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The Story of Hannah

The books called 1& 2 Samuel were originally part of a longer book of ‘reigns’ or ‘Kings’ including those we call 1&2 Kings. But what is their function in the Bible? Are they simply the newspapers of the time? Or have they some purpose? The first book, called appropriately 1 Samuel begins with a story about a barren woman called Hannah, and how she cried to God in her distress and was given a son whom she called Samuel. Yet the books are not really about Hannah. After chapter 2 we hear nothing more about her. The books are not about Samuel either, although he appears in 1 Samuel until his death in chapter 25.

The real theme of the books seems rather to be the evolution of the nation from being a theocracy; that is a state ruled by God, into a monarchy – a state ruled by a king. The defining moment in the books comes when the people demand that Samuel, now their prophet, gives them a king so that they can be like the surrounding nations. We find the incident in chapter 8.

^{1SA 8:4} Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; ⁵ and they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." ⁶ But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. ⁷ And the LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them."

We should note carefully the significance of this moment. When the people insist that they want a man as king God tells Samuel that it is not Samuel that they are rejecting, but God? We must ask therefore – is it good or bad for Israel to get a king? Was it right for Israel to want a king? Perhaps we have never looked at the story in this way before. While we are pondering this question however, let us consider a passage from 2 Samuel and two New Testament quotations: -

^{2SA 7:11} … The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. ¹² "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. … ¹⁶ "And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'"

In this passage God promises to make a dynasty for King David.

^{LK 1:26} Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end."

And now we learn that Jesus, the Son of God is to inherit the throne of David, as the rightful heir to David’s dynasty.

^{REV 19:11} And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹² And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. ¹³ And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. ¹⁵ And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

Can I pose two questions? What does it mean to us today when we call Jesus Lord of Lords and King of Kings? Are these just titles, titles of elevation and prominence certainly, but are they anything more than that? What, day to day, do they mean to us?

More troublingly perhaps, consider also, if Israel was wrong in asking for a man as king in 1 Samuel 8, what is God doing when He promises David an enduring kingdom, and how are we to relate to the promise that Jesus will inherit the throne of David? Has God bowed to popular demand? Has the concept of a king been forced upon God by the rebellious people? That is one of the important issues that these books raise for us. Our concern with these books is not what they teach us about Israel’s history, but what they teach us about God, and about His plans and designs.

Against this background let us now turn back to the story of Hannah.

^{1SA 1:1} Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were priests to the LORD there. ⁴ And when the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. ⁷ And it happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she would provoke her, so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"

^{1SA 1:9} Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. ¹⁰ And she, greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. ¹¹ And she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy maidservant and remember me, and not forget Thy maidservant, but wilt give Thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head."

^{1SA 1:12} Now it came about, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, "How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you." ¹⁵ But Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. ¹⁶ "Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman; for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation." ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him." ¹⁸ And she said, "Let your maidservant find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

^{1SA 1:19} Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. ²⁰ And it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked him of the LORD."

^{1SA 1:21} Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD and stay there forever." ²³ And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the LORD confirm His word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh, although the child was young. ²⁵ Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ And she said, "Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the LORD. ²⁷ "For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. ²⁸ "So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.

Why does the book begin with this woman? Her problem was that she was barren. This seems to have nothing in common with the theme of kingship. If we are tempted to look at the incident of Hannah as merely a quaint interlude before the main action in the books of Samuel and Kings begins we might consider how the previous book in the history of the nation of Israel finished. The events in these books come just after the period covered in the book of Judges, which is probably the most depressing book in the Bible. It is full of increasing failure and distress, in which the nation slides further and further away from God. And four times in the final five chapters (17:7, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25) we are told that ‘in those days there was no king in Israel’, and in two of those references – including the very last verse in the book we find the strange lament –

^{JDG 21:25} In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

There are two points to note -

1. Why refer to a king at all? Israel had never had a king, they had patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, prophets – e.g. Moses, leaders/judges – e.g. Joshua, but there has never been any suggestion that Israel needed or would get a king. And yet the end of the book of Judges offers as explanation for the terrible state of the nation, that there was no king in Israel.
    
