Who do you think is the most POWERFUL person in the world? Could it be the President of the United States? After all, he is the commander in chief of the greatest military force in the world and has a huge nuclear arsenal at his fingertips. Or….maybe a better choice would be Allen Greenspan? I mean…this is a man who has the power…the authority…to raise or lower interest rates. His daily decisions control the prices on almost everything! And then, what about those Arabian Kings who hold the world’s oil supply in their hands? The prices they set on each barrel of the oil they produce affects the economies of the entire world. Could they be the most powerful.
Well, if you think any of the above individuals are the correct answer to my question, you’re wrong — for none of them are nearly as powerful as the mothers of this world!
President Theodore Roosevelt put it this way, “When all is said, it is the mother, who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation….it is she who is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she would only realize it, a more honorable as well as a more important position than any man in it…She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.” Roosevelt was right…for mothers are indeed the most important…the most powerful people in the world for they are the ones-more than anyone else-who mold us in our most “moldable” years. But in our culture these days we often either ignore or downplay this fact.
Tony Campolo once said, “Too many women are made to feel that they should apologize for being mothers or housewives. In reality, such roles can be noble callings. When I was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania….there were gatherings from time to time to which faculty members brought their spouses. Inevitably some woman doctor or sociologist would confront my wife with the question, ‘And what is it that you do, my dear?’ My wife, who has given her life to raise our two sons and who by the way is one of the most brilliantly articulate individuals I know, had a great response. She would say: ‘I am socializing two homo sapiens in the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the teleologically prescribed utopia inherent in the Eschaton.’ When she followed that with, ‘And what is it that YOU do?” the other person’s response just wasn’t that overpowering.” Now there is certainly nothing wrong with a woman being a doctor or a lawyer or a sociologist…but women who choose to focus their time and energies being a mother have nothing to be ashamed of. Mothers are very valuable individuals….their WORTH is never done!
Well, on this Mother’s day I want us to continue our study of the Women of the Bible by focusing on the life of a truly extraordinary mother…Her name was HANNAH, and she was the mother of the prophet Samuel. This godly woman is first mentioned at the beginning of the book of 1 Samuel-she lived during the time in the history of Israel when the age of the Judges came to an end. You’ll remember that in my last sermon in this series I said that the book of Judges tells of a period of cycles in which the Hebrew people: rebelled against God…began to worship the pagan gods around them…suffered the painful consequences…cried out to God for help…and He responded by sending a judge who would deliver them. For a while they would return to God but when the judge died the people would rebel against God and the cycle would begin all over again. This cycle repeated itself seven times. When these seven cycles came to an end, Israel was nothing more than a loosely organized federation of anemic tribal territories scarcely able to keep the Philistines and other enemies at bay. But as 1 Samuel begins, a new era is about to dawn. You’ll remember that Judges 17:6 said that “everyone did what was right in their own eyes for Israel HAD NO KING..
Well, in Samuel’s day Israel would get a king. This nation would become a unified under the rule of monarchs like King Saul and King David, and King Solomon. Our text for today tells the story of the events that led to the birth of the prophet Samuel…the man, who God used…more than any other…to begin this new era in the life of Israel.
His father was Elkanah, a name that means “God has created a son” which was tantalizingly prophetic of what was soon to occur in his wife Hannah’s womb. Take your Bibles and let’s read the story of Hannah together. We’ll start with I Samuel 1:1 :
1 – There was a certain man from Ramathim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2 – He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 – Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phineahas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.
4 – Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.
5 – But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.
6 – And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.
7 – This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.
8 – Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
9 – Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.
10 – In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.
11 – And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
12 – As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.
13 – Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk
14 – and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
15 – “Not so, my Lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.
16 – Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
17 – Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.”
18 – She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast.
19 – Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.
20 – So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
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24 – After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.
25 – When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli,
26 – And she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.
27 – I prayed for this child and the Lord granted me what I asked of him.
