Elkanah, Penninah, and Hannah could have had their own reality show. Penninah and Hannah were sister-wives before sister-wives were cool. Penninah had children. Hannah didn't. Elkanah loved Hannah more than he loved Penninah and wasn't afraid to show it ... publicly. At dinner, for example, Elkanah would give Hannah a double portion of food while Penninah watched with jealousy. In order to bring Hannah down a few pegs, Penninah would harass Hannah with the cultural reality that no matter how much Elkanah loved her, she was a nobody because she didn't have children of her own.
At one particular meal, during a trip to the tabernacle to worship, Hannah reached her breaking point. After having enough of Penninah's cruelty, Hannah dramatically stood up and left the table. She rushed to the tabernacle to pray, where the priest of the time, Eli, saw her weeping. The words she prayed were filled with bitter emotion and tearful cries. Eli did what any sensitive pastor would do and accused her of stumbling into worship in a drunken stupor.
Thankfully, the words Eli couldn't comprehend were heard and understood by God. Hannah's prayer was a break-through for her as she began to seek a child, not for herself, but for God's glory. Hannah promised God she would give her son to God, left in peace, returned to dinner, and ate her double portion.
After nursing her son Samuel (named for the God who hears), Hannah took him back to Eli where he would grow up and learn how to be a priest to God's people. In what had to be a bittersweet moment (saying goodbye to the son she had longed for), Hannah said this ...
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn 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.
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.
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.
“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.”
There weren't a lot of outward things for Hannah to be excited about. She was leaving her son with the priest who mistook real, heartfelt prayer for a drunken tantrum. She was saying goodbye to her son who she loved and would only see once a year. He was going to be a priest and a prophet, not exactly the least stressful jobs in the world. Yet, in the midst of situations that seemed dark, Hannah knew God's plan for salvation was continuing on the earth and she could see it in her son.
As inspiring as Hannah's story is, she points to another mother. And as great a prophet as Samuel was, he points to another Son.
After Mary, the engaged teenager, found out she was carrying the Son of God in her womb she hurried out of town to see her cousin Elizabeth. Like Hannah, Mary's circumstances didn't seem all that hopeful. She was an unwed, pregnant teenager whose story few believed. But she knew God was not only continuing His salvation story, but bringing it to its highest point in the baby in her womb.
She sang ...
"“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
The Advent Season is a time where we can sing with Hannah and Mary. There is a just God who is bringing his perfect peace to earth. The humble will be lifted up. The empty will be filled. All is not right, but it is being made right in Jesus. There is hope today because God became a baby, grew up into a man, faithfully obeyed the Father, and gladly gives away his righteousness to those who ask for healing. Our circumstances may be bleak today, but the hope of God's salvation is strong.
