Faithful Hannah - Mother’s Day

Faithful Hannah - Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s day so today we honor all of you mothers today!

Today we are going to talk about a special mother named Hannah. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah who was also married to another wife named Pennanah.

Hannah was very faithful to God and remained faithful through troubled times. We’ll see how she deals with a problem and we’ll see how she becomes the mother of the last and one of the best Judges and one of the great men of the Old Testament.

So when you have a problem, how do you solve it?

There was a guy who once had an enemy who owned a monster truck that would always drive their car all over his yard. One day he decided to get back at the enemy and bury boards with nails sticking up in his yard. The next time the enemy drove all over his yard, it punctured his tires costing him hundreds of dollars to repair his expensive tires. Of course, some of us cheer at that but really is vengeance the way to fix a problem? Bad blood just breeds more bad blood.

Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

So when you have a problem, the right thing to do is to pray to the Lord and share your problem and let go and let God take care of it. That’s easier said than done sometimes because our carnal nature gets in the way, but it is the right way.

1 Samuel 1:1-28

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

I’m not sure why or how Elkanah became a polygamist but some scholars theorize that he may have married Hannah first and because she could have no kids may have married another wife so that he could have an heir which was very important in Jewish tradition. You must remember that just because something is in the Bible does not mean that it was approved by God.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And 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 more to you than ten sons?”

Peninnah could have children and Hannah could not. In those times being barren was thought to be because God judged you or that you were a sinner which wasn’t the case. Peninnah was not only mean about it, she was grievously mean about it. You know it’s one thing for two women to have a cat fight but this was apparently a very cruel thing Peninnah was doing. Not only did she pick on Hannah because she was barren but was also acting as though God had done this to her also like God didn’t love her. So going to give an offering for Hannah turned from a joyous occasion to a dreadful occasion because of what Peninnah was doing to her. It affected her so much that she couldn’t eat. Elkanah tried to console her but didn’t seem to be very helpful.

So of course, the world’s way to take care of this problem would be for Hannah to punch Peninnah in the nose and make her pay! Evil for evil? This is not what Hannah did.

Romans 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”