The people of God were facing chaos and big problems during this period (the judges), because they lacked godly leadership. The priesthood was defiled, there was no sustained prophetic message from the Lord (3:1), and the Law of Moses was being ignored throughout the land. As He often did in Israel’s history, God began to solve the problem by sending a baby. Babies are God’s announcement that He knows the need, cares about His people, and is at work on their behalf. The arrival of a baby ushers in new life and a new beginning; babies are signposts to the future, and their conception and birth is a miracle that only God can do (Gen. 30:1–2). To make the event seem even greater, God sometimes selects barren women to be the mothers, as when He sent Isaac to Sarah, Jacob and Esau to Rebekah, and Joseph to Rachel. How and when should we pray?
- Pray Through Opposition (1 Sam. 1:1–8).
Elkanah was a Levite, a Kohathite from the family of Zuph (1 Chron. 6:22–28, 34–35). The Levites were scattered throughout the land and went to Shiloh to minister at the tabernacle whenever they were needed. Elkanah lived in Ramah on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin (see Josh. 18:25). Elkanah’s famous son Samuel would be born in Ramah (1 Sam. 1:19–20), live there (7:17), and be buried there when he died (25:1).1
In many ways, Elkanah seems to be a good and godly man, except that he had two wives. Apparently Hannah was his first wife, and when she proved barren, he married Peninnah so he could have a family. We don’t know why Elkanah didn’t wait on the Lord and trust Him to work out His plan, but even Abraham married Hagar (Gen. 16) and Jacob ended up with four wives! While bigamy and divorce were not prohibited by Jewish law (Deut. 21:15–17; 24:1–4), God’s original plan was that one man be married to one woman for one lifetime (Mark 10:1–9).
Each year Elkanah took his family to Shiloh to worship (Ex. 23:14–19), and together they ate a meal as a part of their worship (Deut. 12:1–7). This annual visit to the tabernacle should have been a joyful event for Hannah, but each year Peninnah used it as an opportunity to irritate her rival and make fun of her barrenness. When Elkanah distributed the meat from the sacrifice, he had to give many portions to Peninnah and her children, while Hannah received only one portion. Elkanah gave her a generous share, but his generosity certainly didn’t compensate for her infertility.2
The name “Hannah” means “a woman of grace,” and she did manifest grace in the way she dealt with her barrenness and Peninnah’s attitude and cruel words. Elkanah was able to have children by Peninnah, so Hannah knew that the problem lay with her and not with her husband. It seemed unfair that a woman with Peninnah’s ugly disposition should have many children while gracious Hannah was childless. She also knew that only the Lord could do for her what he did for Sarah and Rachel, but why had God shut up her womb? Certainly this experience helped to make her into a woman of character and faith and motivated her to give her best to the Lord. She expressed her anguish only to the Lord and she didn’t create problems for the family by disputing with Peninnah. In everything she said and did, Hannah sought to glorify the Lord. Indeed, she was a remarkable woman who gave birth to a remarkable son.
2. Pray to Change Things (1 Sam. 1:9–18).
During one of the festive meals at Shiloh, Hannah left the family and went to the tabernacle to pray. She had determined in her heart that the Lord wanted her to pray for a son so that she might give him back to the Lord to serve Him all his life. It’s an awesome fact that, humanly speaking, the future of the nation rested with this godly woman’s prayers; and yet, how much in history has depended on the prayers of suffering and sacrificing people, especially mothers.
The original tabernacle was a tent surrounded by a linen fence, but from the description in the text we learn that God’s sanctuary now included some sort of wooden structure with posts (1:9) and doors (3:2, 15) and in which people could sleep (vv. 1–3). This structure and the tabernacle together were called “the house of the Lord” (1:7), “the temple,” “the tabernacle of the congregation,” and God’s “habitation” (2:32). It was here that aged Eli, the high priest, sat on his priestly throne to oversee the ministry, and it was there that Hannah went to pray. She wanted to ask the Lord for a son and to promise the Lord her son would serve Him all the days of his life.
What an example Hannah is in her praying! It was a prayer born out of sorrow and suffering, but in spite of her feelings, she laid bare her soul before the Lord. It was a prayer that involved submission, for she presented herself to the Lord as His handmaid, to do whatever He wanted her to do (see Luke 1:48). It was a prayer that also involved sacrifice, because she vowed to give her son back to the Lord, to be a Nazirite (Num. 6) and serve the Lord all his life. In praying like this, was Hannah “bargaining” with the Lord? I don’t think so. Bearing a son would have removed her disgrace and perhaps ended her rival’s persecution, but giving up the son was another matter. Perhaps it would have been easier for her to go on living in barrenness than to have a child for three years and have to give him up forever. I wonder if God had given Hannah an inner conviction that her son would play an important part in the future of the nation.
Hannah’s faith and devotion were so strong that they rose above the misunderstanding and criticism of the nation’s highest spiritual leader. When you give your best to the Lord, it’s not unusual to be criticized by people who ought to encourage you. Moses was criticized by his brother and sister (Num. 12), David by his wife (2 Sam. 6:12–23), and Mary of Bethany by an apostle (John 12:1–8), yet all three were commended by the Lord. In the first four chapters of 1 Samuel, Eli comes across as a poor example of a believer, let alone a high priest. He was probably self-indulgent (4:18) and definitely tolerant of the sins of his two sons (2:22–36), and yet he was quick to judge and condemn the devotions of a godly woman. “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart,” said John Bunyan, and that’s the way Hannah prayed.
