I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Samuel
1:9-11, 19-20 [read 1 Samuel 1:9-11 and 19-20]
1
Samuel 1:9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah
stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the
Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping
bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look
on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give
her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and
no razor will ever be used on his head.”
1
Samuel 1:19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and
then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah,
and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant
and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[a] saying, “Because I asked the
Lord for him.”
-- a lot has happened since we last
checked in on the story of the Israelites in light of God’s promises -- last week,
God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai, where He makes a
promise that they will be His people and He will be their God, provided they
abide by the terms of the covenant and obey Him in all things
-- but things didn’t work out that well
-- no sooner had Moses gone up the mountain to receive instructions on how to
worship God and build a tabernacle for His name, then the people made an idol
in the form of a golden calf to worship in the place of God
-- this was the first instance in Scripture
we have of the Israelites trying to fulfill the promise on their own -- but it
would not be the last
-- as we turn now to the Book of 1
Samuel, we find the nation of Israel securely in place in the Promised Land as
God had led them across the Jordan River into the land through Joshua’s
leadership -- however, just like at Mt. Sinai, the people constantly turned
away from God and His sovereign rule and tried to fulfill the promises of God
in their own strength and in their own ways
-- they turned to idols again and
again -- and they were punished by God for their disobedience as He allowed
other nations and other people groups to come in and raid them and conquer them
-- the people would cry out for a Savior, and God would raise up a judge to
lead the nation -- not only in their battles -- but to lead them back to the
worship of the One True God -- but once the danger had passed, it wouldn’t be
long before they turned away from God yet again
-- this is the continuing story of
the nation of Israel in its early days -- the days of the judges -- when, as it
says in Judges 21:25, “in those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he
saw fit”
-- their example causes us to ask
the question, “What do we do with the promises of God in our lives?” -- do we
trust in God’s will and God’s ways in all things and believe in faith that the
promise will come true, even if we don’t know how? -- or do we copy the pattern
of the Israelites, and try to bring about the promise in our own strength and
in our own way, suffering whatever consequences there are?
-- this morning, we are going to
look at a young woman who has come face-to-face with those very questions --
not as the leader or judge of the nation of Israel -- but in her personal life
-- but how she deals with these questions in her life allows us to contrast the
pattern of Israel versus the way God would have us go
II. Hannah’s Dilemma
-- the subject of our study this
morning, Hannah, lived in the waning days of the judges -- she was one of two
wives married to an Israelite named Elkanah -- his other wife was named
Peninnah, which means “fertile” or “prolific” -- and that was part of Hannah’s
problem
-- Hannah was barren -- she could
not have children -- and in her day, to not have children -- especially, to not
have a son -- was disgraceful -- it was assumed that there was something wrong
with you -- that there was a reason why God was withholding His blessing of
children in your life
-- Peninnah, on the other hand,
didn’t have a problem bearing children -- she had many children, where Hannah
had none -- and Peninnah used her children to lord it over Hannah -- to provoke
her to tears -- to make her think she was less than she actually was in the
sight of their husband
-- Hannah was miserable, even though
it was clear that Elkanah loved her as much, if not more, than Peninnah -- when
Hannah would get depressed and weep and not eat because she did not have
children, Elkanah would go to her and ask why she was so sad -- was he not
worth more to her than ten sons?
-- but nothing he said could remove
the longing in her heart for children -- the promise of children was something
dear to all Israelite women -- I have heard that the greatest desire of all
Israelite women was to be the one chosen to bear the promised Messiah -- to be
the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God on earth
-- so, when the family traveled to Shiloh
to worship God and make their annual sacrifices, her childlessness weighed
heavily on her mind
-- Hannah faced a choice in how to
handle it -- how could the promise of children be fulfilled in her life? --
what could she do?
