HANNAH'S FAITH REWARDED.
1Sa 1:19-28.
IN all the transactions recorded in these verse, we see in Hannah
the directing and regulating power of the family; while Elkanah
appears acquiescing cordially in all that she proposes, and devoutly
seconding her great act of consecration, - the surrender of Samuel
to the perpetual service of God. For a moment it might be thought
that Hannah assumed a place that hardly belonged to her; that she
became the leader and director in the house, while her proper
position was that of a helpmeet to her husband. We are constrained,
however, to dismiss this thought, for it does not fit in to the
character of Hannah, and it is not in keeping with the general tone
of the passage. There are two reasons that account sufficiently for
the part she took. In the first place, it was she that had dealt
with God in the matter, and it was with her too that God had dealt.
She had been God-directed in the earlier part of the transaction,
and therefore was specially able to see what was right and proper to
be done in following up God's remarkable acknowledgment and answer
of her prayer. The course to be taken came to her as an intuition, -
an intuition not to be reasoned about, not to be exposed to the
criticism of another, to be simply accepted and obeyed. As she gave
no heed to those impulses of her own heart that might have desired a
different destination for her child, so she was disposed to give
none to the impulses of any other. The name, and the training, and
the life- work of a child given so remarkably were all clear as
sunbeams to her godly heart; and in such a matter it would have been
nothing but weakness to confer with flesh and blood.
And in the second place, Elkanah could be in no humour to resist his
wife, even if he had had any reason to do so. For he was in a manner
reproved of God for not being more concerned about her sadness of
spirit. God had treated her sorrow more seriously than he had. God
had not said to her that her husband was better to her than ten
sons. God had recognized the hunger of her heart for a son as a
legitimate craving, and when she brought her wish to Him, and meekly
and humbly asked Him to fulfill it, He had heard her prayer, and
granted her request. In a sense Hannah, in the depth of her sorrow,
had appealed from her husband to a higher court, and the appeal had
been decided in her favour. Elkanah could not but feel that in
faith, in lofty principle, in nearness of fellow-ship with God, he
had been surpassed by his wife. It was no wonder he surrendered to
her the future direction of a life given thus in answer to her
prayers. Yet in thus surrendering his right he showed no sullenness
of temper, but acted in harmony with her, not only in naming and
dedicating the child, but in taking a vow on himself, and at the
proper moment fulfilling that vow. The three bullocks, with the
ephah of flour and the bottle of wine brought to Shiloh when the
child was presented to the Lord, were probably the fulfillment of
Elkanah's vow.
But to come more particularly to what is recorded in the text.
1. We notice, first, the fact of the answer to prayer. The answer
was prompt, clear, explicit. It is an important question, Why are
some prayers answered and not others? Many a good man and woman feel
it to be the greatest trial that their prayers for definite objects
are not answered. Many a mother will say, Why did God not answer me
when I prayed Him to spare my infant's life? I am sure I prayed with
my whole heart and soul, but it seemed to make no difference, the
child sank and died just as if no one had been praying for him. Many
a wife will say. Why does God not convert my husband? I have
agonized, I have wept and made supplication on his behalf, and in
particular, with reference to his besetting infirmity, I have
implored God to break his chain and set him free; but there he is,
the same as ever. Many a young person under serious impressions will
say. Why does God not hear my prayer? I have prayed with heart and
soul for faith and love, for peace in believing, for consciousness
of my interest in Christ; but my prayers seem directed against a
wall of brass, they seem never to reach the ears of the Lord of
hosts. In spite of all such objections and difficulties, we maintain
that God is the hearer of prayer. Every sincere prayer offered in
the name of Christ is heard, and dealt with by God in such way as
seems good to Him. There are good reasons why some prayers are not
answered at all, and there are also good reasons why the visible
answer to some prayers is delayed. Some prayers are not answered
because the spirit of them is bad. "Ye ask but receive not because
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." What is asked
merely to gratify a selfish feeling is asked amiss. It is not holy
prayer; it does not fit in with the sacred purposes of life; it is
not asked to make us better, or enable us to serve God better, or
make our life more useful to our fellows; but simply to increase our
pleasure, to make our surroundings more agreeable. Some prayers are
not answered because what is asked would be hurtful; the prayer is
answered in spirit though denied in form. A Christian lady, over the
sick bed of an only son, once prayed with intense fervour that he
might be restored, and positively refused to say, "Thy will be
done." Falling asleep, she seemed to see a panorama of her son's
life had he survived; it was a succession of sorrows, rising into
terrible agonies, - so pitiful a sight that she could no longer
desire his life to be prolonged, and gave up the battle against the
will of God. Some prayers are not answered at the time, because a
discipline of patience is needed for those who offer them; they have
to be taught the grace of waiting patiently for the Lord; they have
to learn more fully than hitherto to walk by faith, not by sight;
they have to learn to take the promise of God against all
appearances, and to remember that heaven and earth shall pass away,
but God's word shall not pass away.