28 – So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
Elkanah must have been a man of some means because he could afford not 1 but 2 wives. Now polygamy was of course not God’s intention but remember, this was a time when everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes and Elkanah had apparently yielded to the pressure of the pagan customs around him. His first wife, Hannah, was his true love but as years passed it became obvious that she was barren. It was the burning desire of every couple in those days to have children….especially male children…so that the husband’s family name could go on. I know several couples here who have faced the agony of not being able to have children. No doubt some of you understand how Hannah must have felt. But what made it even worse for her was the fact that she lived in a culture in which child-bearing was the sole reason for a woman’s existence.
Well, since Hannah was unable to have children, Elkanah took a second wife, named Penninah. She was not barren. In fact she seemed to have a baby every time she turned around. Just as regularly as the seasons there came a new son or daughter into the family so that the house was filled with children, but none of them were Hannah’s. The ache in her heart deepened as time went by and the final wrench of agony, of course, was that Peninnah could not keep quiet about her fertility. She found a thousand and one ways to remind Hannah of her inadequacy. Penninah taunted Hannah and mocked her and every word was like a knife plunged deeply into the spirit of this godly woman.
Well, three times a year all Israelite men were required to be at the central or most important sanctuary to offer sacrifices in observance of the main religious festivals. These were held at Shiloh which was located about 16 miles east of Elkanah’s home in Ramah. Shiloh was the town in which the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant were located. The festival mentioned in the first chapter of 1 Samuel was probably The Feast of the Tabernacles which was celebrated in the fall. Festival celebrations like this were times of rejoicing in God’s blessings, especially that of a bountiful harvest. When Elkanah’s family arrived, he followed the custom of his people and distributed a portion of the sacrificial meat to Peninnah and to each of her children but he provided Hannah a double portion because of his great love for her.
Scripture records that in spite of this favored status, Hannah’s misery-her depression over not being able to have children-continued and peaked while they were at Shiloh for this festival. In fact, one day while she was fasting and praying for a child she made a vow to the Lord that if He would only give her a son, she would give Him back to Him. Her prayer shows that Hannah knew that Elkanah was not the source of children….God was. She recognized that children are always a gift of God-one of His greatest gifts! Hannah prayed silently — moving only her lips. She wasn’t praying to be heard by men. She was talking with God from the depths of her heart. Well this caused Eli, the chief priest at Shiloh, to think she was drunk, for prayer in the ancient world was almost always audible. Psalm 3:4 reflects this when it says, “To the Lord I cry ALOUD!” But Eli had misjudged Hannah for she had not been pouring herself a drink…far from it…she was pouring her soul out to God. Scripture records that God “remembered her” prayer-and in time she conceived and gave birth to a son and this is how Samuel came to be born. His name means, “heard by God.”
Before we go any farther, I feel led to say that I realize that God does not always answer the prayers of a barren couple in the way He did Hannah. I know of many couples who have prayed without ceasing that God would open wombs and allow them to have children. And I don’t want to be trite here by claiming to know why this is true. Some commentators on this text stated that they believed God sometimes closes the wombs of godly women so that they and their husbands will be available to adopt all the orphan children of the world. And there may be some truth in that. I don’t know. But I do know this: God understands the pain we go through and I know He loves us and knows what is best for us. He remembers our prayers just as He did those of Hannah. There comes a time when in the midst of things we don’t understand we simply have to trust God’s heart.We need to simply trust in His omniscient goodness.
And that is what Hannah did for when little Samuel was weaned-which in her day and age would have been when he was anywhere from three to six years old-she fulfilled her vow and did what must have been a very painful thing. She brought Samuel to the tabernacle at Shiloh to dedicate him to the Lord and left him with Eli to raise as a priest. By the way she ended up having 5 more children-I bet that shut Penninah up!
