1 Samuel 1-2:11, When you are disappointed, to whom do you turn to?

Judges 21:25 closes the book of Judges; “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” We saw how this affected the life of the Israelites. When the people of God rejected the kingdom of God, that is God’s sovereign reign over them, they did as they saw fit. The outcome was the inability to tell right from wrong, disastrous moral decays and confusion, lost of many lives…
In contrast, the book of Ruth told a completely different story about Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, and God. These two women experienced great difficulties in life, loosing their husbands, relocations, struggling to survive during and after the severe famine. They did not do things as they saw fit; they turned to God and God turned things around for them. Instead of emptiness, bitterness, childlessness, hungry stomach, they experienced fullness in life, joy, new life and wellbeing.
Now, we turn to the books of Samuel. Judges was about people doing things as they saw fit without regard to God’s rule over them. The stories told in the book of Samuel focus on this; establishment of the kingship in Israel under the leadership of Samuel, a last judge.
Initially, there was no break between 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. It was one book. But, in the 15^th century A.D., Samuel was divided into two parts; this division is first seen in the first printed Hebrew Bible called the Bomberg edition published in 1516-1517 in Venice.
Also, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, called LXX, Septuagint instead of dividing Samuel into two parts, it grouped Samuel with the book of Kings. So, together, they were called “Books of Kingdoms.” So, Samuel and Kings were known as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings. This emphasized the big change that occurred after the period of Judges, going from no kingship to fully established kingship in Israel.
The books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel obviously bear the name of Samuel, the last judges. He played an important role in the history of Israel, going from without kings to kings.

Hannah and Peninnah (1 Samuel 1:1-8)

The story of Samuel begins with the birth account of Samuel to his childhood ending in 4:1. Today, we are going to consider the story of his birth.

We are introduced to his parents in verse 1 and 2, Elkanah and Hannah. Verse 2 says that he had two wives, Hannah, and the other Peninnah. Their names relates to their current situation. Peninnah means, “prolific” while Hannah means, “charming.” It is likely that Elkanah’s first wife Hannah, who was charming, meaning he was beloved, was not able to conceive and give birth; so, Elkanah got his second wife, Peninnah according to the custom of the time. His second wife Peninnah was prolific in having children.

Let me say few words about polygamy in the Old Testament. In the big picture of the Bible, polygamy was never intended as God’s ideal for marriage. Genesis 2:24 tells us that marriage is between one male and one female. Adam and Eve were monogamists. However, after the fall, the marriage institution suffered from the effect of sin. In the New Testament, we see no examples of polygamy. Jesus emphasized God’s original intention and design for marriage as “the two shall become one flesh,” according to Mark 10:2-12. The church leaders were told to be the husband of only one wife (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6).

In the Old Testament, the impact of polygamy was negative on family lives. In Abraham’s case, there were great discord and jealousy between his wife Sarah and the maid Hagar (Genesis 16:5). In David’s case, his sons from the various wives fought among themselves for the throne (2 Samuel 5:13; 13:22-33). And, in the case of Solomon, his 700 wives and 300 concubines turned his heart from the LORD (1 Kings 11:1-8).

It is likely that Elkanah got Peninnah as his second wife due to having no children with his first wife Hannah, as it was custom during the time. We see the strain in the relationship. Peninnah is described as Hannah’s rival. Verse 6 says, “because the LORD closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.” And, verse 7 continues, “This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.” Whenever she would weep and not eat, her husband Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you so downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

This went on whenever the family made to Shiloh for their annual visit to the house of God, where they worshiped and sacrificed according to God’s law. It was during these yearly journeys to the house of God, Peninnah picked on Hannah, provoking and badgering her for not being able to have any child. Elkanah tried without success to comfort Hannah. As his beloved and favored, verse 5 says, “but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her though the LORD has closed her womb.”

Hannah before the LORD (1 Samuel 1:9-20)

What did Hannah do when she got depressed, picked on, provoked by her rival? We see in verse 9-11 that she took her sorrows, hurts, and pains to God. Verse 9 says after the meal at Shiloh, Hannah went before the LORD. There at the tabernacle before the LORD, verse 10, “in bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD.” This is a picture of godly woman. She was not fighting back, getting back at Peninnah. Hannah took the matter to the LORD. She poured her heart to the LORD.

