1 Samuel 1 (Hannah's Vow / The Birth of Samuel)

This morning we're going to begin a new book so let's turn to 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel chapter 1. 1st Samuel is a great book. It really is one of my favorite Old Testament books perhaps. 1st and 2nd Samuel.

1st Samuel was written around the 10th century BC and this book marks the transition from the judges to the monarchy. Samuel is the last judge of Israel and when he is older he anoints Saul as king. So during the lifetime and ministry of Samuel who later anoints David as king.

This is a real turning point in Israel's history. Originally the books that we have today 1st and 2nd Samuel originally these were combined in one book. We don't know who the author is. You might assume Samuel but we're going to see that the starts out and Samuel isn't even born yet.

So we don't know who the author is but the theme is certainly the lives and events surrounding the main characters Samuel Saul and David. One thing that you need to know about Samuel he was both a priest and a prophet and again he was the last judge of Israel before the monarchy.

And now we're going to begin the book by looking at some of the miraculous events surrounding the birth of this great man this prophet we know as Samuel. So let's begin reading 1st Samuel chapter 1 starting in verse 1 says now there was a certain man of Ramathiam Zophim of the mountains of Ephraim and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroam and the son of Elihu and the son of Tohu the son of Zuth an Ephraimite and he had two wives the name of one was Hannah and the other was named Penina.

Penina had children but Hannah had no children. This man went up so this man Elkanah the husband of Hannah he went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli were there Hothni and Phinehas they were priests of the lord that's at Shiloh where the tabernacle was.

Verse 4 and whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering he would give portions to Penina his wife and to all her sons and daughters but to Hannah he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah although the lord had closed her womb and her rival that is this other woman also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the lord had closed her womb so it was year by year when she went up to the house of the lord that she provoked her therefore Hannah wept and did not eat.

Then Elkanah her husband said to her Hannah why do you weep why do you not eat and why is your heart grieved am I not better to you than 10 sons. Okay let's stop here this is a really challenging situation you have this man Elkanah who's clearly involved in polygamy at least he has two wives he probably married Hannah first but because she couldn't have children he took a second wife and this second wife Penina is called Hannah's rival like I guess for obvious reasons she would say unkind things to her she had plenty of children so it looks like she was sort of rub it in and this hurt Hannah very much.

In verse 8 it says her heart was grieved. Some commentators say it wasn't just that she was sad she was angry like and you can imagine this really difficult to live like that. Now we talked about this in our bible study of the book of judges because Elkanah practicing polygamy.

The fact is many men in Israel practiced polygamy and really it was the wealthy men so they could sort of get away with that. And yes that happened the bible records it. But here's the thing remember that doesn't make it right just because somebody in the bible did something and that the bible records it and doesn't automatically condemn it.

It doesn't mean that it was right. It doesn't mean that God approved. Let's go back to what we talked about last time we touched on this subject there is there are some passages that are descriptive and then there are some passages that are prescriptive.

The ten commandments are prescriptive. They are God telling people what to do what not to do. The bible telling us what's right and what's wrong. This passage however is not prescriptive. It's not saying that polygamy.

Thou shall commit polygamy thou shall approve of polygamy. That's not what this is. This is descriptive. It's simply telling us what happened. There's no commentary one way or another. Also it could be argued that back then in old testament times certain things were overlooked.

Many of Israel's leaders were involved in polygamy. And while God did not approve he didn't really make a big issue of it. Although if you read about every single time that it's recorded that a man practiced polygamy it always led to problems.

Always in the new testament you see a higher standard to be a leader. In the new testament church polygamy is strictly forbidden. Remember Paul told Timothy one of the qualifications for a bishop is that he must be the husband of one wife.

So polygamy is forbidden in the new testament. But here this is old testament times book of first Samuel Elkanah is practicing it. But it says that he would go up to Shiloh every year to sacrifice to the lord of hosts.

And that's lord in all caps capital l capital o capital r capital d the lord that's the name of God the memorial name of God Jehovah the lord of hosts meaning the lord of armies Jehovah of armies. And that's a reference to the to the heavenly hosts.

So God has an angelic army. So this man he went to Shiloh because that's where the tabernacle was where the ark of the covenant was located. Later David would move the ark and the tabernacle to Jerusalem where Zion was made the capital city.