And, as I have said….SAMUEL grew up to become one of the most influential leaders in all of Israel’s history. He lived from about 1090B.C. to 1015B.C. and was the greatest biblical character between Moses and David. Under his leadership Israel renounced idolatry and shook off the yoke of the Philistines. And, I am sure that no one was prouder of his accomplishments than his mother! So understand. Here is a woman whom God used to bring into being a man who became one of the greatest of the prophets of Israel…a man who would be the spiritual guide and mentor of the first two kings of Israel! I’m sure you would agree that when it came to mothering, Hannah did good work.
Well, what was it that made her such a good mother? I mean, how do you raise a child like Samuel? I’d like to suggest two things:
1. The first thing that I believe made Hannah a great mother was the fact that she and her husband shared a deep DEVOTION to each other.
I mean-Hannah and Elkanah obviously enjoyed a great love! Remember? Verse 5 says Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion of meat because of his love for her. And as I read verse 8, I can almost see him coming up behind his weeping wife and putting his arms around her from behind as he draws attention to their great love by saying, “Do I not mean more to you than 10 sons?”
Hannah and Elkanah were very devoted to one another. You may ask, “How does that relate to successful parenting? What’s love got to do with it? And the answer is “EVERYTHING!” The quality of the love relationship between a husband and wife has a great deal of influence on how our kids turn out. I think this is one reason that in Ephesians 5:28 husbands are commanded to “love their wives” and in Titus 2:4 women are commanded to “love their husbands.” If husbands and wives want to raise children who will grow up to be godly adults they must obey these commands to love each other. And I’m not just talking here about just a feeling kind of love. I am referring to a love that is visible in our actions…in the way we relate to one another.
Remember, as I John 3:17 says we are to love one another, “not with words or tongue but with actions and truth.” You see if instead of love, there is obvious hostility between parents it casts a shadow of insecurity over any sons or daughters we attempt to raise. But, if on the other hand the husband-wife relationship is strong and amorous…if it is characterized by the kind of noticeable devotion that Hannah and Elkanah had for each other…then it will create a sense of security, peace, and well-being in the lives of our children. In one of his comedy routines Rodney Dangerfield once said, “My wife and I sleep in separate rooms; we have dinner apart; we take separate vacations. We’re doing everything we can to keep our marriage together.” Well husbands and wives who are not together in every sense of the word have a very difficult time raising children.
Children need to understand that mom and dad have something special going. They need to see us hug each other, kiss each other, show affection for one another. This is one thing that tells them that our marriage is solid. When they see that we can love one another in spite of disagreements, then they know that we love them with the same unconditional love. In her book, Growing a Family Where People Really Like One Another, Karen Dockery writes,”Spirituality is showing: LOVE when you feel like attacking, JOY when you’d rather whine, PEACE when you’d rather argue, PATIENCE when you’d rather demand, KINDNESS when you’d rather be cruel.”
And then, another factor of this parenting principle is this: the way we relate teaches our kids how to relate. When a husband and a wife deal with one another in a loving way, then their children are more likely to relate to each other and to their peers throughout life in a loving way. Remember how lovingly Elkanah treated Hannah? He saw her grief and related to her with gentle empathy…in his actions he showed a love that is “patient and kind.”
This is the quality of loving devotion that was shown to Samuel in his formative years. I believe was one of the primary factors that made it possible for him to grow up to become a great man of God….and then…a second thing that contributed to this was…..
2. ….Hannah’s DEDICATION to God.
This too was something that she shared with her husband. Hannah and Elkanah not only loved each other. They also loved the Lord. And this was also clearly seen in their actions. Look back at verse 3, “…this man would go up from his city YEARLY to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.” Now the word “yearly” doesn’t mean that Hannah and Elkanah only went to worship once a year. It indicates that they attended the festival referred to in verse 3 once a year and probably went a total of at least three times annually….so they could attend the other feasts and worship times held at the temple. And each time they went it meant a round trip journey by foot of about two to three weeks.
