Well, the story of the birth of Samuel has everything in it doesn’t it? It’d make a decent plot for a soap opera. There’s domestic strife. Elkanah lived at a time when it was common for a man to have 2 wives, and all the problems you might imagine arising in such a scenario happened. One wife, Peninnah found she was able to bear children, while the other wife, Hannah was childless. If you know any couples who have had trouble conceiving, or if you’ve experienced it yourself, you’ll know how hard it can be. But add to that the fact that there’s a second wife who has several children, so the problem obviously lies with Hannah. Then there’s the theological belief of the time that children were a sign of God’s blessing. You can see that life would have been unbearable for Hannah. She would have been looked down on by her neighbours and most annoyingly by the other wife. In fact we’re told that the other wife used to provoke her so that she wept and wouldn’t eat.
But not only do we have the childless woman. We also have the loving husband who just doesn’t understand. There’s no doubt that Elkanah loved Hannah. We’re told that when they went up to the shrine at Shiloh to sacrifice to God, he’d give her a double portion. What used to happen in those days was that when there was a special celebration, like we’ve just had this week, they didn’t roast the turkey in the oven at home. In fact at home they’d probably have rarely eaten meat. Instead they used to go to the Temple, which at this time was at Shiloh, taking a lamb or some poultry or if they were really well off, perhaps a young ox or heifer. When they got there, the priests would kill the animal and burn part of it and the rest would be used as the basis for a great feast. They’d carve up some of it and keep it for their own meals and the rest they’d cut up into portions and give them to the person who’d brought it.
So Elkanah would receive the meat and divide it up among his wives and children, but each time he’d give Hannah a double portion as a sign of his love for her. It’s as though he’s giving her her own portion, plus the portion he would have given to her child had she been able to bear one. He’s trying to say, I love you as much as I would if you had a son sitting on your lap. Well, as you can imagine, that didn’t really help Hannah. She could see the other wife across the table smiling one of those smiles of superiority as she passed out the plates to all her children. And so she’d, again, begin to cry and refuse to eat. Elkanah of course is just a man. He doesn’t know what to do about it or how to comfort her. So he pleads with Hannah to eat. He says, "Don’t worry about being childless. Am I not more to you than ten sons?" Well, he’s missed the point of course. He is only a man after all! It’s the social stigma that goes with being barren that’s causing Hannah such distress, not whether her husband loves her or not. And even if he tells her a thousand times he loves her, how can she be sure he isn’t just saying it? After all, she knows what a huge disappointment she must be to him. She sees it in his eyes each month when, again, she finds she hasn’t become pregnant.
But Hannah is also a woman of faith. She believes in the God who made the world out of nothing. Who called out Abraham and Sarah and gave them a child when they were well past the age for bearing children. So she takes the opportunity while the family is at the temple to spend time praying fervently that God would give her a child. She’s totally absorbed in her prayer and doesn’t notice anyone around her, not even the High Priest, Eli, who’s sitting by the door watching her.
Now Eli is an interesting mix. At first he seems to be a bit judgmental. He sees the way she’s behaving and thinks she’s had a bit much to drink at the feast that’s just finished. He sees her lips moving but she’s not making any sound and he decides she must be raving on in a drunken stupor. But then when he investigates further and discovers the reason for her distress, he reveals a compassion and humanity that does him credit.
In fact he responds almost instantly with his own prayer that God would grant what she’s asking. He says; "Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him."
There’s an interesting thing that happens here. Eli is the High Priest, but when he speaks it’s as though he speaking as a prophet. There are occasions in the Old testament when a prophet speaks and what he says happens. And it’s not necessarily because God has told him to speak. But because he’s the Prophet of the Lord, when he speaks it’s as though he’s speaking with God’s mouth and with God’s power. You find this especially in the accounts of Elijah and Elisha. And it’s as though that’s what’s happening here. Eli speaks and from that moment on the prayer is answered.
That’s certainly how Hannah reads the situation. Her whole demeanour changes. She goes back to her room and eats and drinks with her husband and is no longer sad. She believes God implicitly. She trusts that God will answer her prayer just as Eli has said.
In fact Hannah is a great example of someone who believes in God and whose belief changes the way she acts. She’s prayed to God and now she waits for him to answer. Mind you she doesn’t just sit around waiting. She does her part, as does Elkanah. God isn’t going to give her a child by virgin birth. This isn’t the Christmas story. No, she and Elkanah have intercourse and a child is born.