But for now the house of God is at Shiloh. The man serving there as priest is a man named Eli. Eli is not uh he's not pictured in a positive way. He's one of these men that kind of let his his sons run wild and he didn't do anything about it.

And because of his sort of lax attitude on immorality or you know he would condemn it. This is wrong but he wasn't willing to do anything about it. And I just want you to think about that. There's there's a lot of church leaders today they will say hey that's wrong.

I disagree with that that's not good but but they're not willing to do anything about it. And the fact that Eli and we'll get into this later but the fact that Eli even though he recognized that what was happening in his own house the things that he was in charge of the tabernacle you could look at it like he was in charge of the church because he didn't do anything about the problems God judged him so pretty serious situation.

So Eli is serving as the priest in the tabernacle when Hannah finally has a child you know spoiler alert if you don't know the story sorry. But when Hannah finally gives birth to a child she gives birth to Samuel and he will be trained by Eli.

And this is the story that most people know that God speaks to the young boy Samuel and pronounces judgment against the house of Eli because his sons were corrupt and he did nothing about it but point being right now Eli is serving as priest at the tabernacle before the Lord in Shiloh.

Verse 5 says that the Lord had closed Hannah's womb. So it's not that it just so happened that Hannah couldn't give birth. No it says that God specifically closed her womb. We read that Elkanah loved Hannah and the implication is that he loved her more than his other wife.

Probably again probably married. Hannah first loves her more but you know having children back at this time period was everything. So he felt like hey I need children. So he marries this other woman. But Elkanah loved Hannah and I think we can assume that one of his prayers is that the Lord would give them a son.

So this is a similar situation. You think back to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was barren. God had closed her womb. And then what did Abraham do. He took his second wife Hagar and she had a son and it turned into a contentious relationship.

It went bad. And that appears to be what's happening here. So why. Because it says the Lord closed her womb. Why did God close her womb. Well apparently he closed it. So that when she did have a child it would be seen as an act of God.

I think that's I think that's what's happening here. When Samuel finally is born he is he is seen as a gift from God. God did something special with this young boy. God would use this young child to accomplish his will and purpose.

And of course that's what the Lord did when Sarah and Abraham had Isaac. Right. That was a miraculous birth that signaled something big. And when Hannah gives birth to Samuel same type of thing and it all demonstrates that God is sovereign and in control.

So whether Elkanah is praying for a son we would assume he is. But we know that Hannah is praying for a son. Look at verse 9 it says. So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh.

And now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul. So Hannah is in bitterness of soul and she prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.

Then she made a vow and said oh Lord of hosts. If you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant. But will give your maidservant a male child.

Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall come upon his head. So what's Hannah doing. She is making a religious vow. She is making a promise to God Lord if you give me a son I will dedicate him to you.

And of course that's what she ends up doing because the young boy Samuel goes to live at the tabernacle trained by Eli. But not only does Hannah make this promise she also says she will dedicate him as a Nazirite.

Referring to the vow the religious vow of the Nazirite which included a few things. That a Nazirite would never cut his hair. A Nazirite would not drink wine and he would not touch anything that is unclean.

So some people lived as a lifelong Nazirite. You think of men like Samson. And then others took a a temporary Nazirite vow. I think the apostle Paul did that if memory serves me correctly. So the last Nazirite we read about was Samson.

And really there's some similarities between Hannah and Samson's mother. But the point is God answers this prayer. It's a miraculous birth. Same with Samson. Hannah commits to giving her son to the Lord.

So what's she doing right now. She's out in public. She's out in the open and she's praying and she's crying. And look at verse 12 that happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. So this is an unusual way. Typically people don't pray like that. You know if you pray in your heart you generally don't move your lips.

If you're moving your lips usually you're talking. But this is how she's praying. And Eli is sitting over there watching this. It says. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her how long will you be drunk.

Put your wine away from you. So we can see that Eli assumes the worst. And again this is sort of an odd thing for someone to do to pray and their lips are moving. Not make any noise. But and maybe he's seen people behave like this before.

Whatever the case is he assumes the worst of her. She must be drunk. But verse 15 Hannah answered and said no my Lord I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

Do not consider your maid servant a wicked woman. For out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now. So she's acting this way. She's crying. He assumes the worst that she's drunk.