2. The peoples’ ‘doing what was right in their own eyes’ is not the same as ‘doing what they liked’. In the second chapter of 1 Samuel we meet the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, who did just what they liked, with no regard to right or wrong. However the book of Judges records that the people of Israel ‘did what was right in their own eyes’. They sought to do the right thing, but the book of Judges tells us of the awful mess they made of everything they touched.

There is a truth here that we can observe throughout history. It is not limited to the nation of Israel and not just to this time. There is something so wrong in and with man that even when we seek to ‘do what is right in our own eyes’ we make a complete mess of things. And it is as true today. Even when man wants to build a perfect society, even though he wants to do good, there is something about him that inevitably spoils it, and often produces a result quite the opposite of what he wishes for.

This failure is caused by sin, and there is nothing that man can do to eliminate it. The Bible describes living righteously as living by wisdom, but man ‘doing what is right in his own eyes’ never achieves ‘wisdom’, because of sin. Wisdom is more than simply knowing what is the law, because Israel all through this time had the law. Wisdom is the ruling of the mind by the law of God, and sin brings man to folly, not wisdom.

Yet the book of Judges diagnosed that ‘there was no king’, and so we can see that even before the nation demanded a king, the Bible raises the issue of the need for a king. It should not surprise us therefore that the two main themes in the books of Samuel are:-

• Kingship
• Wisdom

Hannah

But first along comes Hannah, and we might now note that the story of Hannah finishes with a psalm of praise, that ends with a prophecy: -

^{1SA 2:1} Then Hannah prayed and said,
"My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Thy salvation. ² "There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides Thee,
Nor is there any rock like our God. ³ "Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed. ⁴ "The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength. ⁵ "Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes. ⁶ "The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up. ⁷ "The LORD makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts. ⁸ "He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor;
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S,
And He set the world on them. ⁹ "He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail. ¹⁰ "Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed." .

At this point we can deduce that the story of Hannah is more than just her personal history. Note that the conclusion to the story of Hannah is the prophecy that God will give strength to and exalt –‘His King’. The book of Judges lamented the absence of a king. To Hannah is given the wonderful prophecy that Israel is to have a king. We must be very clear that although chapter 8 of this book tells us that the people demanded a king in rebellion to God, yet the idea of a king was God’s. God was not cornered and forced to adopt man’s ideas. The method of getting a king was wrong, but the design was God’s from the start. And it is to Hannah that the prophecy of the king is given. Thus her role is pivotal to the central theme of the books of Samuel and Kings.

How did Hannah come to play such a role? She is introduced in the story as the much loved wife of Elkanah, but with a problem – she was barren. Is the barrenness significant?

It is obvious that Hannah suffered because of her failure to have children. Not from abuse or mistreatment from her husband, but from her fellow wife – Peninnah. And it hurt. We may infer that Hannah had probably prayed over several years for a child, but nothing happened. Today, if someone wants a child, but cannot conceive they go to their doctor, and may receive several treatments, including test tube fertilisation. Those treatments were not available in Hannah’s day, but it would be a mistake to assume that there was nothing that Hannah could have done. From the book of Judges it is clear that Israel had assimilated many practices from the nations around them, and in this book we very early on meet Dagon – the Philistine god of fertility. Hannah could have tried lots of other ‘remedies’ and although we are not told so, it is possible that many kindly disposed sympathisers may have advised her to try one of the other gods if the Israelite God did not want to help. Some may even have urged – ‘God helps those who help themselves’. But it seems that Hannah was resolute. She hurt, deeply. Having no child meant that she was incomplete as a wife. She so wanted a child, but she would not ‘do what was right in her own eyes’, or ‘right for her’ if that would have taken her down the path of doing what was wrong in God’s eyes. Instead she cast her all on God. If God would not give her a child then she would not get one.

