Hannah the Game Changer - February 2
Today’s Readings: Readings for the Feast of the Presentation AM Psalm 42, 43; PM Psalm 48, 87; 1 Samuel 2:1-10; John 8:31-36
Today’s Reflection
Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in my God.’ –1 Samuel 2:1
The story we hear in these early chapters of 1 Samuel is a dramatic one. A young boy, maybe a teenager, hears a voice and it turns out to be the voice of God. But Samuel is not the only one who hears God’s call in this story. Other people had to have faith and listen to God’s voice in order to lay the foundation that made it possible for Samuel to do the same when his own time came.
If we backtrack a bit to 1 Samuel 1, we hear about Samuel’s mother Hannah. She was married to Elkanah, who also had another wife, Peninnah, with whom he had sons and daughters. Hannah, too, desperately wanted to have children, but year after year no child came to Hannah and her husband. Setting aside that he had two wives, since that was culturally acceptable back then, other than that, Elkinah seems to have been a good husband. He gave Hannah “a double portion because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.” Peninnah flouted her abundance of children, causing Hannah great sadness and frustration. Elkanah, for all his understanding, couldn’t fully understand Hannah’s grief: “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” In other words, why aren’t I enough?
But Hannah believed deep in her heart that she was meant to have a child, meant to be a mother. She felt called to it. So, she kept praying at Shiloh and kept asking God to hear her and send her a son. And she made a promise—if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you and the service of your temple. As she prayed so intently, the priest Eli heard her as “she poured out her soul before the LORD.” She explained to Eli that she was praying so intently because of “my great anxiety and vexation.” Eli responded with kindness and offered Hannah some hope: “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”
Fast forward and we learn that God granted Hannah and Elkanah the son Hannah had hoped for, a son they named Samuel. And once Samuel was weaned, probably 3-4 years old in those times, Hannah brought Samuel to serve alongside Eli in the temple. And how touching to hear how she would visit him every year and bring him a new little robe, ensuring that he would have a tangible sign of being clothed and covered in his mother’s love.
For Samuel to exist, and to be there in the temple apprenticed to Eli, his mother Hannah first had to be listening to God’s voice stirring in her, helping her to stay close to God and keep holding on to hope that God had something better in store for her, that she was not destined to stay mired in hopelessness. Hannah had faith that God heard her. And Hannah had faith that God would watch over her son and that he was meant to serve God and his people for his whole life. Hannah had to have faith and be listening to God for so many other things to be set into motion for so many other people.
When we listen for God’s call, it isn’t as simple as listening to a call to an individual that has no impact or influence on anyone else. Hannah’s listening to God impacted Eli’s life, and Eli’s listening to God impacted Hannah’s life—and both of their listening paved the way for Samuel in turn to listen to God, which in the long run paved the way for Saul and David and everyone who would be impacted by their leadership for years to come. So, when we listen to God in our own life, we should be prepared for and ready to accept how God’s particular call to us will, in turn, change the lives of others—in our families, in our church, in our wider communities, and in the whole world.
Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Looking back on your own life’s path, how did the faith and lives of others clear the path for you? Who have you been able to support as they discerned their own next steps on life’s path?
Daily Challenge
Bible scholar Ruth Fidler observes that, “In her short presence in the Hebrew Bible, Hannah turns out to be a game changer: a strong-willed woman of faith, she rises above her pain to act towards her goal of becoming a mother.” Read more of Fidler’s analysis of Hannah’s role in this brief article found on Bible Odyssey (a project supported by the Society for Biblical Literature and the National Endowment for the Humanities).