But whatever be the reasons for the apparent silence of God, we may
rest assured that hearing prayer is the law of His kingdom. Old
Testament and New alike bear witness to this. Every verse of the
Psalms proclaims it. Alike by precept and example our Lord
constantly enforced it. Every Apostle takes up the theme, and urges
the duty and the privilege. We may say of prayer as St. Paul said of
the resurrection - if prayer be not heard our preaching is vain, and
your faith is vain. And what true Christian is there who cannot add
testimonies from his own history to the same effect? If the answer
to some of your prayers be delayed, has it not come to many of them?
Come, too, very conspicuously, so that you were amazed, and almost
awed? And if there be prayers that have not yet been answered, or in
reference to which you have no knowledge of an answer, can you not
afford to wait till God gives the explanation? And when the
explanation comes, have you not much cause to believe that it will
redound to the praise of God, and that many things, in reference to
which you could at the time see nothing but what was dark and
terrible, may turn out when fully explained to furnish new and
overwhelming testimony that "God is love?"
2. The next point is the name given by Hannah to her son. The name
Samuel, in its literal import, does not mean "asked of the Lord,"
but "heard of the Lord." The reason assigned by Hannah for giving
this name to her son is not an explanation of the word, but a
reference to the circumstances. In point of fact, "heard of the
Lord" is more expressive than even "asked of the Lord," because it
was God's hearing (in a favourable sense), more than Hannah's
asking, that was the decisive point in the transaction. Still, as
far as Hannah was concerned, he was asked of the Lord. The name was
designed to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances of his
birth. For the good of the child himself, and for the instruction of
all that might come in contact with him, it was designed to
perpetuate the fact that before his birth a solemn transaction in
prayer took place between his mother and the Almighty. The very
existence of this child was a perpetual witness, first of all of the
truth that God exists, and then of the truth that He is a
prayer-hearing God. The very name of this child is a rebuke to those
parents who never think of God in connection with their children,
who never thank God for giving them, nor think of what He would like
in their education and training. Even where no such special
transaction by prayer has taken place as in the case of Samuel's
mother, children are to be regarded as sacred gifts of God. "Lo,
children are the heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is
His reward." Many a child has had the name Samuel given him since
these distant days in Judaea under the influence of this feeling.
Many a parent has felt what a solemn thing it is to receive from
God's hands an immortal creature, that may become either an angel or
a devil, and to be entrusted with the first stage of a life that may
spread desolation and misery on the one hand, or joy and blessing
wherever its influence reaches. Do not treat lightly, O parents, the
connection between God and your children! Cherish the thought that
they are God's gifts, God's heritage to you, committed by Him to you
to bring up, but not apart from Him, not in separation from those
holy influences which He alone can impart, and which He is willing
to impart. What a cruel thing it is to cut this early connection
between them and God, and send them drifting through the world like
a ship with a forsaken rudder, that flaps hither and thither with
every current of the sea! What a blessed thing when, above all
things, the grace and blessing of God are sought by parents for
their children, when all the earnest lessons of childhood are
directed to this end, and before childhood has passed into youth the
grace of God rules the young heart, and the holy purpose is formed
to live in His fear through Jesus Christ, and to honour Him for
evermore!
3. Hannah's arrangements for the child. From the very first she had
decided that at the earliest possible period he should be placed
under the high priest at Shiloh. Hannah's fulfillment of her vow was
to be an ample, prompt, honourable fulfillment. Many a one who makes
vows or resolutions under the pressure and pinch of distress
immediately begins to pare them down when the pinch is removed, like
the merchant in the storm who vowed a hecatomb to Jupiter, then
reduced the hecatomb to a single bullock, the bullock to a sheep,
the sheep to a few dates; but even these he ate on the way to the
altar, laying on it only the stones. Not one jot would Hannah abate
of the full sweep and compass of her vow. She would keep the child
by her only till he was weaned, and then he should be presented at
Shiloh. It is said that Jewish mothers sometimes suckled their
children to the age of three years, and this was probably little
Samuel's age when he was taken to Shiloh. Meanwhile, she resolved
that till that time was reached she would not go up to the feast.
Had she gone before her son was weaned she must have taken him with
her, and brought him away with her, and that would have broken the
solemnity of the transaction when at last she should take him for
good and all. No. The very first visit that she and her son should
pay to Shiloh would be the decisive visit. The very first time that
she should present herself at that holy place where God had heard
her prayer and her vow would be the time when she should fulfill her
vow. The first time that she should remind the high priest of their
old interview would be when she came to offer to God's perpetual
service the answer to her prayer and the fruit of her vow. To miss
the feast would be a privation, it might even be a spiritual loss,
but she had in her son that which itself was a means of grace to
her, and a blessed link to God and heaven; while she remained with
him God would still remain with her; and in prayer for him, and the
people whom he might one day influence, her heart might be as much
enlarged and warmed as if she were mingling with the thousands of
Israel, amid the holy excitement of the great national feast.
