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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/marcus-cain/hannah-and-her-sorrow/
I could turn with me please to the first book of Samuel chapter number one. First Samuel chapter one. Now there was a certain man of Ramathime Zulfim of Mount Ephraim and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jerahom, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zulf, and Ephratite.
And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninah. And Peninah had children but Hannah had no children. 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. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions.
But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, a double portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.
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. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not?
And why is thy heart grieved? Am I not better to thee than ten sons? Now just look at a little phrase in verse number 10. She was in bitterness of soul. And in verse 10 at the end we find she wept sore.
Verse number 11 mentions the word affliction of thine handmaid. Verse number 15 we find that she is sorrowful. I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. That's all we're going to read for the moment. I want to speak this evening about Hannah and her sorrow.
And over the next few sessions that I will be taking part, I want to look at Hannah as well. Tomorrow morning we will look at Hannah and her supplication. In the afternoon we will look at Hannah and her son.
And then on the Lord's Day, God willing, we will look at Hannah and her son. So Hannah and her sorrow. Hannah's name means gracious. It comes from the root that means grace or mercy. But we notice that even in a person who has a name that is so lovely, God does allow difficulties and problems and challenges and trials to come.
And Hannah was a godly woman, a gracious woman, but nonetheless there were difficulties, severe challenges in her life. And so this evening as we meet together for the first meeting of this conference, it is very likely that there is somebody or there are numerous believers who are going through times of sorrow and difficulty, challenges and trials in their life.
And what we want to notice this evening is some of the things that we can learn from this woman Hannah as she goes through this time of sorrow. Suffering and sorrow, we obviously find here, are not an indication necessarily that somebody is out of the will of God.
Because perhaps oftentimes the tendency in our own hearts or our minds is to think, well if something is not going right in my life or in their life, it is because something has been done that is not right.
But we will find here in Hannah's life that the sorrow that she had really had nothing to do with the fact that she had sinned. It had nothing to do with the fact that her character was evil because it wasn't.
But God was obviously going to teach her something through this time of sorrow. So if you are going through a trial, do not think necessarily that it is because you have done something against the will of God.
You could be in the very center of the will of God and he is allowing sorrow to come into your life. We will find that when we come to First Peter and chapter number one, where Peter will write that the trial of your faith is much more precious than of gold that perisheth.
And so God allows these things to happen for the praise and honor and glory of his name and of the name of the Lord Jesus. Now what I would like to look at this evening is the reasons for her sorrow. What was the the root cause of the sorrow that Hannah had in her life?
And you perhaps will say, well I know what one of them was, but there are more than one that I want to see this evening. The first one is the impoverishment of the nation. The impoverishment of the nation.
Now we're not going to take time to read these other portions this evening. Perhaps we will see some of them tomorrow or on the Lord's Day. But you will know if you have read through the book of Samuel, and I'm sure that you have at some point or other in your Christian experience, that not everything was rosy in the nation of Israel at this particular time.
Number one, there was a lack of seeking after God's word. You find that in chapter number three. The word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. When it says the word of the Lord was precious, don't think to yourself that really it's saying, oh people valued it so much.
Really the idea of the word is that the word of the Lord was rare. It was very uncommon to hear a word from the Lord. And perhaps as we look around about us, whether you live in Canada or the United States or as I do in Mexico, you will say that this afflicts every single nation.
No nation really is a nation that seeks after God's word. It is a rare thing. Now I know different time to time perhaps in some places a politician will quote part of a verse or misquote part of a verse or whatever he happens to do, okay.
But really you and I will know that there is no real seeking after God's word in whatever nation we happen to live in. And that is the way, that is the place that Hannah was residing as well. And she was well aware of it because she was a very godly woman.
But when we think of the impoverishment of the nation, there's another thing that I noticed. Not only was there a lack of seeking after God's word, there was a lack of submission to God's will. Now in your Bible and in my Bible, you will find that first Samuel comes right after the book of Ruth.