And so we come to the year that the story picks up. Notice that now she does not ask for a child to have and to keep. Rather she tells God that she will accept not having a child (to rear, bring up and treat as her own), but please take away the hurt of being taunted for being barren, ‘please make me right, and I will relinquish the child by giving it back to You’.

It’s OK to tell God that you hurt. God understands. But sometimes God has a purpose in our difficulties that we cannot imagine, and so it is with Hannah. God had brought Hannah to this point. She accepted not having a child, and still refused to do anything about it that was without God. In spite of her pain she chose ‘what was right in God’s eyes’. In doing this she stands out as a giant in Israel. And God not only blessed Hannah by giving her a child, but to Hannah was given the insight that God was going to exalt a king in Israel.

What was the significance of Hannah’s condition? Being barren was being devoid of productive ‘fruit’, of producing anything of lasting value. Hannah’s physical barrenness was symbolic of the nation, and indeed of all men who seek to live by ‘what is right in their own eyes’ rather than by God’s righteousness. Without ‘wisdom’ mankind is barren, producing nothing that can endure, because it is all corrupted by sin.

We might observe that this thread of the failure of sin being represented by barrenness is woven right through these books. When Michal (Saul’s daughter married to David) despised the Lord’s anointed in 2 Samuel 6 – she became ‘barren’. When David himself became embroiled in sin/folly there began a slide away from wisdom that ends with a barren marriage – but this time the barrenness is the fault of the husband – David – see 1 Kings 1. And finally when all the kings of Israel had proved themselves to be failures, and demonstrated that not one of them was the special Anointed One of Hannah’ prophecy, look what happened to the last king. In 2 Kings 25 Zedekiah suffered the terrible fate of witnessing the death of his two sons as the last thing he saw before he was blinded. He was therefore made barren.

The themes of these books are ‘the king’ and living by wisdom – living by what is right in God’s eyes. Hannah is a true spiritual giant – and through her we have learned that the idea of a king was God’s all along, yet the people were very wrong in how they went about getting a king. They were correct however in one respect, in appreciating what they needed a king for. ‘King’ is not just a title or a label. It was a job. And in 1 Samuel 8 they very correctly described what a king was for.

^{1SA 8:19} Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, ²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

There are three duties identified with a king.

1. Judge us
2. Go out (or on) before us
3. Fight our battles

Through Hannah God promised a King. Yet by the conclusion of the books of Samuel and Kings the special King promised had not arrived. We have already noted however that in Luke 1:26-33 the angel Gabriel informed Mary that the son to be born to her (conceived by the Holy Spirit) was to be the King that God had promised. Jesus was born King (see - Matthew 2:2). And the job of king that Jesus came to perform was exactly as the people had set out in 1 Samuel 8.

Judge us

The idea is not so much that the king should punish us when we do wrong, but rather that the king will bring about justice for us. There is even the thought that he will make us right (in the sense that Hannah just wanted to be made right as a woman).

We have a need to be made right, to be made clean because of sin, and since we can do nothing to make ourselves right we have a need for a ‘king’ who is able to do this for us. Isaiah in addition to the great pictures of the suffering servant also includes in his prophecy a magnificent description of the king coming to bring judgement.

^{ISA 59:15} Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. ¹⁶ And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him;

The justice for man had to be brought by a man, and the Son of God became man, became King in order to bring judgement or justice. Yet we should rejoice that Isaiah tells us that for God the bringing of justice is not a bringing in of rules, but a making righteous. Isaiah describes it as bringing ‘salvation’. Man by himself could not escape from the horrors of captivity to sin. But our king came as judge/vindicator and He became our Salvation. This is also the thought behind Hebrews 10:14 - For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Even when we try to do what is right we fail because of sin. However through our king (or ‘in Christ’ as the New Testament puts it) we have been joined with the perfect wisdom of the Son of God. He cannot and will not fail.

