Hannah a true mother
(1 Sam 1:1-2) Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: {2} And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
We will take a week break from discipleship to Mother’s Day devotion. We will look at Hannah one of many in the Bible as an example of motherhood. Booker T. Washington said, If I’ve done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother. He recognized the great influence his mother had upon him. Mothers do not become successful by learning a 10-point lesson on raising children. Success is related to who they are more than what they accomplish. Hannah is an example of this principle.
Hannah was a woman who desired to be a mother but was barren and she was a woman under trial. She was grieved because she could not bear children. Too often today young girls are urged to seek a career and let motherhood be only a second thought or “secondary position”. A woman can desire no greater work than that of being a mother and raising children to honor and serve God.
Hannah was vexed (tormented) by the other wife who was bearing children to Elkanah. It tells us that he loved Hannah more than he did Peninnah and because of that jealousy set in and Peninnah mocked and ridiculed Hannah because of her barrenness. Hannah probably felt that she was in a disfavorable light with God, since God had commanded man to replenish the earth – she was failing in her responsibility.
Each year Elkanah took the family to Jerusalem (according to God’s command) to worship at the required feasts. On this one occasion, Hannah sought the Lord earnestly when she made her offering to God. She was in such earnest that she did not speak aloud but in her heart. Eli, the priest saw her and thought her to be drunken, since most others always prayed out loud and some form of liturgical prayer or song. He confronted Hannah with it and she told him that she was of a heavy spirit and was earnestly seeking God to make her able to bear children.
Hannah did not just pray one time but probably often and regularly about her request. We know from the Scripture she made a vow to God – she told God that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to God’s service. This was a dangerous vow, because it meant that if God gave her a son, she would then lose that same son to God’s service. Many parents bring their children to be dedicated, promising to bring them to Sunday School and church and teach then in the things of God and then failing to do so. Then when something happens to the child and that child goes astray, runs away from home or even gets sick and dies, they blame God for it. When we dedicate our children we are making a vow to God to perform our part of the vow. We are entering into a contract of sorts with Him, but we fail to perform our part of the contract, then we blame God. God said through Solomon – “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. {5} Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. {6} Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” Breaking a vow is a serious matter.
Hannah did not break her vow when God gave her a son. She did it silently not aloud so others could hear, but she knew that God hears all, so she gave her son, Samuel, back to God (after she weaned him) and committed him to God’s care and keeping.
Hannah is an example of a Godly, righteous mother. She could have become bitter and blamed God; she could have become envious and angry. But she did not, she made her petition to her God and He answered her prayer and more than that; God gave her more children – “And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.” Sorrow did not keep Hannah from God or His house and her trials did not destroy her faith in God. God has given her story in His book for all to read.