"Asked, and Given"
1Samuel 1
July 8, 2007
by C.W. Powell
It would be well to note a few simple things concerning the book of I Samuel. Some in ancient times considered I & 2 Samuel and 1 &2 Kings to make up a history of the kings of Israel; hence these books were called I, II, III, IV Kings. Others considered I, II Samuel as being a continution of the book of Judges and called them I, II Samuel, for Samuel is the first of the prophets and the last of the judges and is a natural transition from the history of the judges to the history of the kings. Others have considered it as a continuation of the book of Ruth and gives the history from her time up to the close of the reign of Kng David. I suspect that all of these are partly true and partly not so true. We do not know who the authors are, but the accounts seem to have been compiled from a number of sources, including scribes that waited upon king Saul and King David; many sources are mentioned in these books. Some have conjectured that they were compiled by Jeremiah. They were included in the canon of Scriptures accepted by Israel and by the church of Jesus Christ.It is true that the history begins about 120-140 years after the conquest of the land of Canaan by Joshua and ends about 140 years later with the death of King David.
These things are technical and I will not belabor them. Those who are interested will find many sources online or in good library in seminaries and universities. But let us look at the words.
1Samuel 1:1,2:
- “1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: 2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
A. Elkanah was an Ephrathite; that is, of the village of Bethlehem. This little village was to be the origin of a great man notable people in the history of God’s people.
B. Elkanah had two wives: permitted under the law. Some things were permitted for the hardness of their hearts. But polygamy has predictable results and such households were and are not very godly and contented.
C. Hannah had no children; Peninnah had children and took every opportunity to twit Hannah about it. This conflict was probably made worse because of the marked favor that Elkanan showed to Hannah. It was a disgrace is Israel for a women not to bear children and Peninnah never passed up an opportunity to rub it in to Hannah. 1Samuel 1:3
- 3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.
A. This shows us the approximate time of these events. Near to the time that Samson was doing his thing up farther north.
B. Eli was an old man with two wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas. We will speak more of these reprobate sons later.
C. Elkanah was a devout and pious man and performed his duty according to the law by making yearly trips of Shiloh, to offer sacrifices, for the ark of God was there in that time, for it was not moved to Jerusalem until the time of David. At this time, Jerusalem was still occupied and ruled by the Jebusites.
D. True worship of the Lord can and does take place even when the visible church is greatly decaryed and corrupt. This does not mean that corruptions are to be ignored, but we have to distinguish between was is essential to true worship and what is exterior and secondary. 1Samuel 1:4-8
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4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: 5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. 6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. 7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?
B. The good man tried to comfort Hannah, but Peninnah was so cruel to her that Hannah’s heart was very heavy. Sometimes the Lord puts His people in very difficult and hard conditions. There was nothing that Hannah could do. Every year as they made the pilgrimage to Shiloh, it was a time for Penninah to flaunt her children, make fun of Hannah, and otherwise provoked her. Jealousy is a vicious and cruel master. Peninnah was jealous of Hannah because of Elkanah love, and she used her children to bring pain to Hannah. No doubt the children also, as they grew older, gained an contempt for Hannah that they did not conceal.
C. Instead of these pilgrimages being a time of rejoicing in the Lord and of binding the family together, it deepened the divisions and was no doubt a very sad thing of Elkanah. 1Samuel 1:9-13
- 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
A. In her bitterness, Hannah rose up from her place and went into the “temple” or the tabernacle. It is here called a temple, because it was the place that sacrifices and vows were made. The HighPriest Eli, according to custom sat on a seat by a post, a place of authority and supervision. Eli was a judge and could settle disputes that people brought before him.
B. Hannah made a solemn vow before the Lord: Now a vow was a solemn contract before the Lord. But we might ask the question: how did Hannah have the authority to give Elkanah’s chilld away? This is answered by a look at Numbers 30 and the law of contracts:
- “1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. 2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. 3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; 4 And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. 5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. 6 And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; 7 And her husband heard it,and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her. 9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. 10 And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; 11 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 12 But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her. 13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. 14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. 15 But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.” (Nu 30:1-15 AV)
1. The woman had the authority to bind herself under God and her husband.
2. The man could either abrogate or suffer her vow to stand.
3. A woman could exercise a great deal of authority under her head, her husband. Elkanah, of course could have abrogated this vow and kept his son with him at home, but he recognized that Hannah’s vow was of the Lord.
