“Hannah, why do you weep?” (1 Samuel 1:1-18)
1 Samuel 1:1-18 (NRSV)
1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his town 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 his wife Peninnah 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 Her rival used to provoke her severely, 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 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. 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 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.
October 16, 2016 Sermon Summary
This week’s sermon focused on the way Hannah handled the difficult situation in which she found herself. It began by describing the transitions and turmoil that had happened in Hebrew society between the arrival of the former slaves in the promised land and the founding of Israel’s dynastic kingdom. Hannah lived in that difficult period of time and had to deal the added challenges of being childless in a world where women’s worth was determined by reproduction, especially the birth of sons.
Right at the beginning of the sermon we took the time to acknowledge the difficulty many women experience with texts like this. Infertility is difficult enough, to have texts like this misused in a way that seems to imply that “if you pray hard enough, God will give you everything you want” just seems to add insult to injury. We talked about the fact that this is not the way Scripture works. There can be no clearer example of this than Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Christ prayed for the pain of the cross to be removed from him, but in the end his prayer was answered with a no.
Because that is the reality of biblical witness, there is obviously something more going on. The key focus of today’s text was the fact that even in her brokenness, God heard her prayers and provided reminders of God’s presence in her life. Elkanah’s love for his wife was one example of this. Another reminder came when Eli finally sat down to listen to the distraught woman whom he had encountered praying in the tabernacle. Hannah was able to face her situation she because she knew that she had been heard and that God was with her in her grief. Strengthened by that knowledge, she was they able to faithfully respond to God’s love for her.
This same confidence is available to us because we know that God hears our prayers and in Jesus reminds us that we are not alone. In fact, Christ entered our world to show us what God’s presence looks like. Strengthened by the grace that we have received from him we are then able to respond faithfully to any situation in which we find ourselves.