But if you find a Hebrew Bible somewhere, you will find that Ruth doesn't come in between these two books. So if you take the last verse of Judges and the first part of first Samuel chapter number one, you will see what I am getting at.
Because in Judges chapter 21 and verse number 25, we read these words. In those days there was no king in Israel. And you know how it follows, don't you? Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
There was no seeking after the will of God. And there was no submission to the will of God. So they weren't interested in God's word and they weren't interested in God's will. And so you and I look at a story that happened 11 centuries before the Lord Jesus was born.
So we're going back approximately 3 ,100 years. And a book that is so old at the same time has a message that is so current. Because what Hannah was seeing around about her in her own nation is perhaps what you and I can see as well.
But another thing I noticed as far as the impoverishment of the nation is concerned is this. There was a lack of holiness, or if you wish, a lack of sanctity. So we have a lack of seeking after God's word, a lack of submission to God's will, and we have a lack of sanctity as well.
That was describing the nation in which she lived. Now we're coming to the part where we're thinking about those men that had the responsibility to teach God's people, to represent God before the people and the people before God.
We have a man whose name is Eli. He is the priest and he has two sons. We've read their names, Hophni and Phineas. And they were not godly men. They were ungodly men. There was no holiness in their lives.
There was no sanctity in their lives. They did as they pleased. And perhaps Judges 21 and 25 would describe them as well. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And again, if you have read farther along in the story, you will know how they lived.
They lived a life of luxury. Because as the people came with their offerings, they had those servants that would come along and say, this is the choice piece of meat that I want. And the people would say, no, it is not time to take that.
We have to offer the fat first. And they would say, no, these men, these young men want this piece of meat. And they would stick in their seething fork and they would grab whatever it was that they wanted to take.
Living a life of luxury. But not only a life of luxury, a life of lust. Because farther along in these same chapters, we will find that they were laying with the women who were at the doors of the tabernacle.
A lack of sanctity as far as the things of God were concerned. So you can understand that when we think about Hannah and her sorrow, she looks at the nation. And she says the nation is in a pitiful state.
And really this is going to drive me. Drive me where? Some people say, well, drive me crazy. Perhaps. But it didn't drive her crazy. It drove her to her knees. And as we look again around about us, that is what ought to happen with us as well.
And we have heard that in our prayer meeting already this evening. Sadly, when we think of these things about a lack of seeking of God's word, a lack of submission to God's will, and a lack of sanctity.
Sadly, this can happen even amongst God's people. Because these were God's people. This was the people of Israel. I'm not just speaking here of the politicians. But it was God's people. And this was the condition of their nation.
So we have reason number one for her sorrow. The impoverishment of the nation. Number two, the lack of a son. Her inability to bear children. Now, if you come back with me and you're reading here in First Samuel chapter number one, you will see that this man has two wives.
We'll get back to that in a moment. But the name of one was Hannah. And the name of other was Penina. It would appear to me at least that the order in which we find them is most likely the order in which he had married them.
And so at one point in his life, perhaps we shall say it in this way, he had fallen in love with this lovely lady, this gracious lady, whose name was Hannah. But Hannah was unable to bear children. And so Elkanah marries Penina.
And Penina does bear children. And we'll get to that just in a moment as well. Now, obviously, we will find on the Lord's Day that we have here a woman who knows her Old Testament. Now, obviously, she didn't know her whole Old Testament because much of it had not been written yet.
But what had been written or what had been passed on, she did know. And surely she would have known about a lady named Sarah, who was unable to bear children. And then one day God gave her Isaac. And that's not the alarm for me to stop.
And then we would know that she would hear of a woman named Rachel. And Rachel, for many years, could not bear children either. And then God gave her a Joseph and God gave her a Benjamin. So Sarah brings forth Isaac.
Rachel brings forth Joseph and Benjamin. But here we have another woman. And they are not the only cases. And they are unable to bear children. Think with me for a moment about Rachel. What was Rachel's reaction in all of this?
