuel 1:1–8 (ESV)
1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.
4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters.
5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.
8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
vs. 1 & 2
As we are given Elkanah family history in verse 1 it is good know that he is a Levite and that is the tribe that the Priests come from. We are also told that he has two wives which tells us he is well off since to care for two wives you would have to be prosperous. Polygamy is not widespread at this time because of the cost. God never intended for man to have multiple wives.
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Mosaic law actually prohibited it
15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,
16 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn,
17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
vs. 3 The family would go each year up Shiloh which was about a 15 mile journey to the tabernacle which holds the Ark of the Lord—God’s presence among his people.
1 Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.
Hophni and Phinehas are priests of the Lord with Eli looking over the preceding sitting at the gate as people enter. We will find out the sons of Eli treat what is Holy to God as nothing and use their positions for their own personal gain and not the Kingdom of God. It will ultimately bring them to an extremely bad place before God.
vs 4 & 5 show us the division between Hannah and Peninnah. Just like Abraham had “helped” God Elkanah had done the same. He had taken Hannah as his wife and as she could not bear children he married Peninnah. Peninnah had sons and daughters but these verses tell us of the problem in the family is Hannah in that Elkanah love’s her for she has not children so he gives her a double portion even though she has no need in it since she is by herself.
Imagine every year, 3 times a year, you have to go through this as Hannah and see all that Peninnah is given because of all the children she must take care of and you only have you. This could put you in a bad situation in your heart over and over again making your jealous or envious time after time. Hannah is not the first barren woman in scripture.
Sarah and Abraham
30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Rebekah had not children for twenty years of marriage.
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Closer to this time is Sampson whose mother’s name is not even mentioned in Judges 13...
1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart The Beginning of God’s Work (1:1–8)
Barren women seem to be God’s instruments in raising up key figures in the history of redemption, whether the promised seed (Isaac), the father of Israel (Jacob), saviors or preservers of Israel (Joseph, Samson, Samuel), or the forerunner of the great King (John the Baptist).
End of Verse 5—The Lord had closed her womb—From an earthly standpoint this was seen as a curse from God to not have children or even seen as something is wrong with the person or the family the person came from. When in God’s economy what is actually happening is He is divinely ordaining a plan that will bring HIM alone Glory.
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”
10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”
12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We are not God and are not good at planning or divinely planning our lives. God works in a different realm in which he guides us to a place of reliance upon him alone. Which is a sweet, sweet place to find ourselves.
1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart The Beginning of God’s Work (1:1–8)
This matter goes beyond the particular situations of biblical barren women. We are facing one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When his people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks—then he loves to stretch forth his hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins we will understand how we may be encouraged.
Expository commentary:
God kept Hannah from having children so that his sovereign purposes might be achieved by marking Samuel as a special child. Hannah’s trial also brings her closer to God by strengthening her faith and highlighting his gracious response to her plea for a child.
vs.6-7
Hannah and Peninnah are rivals vs 6
Rival—adversary
By the end of verse 8 you have the entire family dynamic and it is not a good one. Hannah and Peninnah are adversaries. Peninnah keeps it over on Hannah constantly that she can have children and Hannah can’t and then you have Elkanah who just doesn’t get it in verse 8.
Elkanah—Why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why would your heart be sad? YOU HAVE ME. It has to make you chuckle just a little bit and be sad for Hannah and Elkanah all at the same time. Am I not worth more than 10 children?
Elkanah—You may be a man of God who desires to make these sacrifices before God but you lack Godly wisdom from above in that you married another wife and then told the first wife you are plenty for her. Not the wisdom that the Lord tells us we should live.
Elkanah had married another woman telling Hannah she was not enough for him in the first place.
T.S. With the family dynamic in full grasp we now see why Hannah is driven to prayer.
II. Driven to Prayer
II. Driven to Prayer
Before we jump into this text lets be reminded that when we face something like this their is another way that our hearts often go. We turn to our own understanding and fuss at the God of all creation. We get mad with him as though he sinned against us and has treated us unfairly when nothing could be farther from the truth.
9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.
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.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.
13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.
14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.”
vs 10 she is deeply distressed and weeping bitterly
deeply distressed—bitter of soul
11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
1 “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Wept bitterly—wept weeping—intensity of description
We need to understand the dee pain that Hannah is experiencing in this moment to fully understand what happens next. She is utterly broken before the Lord in humility she has no answers and seeks the very face of God.
vs. 11 is the center of this text
Lord of Hosts--
Hannah petitions to God’s sovereign hand in her life despite her circumstances she currently finds herself.
1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart The Freedom of God’s Presence (1:9–18)
She addresses Yahweh of hosts, cosmic ruler, sovereign of every and all power, and assumes that the broken heart of a relatively obscure woman in the hill country of Ephraim matters to him.
Your Servant— a understanding of her place in the Kingdom of God. God does not answer to Hannah. Hannah is not creator God is the creator.
Nazarite vow—no razor shall touch his head
As a Levite her son would have been bound to service from the age of 20-50
24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting.
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more.
A Nazarite vow was not intended to be made for life. it was for a time to seek after the Lord
Numbers 6:1-21....
5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
6 “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
Nazarites for life—Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist
He will be give him to the Lord
vs. 12-14 Eli mistakes Hannah for a drunken woman
15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”
Hannah—troubled in her spirit—pouring out my soul before the Lord—speaking from great anxiety and vexation(grief, anguish)
1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart The Freedom of God’s Presence (1:9–18)
Christians then should allow Hannah to be our schoolmistress to lead us to Christ, to instruct us in communion with God. Many Christians need to realize that Yahweh our God allows us to do this—to pour our griefs and sobs and perplexities at his feet. Our Lord can handle our tears; it won’t make him nervous or ill at ease if you unload your distress at his feet.
1 Samuel for You True Prayer
One of the main reasons we do not pray more is that we do not feel the need to pray. We think we can manage without God, and so our prayers end up a duty to perform, options in our busy day. Prayer was not a duty or an option for Hannah! She did not get up from the meal because she had realised that she had not had her quiet time that day. It was the cry of an anguished soul.
Hannah’s prayer is from a heart filled with turmoil but goes up to the Father whom she knows is powerful enough and loving enough to answer.
1 Samuel for You True Prayer
What creates great praying? A deep sense of our need and a deep sense of God’s care.
Prayer leads to Eli’s response..
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”
18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
Look at the Faith of Hannah!! She went and ate and was no longer sad. How? She believed that God would answer her as His servant. In faith she believed what Eli—God’s representative told her.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.