4. Elkanah's offering at Shiloh. When Elkanah heard his wife's plan
with reference to Samuel, he simply acquiesced, bade her remain at
Shiloh, ''only the Lord establish His word." What word? Literally,
the Lord had spoken no word about Samuel, unless the word of Eli to
Hannah "The God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast
asked of Him" could be regarded as a word from God. That word,
however, had already been fulfilled; and Elkanah's prayer meant, The
Lord bring to pass those further blessings of which the birth of
Samuel was the promise and the prelude; the Lord accept, in due
time, the offering of this child to His service, and grant that out
of that offering there may come to Israel all the good that it is
capable of yielding.
The cordiality with which Elkanah accepted his wife's view of the
case is seen further in the ample offering which he took to Shiloh -
three bullocks, an ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine. One bullock
would have sufficed as a burnt-offering for the child now given for
the service of God, and in ver. 25 (1Sa 1:25) special mention is
made of one being slain. The other two were added to mark the
specialty of the occasion, to make the offering, so to speak, round
and complete, to testify the ungrudging cordiality with which the
whole transaction was entered into. One might perhaps have thought
that in connection with such a service there was hardly any need of
a bloody sacrifice. A little child of two or three years old - the
very type and picture of innocence - surely needed little in the way
of expiation. Not so, however, the view of the law of Moses. Even a
new-born infant could not be presented to the Lord without some
symbol of expiation. There is such a virus of corruption in every
human soul that not even infants can be brought to God for
acceptance and blessing without a token of atonement. Sin has so
separated the whole race from God, that not one member of it can be
brought near, can be brought into the region of benediction, without
shedding of blood. And if no member of it can be even accepted
without atonement, much less can any be taken to be God's servant,
taken to stand before Him, to represent Him, to be His organ to
others, to speak in His name. What a solemn truth for all who desire
to be employed in the public service of Jesus Christ Remember how
unworthy you are to stand before him. Remember how stained your
garments are with sin and worldliness, how distracted your heart is
with other thoughts and feelings, how poor the service is you are
capable of rendering. Remember how gloriously Jesus is served by the
angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening
to the voice of His word. And when you give yourselves to Him, or
ask to be allowed to take your place among His servants, seek as you
do so to be sprinkled with the blood of cleansing, own your personal
unworthiness, and pray to be accepted through the merit of His
sacrifice!
5. And now, the bullock being slain, they bring the child to Eli.
Hamah is the speaker, and her words are few and well chosen. She
reminds Eli of what she had done the last time she was there.
Generous and courteous, she makes no allusion to anything unpleasant
that had passed between them. Small matters of that sort are
absorbed in the solemnity and importance of the transaction. In her
words to Eli she touches briefly on the past, the present, and the
future. What occurred in the past was, that she stood there a few
years ago praying unto the Lord. What was true of the present was,
that the Lord had granted her petition, and given her this child for
whom she had prayed. And what was going to happen in the future was
(as the Revised Version has it), "I have granted him to the Lord; as
long as he liveth he is granted to the Lord."
It is interesting to remark that no word of Eli's is introduced.
This Nazarite child is accepted for the perpetual service of God at
once and without remark. No remonstrance is made on the score of his
tender years. No doubt is insinuated as to how he may turn out. If
Samuel's family was a Levitical one, he would have been entitled to
take part in the service of God, but only occasionally, and at the
Levitical age. But his mother brings him to the Lord long before the
Levitical age, and leaves him at Shiloh, bound over to a lifelong
service. How was she able to do it? For three years that child had
been her constant companion, had lain in her bosom, had warmed her
heart with his smiles, had amused her with his prattle, had charmed
her with all his engaging little ways. How was she able to part with
him? Would he not miss her too as much as she would miss him? Shiloh
was not a very attractive place, Eli was old and feeble, Hophni and
Phinehas were beasts, the atmosphere was offensive and pernicious.
Nevertheless, it was God's house, and if a little child should be
brought to it, capable of rendering to God real service, God would
take care of the child. Already he was God's child. Asked of God,
and heard of God, he bore already the mark of his Master. God would
be with him, as He had been with Joseph, as He had been with Moses -
"He shall call on Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in
trouble, I will be with him and honour him."
Noble in her spirit of endurance in the time of trial, Hannah is
still more noble in the spirit of self-denial in the time of
prosperity. It was no common grace that could so completely
sacrifice all her personal feelings, and so thoroughly honour God.
What a rebuke to those parents that keep back their children from
God's service, that will not part with their sons to be
missionaries, that look on the ministry of the Gospel as but a poor
occupation! What a rebuke, too, to many Christian men and women who
are so unwilling to commit themselves openly to any form of
Christian service, - unwilling to be identified with religious work!
Yet, on the other hand, let us rejoice that in this our age, more
perhaps than in any other, so many are willing, nay eager, for
Christian service. Let us rejoice that both among young men and
young women recruits for the mission-field are offering themselves
in such numbers. After all, it is true wisdom, and true policy,
although not done as a matter of policy. It will yield far the
greatest satisfaction in the end. God is not unrighteous to forget
the work and labour of love of His children. And "every one that
hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands for My name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life."
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