Hannah was a childless wife of a man who had a second wife along side her. The Bible actually does not condone multiple wives, it has said many times for a man to have one wife. The men of the early times B.C. were not wise enough to understand this so had more than one, and the problems ended up being illustrated as their lives played out. Hannah was mocked by the other wife of her husband Elkanah for her inability to have kids, and this brought Hanna to tears.
Hannah dearly wished to have children so she prayed about it often. Once she was near the holiest place God was worshiped where the people who were in charge of of the Ark of the Covenant stayed. The high priest of Israel Eli thought she was drunk when he saw her lips moving because even to the most holy of men, sometimes praying looks drunk or crazy. The Bible doesn’t shirk from that fact. She admitted though that she was not drunk and she was desperate to have her prayers answered. The high priest said for her to “Go in peace and the God of Israel to give her what she asked for.”
Her womb which was unable to bear a child before bore a child to her husband Elkanah. It is actually just not a random miracle that God chose to take a woman who could not bear children and bear them by miracle. The first three Matriarchs of Sarah of Abraham, Rebecca of Isaac and Rachel of Jacob(renamed to Israel) were all barren until God did a miracle. This is a foreshadowing of Jesus coming by a miraculous birth. There’s many other foreshadowings of Jesus and outright prophecy that the prophet did not know he was even predicting in the Old Testament.
I say these things because the prayer is beautiful that she said upon dedicating her son Samuel to the LORD at the service of the priests at the Ark of the Covenant. Samuel as you should know is the priest that dedicated both Saul (The first king of Israel), and David (The second king of Israel). He is one of the most famous and holy men of the Bible. He had to take over from Eli’s sons for Eli’s sons were corrupt priests (where did you hear corrupt priests lately?). Eli’s sons abused their position to trick women giving donations to sleeping with em, eating animals that should be sacrificed, and other terrible things opposite of what God called em. The devil playing dress up in positions holy men should be is nothing new, this happened like 3070 years ago, so don’t be surprised it happens today. God does not approve of people taking the holy garb and doing evil, so he killed Eli’s Sons as their nation lost a battle. But Samuel was a very very good and righteous man that God approved of. Every day, focus on being good and loving. Focus on helping people. The Sons of Eli abused their reputation as holy men in order to do evil, and they were condemned. God does not have a blind eye to evil, especially evil that slanders that which is good, loving and true. Please read Hannah’s prayer. I find it beautiful.
2 Samuel 1: 2 Hannah prayed:
“The Lord has filled my heart with joy;
how happy I am because of what he has done!
I laugh at my enemies;
how joyful I am because God has helped me!
2
“No one is holy like the Lord;
there is none like him,
no protector like our God.
3
Stop your loud boasting;
silence your proud words.
For the Lord is a God who knows,
and he judges all that people do.
4
The bows of strong soldiers are broken,
but the weak grow strong.
5
The people who once were well fed
now hire themselves out to get food,
but the hungry are hungry no more.
The childless wife has borne seven children,
but the mother of many is left with none.
6
The Lord kills and restores to life;
he sends people to the world of the dead
and brings them back again.
7
He makes some people poor and others rich;
he humbles some and makes others great.
8
He lifts the poor from the dust
and raises the needy from their misery.
He makes them companions of princes
and puts them in places of honor.
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord;
on them he has built the world.
9
“He protects the lives of his faithful people,
but the wicked disappear in darkness;
a man does not triumph by his own strength.
10
The Lord’s enemies will be destroyed;
he will thunder against them from heaven.
The Lord will judge the whole world;
he will give power to his king,
he will make his chosen king victorious.”