Verse 19 of chapter 2 says that after they gave Samuel to the priest Eli, they continued to make these particular pilgrimages to the temple: “Each year [Samuel’s] mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.” Hannah’s dedication to God was also seen her prayer life. She prayed for a son and when God answered, she responded with a prayer of thanks, which is found in chapter 2.
This prayer apparently became well-known among the Jewish nation, for Mary, the mother of Jesus seems to have patterned her own prayer of thanks after these words of Hannah. I’m saying that Hannah and Elkanah had a faith in God that was deeply felt, genuinely believed, and clearly expressed in the actions of their lives. And…again you might ask, “What does this have to do with parenting?” And again I would reply, “Everything!” because the quality of the relationship we have with God will influence our children’s spiritual development. You see our kids are watching. They are looking to see if God is indeed real to us. They notice how much we pray. They see how often we apply the teachings of the Bible to our daily life. And they will be the first to notice any hypocrisy.
Paul Harvey once said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.” And while some might say that statement was too harsh, here’s a statement that is more difficult to debate: “If you don’t live it, your CHILDREN won’t believe it.” If you want your kids to believe in God and live in ways that please Him then you have to do so as well. Having a deep faith in God is not enough. We must also model it.
There were once some gold prospectors who discovered an exceptionally rich mine. One of them said, “Hey, we’ve got it made as long as we don’t’ tell anybody else before we stake our claims.” So they each vowed to keep the secret.
Well, when they ran out of provisions, they headed for town. After buying all the supplies they needed, they hurried back to the mine site. But they weren’t alone. A crowd of people followed them, because their discovery was written all over their faces.
You see, what happens on the inside shows on the outside! So the question for us as parents is this: are we letting show on the outside…what God has done on the inside?
Telling our kids to pray is not enough. We must pray with them. Telling our kids to read the Bible is insufficient. We must read it with them and talk to them about how it’s principles apply to our lives. This is what Deuteronomy 6:7 is referring to when it says that we are to teach our children God’s commands, “…when we sit at home and when we walk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up.” You see we are not always going to have our kids. The day will come all too quickly when they will be out on their own. Hannah certainly discovered this; she only had a few years with her son. So while we have them with us, we need to show them how important it is to us know God personally.
Three little boys were once playing and they got into one of those “My dad’s better than your dad” routines. One boy proudly said, “My dad knows the mayor of our town!” Another said, “That’s nothing-my dad knows the governor of our state!” Then the last little boy topped them all when he said, “That’s nothing-my dad knows God!” Does your child know by the way that you live, that you know God? Its unlikely that they will want to know and follow God unless you do!
So,I think two things enabled Hannah was able to produce a child like SAMUEL…
1 – Her DEVOTION to her husband. They were deeply in love. And,
2 – Her DEDICATION to God. She had a faith relationship with the Lord was genuine and growing.
You know we all want our kids to grow up and be happy and fulfilled. We all want the best for our children….in fact we’re willing to sacrifice so that they will have it. We want to give them the best homes, the best clothes, the best vacations, the best education. But if we give them all of this and do not guide them into a love relationship with God we have really given them nothing.
On the other hand, if we give them a relationship with God and nothing else, we have really given them everything! The very best thing we can give our sons and daughters is a personal faith in God….AND…it’s also the best thing we can give ourselves. This brings to mind two questions: are you running your family in such a way that you can give your kids God’s best? And do you have it yourself? Do you know God personally? A personal relationship with God only comes through Jesus Christ. And if you’re here this morning and have never committed your life to Jesus I encourage you to do so and to walk to the front and share that commitment with me or Steve. Others of us may need to make private commitments to God — pledging to enrich our marriages or deepen our own walk with God so that our children can find God’s best. You may be here and feel that God is leading you or your family to join this church. I’ll be standing here at the front with Steve and would encourage you to walk the aisle and share your decisions with us….won’t you come as we sing?