Genesis chapter 30, verses number 1 and 2 say this. Rachel is speaking to her husband Jacob. And she says, give me children or I die. She was obviously blaming Jacob for the fact that God had shot her womb.
She says, give me children or I die. And it says that Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel. And he said, am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of thy womb? And so this inability to bear children, in the case of Jacob and Rachel, had caused a conflict in the marriage.
And when we come to 1 Samuel chapter number 1, even though the conflict perhaps is not exactly the same, we do understand that there was a conflict. There was a conflict because of the inability to bear children.
Now, you and I will know that there are many ways that a Christian woman can find fulfillment in her life. There are many ways that she can serve God. And Paul will speak to us in 1 Corinthians chapter number 7 about women who do not marry and the way that they can serve God in a special way that a married woman cannot do.
And he says the same about an unmarried man, not not cumbered with the care of a spouse. And so I am not leaving that to one side tonight. But when we come to the Word of God, I think that we will find this, that many times the normal experience of a believing woman is that her sphere of service and her primary fulfillment has to do with the bringing up of children.
Paul will speak about that when we come to 1 Timothy chapter number 3 and verse number 16. And when we come further along with the list of requirements for widows who are going to be put on the list that can be cared for, who have brought up children.
And so here is this godly woman, Hannah, and she is with his inability to bear children. Now, I really don't want to go any farther down that road this evening. But for some believers perhaps amongst us tonight, it isn't so much a lack of children.
It's not an inability to bear children. But it's the fact that the children that we do have, have not been saved. Or perhaps it's that the children have been saved and at one point they were in assembly fellowship and now they have wandered away from us.
And perhaps they are in the world and it causes great sorrow in our hearts. Children are a great source of joy, but children at times can be a tremendous source of sorrow. And so here is Hannah. And why is she sorrowing?
She's sorrowing because of the condition of the nation and she is sorrowing because of the inability to bear children herself. I just want to say here for a moment that the human tendency at times is to blame ourselves.
Perhaps the human tendency is to take credit as well. And so if our children are doing well, well we kind of like to take their credit. And if they're not doing so well, we feel we need to take the blame.
It's not always the case. Many times it's not the case. We know and you know of godly, godly parents that have done all they can to bring up their children and their children are not saved. I think of one back there in the Maritimes, godly parents, two children saved, and one man, I was going to say one young man, he's a bit older than I am, and he's still not saved with little interest in the gospel.
And so godly parents do not necessarily produce godly children. Do not take the blame upon yourself. But it was a source of sorrow for this woman, Hannah. But the third thing that I notice tonight is the insults from Penina.
The insults from Penina. Verses six and seven speak about this. It calls Penina her adversary, or if you wish, her rival is the, is what Mr. Newberry would say, it was her rival. Can you imagine? Now obviously you can't and you shouldn't, but can you imagine the rivalry that existed in that home?
Now I don't know what the exact living arrangements were, whether they were all in the same house and whether they ate at the same table and went to the same grocery store, I don't know. But there was a rivalry there in that house.
And Penina, the second wife, who would come along a little bit later, I would say, I would suggest after, after Hannah could not conceive, okay, and it takes his second wife and she can, and she has numerous children.
Numerous. Now I don't know what numerous means to you, but she had at least two sons and two daughters because it speaks here about sons and daughters. So she has at least four children. And here is Hannah and she has none.
So there's not only conflict, there was envy. Now I am not going to say tonight that Hannah was envying Penina, okay, but I do think that Penina had some envy towards Hannah. And perhaps that is one of the reasons that we find that she is always provoking Hannah, constantly provoking Hannah, irritating her, upsetting her.
We do not read, we do not read that Hannah gets angry and that Hannah retaliates. But Hannah was obviously perturbed and disturbed and bothered and upset about the insults that were constantly coming from Penina.
Now again, I would suggest that Penina perhaps is a bit carnal and Hannah is rather spiritual. It says that the provocation was sore. It says that it was continual year by year. This went on year after year.
