Abstract
This week’s OT lesson reads like a synopsis of a romantic novel, with all the ingredients of a best seller. It has jealousy, heartache, misunderstanding and fortunately a happy ending! It is amazing that the author manages to convey so much drama and emotion in only eighteen verses.
Hannah is the first and much loved wife of Elkanah, a Levite from the mountains of Ephraim, but was childless while Peninnah, his second wife, bore him sons and daughters. These central characters in the story are all grieving in their own way.
Elkanah grieves because his beloved wife is so unhappy and he can’t understand why his love is not enough for her. He has sons, so his bloodline is assured, but Hannah is the wife of his heart. Peninnah has fulfilled her duty and has provided the necessary children, but is apparently not appreciated in the role of mother. Cast as the evil second wife, she too must be grieving, and her grief makes her spiteful and vindictive. Hannah, feels that she has failed as a wife by not bearing children. She not only feels inadequate as a woman, but also has the worry of what will happen to her if Elkanah dies before she does!
Year after year, this unhappy family go to Shiloh to sacrifice at the tabernacle, and Hannah’s misery increases with Peninnah’s constant taunting. Finally Hannah goes to the temple to pray alone. She pleads to the Lord to be given a son; if her request is granted, she vows, she will return him to God to serve in the temple for life. She prayed silently, as in those days a husband had the power to rescind any vow his wife made, and Elkanah would not be happy to lose the son of his beloved wife, even to God.
Eli, the high priest, saw her distress and watched her lips moving as she prayed silently. This in itself was unusual, first that a woman should be alone, and also because prayer was always audible, so he concluded that she was drunk. Poor Eli had troubles of his own, so maybe he was less perceptive than he should have been as he upbraided Hannah. But then, when she explained he said, ‘Go in Peace: may the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him’. Eli’s words lifted the sadness from Hannah and gave her new hope where there had been despair. She was not disappointed because God heard her petition and she conceived and had a son.
That is where our reading ends today, but it is not the end of Hannah’s story. She went on to have three more sons and two daughters. God had certainly heard her plea and rewarded her faithfulness.
But this is not a synopsis of a novel, it is a finely drawn illustration of relationships within a family, or a community. Looking at it from outside or from a distance, either in time or space, it is easy to criticise and apportion blame to all of these people. We can all say, “I wouldn’t have behaved like that!’ about any of the characters, but can we be sure of that? Look at Elkanah, a loving husband. What more could Hannah ask for? He remained constant through years of disappointment and worry over his first wife who was so unhappy, and he does not seem to blame her for not giving him children, but he could not understand her need to be a mother, a need that is still important today, and which can probably only be truly understood by those who are in Hannah’s position, and are willing to pay all they can afford to fulfil that need. They too, often have to suffer other people’s comments even when those comments are not intended to hurt. This was brought home to me when I heard an exchange between two friends many years ago. The woman was describing a holiday abroad, from which she had just returned and the other friend said enviously, “Aren’t you lucky, we can’t afford foreign holidays because of the kids!” to which she replied, “I would give up all my holidays if I could have a child!” Now she would understand Hannah’s feelings!
Then we have Peninnah, spiteful and mean. She had children, but instead of sympathising with Hannah and consoling her, she taunted and provoked her constantly—not a very pleasant person! However, if we were in Peninnah’s position could we honestly say that we would not be resentful? She was a second wife—second choice? Her husband made it clear that Hannah was more important to him despite the fact that she, Peninnah, had given him the sons he needed to carry on his name. Year after year, she did her duty but probably felt that she was not appreciated, while the barren wife received all the sympathy. Can we blame her for allowing her resentment to build up? How would we behave in a similar situation?
Hannah had spent so long worrying about her barrenness that her meeting with Eli, although it got off to a bad start when he thought she was drunk, seems to have been the first time that anyone had really listened to her, or maybe the first time she had actually spoken about it. When she explained her predicament Eli blessed her, telling her to ‘Go in peace’, and prayed that God would answer her request. Hannah’s sadness left her, she went home with hope and shortly after her prayer was answered and she conceived.
Hannah’s faith in God has been an example of the power of prayer in both the Jewish and Christian faith. Her song, today’s canticle, which begins, ‘My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory,’ has a certain edge to it (was she thinking of Peninnah?) and must have influenced Mary, when she sang, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour’.
The message to us in this reading has to be ‘Don’t give up hope, God is listening!’ It was when Hannah stopped struggling on her own and took her problem to God that she found happiness and purpose in her life. A good piece of advice I once received about prayer was, ‘When you take your worries to God, leave them there. Don’t take them away with you when you go!’ That was what Hannah finally did, and it worked, as it still works for us if we allow God to help us. She left her worry with God and went home with faith and hope. Centuries later Christ told us to ask and we would receive, but we still often find it difficult to leave our problems in his hands. We pay lip service to the power of prayer and are disappointed when nothing happens immediately, or as we expected. Hannah could not have guessed that her years of heartbreak would end so spectacularly, and it was spectacular because, as she vowed, she returned her firstborn, Samuel, to God. How proud she must have been to see how he became such a powerful prophet for Israel, all because she didn’t give up hope.
But Eli too, played his part by listening to her and giving her the encouragement she needed to believe that her prayers would be answered. Hannah’s sadness left her, not when she conceived, but when Eli prayed for her. That, too, is a lesson we can learn: that we have a part to play in encouraging others in their faith and prayer.
As Hannah could tell us, prayer changes things!