In His Time

We all have dreams, plans for our ourselves, don't we? But no matter how big our dreams or plans are, God's plans for us are bigger ... much bigger ... often bigger than we can imagine.

Take ... oh ... Hannah, for example.

Her dream was to have a son who would remove the guilt and shame that she felt from being barren. But God had a dream, if you will ... a plan for Hannah's son that was bigger than anything she could possibly imagine. Let's see what her dream was for her son and what God's plan was for her son and compare the two.

Let's start with Hannah.

To begin with, the Bible says that Hannah was married to a good man. The opening verse of 1st Samuel informs us that her husband ... Elkanah ... was from a distinguished family with deep roots. You can tell that from his long pedigree in verse 1: "There was a certain man from Ramathiam, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, song Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite" (1 Samuel 1:1).

His lineage went all the way back to the original families who had settled the area.

Elkanah's name is a compound word made up of two words ... "El," which means "god" and "Ganeh," which means "to acquire." So, because of God, Elkanah ... and apparently his family ... had acquired some degree of wealth and/or property. In Elkanah's case, enough to support two wives and very large family.

Hannah was Elkanah's first wife and, according to the scripture, Elkanah loved Hannah very much. When Elkanah would go to sacrifice to the LORD at Shiloh every year, he would give portions of the sacrifice to his second wife, Peninnah and to all her sons and daughter but to Hannah he would give a double portion because he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb and she wasn't able to give him children.

The reason that Elkanah had two wives was because his first wife ... Hannah ... had no children. In a day when the success of your farm or your business depended on having children ... in a day when your future security depended on having children to take care of you in your old age ... in a day when passing on your family name to future generations was important ... not having children was a big deal and a very serious problem. So, when Hannah failed to produce children, Elkanah ... according to the custom of that time ... took on a second wife ... Peninnah ... in order to give him children ... apparently lots of them. A fact that she apparently enjoyed rubbing in Hannah's face.

The names of Elkanah's two wives ... "Hannah" and "Peninnah" ... are reflections of their character. Hannah's name means "gracious" or "favored." As I've already pointed out, however, she was clearly favored by her husband, Elkanah, who gave her a double portion every year when they went to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts ... Jehovah Sabaoth ... at Shiloh. Elkanah showed her grace and favor when he gave her a double portion to show her how special she was to him even though, as the Bible put it ... or as they believed ... God had 'closed her womb.' Her inability to produce children, on the other hand, was seen by her and possibly her husband, certainly by Peninnah and possibly friends and neighbors, not as a sign of God's favor but God's disfavor. But what Hannah or Elkanah or Peninnah didn't know was that God was also about to show her grace and favor by giving her a child. And He doesn't just bless her with a child ... a son ... but blesses her AND the nation of Israel with a very special and unique child.

Although Hannah is favored by Elkanah, she no doubt didn't feel blessed or favored by Elkanah or God at this point. With no children, her financial security is tenuous as best. All of Elkanah's inheritance will go to Peninnah and her children. When that happens, Hannah will no doubt end up a widow with no means of support. So, although she is favored by Elkanah, she also has a reason to be fearful.

Peninnah's name, however, means "fertile" or "prolific" ... and it fits because she had many children. Though the Bible doesn't tell us how many, it does say that she had "sons" ... plural ... and daughters ... again, plural. So, we know that she had at least four children, making her future secure.

But Peninnah was also very cruel and vindictive. She apparently enjoyed tormenting Hannah by constantly pointing out how Hannah had no children while she had many. Perhaps Peninnah was jealous of the extra attention that Hannah got from Elkanah while Hannah remained barren and she had given Elkanah so many children. The scripture doesn't say, but Peninnah probably saw her children as a blessing from God and Hannah's lack of children as a curse or punishment from God. At this point, both women would probably agree that Peninnah was blessed and Hannah was cursed ... which still didn't give Peninnah the right to be cruel and make Hannah feel as though she deserved what Peninnah was dishing out. But people can be cruel ... very cruel ... at times, amen?