The Birth of Samuel
1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite [a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple. [b] 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon 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.”
12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
The first thing that stuck out in this passage is how rarely we get desperate out of good times, or just off our own steam. Hard times breed desperation. I can’t think of any instance in the bible where this sort of desperation is born from anything other than just having a rough trot. And obviously Hannah was having a rough trot. You reckon it’s hard not being able to have kids nowadays – this was in a culture where your value as a woman had pretty much everything to do with turning out some good sons.
And Hannah’s desperation is as challenging as it is inspiring. She wouldn’t eat. It would take a lot of desperation for me not to eat. And I can totally see where Elkanah was coming from. If I was him (the two wives thing aside) I’d be wanting to be the voice of reason in Hannah’s ear. “Settle down”. “It’s not that big a deal”. It makes me wonder how many times my inclination towards not being too extreme has tempered the passion of teenagers who really should be being told to just go for it and be radical and crazy and desperate. I want that kind of desperation in my own life. But I’m not so keen on the first part. The whole hardship thing. Might see if we can leave that out.
I’ve probably also been in Eli’s position (well, not literally, they’re pretty selective about who they let be High Priest these days). Seen passion in someone and mistaken it for something being wrong – certain that if their Christianity doesn’t fit into my box then there’s something wrong with it. And there’s no doubt that Eli’s intentions are good – he’s wanting to make sure that the temple doesn’t turn into a pub, a noble thought. He’s just missing discernment. Man, would I like more discernment.
But it’s not all bad news for me – there’s something here that I actually think I have started to do over the last while. “Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief” (v16). If there’s one thing that I feel like I’ve been learning to do in the last year or two, it’s been to pray out of my anguish and grief. And there’s something that’s really healthy in that. Even, if I can say it, getting angry at God. Not forgetting my place, not forgetting the awesomeness of who God is, but out of desperation, taking your problems to his feet and asking what the deal is.
Geoff is a 25 year old Database Administrator Consultant. He was a volunteer youth leader at Yarra Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship for 6 years, but doesn't do that any more. He is cursed with barracking for Richmond. His favourite number is 17 and his favourite song is Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
While you are on this passage, any idea what “and no razor will ever be used on his head” is for? This resonates with a Samson style hair cut. I know Biblically, long hair on women is to do with the covering head for God’s glory (or similar). Why the long hair on males on these ‘men’ that God has picked out seemingly for a specific purpose?
Good point about the Christianity in a box thing, we so eaisly misinterpret/misunderstand the ways others relate to God and if it doesn’t fit what we’re comfortable with or familiar with it isn’t always flat out wrong. Bit of something I need to take note of I think.
Keeping in mind that I’m just playing at this “deep theological thinker” thing, I do happen to know that “no razor will ever be used on his head” was a reference to taking the vow of the Nazarite – which is described in meticulous detail in Numbers 6:1-21
And out of interest – the answer to ?does_this_work? is “yes”.
excellent!