From Sorrow to Surrender - 1 Samuel 1:1-8

The First Continental Congress was held from September 5 to October 26, 1774 and had representatives from 12 of the 13 American colonies. Representatives who were there engaged in a spirited debate over the unfair treatment of the British government.

Less than eight months later, on May 10, 1775 representatives from all thirteen colonies met at the Second Continental Congress, only this time it wasn’t just to simply air grievances against the British government, they convened on that day to make preparations for war.

Both the first and second Continental Congresses represented the transition of thirteen largely independent colonies into a nation ready to fight the British. And I think that’s a helpful parallel for the book of 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chronicles the transition of Israel from a confederation of tribes to a united monarchy.

Israel as a confederation of tribes is detailed primarily in the book of Judges. The book of Judges really describes Israel’s decline socially, politically, and spiritually. But throughout the book of Judges God would periodically raise up a deliverer, or a judge who would liberate Israel from their enemies. Othniel, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, and Sampson were all judges in Israel, and the refrain that is repeated throughout the book of Judges is, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

And that’s precisely where the book of 1 Samuel picks up. The central figure of 1 Samuel is… you guessed it, Samuel. Now, there are two other central figures in the book of 1 Samuel: Saul and David. So, Samuel, Saul, and David are primary to the book of 1 Samuel.

But God uses Samuel to lead Israel out of the period of the judges to establish the monarchy. And that is of course, one of the underlying themes of the entire book of 1 Samuel - the search for a true king.

The theme of kingship will come up over and over as we make our way through 1 Samuel. And what we’ll see is that all the kings of Israel are seriously deficient. They fail in some dramatic ways.

What’s clear and apparent is that the kings were never supposed to rule in the way kings typically did - they were supposed to rule under the authority of the Lord - the true King.

But we find ourselves this morning at the beginning of 1 Samuel, where we encounter a familiar narrative: a birth account. And generally, whenever Scripture describes a biblical figure’s birth account, that tells us that that individual is significant. Just consider all the important Biblical figures who have a birth account: Moses, Sampson, John the Baptist, and of course, Jesus Christ all receive birth accounts.

But we often forget about this birth account don’t we? And there’s another element to Samuel’s birth account that is repeated throughout Scripture and that is, barrenness. What we might call now, infertility.

Again, consider all the Biblical figures who came from barren mothers: Sarah who was barren for nearly her entire life gives birth to Isaac. Then Isaac’s wife Rebekah is barren, but eventually gives birth to Jacob and Esau. Then Jacob is married to Rachel who was also barren but eventually gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin. Manoah’s wife, who is nameless, was barren as well, but she eventually gives birth to Sampson.

Then in Luke 1:7 we’re told that Elizabeth was barren, but she eventually gave birth to John the Baptist.

And running parallel to the barrenness of the Bible is Mary, who was a virgin, and she of course gave birth to Jesus.

And in each one of these “barren mother” situations an incredibly important biblical figure is eventually born. And perhaps one of the other themes that runs through all these barren mother stories is that when they’re at their breaking point, that’s when God broke through.

When they were absolutely broken and on the verge of giving up, God provided. Because that is, where God often wants us to be, at the end of ourselves, in order to make us completely dependent on him. Sometimes He has to strip everything away from us so that He is all that we have.

And that’s precisely what we see in these 8 verses isn’t it? God completely breaks Hannah down to the point where the Lord was all she had! But these eight verses really describe how the Lord was stripping everything away from Hannah.

There’s three aspects to the Lord’s work in Hannah’s life: first, we’ll look at her dysfunctional family (vv. 1-3), second, we’ll look at her provocation and pain (vv. 4-6), and lastly, we’ll look at her husband’s ineffective comfort (vv. 7-8).

Hannah’s Dysfunctional Family (vv. 1-3)

One definition of a dysfunctional family that I read is that it’s “characterized by “conflict, misbehavior, or abuse.” That definition is probably too broad because by that definition every family is dysfunctional right? Hopefully your family wasn’t marked by abuse, but doesn’t every family experience conflict and misbehavior? Isn’t that in many ways a part of growing up?

The question in my mind that perhaps separates a truly dysfunctional family from an ordinary one is that there’s a serious sin, or a sin pattern that has so embedded itself within your family that it’s a continual source of pain.

And I think that’s important because we’re introduced in 1 Samuel to a dysfunctional family. At first, Elkanah’s family seems quite normal. He was from “Ramathaim-zophim” which was a small town in Israel, belonging to the territory allotted to Ephraim, about five miles north of what would later be the city of Jerusalem.

We also get some ancestry information about Elkanah. He’s the “son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.” This brief introduction is important because it indicates that he was a man of moderate wealth and social standing.

Additionally, Elkanah was a man of faith, after all, we’re told in verse 3 he would take his entire family to worship the Lord every. He took worship seriously and made it a priority for his family by traveling to Shiloh to worship the Lord at a time when even the priests, Hophni and Phineas, didn’t take worship seriously themselves.

So on the one hand, Elkanah was an impressive man. He was a man of social standing and of faith.