Now if somebody provokes you tonight and they never provoke you again, you can probably handle it. You should be able to handle it. And if they provoke you tonight and tomorrow and Sunday and that's it for the rest of your life, you probably say, well, that's all right.
You know, I can get over it. But year after year after year after year, and you're being constantly provoked, that is a cause for sorrow, a cause for sadness, a cause to be upset perhaps, maybe not rightly so.
But in this case, I think that this dear lady, Hannah, was upset. It's interesting to note that when we read these words, the moments that are being emphasized are moments of great importance in the nation of Israel.
Because it speaks about the fact that they went up year by year. So she went up to the house of the Lord. So she provoked her. In moments of worship, in moments of sacrifice, is when Penina seemed especially keen to throw this all in her face and say, look at me.
I am going up to Shiloh and I have my four, five, six or whatever it is children. And Hannah, what's wrong with you? Now, most likely in the Midwest, there's nobody that causes vexation of spirit in the heart of another believer.
And that's great. But it does happen in some parts of the world, believe it or not, even amongst believers, that they can cause vexation of spirit in the life of another believer. Penina was that way, always throwing it up.
And especially in the most precious moments, moments of sacrifice in which she's saying, where are your children? Look at mine. Where's yours? And isn't that the way that sometimes when things are going well in our lives and we feel perhaps especially close to God, is when a trial will come, a difficulty will come.
What we find here in this particular part about the insults from Penina is the fact that deviation from the will of God always brings consequences. Because this really was a deviation from the will of God, wasn't it?
God never instructed any man to take two wives. It was one man, one woman. It was Adam and Eve. As somebody said, it's not Adam and Steve. It's Adam and Eve. Okay? And that plan hasn't changed. Whatever deviation it might be.
And this obviously brought consequences in the life of Hannah. But moving on to the fourth one, the insensitivity of her husband. Now, all the men will want to get up and walk out, but just give me five more minutes because I want to speak well about Elkanah, really.
Elkanah was a descendant of Korah, but he wasn't of the same disposition as Korah, a rebellious man, but he's really from the same tribe. First thing I noticed about him, he was a godly man. He lived about 15 miles from Shiloh, and every year he went up from Ramah to Shiloh.
Now, 15 miles for you is just what you drive to meeting every day, perhaps, right? But 15 miles for somebody back then that didn't have a car or a truck or a donkey, perhaps, was a bit more of a challenge.
And if you had Elkanah and Penina, and Penina's four or five or six children, and Hannah, it was a bit of a challenge to go for a 15-mile hike. But nonetheless, it says that every year he went up, and quite possibly it was three times a year, because when you come back to the book of Exodus or the book of Deuteronomy, you will find that the men had to go up three times a year.
Not necessarily the women, but here we have a godly man, and he says, I am going to take my whole family up. Every time I go up, I am taking my family with me. Now, I could make a very practical point here this evening, couldn't I?
But if I just say that, I think you know what I'm getting at. It's a wonderful thing to see families together at the meetings of the assembly, whatever meeting it might be, at the gospel meeting, at the breaking of bread, at the ministry meeting, at the Bible reading, and there is the family all seated together.
I was at a conference earlier this year, and a family, it was far from here, wasn't in Mexico, and a family walked in with a number of young children, and they sat in the very front row. I thought, oh my, very front row.
I'm not sure I would have been quite so keen if I had that many children to sit in the very front row of a conference, but there they were, all seated, lovely little children, behaving themselves wisely.
Okay, lovely thing. That was Alcanna. I'm taking my children with me. I'm taking my wife with me. We're all going to be together. This idea of going up to be in the presence of the Lord is important, and I want my children to learn the importance of going up to the presence of God, 15 miles away, walking.
Oh, could I tell you, he didn't have air conditioning. No, it was a mountainous climb. It wasn't an easy road. It was dusty, but there he went. He was a godly man. Now, obviously, he could have said, he could have said, you know what, look at those men that are standing at the door of Shiloh, of the tabernacle, or look at the man that's sitting there.