-- if you remember, Abraham and
Sarah faced a similar choice -- God had come to Abraham and made a covenant
with him and said that his children would be more numerous than the stars in
the sky -- but as time passed and Abraham and Sarah grew older and her womb
remained empty, they decided to take matters into their own hands and to
fulfill the promise in their own way
-- Sarah turned her servant Hagar
over to Abraham so that Hagar might bear a child for him that would be the
child of the promise -- but taking things into their own hands -- trying to
fulfill the promise in their own way -- resulted in disaster and is the root of
the conflict between the Israelites and the Arab nations to this day
-- so, what does Hannah do when
faced with a similar situation? -- as we saw in the passage we opened with,
Hannah chose the path of God -- rather than trying to follow Sarah’s example --
rather than following the pattern of the Israelite nation who constantly tried
to do things their own way apart from God -- Hannah chose to believe and trust
God
-- when the family went to Shiloh to
worship God, Hannah went alone to the tabernacle and poured out her heart
before the Lord -- she wept much and made a promise of her own to God in her
prayer of faith -- that if God would grant her a son, she would dedicate him
for God’s service
-- and God heard her prayer -- He
saw her heart -- He remembered the promise -- and in the course of time, Hannah
conceived and gave birth to a son she called Samuel -- which means “heard of
God”
-- Hannah learned a lesson about
trusting in God and in the promise rather than trying to meet her desires in
ungodly ways like Sarah and like the nation of Israel -- in response, Hannah
prays a prayer of exaltation and worship that echoes Mary’s prayer after she is
chosen to be the mother of Jesus
-- Hannah’s prayer affirms that
human strength and success come from and are exalted only in God -- as Susan
Koenig put it, “all human ways to exert power fall short in comparison with
God, who can reverse human circumstances of status and power”1 and
bring to pass all that He has promised, regardless of how impossible it may
seem to us
-- if you would, turn over to 1
Samuel 2, beginning at verse 1, and let’s look at Hannah’s prayer
1
Samuel 2:1Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My
heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high.
My
mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
2
“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
-- as Hannah begins to cry out to
God, she speaks with a truth that the nation of Israel has yet to learn: the
greatness and the saving power of Yahweh
-- for it is in Him and Him alone
that power and deliverance is found -- it is in Him and Him alone that holiness
and righteousness are found -- for He is our Rock -- there is no one beside Him
-- there is nothing we can do that can compare with what God can do for us
-- rather than following the example
of Abraham and Sarah when she was childless, Hannah turned to God in her need
-- He heard her prayer -- He quickened her womb -- and Samuel was born -- so
she rejoices here in this prayer
-- this is a reminder to us that we
need to go back to the Lord in praise and thanksgiving after He answers our
prayers and works in our lives -- I’m reminded of the story of the ten lepers
that Jesus healed in Luke 17 -- the lepers had come to Him, asking for healing
-- He sent them to the priest to show themselves to him, and as they went, they
were healed -- only one of them -- a Samaritan -- returned and fell at his
knees and worshiped Jesus and thanked Him for His healing
-- we’re good at asking God to work
in our lives -- to bring healing to us and others when we are sick -- to
provide for us when we are in need -- but we always need to remember to go back
to Jesus as Hannah does here, and thank Him and praise Him for His miracles and
promises that have come to pass
-- in verse 1, when Hannah says that
her horn is lifted high in the Lord -- that’s a phrase we see in the Old
Testament quite often -- the word, “horn,” here means strength -- so, Hannah is
literally saying that she finds strength only through God -- that she can do
anything through God -- when she says that her horn is lifted high in the Lord,
she’s saying the same thing that Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me”
-- verse 3-5
3
“Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for
the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
4
“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with
strength.
5
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no
more.
She
who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
-- here we see Hannah voice the lesson
of faith that the nation of Israel has yet to learn -- each of them did
whatever seemed best to them -- and they clamored for a king so that they could
be like the other nations -- in their pride and arrogance, they assumed they
were fully capable of becoming a mighty nation on their own -- that they were
fully capable of meeting their needs and fulfilling the promise apart from God
-- we can make strides in human
endeavors -- we do a lot in our own strength -- there’s a lot of churches and
church programs that are built on the strength and the will of people, not God
-- but, as Hannah points out here,
man’s strength and man’s accomplishments are fleeting -- they may show results
at the start -- churches may grow big -- you may show great progress in your
job -- your hard work may produce money and power and prestige -- but it
accomplishes nothing in the eternal
-- it’s so easy to point to people
who had it all, but in the end collapsed with nothing to show for it -- think
of Howard Hughes, one of the richest men in the world during his day -- who
lost most of his money before he died from poor health and addictions, with no
direct descendants or immediate family to mourn him or to carry on his legacy
-- or think of churches that are
built around charismatic and powerful preachers that collapse when the preacher
is tripped up in public sin or when they pass away -- because the church was
built on the strength of man rather than on God, it collapses with no lasting
legacy for the kingdom
-- Hannah points out here the
reversal of fortunes and strength through God -- the bows of the warriors are
broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength -- those who were full
now find themselves hungry, while those who hungered now are full -- those who were
barren are blessed with many children while the ones who had children grieve as
theirs are taken away
-- it is the same lesson that Jesus
taught in the Beatitudes -- the blessed are those who trust in God and put
their faith in Him, rather than in themselves or human strength
-- verse 6-9a
1
Samuel 2:6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
8
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he
seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
“For
the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
on them he has set the world.
