BaptistWay: Hannah, Praying for a Child

• The BaptistWay lesson for June 30 focuses on 1 Samuel 1:1-20.

Infertility is a devastating condition. Couples who desire children but can’t have them experience one of life’s most painful denials. Every baby commercial, every glimpse of a pregnant woman, every encounter with another couple happily doting over a little one reminds them of what they cannot have. Such pain is experienced also by couples who have known the joy of pregnancy only to experience the worst—miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of a child. Those who pray for a child pray for one of the greatest loves one can experience on earth.

Barrenness was a common experience in the stories of the Old Testament matriarchs. Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel all had difficulty becoming pregnant. And the story of Hannah is much like theirs. Barrenness in ancient times was more than just the inability to have children. It was understood as a woman’s problem (male infertility is not considered by the biblical writers, except, perhaps in 2 Kings 4:14).

A survival issue

It was a survival issue, because children were the ones who cared for their parents in old age and also contributed to the family’s agricultural success. It also was a theological problem. The phrase, “The Lord had closed her womb,” often is used in the stories, indicating if a woman was barren, God had caused it, at least in the writer’s opinion. Of course, we have to keep in mind such thinking is common throughout the Old Testament.

The writers believed God controlled all things, whether it was the evil of Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21), the torments of Saul (1 Samuel 16:14) or the tragedies of Job (Job 1-2). But such theology was part of a worldview common in the Ancient Near East and no longer so common in modern culture. Most people today don’t blame infertility on God, just as they wouldn’t blame mental illness or personal tragedy on God.

The first verses of the story introduce us to the main characters. Elkanah was the patriarch of the family who journeyed to Shiloh on a yearly pilgrimage. Elkanah had two wives: Hannah, his infertile wife; and Penninah who was fertile (1 Samuel 1:1-2). Elkanah probably took his second wife because of Hannah’s barrenness. They journeyed to Shiloh, where the ark was housed, to celebrate an unnamed feast (v. 3).

Extra portions

During the feast, Elkanah shared portions of the sacrifices with his family. Although the Hebrew is difficult here, most translations indicate while Elkanah gave Penninah and her children portions, he gave Hannah extra portions because he loved her (vv. 4-5). As in many other stories of barrenness, the barren wife is favored.

Unfortunately, such favor brought intense jealousy from the second wife, Penninah. She mercilessly taunted Hannah to tears (vv. 6-7). Elkanah, clearly a kind man, attempted to console Hannah, “Don’t I mean more to you than 10 sons?” (v. 8). But in a society where a woman’s worth was tied to her fertility, no consolation was possible. Hannah was alone.

So Hannah went to the “temple.” The word is an anachronism, because, of course, no temple had yet been built. But the people worshipped and sacrificed where the ark was. And Hannah went there to pray (v. 9).

Eli, the high priest at Shiloh, observed Hannah silently from his throne (v. 9). Most translations render the word simply as “chair,” but the writer’s use of the word “throne” foreshadows how Eli and the priesthood would be removed from power when kingship was born.

A vow to the Lord

Hannah made a vow to the Lord, saying if God would grant her a male child, she would dedicate the child as a Nazirite all the days of his life. He would not cut his hair, and he would avoid wine and all strong drink (vv. 10-11).

Because Hannah’s lips were moving but no sound was coming forth, Eli assumed (wrongly) that she was drunk (vv. 12-13). Eli’s inability to recognize a woman praying portends larger problems for the priest, who throughout the story becomes more and more blind (1 Samuel 3:2; 4:15). His rebuke is harsh: “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine” (1 Samuel 1:14).

Eli’s accusation is ironic, considering Hannah had just vowed her son would avoid wine and strong drink. Hannah protested to the priest she was not drunk, but rather a woman sorely provoked (vv. 15-16). Perhaps chastened, Eli blessed Hannah and sent her away (v. 17). In spite of her negative encounter with the priest, Hannah returned to her family consoled (v. 18).

In the course of time, God remembered Hannah, and she conceived (v. 19). She gave birth to a son she named Samuel. The name can be translated “His name is God” or “God hears.” She names him this because God had heard her request. Intriguingly, the word for “asking” or “request” is shaul from which the name Saul derives. Perhaps Samuel’s birth story foreshadows the coming of the first king—a king Samuel will anoint.

Questions that remain

Although this story ends happily for Hannah, not everyone who prays for a child gets one. And so this account must be addressed sensitively. Several questions arise: What happens if we pray earnestly for a child and God does not remember us? Or what do we do if we conceive and then lose a baby through miscarriage or stillbirth?

Is barrenness still a theological problem today? I would say, “Yes,” but not for the same reasons it was for the biblical writers. I think the theological problem today is not, “Does God close the wombs of some women and not others?” but “How do we minister to those who struggle to have a child?”

Are we Penninahs who judge other women because they cannot conceive or tell them that if they had more faith God would grant them children? Are we Elkanahs who try to console women by saying: “You have a full life and a happy marriage. Why do you need a baby?” Or are we like Eli, completely blind to the pain of others, rebuking them in their time of sorrow?

In reality, Hannah’s story is a lonely one, even if it ends happily for her. No one really understood her need to have this child—no one except God. And, in the end, Hannah did not just devote her son as a Nazirite. She literally gave him back to God at the shrine in Shiloh (1 Samuel 24-28). This was the selfless act of a woman whose prayer had been answered. She gave back to God what she most desired.

We all have desperate prayers at one time or another—for a baby or healing or a job. Sometimes, we get what we desire, as in Hannah’s case. But sometimes, despite all the sincerity we give our words, as if drunk with wine, we leave the temple empty. Perhaps in the end, the lesson of Hannah’s story is found not so much in God granting Hannah’s desire as it is in Hannah’s willingness to let it go.