Those who lead God’s people need spiritual sensitivity so they can “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15 NKJV). Eli accused her of pouring out too much wine, when all she was doing was pouring out her soul to God in prayer (1 Sam. 1:15). Five times Hannah called herself a “handmaid,” which signified her submission to the Lord and His servants. We don’t read that Eli apologized to her for judging her so severely, but at least he gave her his blessing, and she returned to the feast with peace in her heart and joy on her countenance. The burden was lifted from her heart and she knew that God had answered her prayer.
3. Pray and Give Back to God (1 Sam. 1:19–28).
When the priests offered the burnt offering early the next morning, Elkanah and his family were there to worship God, and Hannah’s soul must have been rejoicing, for she had given herself as a living sacrifice to the Lord (Rom. 12:1–2). When the family arrived home, God answered her prayers and gave her conception, and when her child was born, it was a son whom she named Samuel. The Hebrew word sa-al means “asked,” and sama means “heard,” and el is one of the names for God, so Samuel means “heard of God” or “asked of God.” All his life, Samuel was both an answer to prayer and a great man of prayer.3
Certainly Hannah told Elkanah about her vow, because she knew that Jewish law permitted a husband to annul a wife’s vow if he disagreed with it (Num. 30). Elkanah agreed with her decision and allowed her to remain at home with her son when the rest of the family went on its annual trip to Shiloh. We can’t help but admire Elkanah for what he said and did, for this was his firstborn son by his beloved Hannah and father and son would be separated for the rest of their lives. A firstborn son had to be redeemed by a sacrifice (Ex. 13:11–13), but Elkanah was giving his son as a living sacrifice to the Lord. As a Levite, a Nazirite, a prophet, and a judge, Samuel would faithfully serve the Lord and Israel and help to usher in a new era in Jewish history.
Mothers usually weaned children at the age of three, and surely during those precious years, Hannah taught her son and prepared him for serving the Lord. He did not have a personal knowledge of the Lord until later when God spoke to him (1 Sam. 3:7–10). Hannah was a woman of prayer (1:27) and taught her son to be a man of prayer. When she and Elkanah took their son to Shiloh to give him to the Lord, they brought along the necessary sacrifices so they could worship the Lord. The Authorized Version reads “three bullocks” while other translations read “a three-year-old bull” (NIV, NASB). However, the fact that the parents took a skin of wine and an ephah of meal, enough to accompany three sacrifices, suggests that three bullocks is the correct number, for three-tenths of an ephah of grain was needed for each bull sacrificed (Num. 28:12).
When Elkanah and Hannah presented their son to the Lord, Hannah reminded Eli that she was the woman who had prayed for a son three years before.4 Did the old man remember the occasion and did he recall how unfairly he had dealt with this sorrowing woman? If he did, there’s no record of it; but he received the boy to become a servant of the Lord at the tabernacle and be trained in the law of the Lord.
Considering the low level of spiritual life in Eli and the wicked ways of his sons, it took a great deal of faith for Elkanah and Hannah to leave their innocent son in their care. But the Lord was with Samuel and would preserve him from the pollution around him. Just as God protected Joseph in Egypt, so He would protect Samuel in Shiloh, and so He can protect our children and grandchildren in this present evil world. Judgment was coming to Eli and his family, but God would have Samuel prepared to guide the nation and move them into the next stage of their development.
The story so far makes it clear that the life and future of a nation depends on the character of the home, and the character of the home depends on the spiritual life of the parents. An African proverb says, “The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people,” and even Confucius taught, “The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its homes.” Eli and his sons had “religious” homes that were godless, but Elkanah and Hannah had a godly home that honored the Lord, and they gave Him their best. The future hope of the people of Israel rested with that young lad in the tabernacle learning to serve the Lord. Never underestimate the power of the home or the power of a little child dedicated to God.
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1 Ramah means “height” and Ramathaim means “the two heights.” A number of cities had “ramah” in their names (Josh 13:26; 19:29; 21:38; Judg. 4:5; 1 Sam. 30:27), but it’s likely that Elkanah and his family lived in Ramathaim (“double heights”) on the border of Benjamin and Ephraim. Elkanah was a Levite by birth but an Ephraimite by residence.
2 The NIV and NASB both read “a double portion” and the NLT says “a special portion,” but some translate 1:5 “only one portion.” It seems, however, that Elkanah was trying to show special love to his wife at a difficult time, so the gift must have been special.
3 Psalm 99:6 and Jeremiah 15:1 identify Samuel as a man of prayer, and he’s named in Hebrews 11:32 as a man of faith. For instances of special prayer on his part, see 1 Samuel 7:8–9; 8:6; 12:18–19, 23; 15:11.
4 In her brief speech recorded in 1:25–28, Hannah frequently used different forms of the Hebrew word sa-al, which means “asked” and is a basis for the name “Samuel.” The word “lent” in v. 28 (KJV) means “given.” Hannah’s surrender of Samuel to the Lord was final.
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Successful, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor/Cook Communications, 2001), 14–19.
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