1Sam 1:1.4-20 / 1Sam 2:1-10

“Rejoicing in God’s Salvation” | I Samuel 1:1:4—20, I Samuel 2:1-10 | Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost | November 14, 2021 | By Paul C. Sizemore |

Semi-continuous Series

Hannah is certainly numbered among many of our favorite women in the Holy Bible.

Although the Hebrew scriptures are not “overflowing” with insight into her character; her persistence in her prayer life, however, and her waiting with patience upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to answer her prayers, remains to this day, highly commendable.

Hannah was one of two wives given to a prophet named Elkanah; in a day when there was very little known about the reproductive process; especially with respect to human beings.

Certainly, there were no endocrinologists to be consulted.  And even the possibility of an invitro-fertilization was still many lightyears away!

In Hannah’s day, having children was considered an enormous blessing, and men tended to give more value to their wife depending on the number and gender of her children. In a case such as Elkanah’s case, when a man had more than one wife, this often led to terrible conflict between the wives as they would compete for dominance.

If we believe that history repeats itself, all we need to do is to consult again the animosity that came about between Rachel and Leah in Genesis 29-30!

The simple fact is that Hannah could not conceive a child, while Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah, conceived and gave birth to many children. Instead of Peninnah comforting Hannah, in her great misery and distress, however, Peninnah’s disposition manifested itself in her great delight over Hannah’s great misfortune.

Well, having said this, Hannah was in the temple, one evening, praying fervently for a child.  In this spiritual discipline she had become so intense that a priest who walked into the court of the women where she would have been, makes the false assumption too quickly that she has become drunk; not unlike the initial assessment that some bystanders made with respect to the Jewish people, who were gathered together by the Spirit’s power in Jerusalem, on that first day of the New Testament Pentecost (Acts 2).

It’s not unusual though, for people when they find themselves in dire circumstances, to do their best to barter with the LORD God Almighty, and so Hannah prayed: That if she could conceive a male child, she would name him “Samuel” which is a combination of two Hebrew words, meaning: “One who listens to God!”

Rather than admonishing Hannah, Eli prayed alongside of her that if there was anyway possible, that God would give her a son; which indeed the Almighty One  did do, who was named Samuel, and whose destiny was to become one of the most prominent prophets ever raised up in the Old Testament.

What is especially beautiful about this story is that Hannah did, indeed, honor the promise she had made to God—in that, once Samuel was weened, she gave her son back to the Lord—by her committing his welfare to the priest Eli’s complete guardianship.

And what is even more remarkable, is that she praised the LORD God Almighty in doing so, in response to his answering her, what was, no doubt, her greatest ever prayer request ever to be uttered by her in her whole life.

As we approach another National Day of Thanksgiving, perhaps we would be wise to follow Hannah’s example, taking time to ask ourselves: “Does our praise and thanksgiving overflow in response to all the blessings that the LORD God saw fit to shower upon our lives!?!

And how blessed we are that Hannah’s prayer is recorded for us in the 2^nd chapter of I Samuel and that this was Hannah’s prayer:

And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.”

            (1). Notice first that Hannah gives thanks to God because He has lifted-up her heart, He lifted up her strength, and He gave her salvation.

            Hannah recognized that the work that was done in her – in bearing Samuel the prophet – was nothing less than the very work of God – God caused the conception to take place within her body, as Elikanah expressed  his love to her and through the love of Elkanah, she was, in fact, given a son!

Throughout this whole ordeal, she recognized that God was her strength – not beating out Peninnah in bearing children, but in being the servant of God in his time and according to his will. And she recognized that salvation is the Gift of God, as He wills to give it.  And because all these things are true, she spoke of her enemies with contempt and joy.

Just like Hannah, we too, are called upon to rejoice in who our God is and all that he has done for us!

Just like Hannah, we too, are to rejoice as we see God in his grace and mercy, call us through his life-giving Word to also follow him, in our lives of faithful obedience. And there may also be sometimes in our lives, when like Hannah also, we are to rejoice as we see God meet out justice and strike down all those things which oppose him.

And again, we may be scrunching up our faces at giving thanks for God’s Justice and crushing sin and evil and death and all those who oppose Him.  Yet, Jesus quoted David, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

The point here is not that Hannah was rejoicing in the condemnation of any specific person – though we likely jump to Peninnah who had been so cruel to Hannah – but that – in the Kingdom, we will be able to rejoice in God’s Justice as He punishes those who die in a reprobate state.  Somehow, we will be able to know that myriads of people are suffering eternal Hell and rejoice because that suffering proves the Holy Justice of God.

(2). Notice secondly that Hannah gives thanks to God because God Alone is Holy: “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.  Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him all our actions are weighed.”

Our God is not a god who created and walked away to allow whatever happens to happen.  Our God is the God who is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.

For reasons of his own, he even set our global leaders in place – no one has ever held a position of authority that God did not put there – for our good or our ill – according to his providence, revealed to us in Romans 13:1-10.

The outcome of every election, every war, and the outcome of every one of our interpersonal relationships may certainly come as a surprise to us but not to our benevolent God

Hannah gave thanks because she understood that the LORD God Almighty was her Savior. As she exclaims: “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven.  The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Jesus – praying to his Father and the Father of all those who believe in him alone, for their souls salvation, also prayed for us on the night before he died, on that first Maundy Thursday in his High Priestly Prayer: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12, ESV).

If we come to believe that our God has saved us through gift of faith to us in Jesus Christ alone, and that he has paid the debt for all of our sins and credited each one of us with his righteousness, then we know that throughout our lives, we may also daily come before him bold as a child of the Heavenly Father, and as his very own brothers and sisters; and this is always a great cause for thanksgiving. Amen