A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

The Ark of the Covenant would be returned by the Philistines within seven months, but
the newborn baby Ichabod would be old enough to fight for his nation before the glory would
return. For more than twenty years, Israel would lament the departed glory of God.
THIRTY-FOUR
SAMUEL:
From Judges to Kings
(1 Samuel 1:1-8:22)
During the bleak and depressing time of the end of the Judges, there was a new ray of
sunshine coming over the horizon. The last judge, Samuel, was the best, in that he prepared
Israel for the united kingdom and greatness. He was born before the death of Eli. Perhaps the
weak Eli made a contribution to Samuel he couldn’t make in his own sons.
THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL
(1 Sam. 1:1-2:21)
In the city of Ramathaim Zophim, a man named Elkanah married a woman he deeply
loved named Hannah. The marriage was a picture of everything a marriage should be. The name
Elkanah means “God is possessing,” and his wife’s name Hannah means “grace.” In many
respects it was a home in which God was honored as possessor and His grace experienced.
Annually the couple made their way to the tabernacle at Shiloh to worship Jehovah Sabaoth, the
Lord of hosts. But it was not a marriage without its problems, and the biggest was a physical
problem with Hannah. “The Lord had closed her womb” (1 Sam. 1:5-6).
As much as Elkanah loved his wife Hannah, it was important to him to have an heir. He
could trace his descendants back several generations, to Abraham, the father of the nation itself.
His own family had settled in Ephraim for four generations and was well established in the
community. So because Hannah could not provide the needed heir, Elkanah married a second
wife, one named Peninnah, who became the mother of his children. While it resolved one
problem for Elkanah, it introduced a host of new ones in his family. As a wise man would later
advise a sultan, “First learn to live with two tigresses, and then expect to live happily with two
wives.”
If a second wife caused problems for Elkanah, it only served to intensify the suffering of
Hannah. Barrenness was considered a sign of the displeasure of God in the Near East. This
means it was only natural for Hannah’s best friends to suspect she was being judged by God for
some hidden sin in her life. The new wife became a constant source of irritation and “provoked
her severely, to make her miserable” (v. 6). Even her own husband didn’t understand and tried to
minimize the problem when they talked (v. 8). Increasingly, Hannah found herself weeping
uncontrollably. She didn’t feel like eating and couldn’t enjoy the feasts in Shiloh as she once
had. Inside she was deeply hurt, but there was no one to turn to for help. To even discuss the
problem with the spiritual leaders at Shiloh, Hophni and Phinehas, was probably to invite their
physical abuse of her. Ultimately, Hannah had only one hope, so she turned to the Lord in
prayer.