Today we
begin a journey that we will not finish until January 23, 2012. We are going to examine one of the greatest
historical periods in the Hebrew nation.
We will start with Samuel, the last of the judges. We will then move to Saul, the failed
king. Then we will move to David, the
pinnacle of the time of the kings of Israel.
Then we will briefly move to Solomon and his glorious reign followed by
the general slide into decline. Then we
will end with the split kingdom reading story after story about how Israel
slips farther away from their God – even into captivity under the Assyrians and
Babylonians. I think of this series of
books as a parabola that starts low, rises in the middle, and then plummets
back into the depths from which it came.
There are good people all along the way, and there are great stories
along the way as well.
Wives
First
things first. I can’t help but notice
that Elkanah has two wives. For the
record, many of the people we have met thus far in the Old Testament have had
multiple wives. This is not by God’s
design – for if you remember back into Genesis God established marriage as
being between one man and one woman.
However – like many things – God permitted polygamy because of the
hardness of the hearts of mankind (as is also the case of divorce, which Jesus
speaks about in Matthew 19:8). I think
it is important here to pause and speak to this practice we see and reaffirm
that this arrangement is not a part of God’s designed order for the world. Yet, much like the rest of sinfulness within
humanity, it still happened.
The reason
this is important is because this arrangement actually leads to Hannah being
provoked to hurtfulness and sorrow.
Because Elkanah has two wives and one of them is fertile with children,
it highlights that the barrenness is a condition specific to Hannah. This leads to her feeling less significant,
even though the text is clear to indicate that Elkanah actually prefers
Hannah. Although, if Elkanah truly
preferred Hannah and that was known – as it likely was – this might also have
played a part in Penniniah’s criticism of Hannah’s barrenness.
What can
we learn from all of this? Human beings
are competitive. We feel the need to be
on top and to win. Hannah was preferred
by Elkanah, thus Penniniah felt the need to put down Hannah to make herself
feel like she was actually the top. Had
Elkanah only had one wife, this natural competition would have not been present
and Hannah would have had Elkanah’s undivided attention and reassurance. Having two wives was naturally destructive to
the relationships Elkanah had.
Competition
We should
be quick to understand that competition does not only come about in polygamous
marriages. Competition comes about in
almost anything that human beings do. When not managed well, competition quite often
brings out the ugly side of people.
Again,
don’t get me wrong. Healthy competition
– competition when the goal is progress in society or the betterment of one
another – is a great thing. But in my
experience this is seldom the true end of competition unless the competition is
managed extraordinarily well.
Human
beings are quick to assert how much better they are than the other side. How many sports fans display this behavior
after every game that their team wins? We
assume that because we are the victors that we are better and we deserve
it.
Perhaps
more deadly, how many times does the posturing of the victor actually lead to
the humiliation and self-loathing in the loser.
This humiliation and self-loathing quickly turns into bitterness, anger,
and soon an unhealthy rivalry of hatred is born. Is that a healthy dynamic? Does God want us to elevate something to the
point where we desire some other human being to be crushed? Is that healthy and the way God desires us to
view other people? If you are unsure,
read Matthew 5:44; Matthew 19:19; John 14:23; Romans 12:10; Romans 13:10; 1
Corinthians 13:4-6; 1 Corinthians 16:14; Galatians 5:22; 1
John 2:9-11
It is no
different than what Penniniah does here to Hannah. Unhealthy competition leads to unhealthy
attitudes about ourselves and others.
That is a huge lesson we can learn from today’s story.
Hannah
I love
Hannah’s perspective, though. Hannah
doesn’t want a son so that she can flaunt it in Penniniah’s face. Hannah doesn’t want the son so that she can
prove to Penniniah that “anything she can do Hannah can do better.” Hannah wants the son so she can experience
the joy of brining life into the world.
Hannah wants the son so that as evidence to God’s glory she can dedicate
the child to the Lord.
If Hannah
was the self-monger, she would want the child to rub it in Penniniah’s
face. To return to the sports analogy,
if Hannah was a football player she’d want to beat the other team because “last
time they came in and beat us.” But this
is not Hannah. Hannah is not a
self-monger. Hannah simply wants the joy
and experience of bringing life into the world.
She simply wants to be content knowing that she “played the game as well
as she could” and “with the right attitude.”
Hannah is content experiencing God’s bounty. She doesn’t need to crush Penniniah and prove
that she is on top.
Samuel Given to the Lord
We know
that this point is true because Hannah does release the child to the Lord as
soon as Samuel is weaned. It isn’t about
the competition for Hannah. It is about
the experience and relating to God. It
is about her becoming a better person by “actually becoming a better person”
rather than becoming a better person by “putting down the people around
her.” Again, Hannah’s lack of self-mongerism
comes through. Her position of favor is
not important, but experiencing God and His bounty is what is important.
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