The conditions here in this nation are very, really, I can just do all this at home. I can, I'll just have a sacrifice in the backyard. That'll be fine, won't it? But no, despite the conditions, he understood that God had commanded, and he was going to go.
The other thing that I noticed about Alcanna, when I think about him as a godly man, in verse number three, it says that he went up to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh, but just note the little phrase before that, and to worship.
Now, sacrifice was obligatory. Worship is more voluntary. So, this was a godly man. But the second thing I noticed about him, he was a good man, because it says that he loved Hannah. Now, I'm not saying that he didn't love Penina.
Perhaps he loved Hannah more than he loved Penina, most likely, but he loved Hannah. And not only did he love her, being a good man, he was a generous man. You will find that when it comes to the fact that he gives to her a double portion, a worthy portion, a good man that showed his love.
It's not just that he said one day, Hannah, let's get married, and they got married, and he says, I love you, and that's all I'm going to ever tell you. No, he showed his love. He demonstrated it, and we see that as we come farther down the chapter as well.
A generous man, a good man, and a godly man. But I noticed as well that he was a gentle man. Gentle. He wasn't harsh. He wasn't harsh. Because when we come to verse number eight, when Hannah is sorrowing, she's weeping, and she's not eating, he doesn't say, come on, Hannah, just get over it, will you?
You know, look, you've got all these other kids. You can help with them. No. He is graciously dealing with her, and he says, why weepest thou? Now, some would say, well, he was telling her, why weepest thou?
No, I don't think that was the way he said it. I think he said it in a gentle way. Why weepest thou? And he says, why eatest thou not? Why is thy heart grieved? He was trying to comfort her, giving her words of comfort.
Now, perhaps he could have gone back to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 12, and I believe it was verse number 18, where the Bible tells us that they had to be rejoicing when they went up. They couldn't be sad.
They had to rejoice. But he doesn't tell her off. He just tries to comfort her. He tries to help her. He tries to figure out what is it that is happening. Well, you say, well, you said the insensitivity of this man, Alcanna.
Well, just come with me to this last phrase. Am I not better to thee than ten sons? Not just comforting words, and I don't want to be too hard on him, because one day I'll see him in heaven, but were they conceited words?
Am I not better than ten sons? I'm like, come on, Hannah, just take a look at me. I think I'm pretty important to you, and you're pretty important to me. And really, just be happy with what you got. Take a look.
Am I not better than ten? I could have said two sons. Ten sons. Ten. I would say that he obviously did not understand how important this was to her. And I speak to myself before I speak to any brother amongst us tonight.
It's very possible that at times we are insensitive to our wives' emotional needs, or their spiritual needs. And Alcanna perhaps fell into that trap, and he was not sensitive to her needs. There's one more that I could mention.
Number five, his inaction. Not just his insensitivity, his inaction. He really perhaps should have dealt with this issue. You know, you have two women living in the same house, or perhaps one house here, one house there, I'm not sure exactly how it was, but two women living in close proximity, both are your wives, and you know there's a conflict, you know there's a difficulty, like, can you not deal with this?
He doesn't go to Penina and say, Penina, okay, listen, you need to be a bit more gracious, you need to be a bit kinder, you could really make some changes in your attitude, you could perhaps be a bit more cautious with the words that you use, perhaps you shouldn't provoke my other wife Hannah, but there's no action on his part.
At least we don't see any action here in that regard. It is difficult, it is difficult to confront people when they need to be confronted, and in a gracious and in a good way, it is difficult, but it is necessary at times, and he did not do this.
So those are the reasons that she was sorrowful. What was her response? We don't see any retaliation, we don't see her speaking angrily. The response of her heart, we'll see tomorrow morning, God willing, when she is driven to her knees and she prays her supplication.
We're going to commend her ways to God in prayer before we hear some announcements.