And notice note how drunkenness according to Hannah she considers it wicked. She said don't don't think that I'm a wicked woman. Now let's just spend a moment on this. This is sort of a one of those issues that um sometimes churches avoid.

Right. Because it's a controversial issue. There's a lot of churches that are very much anti-alcohol. There's some churches that celebrate alcohol. I was uh I think it was on Facebook. There was one church that was having a pub bible study.

So come to this bar and we'll have we'll have a few brewskies and we'll study the bible. And this is like posted now. There's some other churches that if you tried organizing a a bible study in the bar room you'd probably be kicked out of the church.

So I mean there's some churches that are totally on opposite ends of the spectrum here. But the Israelites they did drink wine. Of course all cultures drank wine. Some here's the thing though sometimes it's hard to discern in scripture whether it's talking about like wine as we would think about it.

And even the wine back then was not the same alcohol content of the wine. Today it was it was watered down. But reading the bible it'll just say wine. And sometimes it's referring to alcoholic wine. Sometimes it's referring to grape juice.

You know it's the same word used for both. So when the bible mentions wine you don't really know whether it's talking about grape juice or like wine. Wine and christians are divided on this whether or not god's people should or can drink alcohol.

The baptists and the pentecostals have traditionally frowned on alcohol use if not strictly forbidden it reformed churches and presbyterians are more open to it. Some sometimes they even celebrate it.

Whatever your position is however one thing that all christians have agreed on throughout history and that hannah agreed. She agrees with this because she expresses this viewpoint that drunkenness is a very serious transgression.

So drunkenness is clearly wrong. In fact hannah she calls it wicked. So eli assumes the worst. He thinks hannah is drunk. And she corrects him like i'm not like one of those wicked women. And then of course he's feeling probably he's feeling bad.

He's kind of feeling dumb making this false accusation. Verse 17. He he doesn't really apologize but he says go in peace. And the god of israel grant your petition which you have asked of him. Oh you're praying.

Sorry sorry that i called you a drunkard. You're praying. Well god bless you. I i hope that god answers your prayer. That's what he's saying. And she said verse 18. Let your maid servant find favor in your sight.

So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. So now she's feeling at peace. She has prayed to god poured out her heart. Lord give me a son. And then the man who's ministering before the ark of the covenant says may god answer your prayer.

So she's feeling pretty good. I think she has faith at this point based on everything that's happened god is going to give me a son. So she's no longer sad. And here's the interesting thing with eli now.

Now eli is directly involved in this situation. And the interesting thing is when hannah gives birth to samuel god is going to use the young boy samuel to actually speak against the house of eli. God is going to judge eli's house and samuel is going to act as god's mouthpiece.

He's going to look at it this way. Uh samuel is going to become a prophet at a very young age. I don't know this just came to me and i'm not sure i'd have to think about it. But is samuel the youngest prophet in the bible.

Maybe we'll touch on that probably next time. So eli accuses this righteous woman hannah of great sin. Here's the i don't know if it's the irony or the hypocrisy. The sad thing is he accuses a righteous woman of great sin.

But eli's own children his own sons were out committing evil. It says they were laying with women like they were using the they were using the tabernacle to pick up girls basically. And they were doing doing it right there.

And eli knew about it but he wasn't doing anything about it. And that's why god ends up judging him because he knew of this great sin happening and he just refused to do anything about it. In chapter three three we will read about how his sons.

It says his sons made themselves vile and yet eli did not restrain them. You know there's some people that you know off on their own out on the town at home on a friday night. They probably would be willing to do certain things but they wouldn't dare do it in church.

Like most people have the decency that. Well i would never do this at church. I might do it somewhere else but i would never do it in church. I would never do it in a church. I would never do it in a tabernacle.

So this is really a high-handed uh uh insult to say the least uh against the lord. So eli not looking very good uh el cana practicing polygamy. He's not looking too good uh penina. She's rubbing it in that she has children.

She's the rival of this godly woman hannah. She doesn't look very good. Who looks good in this story hannah. Hannah has been mistreated. And you know what god does to people who have been mistreated. God fights for those people.

God vindicates those people. Look at verse 19. Then they rose early in the morning in worship before the lord and returned and came to their house at rama and al cana knew hannah his wife and the lord remembered her.

So it came to pass in the process of time that hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name samuel saying because i have asked him from the lord. Okay. So his name is called samuel. And this is common in the old testament maybe the new testament too.

