1 Samuel 1:2-8 – “…He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah.  Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.  Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.  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.  But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.  And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.  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.  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?”

The story of Hannah is a teaching about 1) our struggle to see the Lord’s Work established, 2) the Lord’s reward for the sacrifices we make, and 3) our daily devotion and attention to the well-being of the Work of the Holy Spirit.  

HANNAH’S PERSONAL STRUGGLE: Hannah and Peninnah, the two wives of the priest Elkanah, represent two types of churches.  Elkanah illustrates the Lord Jesus for us, the Bridegroom of the Church.  Peninnah had many children, a great source of pride for her, but she did not need to depend on the Lord. Hannah could not bear children, which in those days was a terrible loss or stigma for a woman.  She was ashamed.  Her husband loved her nonetheless.  He would give her a double portion of the meat that the priests were supposed to eat from the sacrifices.  (1 Sam 1:5). The two wives were rivals (as is always the case with two wives), so Peninnah would ridicule Hannah for not having children, and this would make Hannah so upset she could not eat.  Her husband would say, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

SPIRITUAL LESSON: The church is supposed to be the Bride of Christ.  The Lord has always known, however, that many who call themselves Christians are not really devoted to the Lord.  There is a faithful church that enjoys a special relationship with the Lord Jesus, and an unfaithful church that is self-sufficient.  The unfaithful church always has larger numbers of people.  They do not require true spiritual commitment, so many people go there to get a blessing without commitment.  The faithful church struggles to attract members because she wants members who are true servants of God.  And she always feels self-conscious because other churches have more people.  The Bridegroom, however, gives a double portion to the faithful church, a double portion of spiritual blessings and spiritual food.  The one has “many sons and daughters,” but the other has the love of the Bridegroom and the double portion of provisions from the Lord’s Table.  Sometimes we encounter other Christians who criticize us for not having more people and bigger crowds, like they do.  We feel ashamed, just like Hannah did when Peninnah teased her.  Sometimes our members walk by a big church – thousands of people, but no spiritual life – and we ask the Lord why He doesn’t send some of those people to us.  ”Hannah did not eat” = fasting done by the faithful church for more salvations. The Lord’s response is always the same: “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” No matter how much we want to see people saved, the Lord himself and his love for us is the most important thing.

ISRAEL’S STRUGGLE: The nation of Israel was living in a time of spiritual decay.  Their priests and spiritual leaders were very corrupt – they were immoral and took from the things that belonged to the Lord (like preachers today who take the church’s money).  The High Priest was blind (no more spiritual light), fat (the flesh was dominant), and lacked discernment (he thought Hannah’s prayers were drunken babbling).  Worst of all, the “word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions in those days.”  God needed to start a new phase of His Work, his project of Salvation.  He chose Hannah’s desperate struggle as the occasion to solve the problem of all Israel.  He would being anew with a child.

Spiritual Lesson: We live in a time when the newspapers are full of scandals with church leaders – sexual immorality, financial wrongdoing, etc.  There is no more light or spiritual sight, just flesh.  They cannot even tell the difference between something spiritual and something worldly.  God, however, still has a Work to do, and he uses our need as the occasion to bring the blessing.  He gave Hannah a son, Samuel.  His name means, “God hears.” Hannah’s vow is the same that we make today: “he will be dedicated to the Lord all the days of his life.”  This is how we treat the spiritual fruit the Lord gives us – it should be completely devoted to the Lord.