By Mrs Lynne Preston 2011 (updated and edited by Selah – with me 2020)
Introduction
The events concerning Hannah take place in the time of transitioning in the mode of leadership of Israel from judges to kings, long before any temple of God has been built in Jerusalem. God has established His dwelling amongst the people at Shiloh, in the form of the Tabernacle, the pattern of which God had instructed Moses to have His people make (see Exodus). Nearing the end of the time of the Judges and before Israel’s first king, the Lord’s priest and judge Eli, of the tribe of Levi, is the Lord’s minister for His people Israel. Unfortunately his sons Hophni and Phinehas, who also served as priests were very wicked and Eli is old and ineffectual in disciplining his sons and restraining sin among the people and so the Lord God is not pleased (see 1 Samuel 2:22-36). Nevertheless, the Lord has His own answer in His own timing for this matter and Hannah would unexpectedly become interwoven in the plan of God for His people in His beautifully crafted handiwork from out of the sorrow of her heart of barrenness.
Overview on Hannah
The principal Scripture passages concerning Hannah for our purposes here are found at 1 Samuel chapters 1-2:21 and from which the thoughts below are shared.
Hannah was one of two wives. Her husband was Elkanah, of the tribe of Ephraim. Elkanah had another wife, Peninnah. It is probable that, as time went on and Hannah had no children, that is when and why Elkanah took another wife, to raise up children to continue his name.
Hannah’s Legacy
Problems and Plans
From our reading we can see that Hannah is a devout, Torah-observant Jewess. She went regularly with her husband to offer the sacrifices to God commanded in the law of God given through Moses. Hannah’s name means Grace, Favour or Blessing and yet, her name probably seemed a mockery to her in some ways as she may well have felt not favoured by God with children, a cherished blessing from God. Psalm 127 v3 & 4 says ‘Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.’ But notice why she did not have children at I Samuel 1:5. It was because God had closed her womb. When there is a problem in our lives, the solution is with God who may want to do something in our life which contains not only the solution, but something far reaching.
Eli’s sons were corrupt – by their actions they did not know God and yet they were about to become Judges and Priests of Israel, taking over from Eli. Although of the priestly line, Hophni and Phinehas were not obedient to the LORD’s instructions regarding their duties, and as we saw in the passages from 1 Samuel 2, their sin was very great in God’s eyes because they had caused men to despise the offerings that He had established for fellowship with them. Hannah could not have known that her problem, her closed womb, would have anything to do with that situation. That God had a plan which included her having a son, who would be dedicated to God; that Eli and his sons would all die on the same day, and that the son that she would one day have, Samuel, would replace them as God’s minister for His people. Nor did she know that God’s solution (because she brought the matter to Him) would go on for millennia in that in the twenty-first century today we would be considering the example of this godly woman.
We should not let our suffering be wasted. If we accept His embrace of and in the suffering, then He will bring fruit from it in our lives. We can be sure that that fruit will not rot on the tree but will be good fruit for the nourishing of others and to His glory. Let’s help and encourage one another to hold on to God’s truth as we go through pain, trusting that our Father will not leave us there. He plans to bring us through it and by that process to teach, guide and change us, and build in us a deeper relationship with Him, in and through Lord Yeshua the Messiah, by the Holy Spirit in us.
Eli the priest of the LORD observes Hannah fervently praying and concludes that she is drunk! Displeased he challenges her, but Hannah responds that, no, she hasn’t been pouring wine in but has been pouring out her soul to the LORD out of the abundance of her grief. We can see, especially but not solely amongst unbelievers that, left to our own devices, when we are in pain we may pour in the “pain killers” – be they food, escapism through movie-watching, shopping, alcohol, drugs or therapy such as so-called “self-help” books. But if we, as believers, follow the same empty solutions we starve ourselves of the good things God desires to work in and through us. He calls us to instead turn to Him: ‘Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be shaken (Psalm 55 v22); ‘Therefore 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).