But he has this glaring sin issue, doesn’t he? He had two wives! He’s a polygamist!

Now, it’s true that several Biblical figures had multiple wives, but that’s always been a sinful practice outside of God’s design. God’s design for marriage from the very beginning has always been between one man and one woman.

“Therefore a man (singular) shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife (again, singular!).”

Elkanah had to be a man of moderate wealth because he had to take care of both of his wives.

No doubt, Elkanah believed he could have his cake and eat it too. He had a sinful proclivity that I’m sure he thought would work out just fine for him - after all two is better than one right? And I hope this serves as a warning to each of us this morning, particularly husbands and fathers. There’s a real temptation to believe that my sin struggles are mine and only affect me.

Only you are responsible for your sins, however, it’s naive to think that your sin only affects you. The reality is, our sin often leaves a wake that affects those around us, oftentimes, the ones we love the most are the ones who are the most impacted by our sin.

And that is certainly the reality of what is presented before us this morning: Elkanah’s sin, his violation of God’s explicit command to be the husband of one wife - has tremendous consequences. Undoubtedly, polygamy was somewhat common in the ancient world. Many important Old Testament figures were polygamists, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t sinful.

Because in almost every single one of those situations it had awful consequences. Consider David and his desire for Bathsheba, or Solomon and his wives and concubines, and of course, there are others as well. But it never ended well for any of them, and the same is certainly true here in this passage as well.

The very thing that Elkanah believed would bring him more joy and pleasure, resulted in pain and suffering.

Men, let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment: one woman is more than enough for you to handle anyways!

All joking aside, that is the way sin so often works, isn’t it? It tricks you into thinking it’ll bring you pleasure, when in reality it results in pain and suffering.

Which is exactly what happened in Elkanah’s home. His polygamy resulted in hostility between his wives which undoubtedly affected everyone. This is what I mean by a dysfunctional family!

And the central point of contention was, Elkanah’s one wife, Penninah had children, while his other wife, Hannah did not.

The Provocation of Hannah (vv. 4-6)

Children are a blessing from the Lord. But children meant something even more for women in the ancient world: their whole identity and worth was wrapped up in their ability to bear children. So if you’re unable to have children well then it said something about your worth as individuals.

And so, you can probably imagine Hannah’s pain and sorrow as she was forced to be around her husband as he played with and interacted with his children from the other wife. Everyday, Hannah was reminded of her inadequacy.

The pain of infertility still affects so many couples, and from my limited experience speaking with couples struggling in this way, it always seems to hit women a little harder than men.

It’s incredibly easy to wonder, why am I going through all of this? Perhaps they even wonder if God is punishing me for something? It really is easy to wonder to what degree is God involved here?

And of course, we don’t always know the precise answer, but we do know there are lots of reasons God will put us through trials: perhaps he’s testing and strengthening your faith, or showing you your inability to carry things on your own, or making you more dependent on Him.

That’s simply the tip of the iceberg. But we don’t have to wonder about Hannah, do we? Because we’re told exactly how God was involved in her life: “the Lord had closed her womb.”

That doesn’t necessarily sound very kind does it? God closed her womb. Not, the sinfulness of the world has manifested itself in Hannah’s life as infertility. No, God is directly involved here: God closed her womb. Again, it’s easy to wonder why? Why would God do something like this to a woman whose life, on the surface, appears to be tough?

And the answer is: God is up to something much, much bigger. God is developing something that is far greater than Hannah’s barrenness, and it’s something that the unknown author of 1 Samuel is communicating. Keep in mind, his original audience would have been Israelites.

So Hannah’s story isn’t simply dropped here at the beginning of 1 Samuel in order to make you feel bad for her, because what we’re supposed to see is a parallel between Hannah’s barrenness and Israel’s spiritual barrenness.

Again, remember where we are on the Biblical timeline: 1 Samuel is coming on the heels of the book of Judges. And the thing that really stands out at the end of the book of Judges is the godlessness of the people of Israel.

There’s all sorts of crazy things going on at the end of the book of Judges and it’s there to show us the degradation of a people who have abandoned the living God. Again, consider the refrain from the book of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

But all of that was about to change because Hannah, as we all know, will give birth. And of course, it all had to happen exactly according to God’s timing. Because her son, Samuel would be a great judge and spiritual leader of the people of Israel.

And in a similar way, Israel would one day give birth to a great leader who would deliver his people from their sins! From Israel would come the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

But even if Hannah understood that, it probably wouldn’t ease her pain. “Hey Hannah, I just wanted to let you know that your barrenness is a spiritual metaphor for the people of Israel.” I don’t imagine that conversation going over well.

And of the places you definitely don’t want to have that conversation over a holiday.

It’s almost a cliche at this point that the holidays are often the worst times of year for those who are grieving, in pain, or suffering. Celebrations like Christmas, New Years, Birthdays, simply become reminders of what you lack or lost for those who are suffering or grieving.

And it’s what we see in this passage as well. Elkanah takes his family to the Tabernacle which housed the ark of the covenant in Shiloh which was the designated place of worship at this point in Israel’s history. And they’d go there for these glorious feasts, which were supposed to be a joyous time of fun and celebration, but for Hannah it’s an annual source of heartache and pain.

