Studies in 1 Samuel

1. Studies in 1 Samuel Presentation 01

2. Hannah’s Prayer 1 Samuel v1-18

3. Introduction This book begins by focusing on one woman’s suffering. The shadow of suffering is something that falls across all of our lives in one degree or another and with it the question, “Why had God allowed me to pass through this dark valley?” There are no easy answers, but this passage helps us to understand the importance of stepping back and seeing God’s big picture. By seeing ‘the big picture’ many have been helped to cope with their own soreness of heart. In the U.K. today something like one in six couples are childless and what very real heartache is often theirs. But Hannah’s story reaches beyond the pain of childlessness. Presentation 01

4. Introduction In order to understand Hannah’s story it is important to recognise that it does not unfold in a historical, political, social or religious vacuum. All of these elements form part of the big picture. With this in mind we want to paint the big picture! Up until this point in her history, Israel had been a loose tribal grouping with no real national identity. The book of Judges makes clear that there had certainly been no political stability in Israel since they had taken possession of the land under Joshua's leadership some 300 years previously. Presentation 01

5. Introduction The society, of which Hannah was a part, is described at the end of the book of Judges as one of growing moral anarchy; “Everyone did that which was right in their own eyes” Jud. 21v25. Israel was in spiralling spiritual declension and the recurring pattern of her national life was marked by; Moral and Spiritual Declension Disaster/Chastening, Repentance, Revival and Deliverance. Presentation 01

6. Introduction The ‘religious life’ of Israel had also reached an all time low. There was a semblance of outward religion, but this was contaminated for it was united to a combination of both idolatry and superstition. Those who held religious office often abused their position [Jud. 17.1, 1Sam.2.12, 1Sam 4.3]. The scandalous behaviour of High Priests sons provides us with a microcosmic explanation of the spiritual deadness that had begun to creep over Israel. For ‘religious life’, read ‘religious death’. Presentation 01

7. Introduction How then does God address himself to what was clearly a religious, moral and political crisis in Israel? God’s solution is not one that would have had TV cameras racing to the scene to record a sensational news item! Instead, we find God at work in a heart-rending domestic situation located in the country's rural backwater. God's solutions often begin in the most unlikely places and in the quietest of manners. Did not the Lord of Glory slip quietly into our world in a stable in Bethlehem? But here, God’s solution begins in an unhappy family home. Consider the principal characters. Presentation 01

8. The Principal Characters Elkanah. While it seems that Elkanah loved his wife Hannah, he nevertheless introduced a second wife to the family home, probably because of Hannah's childlessness. If so, then this reveals the shallowness of Elkanah's religious life. In what way? Difficulties which should have driven him to prayer, drove him instead to expediency. He needed to acquire a fertile wife for he wanted children at any cost! Presentation 01

9. The Principal Characters Elkanah. Externally, he was a religiously meticulous man. Others may have neglected the annual pilgrimage to Shiloh, where the ark of the covenant was situated and the priesthood located, but not Elkanah! However his religion seems to have been divorced from his domestic life - a perennial problem! Notice too, that having brought a second wife into his family, he was obliged to live with its distressing results. There was tension and strife at home but Elkanah seems oblivious to it all. Did he understand Hannah’s pain? It seems unlikely. He reveals his insensitivity, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Presentation 01

10. The Principal Characters Peninnah. Elkanah’s second wife is responsible for much of Hannah's anguish. Here is a woman who is jealous of Elkanah's love for Hannah - a love revealed in v5, Hannah receives "a double portion". Peninnah thinks of herself as little more than a surrogate wife - a baby factory! We need to understand the dynamic of these human relationships. Peninnah is discriminated against, she feels hurt and devalued, she grows jealous of her competitor and seeks at every opportunity to hurt her . She does this by aiming at Hannah’s most vulnerable point – her barrenness! The tongue can be a lethal weapon! Presentation 01

11. The Principal Characters Hannah. Childlessness in the Middle East both then, and in some cases now is a cause of considerable shame. Hannah's anguish was exacerbated by Peninnah's provocation, Elkanah's insensitivity [v8] and by what she may have wrongly interpreted as the disfavour of God. The annual religious trip to Shiloh was something she faced with dread for it brought her shame into sharper focus. It was a time for family reunion and the inevitable question, “Do you have any children yet?” Presentation 01

12. The Principal Characters Hannah. Despite her soreness of heart she did not allow it to embitter her against God. Rather it emboldened her to pray. It caused her to fashion an arrow of prayer that she shot heavenwards. And it was the harsh treatment that she received that drove her to pray as she did. Suffering can produce a remarkable spiritual intensity! It can also lead to a deepening consecration of our lives. Ask yourself, ‘Would Hannah have been as ready to yield up a future son to the service of God without such consecration?’ Presentation 01

13. The Principal Characters Hannah. Some have criticised Hannah’s prayer as no more than a piece of bargaining, “If you give me this then I will give you that” . In actual fact the vow that forms the substance of Hannah’s prayer is a rarity in scripture. When it is examined carefully, we find that Hannah is really saying to God, ‘Whatever you give me I will recognise as belonging to you alone.’ And that is the essence of consecration, is it not? Can we say to God, ‘All that I am and have is rightfully yours’. Presentation 01

14. The Principal Characters Eli. Eli, the high priest confused Hannah’s intensity of prayer with drunkenness v14, suggesting a man who is out of touch with spiritual reality. He is more used to loud, shallow prayer than with deep heart wrestling. It’s amazing that Hannah can draw encouragement from such a man but God's ability to bless is not limited by the spirituality of his mouthpiece. Hannah concludes, ‘God knows and he can be trusted to do what is right’. Recognising that we are truly understood by God can dramatically change our life. Hannah was no longer the same woman as a result of this discovery. She was at peace! Presentation 01

15. The Principal Characters Samuel. When Hannah’s child was born he was given the name, ‘Samuel’. It means “heard of God” for he was truly a child born out of prayer. God had used Hannah’s suffering to shape a prayer that would in turn put his man "in place." Samuel was destined to do a great work, something that Hannah would have been totally unaware of at the time. Now after Samuel was born how costly do you think it must have been for Hannah to keep her vow to God? cfv24ff. Presentation 01

16. Conclusion We often want to claw back what we have given to God and can pile up all sorts of arguments for doing so. Hannah could have argued, “He's too young to give to God”, or, “He can serve God just as well at home”, or, “How could I send him into that godless environment at Shiloh?" Many children have had valuable service in the work of God hindered by possessive parents who cling to them! Hannah knew the importance of remaining detached from God's gifts. There is a sweet matter- of-factness in her consecration. There was no trumpet blowing and no martyr spirit. And God would later honour that cf, 2.21. Presentation 01

17. Conclusion Hannah’s years of pain in her home life drove her, not just to prayer, but to a depth of consecration that in turn produced a child. A child, who would be used by God to shape the moral and spiritual direction of Israel’s life. That is quite a thought! Were you to interview Hannah years after Samuel’s birth I suspect she would smile over her past pain and say, ‘It was worth it all. For I can now see how God used all of that suffering in creative ways that I certainly could not understand at the time’. God can use our pain and grief if we allow them to drive us to prayer and to a deeper consecration of our lives to him. Beyond the door of suffering lies the purposes of God which are often greater than our minds can grasp. Presentation 01

18. Conclusion Text here Presentation 01