Hannah did the right thing:
- she called out to the one true God and her trust was in Him (not in Eli the priest).
- Hannah cried out with absolute honesty, from the depths of her despair.
- She spoke in her heart, only her lips moved but her voice was not heard – Hannah’s voice was not raised up to attract the attention of human hearers.
One of the therapies we may be tempted to seek is the listening and sympathetic ear of other people. This appeals to our self-life. There is a place for sharing prayer needs with fellow believers, of course, and God does encourage us by the work that He does as we support one another in prayer. However, if we go to others first and to the exclusion of our Heavenly Father then we are missing His great intentions for us.
The pattern of our prayer
God had given Hannah a heart for Him – she went every year with her husband to offer sacrifices to Him. God had also given her an unfruitful womb which drove her to prayer and was a catalyst in prayer. No doubt when she first began praying for a child it was for a son to give to her husband. But as time goes on, she gets to a place where she can pray for a son to give to the Lord; then God could answer her prayer. If God seems not to be answering our prayer, maybe it is because over time, as we continue to pray, He is shaping our thoughts and understanding (by the Word, by our conversations with others, through teaching that we hear) until we have re-formed our prayer into the one He wishes to answer, one that will bring far greater blessing than we had in our minds and hearts when we began.
Hannah endures in prayer. Despite Peninnah’s continuous taunts and the great upset these caused Hannah, she did not turn away from God, but continued to go with her husband to bring offerings and to pray. She persevered and at length she saw God’s faithfulness.
Hannah’s response
Hannah’s attitude in deeply painful inward sufferings and response to Penninah’s taunts is instructive. Hannah is not super-human. Yes, she is hurt to the point of weeping, but she takes that bitterness of soul and prays. She prays and weeps, she is fully honest with her God about what is in her soul pouring out the abundance of complaints and griefs (1 Samuel 1:16). She remains humble before the LORD seeking Him through prayer, but her bitterness is, rightly, not directed at God.
Similarly, when Eli challenges her, her reaction could have been self-righteous indignation at being wrongly accused. She could have climbed up on a spiritual high ground – the devout, praying woman, better than the unperceptive, supposed spiritual leader. If she had taken that attitude it could well have been the end of the blessing. But she doesn’t respond in that way and, again, she is humble, stating that she is Eli’s maidservant. Her response is from a soft heart, her answer is gentle. ‘A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger’ (Proverbs 15 v1). Often, when someone is harsh with us or misjudges us, our response is from self, for example self-righteousness. And so, we reject that person and, in future, avoid them. However, when we do this, we likely miss a great blessing. If we would only give that person a second chance, and set our self response aside, that relationship could be a blessing to both of us. Certainly in Hannah’s case, following her humble response, her accuser blesses her, and subsequently her prayer is answered, to her blessing and ultimately, that of all Israel. This is to God’s glory, for Hannah glorifies God when she prays to Him the prayer we see in chapter 2.
Philippians 4:5a says ‘Let your gentleness [graciousness/forbearance] be known to all men’ and gentleness and graciousness certainly seem to be characteristics we see in operation in Hannah’s life, and which we should desire to be seen in our lives. We can ask the Lord to work these things in us increasingly.
To Whom do we Pray
Elkanah and Hannah go up to worship the ‘LORD of Hosts’ and Hannah prays to the ‘LORD of Hosts’ (1 Samuel 1:3, 11). This is a title that indicates God’s power, as one bible commentator puts it, ‘as sovereign over all of the powers in heaven and on earth.’ It’s good to remind ourselves often that the LORD GOD is powerful. It builds our faith and trust in Him. As the LORD Himself says of Himself at e.g. Isaiah 63 v1b, “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Note also the mighty power of God towards His children adopted in His Beloved Yeshua as Ephesians 1:19-20 declares ‘..the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places]’. That is how He – our heavenly Father – is able to help us, His children in Messiah.