We may still know failure day to day however as Paul described in Romans 7: -

^{RO 7:19} For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. ²¹ I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul does not give us this assurance as an excuse for not trying to live righteously, but he does give the assurance that our Lord, our King who has already made us perfect in the sight of God, will one day also deliver us from the physical bondage to sin that plagues us.

Go out before us

Jesus our king – went into death ‘before us’. In Hebrews ^2:9 –‘But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.’ Jesus is our pioneer into death. Part of the victory over death that Jesus has won is that He has been there first and so the terrors of death, as the terrors of the unknown are drawn.

Jesus has gone before – not just into death but also through death unto resurrection (the firstborn from the dead) and we know that where He has led we will follow. That is one reason why Paul (in 1 Corinthians 15) sees the resurrection of Jesus as the proof that we shall one day be raised also. Hebrews 6 also tells us HEB 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

He has gone as our forerunner, our King, to do as he told us He would –

^{JN 14:2} "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³ "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ "And you know the way where I am going." ⁵ Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" ⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

Our King leads us. He is the way. We don’t need to be given a map or plans – joined with Him we are secure, fellowship with Him, and He will keep us from getting lost on the journey.

Fight our battles

Of all the roles of a king this is the one that I love best. At Calvary, Jesus our King fought a battle against sin, death, and condemnation that we could never have endured. It is fitting therefore that at Calvary Jesus was accused of being King of Israel: -

^{MT 27:37} And they put up above His head the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." ³⁸ At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, ⁴⁰ and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him, and saying, ⁴² "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him.

There was a difference between the King of the Jews, and the King of Israel. Pilate only know of the ‘King of the Jews’ because that was all that was left of the nation of Israel, but strictly the ‘Jews’ are the remains of the kingdom of Judah, one of the two kingdoms that the nation split into after the death of Solomon. To call Jesus the King of Israel was to give Him a much older title, because there were only three kings of Israel in this sense – Saul, David and Solomon. Although they did not recognise Him, the true King of Israel had come and was doing before their eyes exactly what the nation had requested in 1 Samuel 8:20 – fighting their battle.

At Calvary Jesus won that battle. He went into death and condemnation for you and for me, if we have made ourselves His subjects, and He rose again in triumph. And as our King He will come again one day to finally defeat and banish all the visible manifestations of sin and evil (Revelation 19:11-16).

Learning from Hannah

We may say that we have to live now, in this world and the world does not recognise our King. Back in the days of the Judges, we were told that no king meant no success, even with the best of intentions. And so it is today. At the national level mankind makes a mess even when it tries to get it right. So how are we to live now? Remember Hannah. Her problem was that she was barren, and she lived in a time of futility. Her life had not produced anything of value. Our lives too can be barren. And just like Hannah, our fruitfulness comes from dedication to and dependence on the Lord, even when we cannot see Him. Remember what Jesus said to His disciples: -

^{JN 15:1} "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. ³ "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ⁵ "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Do we want our lives to produce fruit? Although the imagery of the vine is different from human fertility the point is the same. Sometimes we think of the fruit of John 15 as winning converts for Christ, but that is not what the picture is about. It is whether our lives produce anything of value in us. By ourselves, even striving with the best intentions, we will be barren, and make a mess of it. However, when we submit to the King, seeking His will even at the cost of what we want, and resist all temptations to short cut His patient way, then we ‘abide in Him’ and His promise is that we will be fruitful. God does not short-change those He loves – look at Hannah – ‘Even the barren gives birth to seven’ (1 Samuel 2:5b).

We have a King; God’s chosen and anointed one. Though the world still rejects Him, and continues to make a mess of everything, let us seek only what is right in His eyes – He is King – let Him do His job.

I hope that we have seen that the books of Samuel are not just ancient history, but are given to us so that we can understand God’s purposes in the world in which we live. In this study we have met Hannah and have discovered how she was used to give us an appreciation of God’s plan to give us His Son as King.