A Child Born and Dedicated to God’s Service —Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 26B (1 Samuel 1:4-20)

 

1 Samuel 1:4-20 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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 her way and ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

¹⁹ They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

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                As the liturgical year nears its close, we move from the story of Ruth, the Moabite woman who became the ancestor of David and according to Matthew, Jesus, to the story of Hannah, the woman who like Sarah and Rachel before her seemed unable to bear a child. Though her husband loved her deeply, that didn’t seem to matter. In a world in which a woman’s ability to have children was prized above all else, her apparent infertility was understood to be a curse or at the very least a cause of shame. That was especially true since her husband, Elkanah, had another wife, a woman named Peninnah, who tormented Hannah because she was considered barren. Hannah’s story may resonate with many modern women who find themselves in a similar situation. Even today couples dealing with infertility (though now we know that men can have problems producing appropriate levels of sperm) face questions that can lead to shame. Apparently, for some politicians, this is something to highlight.   

                The story of Hannah and her prayer has a parallel in the story of Elizabeth and her prayer and that of her husband (Lk. 1:5-25). Both are unable to conceive, and both receive a positive response from God. The difference is that in 1 Samuel, Hannah does the praying, while in Luke it’s Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah who does the praying. But both women conceive and bear children who will be dedicated to God. That is, they will become perpetual Nazirites. The story here in 1 Samuel focuses on Hannah’s prayer and its answer.

                The story in 1 Samuel 1 takes place within the temple at Shiloh, a religious center that predated Jerusalem and its temple. Elkanah and his family were in the habit of making an annual pilgrimage to Shiloh so they could make sacrifices. It is said that Elkanah took the sacrificial animal and divided the unused portions among his family members, giving a double portion to Hannah because he loved her more than Peninnah. You see some shades here of Jacob’s preference for Rachel over Leah. They too experienced a rivalry. On this occasion, after Elkanah made his sacrifice, Hannah began to weep and refused to eat. Elkanah wondered why she was so sad that she refused to eat. He even tried to comfort Hannah by asking her whether or not he was worth ten sons. Yes, Hannah wanted a son, and he tried to comfort her by offering himself as a sufficient option. To Hannah, this wasn’t the issue. It was the shame put upon her by Peninnah. She felt the need for some form of redemption. In her mind, that involved having a son.

                Hannah’s and Elizabeth’s stories are contextual and are unique in themselves. However, as I noted above, they may resonate with contemporary women who desire to have children but struggle with infertility. We have resources unavailable to ancient women, but that doesn’t make the struggle any less real. Rich Voelz writes in his book Tending the Tree of Life, a book he wrote about preaching that emerged from the struggles he and his wife had in conceiving a child. He notes that the church often struggles to provide words of comfort and encouragement in the face of infertility and reproductive loss. Therefore, Voelz wrote his book to help preachers and churches break up “the silences and unhelpful practices that make people like me feel as if we are the shadows of faith communities and to begin moving individuals, families, and communities of faith toward better understanding, healing, wholeness, and faithfulness” [Voelz, Tending the Tree of Life p. 8.].  

                In the case of Hannah, she was so distraught that she went into the Temple at Shiloh and prayed to God while weeping bitterly. The narrator highlights the frustration and even anger that permeated Hannah’s prayer. She expresses in her prayer her sense that she was experiencing injustice and asks for vindication. What would vindication look like? In her estimation, it involved bearing a son who would redeem her in the eyes of her rival, Elkanah’s first wife, Peninnah. Even though Elkanah professed his love for her surely he would see her in a different light as well.

Hannah’s prayer includes a promise to dedicate this desired child to God, such that she would, if God answered her prayer, dedicate her son to God as a Nazirite. This prayer gives us a definition of what a Nazirite was.  

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 (1 Sam. 1:11).

Notice here that a Nazirite lived as one completely committed to the service of God. Such a person would not drink intoxicating beverages or cut their hair. This was the life that John the Baptist appears to have taken up. As for Samuel, his lifestyle is unclear. He also took on priestly duties after the death of Eli and his sons and served as the last of the judges. This reading, however, is not really about Samuel. It’s about his mother and her pleas to God for redemption in the face of the oppression she was experiencing due to her barrenness. In her pleas, she promised that her son would take a Nazirite vow that would last a lifetime.