In our Scripture passage at 1 Samuel 1:17 we read that Eli responds to Hannah’s defence of prayer to his wrong notions of her by adding his ‘Amen’ but in the name of ‘the God of Israel’. There is no insignificant detail in the Scriptures, so we may validly ask, to what is God calling our attention by this? It is a reference to relationship, to family ties, to His love for Israel, Hannah’s ancestor, Jacob, with whom God wrestled until He changed His name from ‘heel’ to ‘Ruler with God’ (Israel means ‘Prince with God’ or ‘he will rule with God’) – see Genesis 32:24-32.. It is a reference to covenant relationship and a covenant keeping God – the covenant made by God with Abraham, with Isaac and with all Israel, including Hannah. God who is our Father in Messiah is saying to His children, in Lord Yeshua, you are My child, I am responsible for you, I love you. Our Abba desires us to pray to Him.
Hannah’s Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving
Just as Hannah called out to God from the abundance of her heart to ask for the blessing of a child, so her prayer of praise is also out of the abundance of her heart. We should bring our whole heart to Him, whether cries for help or praises for His gifts and sustaining. Hannah had received mercy from God and she acknowledged it rightly – with praise, unlike the nine lepers in Luke’s account of Jesus healing ten lepers (Luke 17 v11-19).
Hannah’s prayer was in her heart, mind and spirit – her lips moved, but her voice was not heard by others. In her prayer of praise and thanksgiving however, she spoke so that all might hear her thanksgiving and recorded for us at 1 Samuel 2:1-10 it encourages us as women today to approach the throne of grace, boldly with thanksgiving also. God will regard true prayers and praises. May we be enabled to never forget that thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer. There are so many places in the Scriptures that confirm this such as Psalm 95:2; Philippians 4:6; I Thessalonians 5:17-18 and many examples of doing just that e.g. Psalms 26:6-7 and Psalm 69:30. May we, as Psalm 100 v4 directs ‘Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name’.
Hannah declares great things of God in her praises and thanksgivings. She is not distracted by the gift, dwelling on the perfection of her new baby, but rather celebrates God’s Holiness, Power, Wisdom and Justice. We are too apt to forget the giver and focus on the gift. Our prayers can easily dwell on our needs and desires, whereas God’s answer to our prayers is bound up in our being caught up in Him and in His will, in dwelling on His attributes and goodness towards us. Note how Hannah’s experience of God’s favour causes her to dwell on His greatness and matchlessness: No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God. 1 Samuel 2 v2 For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock except our God? Psalm 18 v31.
A Garment of Prayer
Hannah kept her vow to God dedicating her precious gift of her son Samuel to the LORD and leaving him with Eli once he was weaned. How much difficulty this costly act of fulfilling her word must have presented to her inwardly – he was her first and much wanted child and still so very young. There is little doubt that Hannah must have continued in prayer for her child and she took to him, year by year, the new linen garment that she made for him. This is similar to a mother’s prayers for her child. Samuel was serving the Lord but he was surrounded by the ungodly influence of, in particular, Hophni and Phinehas. Like Hannah, though we may dedicate our children to God, we see them growing up surrounded by ungodly influences and increasing temptations and challenges. As they grow, we can tailor our prayers to ensure that children are always clothed in a garment of prayer.
A Yoke of Humility
We have seen how Hannah is a humble woman for example in her restraint following Peninnah’s taunts and in her response to Eli. Humility is essential to her prayer; a proud, self-sufficient person is most unlikely to submit themselves to prayer or in prayer. Hence, Jesus’ teaching, ‘Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ Matthew 5 v3 & 4 (Good News Bible). If we realise we are lacking in our spirit, we are in a happy position because we have recognised our need, our insufficiency, and once we are humble before Almighty God our heavenly Father, He can fill us and help us in and through Lord Yeshua.
The sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. 1 Samuel 2 v12. They were ‘sons of Belial’, meaning wicked, ungodly, not yoked with God. By contrast, Hannah wishes not to be known as a daughter of Belial (1 Samuel 1v16), but as yoked with God. Yeshua said: “Come to me all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11 v28-30 (Complete Hebrew Bible). We can have the life of Messiah, only by putting on His yoke as we believe in Him and receive the Holy Spirit. The yoke which Jesus’ hearers would have been familiar with, and could picture, was a beam of wood fitted across the necks of a pair of oxen, with an aperture for the head to go through, and held there.
We need to put our head entirely through the yoke; the Lord wants all of your head – your senses, thoughts, memories and emotions. How do we do this? By putting our heads in the Word of God; the Word is as His yoke, His instruction to us. ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross’ Philippians 2 v5-8. Although He was God, He humbled Himself; He emptied Himself and became a man, Yeshua; and not just a man, but a bondservant, obedient even to the death of the disreputable. When we walk yoked with Yeshua we are learning of Him, how to be like Him (Take My yoke upon you and learn from me.) He will teach and train us in the way we should go, and He will transform us into His likeness.
Hannah berates the proud in her Prayer of praise to the Lord at 1 Samuel 2v3 saying ‘[t]alk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth.’ Wise advice, for the Word tells us that the proud, the arrogant raise up their voices against God, but they are fools and their end is destruction. ‘They utter speech, and speak insolent things; all the workers of iniquity boast in themselves’ Psalm 94 v4. We will not speak proudly if we are humble as Yeshua taught, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” Luke 6 v45. Let’s strive to be counted amongst the wise: ‘The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips’ Proverbs 16 v23.
Yeshua the Lord humbled Himself, but God elevated Him. Philippians 2 v9-11 for example, records: ‘Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ God was glorified by Yeshua’s humility. Putting on Yeshua’s yoke is an act of humility and it is our responsibility to humble ourselves. As we increasingly know God, we become one with Him, which is life. This produces fruit, unlike mere head knowledge of Him but, in relationship with Him, in oneness, He through the Holy Spirit dwelling and working in us will produce His fruit in our lives. By contrast, separation is death.
Consider 2 Corinthians 6 v14-18:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them and walk among them,
and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Therefore,
“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
And,
“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
If we are yoked to Yeshua as He calls us to be, we will be separate from the world, increasingly having His mind and seeing things as He does, not as the world does. We no longer walk as if uninstructed. We will also be increasingly genuine, the same on the inside as we are on the outside. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘genuine’ as ‘1. Really coming from its stated, advertised, or reputed source. 2. Properly so called; not sham. 3. Pure-bred. 4. (of a person) free from affectation or hypocrisy; honest.’
Hannah declares, ‘For the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed’ 1 Sam. 2 v3b. This speaks of His knowledge of our motives. Consider Hebrews 4 v12 & 13. Here we see again, not only God Himself, but His Word, ‘is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ and 1 Samuel 16 v7 teaches that ‘the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’. Here is a way in which we can be changed to become more like Yeshua. We can co-operate with this work of grace for transformation in our lives as we recognise our human tendency to see the outer man and woman and remind ourselves in our encounters with others to consider how the Lord sees the inner person. Additionally, in ourselves, we can as women decide to develop our inner character, heart and spirit to be beautiful in His eyes, rather than spending significant finances and time on outward beauty as the world would have us do. We can work towards this end by co-operating with His work in us, setting aside time to spend alone with Him and allowing Him to teach us and train us by His Word to us.
Conclusion
Hannah can perhaps be summed up in this verse from first Peter: ‘be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore 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 v5b – 7
As we have seen in Hannah, the humble receive God’s help when they pray. Let us not fall into the trap of thinking that we just have to get on with it, by our own endeavour, strength or gritted teeth! May we through the grace of God continue in prayer, grow in the grace of prayer and be and/or become women of prayer.
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