1st Samuel 1:1, 10-16
Elkanah son of Jeroham, had two wives; Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none because the Lord had closed her womb. Once when they had gone to the house of the Lord to offer sacrifice, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the Lord, the High Priest Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
As we’re doing with all the Sundays in this Lenten Season, this reading is the scripture that links with today’s reflection for the 4th Sunday in Lent, found in our daily reading booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking devotional. This reflection was written by Kaji Dousa, Senior Minister at The Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City.
Here, she takes one small but important fragment of the larger story of Hannah and Eli – part of the background for the life story of Samuel, who would himself become High Priest after Eli and the most important of the Judges to rule the land called Canaan, which would later become Israel.
Elkanah, a good and righteous man, had a dearly loved wife, Hannah, who unfortunately was barren. He had then taken a second wife, Penninah, who bore him the “necessary” children, but he still loved Hannah and cherished her. Unfortunately, the lot of barren women in the Old Testament was not a kind one. A man must have children – to work for him and to carry his name forward and most importantly, to speak his name into future generations that he might not be forgotten, so the women, of course, were blamed and mocked and humiliated, and the more fortunate, child-bearing wives made life unkind for the childless women.
The present might not have been all rainbows and butterflies for barren women but (unknown to them at the time) their future was much brighter. A miracle child born to a barren woman in the Old Testament was always destined to be someone very important: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Jacob’s son), Samson, and Samuel were each examples of sons born to a previously barren woman who was redeemed by their birth. Samuel is the one today’s particular storyline leads to even though he never enters this bit of the story and, in fact, wasn’t even born yet.
Rev. Dousa takes a different direction with her story of Hannah and the High Priest Eli. And it all hinges on Eli’s judgmental responses to Hannah’s prayer.
Here, she takes one small but important fragment of the larger story of Hannah and Eli – part of the background for the life story of Samuel, who would himself become High Priest after Eli and the most important of the Judges to rule the land called Canaan, which would later become Israel.
Elkanah, a good and righteous man, had a dearly loved wife, Hannah, who unfortunately was barren. He had then taken a second wife, Penninah, who bore him the “necessary” children, but he still loved Hannah and cherished her. Unfortunately, the lot of barren women in the Old Testament was not a kind one. A man must have children – to work for him and to carry his name forward and most importantly, to speak his name into future generations that he might not be forgotten, so the women, of course, were blamed and mocked and humiliated, and the more fortunate, child-bearing wives made life unkind for the childless women.
The present might not have been all rainbows and butterflies for barren women but (unknown to them at the time) their future was much brighter. A miracle child born to a barren woman in the Old Testament was always destined to be someone very important: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Jacob’s son), Samson, and Samuel were each examples of sons born to a previously barren woman who was redeemed by their birth. Samuel is the one today’s particular storyline leads to even though he never enters this bit of the story and, in fact, wasn’t even born yet.
Rev. Dousa takes a different direction with her story of Hannah and the High Priest Eli. And it all hinges on Eli’s judgmental responses to Hannah’s prayer.
- Eli was highly respected at this time and was used to people hanging on his every pronouncement. He apparently felt he was entitled to judge Hannah simply because she was a woman doing something differently than the way he did it.
- “Hannah’s dreams were shattered. She’d had expectations for how her life would go . . . and it wasn’t. She was going through it, so she took up her courage and headed into that sanctuary to lay it all at the altar—speaking to God from her heart but without speaking aloud--but the guy in charge, Eli, made fun of her. Called her out for being drunk. Made sure she heard how her prayers were wrong. He publicly humiliated her.
- “Understand, any failure here wasn’t Hannah’s, but Eli’s. He just couldn’t, or wouldn’t grasp her language of prayer or her situation.
- “There are a lot of reasons people step away from houses of worship. Authoritative leaders who think everyone needs to follow them are one of the biggest problems.
- “What I want you to know is that when God had to choose between the religious authority’s response and the person praying, God didn’t choose the structure. God chose the person. God chose Hannah. God’s not ever going to choose the religious institution, ever, over you.
- “But that doesn’t mean giving up on church. Church is a collection of humans, a gathering of imperfect people. The church’s job is to approach our call to serve with humility, never making the Eli mistake of expecting the church’s way to always be your way.”
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