There before the LORD, she made a vow in verse 11: “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

Verse 11, during her prayer, she felt led to make a Nazirite vow to the LORD. It was a vow of separation, complete devotion to the LORD. Samson before he was born was given also the Nazirite vow. But, we know what Samson did with his Nazirite vow. As we will see Samuel was vastly different person than Samson was. Her prayer tells a lot about this woman. Her payer tells us that she recognized that children were gifts from God. God is the one who enabled conception and childbirth as it was the case in Ruth. She knew God as LORD Almighty. Nothing was too typical for God; he saw herself as God’s servant. She knew that the God cared for her. She was a woman who also knew how to be thankful to the LORD.

(Verse 12-18) Hannah was praying silently, only moving her lips. Eli, the priest at the house of the LORD saw her and thought that she was drunk. Apparently drunkenness was not uncommon during the time of feasts. But, Hannah wasn’t drinking. According to verse 7, she wasn’t even eating anything at all, a self imposed fasting.

For Eli to assume that Hannah was drunk because she was moving her lips without praying aloud and weeping tells something about this priest’s spiritual insensitivity.

Contrary to his mistaken perception, Hannah told him that instead of having poured wine or bear into her mouth, she was pouring out her soul to the LORD. She was pouring out her great anguish and grief. She was far from being a wicked woman; she was a godly woman.

Verse 17, to this, Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

Things were different for her now. She poured her anguish, broken, grieving heart. She poured out her deep desire for a child to God. Having heard the priest pronounce the blessing over her prayer, it says in verse 18, “she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.”

Verse 19-20, we see how God answered Hannah’s prayer. The family rose early next morning and worshiped before the LORD before heading home. Elkanah lay with Hannah and it says, “the LORD remembered her.” The LORD came and answered her prayer, helping her to conceive and to give birth to a son. She named him Samuel, which sounds like in Hebrew word meaning, “heard of God.”

Hannah dedicated Samuel (1 Samuel 1:21-28)

In the follower year, the family of Elkanah was making another annual trip to the annual sacrifice to the LORD. This time Hannah told Elkanah she wished to stay behind. She told him, “After boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”
We see that Hannah did not make a rash vow that she would regret later. She knew in her heart that the child was a gift from God, a merciful response to her heartfelt prayer. She was determined to follow through with her vow to dedicate her son in Nazirite vow. What we see is a thankful woman who owed everything to the LORD.
It took about three years for women to wean their children from breastfeeding back then. So, it is reasonable to think that she kept him for three years to raise him up.
At the age of about three, still very young, she took Samuel back to the house of the LORD as she promised in her vow. There, she worshiped God and sacrificed to the LORD. She told Eli, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.”

Hannah’s Prayer and Praise (1 Samuel 2:1-11)
In verse 1-2, we see where Hannah put her trust in. Her trust was squarely in the LORD. Sherejoiced and delighted in the LORD who delivered her, who strengthened her. Her confession was this, “There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” When she felt bitter with disappointment, she turned to God because God alone was the Rock, the sure foundation, her Cornerstone. Although circumstances might be shaky and heartbreaking, she wasn’t shaken by them. She remained strong, firm and unshakeable because her foundation was the Rock of her salvation.
In God, the Rock of salvation, she confessed, “those who stumbled are armed with strength, who were hungry hunger no more, who was barren has borne seven children” in verse 4-5.
God, the Creator, alone is sovereign “for the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world” verse 8.
In this God, her Rock, her sovereign Creator, she found her confidence for the LORD guards the feet of his saints, verse 9.

Applications

When you are bitter because of your disappointments, to whom or what do you turn? Do what Hannah did!

• Take your disappointments to the Lord. He is strong enough to take your disappointments.
• Pour your heart out to the LORD. God knows your heart
• Trust God who is merciful and remembers you.
• Know that all gifts are from God and be grateful.
• Let your thankfulness motivate you to service to your God.