When when somebody gives someone a name what they say next is oftentimes what that name means. You know he was called samuel because i asked him for the lord. So the name samuel means heard by god. Hannah asked for him and god heard her prayer.

So his name is samuel. And anytime a name ends because heard by god so the name god's name is contained within the name samuel. Samuel ends with you know s-a-m-u-e-l. So anytime a name ends with the letters e l that's the other old testament name for god l you think of elohim that that's the plural name for god.

There's l should i. You know god almighty. So l means god. So anytime you see el in someone's name that means whatever their name means the name of god is contained in their name. So my name is michael.

It ends with el. Michael means who is like god. So you think of the archangel michael he is like god. The name joel or joel j-o-e-l means related to god. The name nathaniel ending with el means gift of god.

So if your name ends with el you know something about god is in the the meaning of your name. So when hannah whose name means grace gives birth to samuel meaning heard by god it literally was the birth of samuel was literally an answer to prayer.

Verse 21. Now the man el cana and all his house went up to offer to the lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But hannah did not go up. For she said to her husband not until the child is weaned then i will take him that he may appear before the lord and remain there forever.

So we see that number one hannah intends to keep her vow. But number two she wants some time alone raising the young child. So hannah is going to spend at least a couple years raising samuel. The fact that he ends up serving at the tabernacle as a priest and grows up to be a prophet.

El cana's second wife what is one thing you can draw from this. She's no longer hannah's rival. You know penina is no longer the rival. Hannah is number one wife. At least she's probably feeling like she's.

She feels vindicated. And really hannah goes down in history as just being one of those godly mothers. When you think of godly mothers in the bible you think of hannah because she's the mother of one of the greatest men in israelite history one of the greatest prophets israel ever produced.

So she's vindicated. Verse 23. So el cana her husband said to her do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only let the lord establish his word. Then the woman stayed and nursed her son until she weaned.

So that means she would have kept samuel until he was probably about three years old. Give or take. Verse 24. Now when she had weaned him she took him up with her with three bowls one ephah a flower and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the lord in shiloh.

And the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to eli. So they're making sacrifices. And they bring the young child samuel to the priest eli. And she said oh my lord as your soul lives my lord.

I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the lord. Like she what she's saying. She's like do you. You remember me. Remember that time. You thought i was drunk and i was actually praying to god.

Well he answered my prayer. And here's what happened. And here's here's my son. Verse 27. For this child i prayed and the lord has granted me my petition which i asked of him. Commentator matthew henry writes this.

Hannah presented her child to the lord with a great acknowledgement of his goodness in answer to prayer. Whatever we give to god it is what we have first asked and received from him. Let me read that again.

Whatever we give to god it is what we have first asked and received from him. Do you realize all our gifts to god. Everything that we give to god he first gave to us. Isn't that true. Everything we have is a gift from god.

James 1 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. The lord gave samuel to hannah. So what does hannah do. She gave samuel back to the lord. This is what god does. He does it with the spiritual gifts.

He gives us an ability. He gives people a talent. And in return we give it back and use it to serve god and his people. God gives us our health. He allows us to earn a living giving us an opportunity to then give him some of that back in our tithes and offerings.

Whatever god gives to us we want to give it back to him. The rewards we receive in glory. What do we do. We give them back as it were. We use those things to serve god as pictured in the book of revelation when the elders take their crowns given to them by the lord.

And what do they do. They cast their crowns down before the lord's feet. And of course life itself is a gift. Which is why we are told to present our bodies to the lord as a living sacrifice. This paul says in romans 12.

Is our reasonable service. God gives to us and we give back to him. Hannah was happy to give her child so that the lord could use him. And boy did god use samuel in a mighty way. From his earliest years samuel was in the house of god.

And let's end on this point and draw application from this. From his earliest years maybe three years old samuel was raised in god's house. So in conclusion this establishes really what is a pattern for us to follow that our children and each generation from the time of their youth our children our grandchildren our great-grandchildren they should know what it's like to be brought up in the house of god which in this age is the church of the living god the pillar and ground of the truth.

God has given them to us so that we might raise them to serve him. I'll close with verse 28. Hannah says about her son samuel. Therefore i also have lent him to the lord as long as he lives. He shall be lent to the lord so they worship the lord there.