                In trying to make a deal with God it seems like Hannah is more interested in removing her shame than having a child. She’s willing to part with him as soon as possible if only God would take away her shame. If so, we can see how societal pressure affects how we see relationships. My sense is that Hannah wanted a child of her own, but she was also dealing with an oppressive culture. Might that be true for women today, especially in contexts where having a baby is considered the ultimate purpose for a woman?  

Whatever the nature of Hannah’s prayers, Eli the priest at Shiloh saw her praying. He wasn’t sure what she was doing. He observed her lips moving but didn’t hear anything coming from her mouth. Her behavior seemed odd, so he concluded that she must be drunk. At the very least she appeared to him to be acting hysterically. But of course, this wasn’t a hysterical woman. She is praying silently, negotiating with God. She wants to make a deal. If God gives her a son, she’ll give this son back to God. For his part, Eli is concerned about her behavior. So, he confronted her, accusing her of making a spectacle of herself, and telling her to put away her wine. She answered him, saying: “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. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time” (1 Sam. 1:15-16).  Rather than being drunk, she has been pouring out her heart to God, speaking from her frustration and anxiety.

After Hannah explained what she was up to, Eli understood. He told her that she could go home in peace knowing that God would grant her request. Grateful for this news, she returned to where she was staying. Finally, she got to share with her husband the meal he had prepared for her (remember that he provided her with a double portion of the meat from the sacrifice).  The narrator concludes that she was no longer sad. After their time at the temple had come to a close, they returned home, and the couple had sexual relations. God then fulfilled the promise made to Hannah because she became pregnant. The good news is that she had a baby boy, whom she named Samuel. The name means, according to the narrator: “I have asked him of the Lord.” When the time came, Hannah fulfilled her promise. After Samuel had been weaned, Hannah took him to the temple, where Samuel would grow up in the company of Eli the priest, while assisting Eli in his priestly work (1 Sam. 1:21-28).

Rich Voelz offers an interesting interpretation of what happens here in 1 Samuel 1. Voelz writes this observation in the context of a book about dealing with infertility, with one of the options couples have, is adoption.

The relationship between Hannah, Samuel, and Eli might be called a type of “open adoption.” Hannah is never fully out of contact with Samuel, bringing him a handmade robe every year when she returns to Shiloh to offer her yearly sacrifice (1 Samuel 2: 19). Samuel becomes the one who is the mouthpiece of God for Israel and the one who oversees the establishment of Israel’s monarchy.  [Richard Voelz, Tending the Tree of Life, p. 80.]

Hannah asks God for a son. She receives Samuel, whom she believes is a gift from God that removes her shame. In return, she gives Samuel to Eli to raise in service to God. As a result, Samuel becomes an important figure in the life of the people of Israel during a time of transition from tribal life to a united monarchy (even if Samuel wasn’t exactly happy with that eventuality). Here in this reading the focus isn’t on Samuel’s calling, but Hannah’s prayer and its fulfillment. As a result of that, the stigma placed upon her by society was removed.  

                As we ponder this passage, it is worth noting that the stigma still exists today.  The question facing the church is how it can help break the hold of silence, so that persons, couples, and families, who face infertility or reproductive loss will know that God hears and responds. While Eli responded at first insensitively, he eventually offered Hannah a word of assurance. Hannah’s joy at this news is shared in the prayer she offers in chapter 2. It’s a song similar to the one Mary sings when she learns she will bear a child for the Lord. It is a powerful song that lays out Hannah’s vision of God’s redemptive work on behalf of God’s people, such that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. I will share only the first two verses, and invite you the reader to check out the entire song:

My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies
    because I rejoice in your victory.

² There is no Holy One like the Lord,
    no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.  (1 Sam. 2:1-10).

If we read the entirety of Hannah’s prayer, we will notice how God reverses things. Consider verse 4 of chapter 2, where Hannah sings: “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength.” The same is true for barren women: “The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn” (1 Sam. 2:5b). Such is the case for Hannah. Her shame is lifted as God hears her prayer. Whether God provides children to those who desire them or not, we can take comfort in knowing that God is present in every case, bringing comfort to those in need of it. We must, as we read this story, affirm that every woman is complete whether they have a child or not. There is no shame or stigma in not having a child, whether by choice or circumstances.  

         Image Attribution: Wachtel, Wilhelm, 1875-1942. Hannah at Prayer, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58453 [retrieved November 8, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilhelm_Wachtel_-_Hannah_at_prayer.jpg.