9
He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the
place of darkness.
-- Hannah’s prayer reminds us that
God is sovereign over all humanity -- God is the giver of life and our Creator
-- it is in God that we find life and meaning and purpose -- God is ever active
in our world and an ever-present help in our lives
-- as Henry Blackaby pointed out,
“God is always at work around us” -- it is the Lord who brings death and makes
alive -- it is the Lord who brings some down to the grave and raises up others
-- it is the Lord who sends poverty and wealth, not our human effort
-- it is the Lord who raises the
poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap
-- Hannah had learned the true
source of life when she prayed for a son to be born -- and she continued to
trust in God and His providence the rest of her life
-- second part of verse 9b-10
1
Samuel 9b:“It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The
Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
“He
will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
-- as Hannah concludes her prayer of
thanksgiving to God, we see the overall theme and message for the nation of
Israel that is going to come through her son, the prophet Samuel
-- Samuel grows up to be the
transitory leader for the nation of Israel -- he is the last true judge and
prophet in his day -- the last judge who trusted in God and who believed in God
and who sought to fulfill the promise in God’s way and God’s will -- he is the
last leader who pointed to God as sovereign over the nation
-- we see in him echoes of Jesus --
the promise of the Son who was to come -- the Messiah -- who would come to lead
the nation of Israel forever spiritually and sovereignly, as both King and
Priest
-- the people continued their
pattern of turning away from God and trying to do life in their own way while
they gave lip service to the Lord -- they still came to worship as usual --
they still made sacrifices, as usual -- they still maintained their religious
life, as usual -- but it was just a Sabbath Day religion -- not a way of life
-- they liked God on the Sabbath --
they liked compartmentalizing Him and keeping Him around and giving lip service
to Him on that one day a week -- but the rest of the week, they lived like
there was no God
-- and when things started to go bad
again -- when they started to suffer the consequences of trying to fulfill the
promise on their own -- they looked around them at the other nations and
decided they wanted to be like them -- the answer to the promise, in their
minds, was to have a king, just like all the other nations
-- God granted their wish and
appointed Saul as their first king, to the dismay of Samuel -- who continued to
advocate for the people to live under God’s leadership and not the leadership
of an earthly ruler
-- he kept repeating the same truth
that his mother Hannah prays here in these verses -- that it is not by one’s
own strength that you prevail, but only the strength of the Lord -- what we try
to do in our human strength and with our human wisdom is destined to be
shattered and destroyed
-- God will thunder against those
who set themselves up against the Kingdom of God -- His judgment will fall on
them -- God gives strength to His king -- literally, the anointed one -- the
Messiah -- and the horn of His anointed will be exalted
-- at the end, we find that the
promise and the power and the glory are found only through God
III. Closing
-- so, what we see here in the story
of Hannah and in her prayer of exaltation, is the foreshadowing of the destiny
of Israel if they continue on their path of trying to meet their desires
through worldly means
-- In Samuel’s lifetime, this turning
away from God and exaltation of self will be seen in the clamor of the nation
for an earthly king -- and all you have to do is read the accounts from 1 and 2
Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles to see that this did not turn out well for them
-- there are brief interludes in
their history where we see kings who bring about restoration and revival in
Israel -- periods that come about when God raises up godly men like David who
lead the nation both spiritually and sovereignly -- but, unfortunately, the
list of kings who resemble David as men after God’s own heart are few in number
for the nation of Israel
-- despite Hannah’s warnings in this
prayer -- despite the words from her son, the prophet Samuel, who was Israel’s
last judge, the overall trajectory of the Kingdom of Israel from this point on
is a turning away from God and a turning towards trusting in man and man’s
strength until eventually the people are removed from the Promised Land and
carried off into captivity in Assyria and Babylon
-- one day, as this prayer promises,
true restoration and revival will come to Israel and to this world -- but it
will only come when Jesus returns to take up the throne of Israel as King of
kings and Lord of lords -- when the Kingdom of God on earth is fully established
and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven
-- so, the take-home message from
today is that the Promise is only fulfilled through God -- when we try to do
life in our strength and in our own way apart from Him -- or when we look to
man or the government in place of God -- our efforts will be in vain
-- for strength and power is found
only in God -- and is realized only by those who come to Him in humbleness and
in true faith as Hannah does here
-- let us pray
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1
Susan Koenig http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4584
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