4. Elkanah’s right to abrogate the liberty of Hannah was at the time he heard of it; if he did nothing, then Hannah was free to do what she had promised to do. She was not in violation of her covenant, but within her covenant.
5. Hannah spoke in her heart; she did not speak aloud. The time to verify her oath before her husband would come later.
6. Her vow was that Samuel would be a Nazarite and serve the Lord in the tabernacle and be raised by Eli in the house of the Lord. But, but, but Wasn’t this a foolish and crazy vow? Shouldn’t a godly son be reared by his mother and father and not by an old priest whose sons were wicked exceedingly and devoid of decency and restraint.
7. Character is not formed by education and training, but by predestination and grace. The Spirit of God spoke in the heart of Hannah.
8. How could a godly Samuel arise in the house of Eli? How could the Messiah come from the seed of the woman? She who had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and brought the curse upon the world. Because Messiah would be born of the Spirit, not of the flesh or the nurture of the flesh. Jesus was not educated into becoming the Messiah, but He was born the Son of God. So you and I must be born again to enter into the kigdom of heaven. 1Samuel 1:14-16:
- 14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. 15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
A. Hannah spoke in her heart, the true altar of the Lord. Jesus did not enunciate a new principle when He said, “God is a spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
B. This gives us a little insight into the decadence. Was Eli so accustomed to drunken women coming to the sacrifices that he would naturally lump Hannah with them.
C. We know that Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas committed fornication the women that came to Shiloh. Fornication was often esteemed a very small thing. Things were very low in Israel and drunkenness and fornication were commonly condoned and practiced. In fact, in our day drunkenness, fornication, and sodomy are considered civil rights and men are persecuted by the loss of offices and earthly goods and reputation by refused to bow before the altar of a perverse liberty. The time is coming, apart from the intervention of God that ministers will lose their offices and their liberty and perhaps their lives for speaking out against these things. Remember that this old man told you this. You may think it completely out of any reasonable possibility, but the days are not far away. Will you count it joy to suffer for Christ’s sake in those days. These things always go together, and this is the reason that Paul told Christians:
- “12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in cohabitation and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Ro 13:12-14 AV)
D. Daughter of Belial: a sociopathic woman: one without restraint or moral boundaries, with a violent and destructive mentality. A horrible woman. 1Samuel 1:17-18:
- 17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. 18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.
A. Eli spoke as a man of God, although not a perfect man of God. His office gave him authority, and he truly did the work of the Lord.
B. She was no more sad: She believed the promise, so she was content. Sorrow and fretting often means that the conflict is not resolved. People love the world and sigh and groan when they think they must give it up, which shows that they love the world and their hearts are not yet fixed on the Lord. Those who believe the promises count the world as a very small thing. 1Samuel 1:19-23
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19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. 20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever. 23 And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
A. According to the promise of the Lord, the boy Samuel was born.
B. It is here that Elkanah confirms the vow of Hannah, although probably not the first that he had heard of it. Male authority is clearly established here, but also that real authority may be affirmed within the boundaries of that male authority. “Do what seemeth thee good….” A good man should be able to trust his wife.
C. Weaning was after two or three years in those days.
- 24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young. 25 And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.” (1Sa 1:1-28 AV)
A. God had given Hannah what she asked for. “Samuel” means “asked of the Lord.”
B. What a wonderful example Hannah is of true faith.
1. We do not know that she retaliated or sought revenge from Peninnah—she made her petition unto the Lord.
2. In her distress she call upon the Lord: Our business is with God in times of trouble and distress.
3. She cast her care upon the Lord.
4. The parallel between Hannah and Naomi are real: Naomi was bitter but God blessed her and she was glad. So also Hannah—bitter because of the rivalry in her home; but blessed of God and she was glad. Both in their own way put themselves into the hands of God and that is a very good place to be indeed.
Amen and Amen.