Then we discover something else about Hannah. Not only is she a woman of faith. She’s also a woman of her word. You see she’s made a bargain with God. She’s prayed that if God would give her a son she’d give him back to God to serve him all his life.
You hear about people in crisis situations praying to God and making bargains with him. "God, if you get me out of this I’ll sell all my Jimmy Hendrix records and give the money to charity." "God if you just help me here I’ll never take your name in vain again." But I wonder how many of those people actually keep their promise afterwards, when the crisis is over. How many of them explain away the answer to their prayer as simply being coincidence and never think any more about it; at least until the next crisis arrives.
But here’s Hannah, who’s promised to give up her son whom she’s been longing for, for years and years and when the time comes she does it. As soon as he’s weaned she takes him to Shiloh and hands him into the care of Eli. You can imagine how hard it must have been for her to give him up, but when you make an agreement with the living God, you’d better keep it!
Mind you she isn’t giving him up completely, notice. When she hands him over to Eli she tells him "the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. 28Therefore I have lent him to the LORD." He will always remain her son, even though he’ll be in God’s service for the rest of his life. That has a ring of truth to it doesn’t it. Our sons or daughters always remain our sons and daughters, no matter what happens.
But there’s one more thing we need to notice in this story. This is just the first instalment of a story that will go on for many years and that will see the landscape of Canaan changed completely. The nation of Israel is about to undergo an enormous transition from being a nation under siege from it’s pagan neighbours to being totally independent. Over the next 40 years it’ll become a nation united under a King appointed by God to bring to completion God’s promise to give this land to them forever. And this child Samuel is to be the catalyst for that change. He’s to be the first in that tradition of prophets I spoke about a moment ago.
What we see as we think about this story with the benefit of hindsight is that over all that’s happening here in this story of Elkanah and Hannah, God is at work, bringing his purposes to fruition. There was no way Hannah could see that of course. Not even Eli would have realised it. As we’ll see next week, Eli couldn’t even see what a mess his own sons were making of their role as priests. But God could see what was going to happen. He’d chosen Samuel even before he’d been born to lead his people to victory over those who have been oppressing them. He’s allowed Hannah to remain childless all this time so that she’ll offer Samuel for God’s service. And Samuel will grow up with the same faith in God that his mother has shown. He’ll have the same willingness to serve God as she’s shown in keeping her promise to God. And so Israel will have a leader who will be a man after God’s own heart and who in the end will choose out a King who likewise is a man after God’s own heart.
Well, before we finish let’s just stop and think about what this story from 3000 years ago has to teach us. I think there are a few things we can learn from it, particularly in the context of the Baptism we’ve just had today.
The first thing to think about is the way Hannah prayed in faith and God answered her prayer. We’ve prayed today that God would lead Jacinta in the light of Christ until her life’s end. We’ve signed her with the sign of the cross as a sign that she’s marked as Christ’s forever. We’ve done that because we believe that God answers our prayers. We believe that having asked God to lead her in the light of Christ he’ll do it. May I encourage you as parents and Godparents to believe that our prayers will be answered as well.
But remember that it wasn’t enough for Hannah just to pray about her desires. She also had to act on them. She had to try again to get pregnant. And once her son was born she had to keep her side of the bargain. Well, the bargain that you’ve made today, if I can put it that way, is that you’ll encourage Jacinta in the life and faith of the Christian community. Now I say this to all those here today who are parents or Godparents of young children but especially to Jim and Mandy and Andy and Diane. Unless you encourage your children in the faith of the Christian community, that is, unless you make them a part of a worshipping community of Christ, then the chance of them growing up with a real and living faith is very thin. Jesus explained how the worries and cares of this life, the lure of worldly gain and the desire for other things will come in and choke out any interest in spiritual things. We need all the help we can get if our spiritual life is to be nurtured and fed.
Finally, we never know how God night be working in the small or even the large events of our lives. Who’s to say what plans he has for Jacinta, or for any others in this room today? We do know, however, that he only ever desires good things for those who love him.
So my prayer for you today is that you’ll take seriously the promises you’ve made before God, that you’ll raise Jacinta, and Keiron for that matter, in the knowledge and love of God who works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose and that you’ll make them regular members of a worshiping congregation whether it’s here or somewhere else.
For more sermons from this source go to www.sttheos.org.au