And so they’d go to Shiloh to worship and feast. They’d have a big Thanksgiving style meal. Imagine Peninnah kids laughing, playing, and having a wonderful time, while Hannah is miserable. So Elkanah would give Hannah “a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.”

How’s that for a consolation prize? The woman who can’t have kids gets two scoops of beef or lamb. It does sound somewhat pathetic, but undoubtedly, it was coming from a sincere place. Elkanah really did love Hannah and would give her a “double portion” as an expression of his love. But it seems that the double portion for Hannah would anger Peninnah every year.

We’re told in verse 6, “And her rival (Peninnah) used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.”

Penniah would ruthlessly goad, provoke, and anger Hannah over her childlessness. The commentator Dale Ralph Davis imagined the table conversation going something like this:

“Now do all you children have your food? Dear me, there are so many of you, it’s hard to keep track.”

“Mommy, Miss Hannah doesn’t have any children.”

“What did you say dear?”

“I said, Miss Hannah doesn’t have any children.”

“Miss Hannah? Oh, yes, that’s right - she doesn’t have any children.”

“Doesn’t she want children?”

“Oh, yes, she wants children very, very, much! Would you say so, Hannah? [In a low aside] Don’t you wish you had children too?”

“Doesn’t Daddy want Miss Hannah to have kids?”

“Oh certainly he does - but Miss Hannah keeps disappointing him; she just can’t have kids.”

“Why not?”

“Why, because God won’t let her.”

“Does God not like Miss Hannah?”

“Well, I don’t know - what do you think? Oh, by the way, Hannah, did I tell you that I’m pregnant again?! You think you’ll ever be pregnant, Hannah?”

Dale Ralph Davis imagines Peninnah indirectly provoking Hannah, perhaps it was more direct than that, but nevertheless, you get the idea.

Peninnah would goad Hannah simply to upset her, and as we’re told in verse 7, this was an annual event. “It went on year by year.”

And Hannah would simply have to take it. She had nowhere to go! This was Hannah’s opportunity to take Job’s wife’s advice: curse God and die. Because it’s easy to blame God for the pain in our lives and believe that our own misfortune is the result of God’s spite and malice towards us. And so we allow the seeds of bitterness to grow in our hearts in the midst of the trials of life.

And yet that mentality denies the very essence of God’s character. How can you honestly believe that God intends for your harm if He sent his beloved Son to die for your sins? And in Hannah’s day, God freed the people of Israel out of slavery from the Egyptians with a mighty hand and outstretched arm.

God is good, but sometimes God uses the trials of life to make you more dependent on Him. As a Christian, even if the trials hurt along the way wouldn’t you agree that being more dependent upon the Lord is always a good thing?

Elkanah’s ineffective comfort (vv. 7-8)

Not only was Hannah struggling with her own infertility but she was also regularly provoked by Peninnah which would bring her to tears. In fact, she’d be in such turmoil she wouldn’t even eat at the glorious feast.

And this apparently caused Elkanah to ask her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

To Elkanah’s credit he wanted to console his wife, but his approach probably wasn’t the best. Perhaps you noticed what he said, “Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

Wouldn’t a better comment have been, “Hannah, you mean more to me than ten sons,” right?

Elkanah is in many ways a typical male who doesn’t know the right things to say to a distressed woman. But hopefully, what shines through, despite Elkanah’s clumsy words, is that he clearly loves Hannah and is making an effort. He doesn’t want her to be sad.

Because the reality is, he can’t really console Hannah because she’s forced to share her husband with another woman. His efforts to care for her will always be inadequate won’t they? They’ll always be ineffective.

The unknown author (or authors) of 1 Samuel are painting a grievous picture for us in these first few verses: a woman who was suffering alone.

And so, these eight verses paint a very bleak picture don’t they? We have a woman, Hannah, whose life is marred by hopelessness.

God has stripped everything away from Hannah. She’s childless, trapped in a polygamist marriage, where she's perpetually insulted by her husband’s other wife over her infertility. Talk about a depressing situation, right?

She has absolutely nothing, and yet, that’s exactly where God wants her!

Sometimes God puts us in these situations that appear incredibly hopeless and depressing not so that we lash out at him and blame him for everything, but so that we turn more of ourselves over to him.

Isn’t that precisely how the gospel works? You and I need to be reminded at times of the hopelessness of our own sin. Why? So that you and I can clearly see our need for a Savior.

So often, when we’re at the end of our rope, when all hope is lost, and we feel the crushing weight of our own sin, it’s at that point, God begins his work. The potter must soften the clay before he can mold it into the thing he wants.

That’s God’s modus operandi to bring hope to seemingly hopeless situations, which I pray is an encouragement to each of you this morning. The Lord doesn’t want to drive you away from himself through pain and suffering, He wants to drive you into his arms through pain and suffering.

Perhaps you’re experiencing pain and suffering in your own life. Don’t take Job’s wife’s advice. Don’t curse God and die. Instead, take your pain and suffering to the one who says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Amen. Let’s pray together.