“Every Mother’s Child Given to God”
(1 Samuel 1-2)
Mother’s Day
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Take your Bibles and join me this morning in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel.
1 Samuel is located near the front of the Bible, flip through the first five books and slow down. It will be just before Kings and Chronicles. 1 Samuel. And in a moment I’ll be reading from chapter 1 and just the first seven verses to get us started, though the message comes from the first two chapters. 1 Samuel, chapter 1.
Some of you do like I do if you’re looking up a place on Google Maps. I’ll look up a city or a country and search and then click on the map to expand it. I was reading a letter recently that referenced Enola, Nebraska. So where’s that? Search. There’s the little square. Click. Too close. Back up. Zoom out. Ah, there’s Sioux City. Zoom out a little more. There’s Omaha. Okay, got it. I see where it is in relation to everything else.
In a similar way, we open to 1 Samuel. And it’s like we’re too close. We look at verse 1 and we see names we don’t recognize like Ramathaim Zophim, Elkanah, Jeroham. So it’s helpful to zoom out a bit and get some perspective. Back up a bit and recognize Judges just before it. Kings and Chronicles just after. Back up a little more and begin to see the wider sweep of God’s redemptive plan for His people.
Samuel is the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. And God is working through priests, prophets, judges, and kings—bringing His people along to see their need for a better priest, a better prophet, a better judge, better king. All of these figures pointing forward to King Jesus Christ and man’s salvation through Him.
That’s what we see when we zoom out. So as we zoom back in we read in chapter 1 about this prophet, Samuel. And not so much about Samuel as about his mother. His mother and his father—but it is mainly the actions of his mother that interest us this morning on Mother’s Day. Let’s read the beginning of the passage.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2 And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
4 And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters.
5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
6 And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.
7 So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.
- Pray.
Preaching on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or preaching in connection with a Parent-Child Dedication can be a time of great encouragement—as well as a time of great discouragement. Of course, no preacher intends to discourage anyone, but it happens nonetheless as so many who gather for worship are plagued by the circumstances of their past. We live in a broken world full of broken people; broken families. Many find it hard to escape feelings of regret, or sorrow, anger, or bitterness.
It is into this darkness that the light of the gospel shines most brilliantly. It is in the deepest places that the hope of Christ springs eternal. Because of Christ, Christians look up and—just as there is a wider story of redemption in the Bible, God is weaving a wider story of redemption in our lives, and in the lives of our families, and the lives of our children.
As I heard a preacher say recently:
God is the one who will finish all the stories. And for some of us one of the great joys in heaven will be to discover in heaven what we did not discover on earth, namely that our children or our grandchildren actually came through and that [God] was able to restore even the years that locusts had eaten.—Alistair Begg
It’s in the assurance of that truth that we gather together this morning not in guilt, but in grace; in the firm belief and acknowledgment that we serve a good God who always does the right thing, a God who is now at work, and will go on working, finishing all the stories.
With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to this story, this one right here in 1 Samuel.
The central character in this story is a woman named Hannah. It’s a beautiful name that means favor or grace. And the irony is that, in these opening verses, it would seem she knows nothing of God’s favor or God’s grace. She is a woman plagued by a number of problems and difficulties—but chief among them was her inability to have children.
Now we can learn a number of things from Hannah that will be helpful to us today and in the days to come. In terms of notes and outlines, let’s consider first, her problem.
- Consider Her Problem (1-7)
Hannah’s problem. The opening verses give us the basics of this family. There’s a man named Elkanah and he has two wives; Hannah and Peninnah. Two wives. Polygamy. Any time we come across examples of polygamy, having more than one wife, it’s wise for us to remember that there is a difference in what the Bible reports and what the Bible requires. Or, there’s a difference between what the Bible describes and what God endorses.
The writer is merely reporting history, describing the events. The writer’s telling us what was going on some 3,000 years ago in a home in the mountains of Ephraim. The writer says this guy Elkanah had two wives. He’s not saying that this was right. He’s merely describing the situation. From the beginning God’s plan for marriage is clear: one man, one woman, for life. But, because of man’s hardness of heart God tolerated this abuse of the marriage principle—an error that was especially known by people of great means or wealth.
We may reason that Elkanah took a second wife, Peninnah, precisely because Hannah was unable to have children; wanting to continue the family line. In any case, the problem of the narrative is clear: “Hannah had no children.”
Why? Was she a bad person? Had she sinned in some way? Had her parents sinned in some way and she was bearing the consequences? No. It was not for any of these reasons Hannah had no children. If anything, we see later that she was a godly woman, a woman of great faith who loved her Lord. Then why? Why no children?
The last phrase of verse 5 tells us precisely why Hannah had no children: “because the Lord had closed her womb.” The writer takes for granted that his readers appreciate the loving sovereignty and providences of God. The reason Hannah had no children was the very same reason others have children: because God is the one who opens and shuts. God is the one who is in control of all things. God is the one who is working out His perfect plans according to the counsel of His will, working for His glory and our good. He knows what is best and does what is best for our good, and for His glory.
Before we read any further, let’s allow that truth to sink in whatever our problems may be. If we are His children, we know that we are cared for by a loving, good, Heavenly Father; one who knows what is best for us as we work through providential problems of our own. He is with us. He is working. And He will do right by the problems He permits for our good and for His glory.
Hannah’s problem. “She had no children.” To exacerbate the problem, we are told of Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah. Unlike Hannah, Peninnah “had children,” a number of them. The text says “sons and daughters” and we get the sense that she was giving birth as quickly as the seasons changed.
Peninnah is described in this passage as Hannah’s “rival.” Verse 6 says, “Her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable,” why? because the Lord had close her womb.
In other words, Peninnah taunted Hannah, teased Hannah, made fun of Hannah. Just mean and hateful. Ever been taunted by someone? Teased? Put down? You’re in good company: it happens to all of God’s children. It happened to our Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry.
God sees. God knows. And God gives grace to endure. You’ll note that about Hannah. You’ll not see her strike back. You’ll not see her lower herself to such behavior. Paul said in Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Now what of Elkanah, Hannah’s husband. He seems like a nice guy, doesn’t he? He loves Hannah. We’re told that in this passage. Once a year when the family would go up for a special worship service in Shiloh. And when they ate the food that was left from the worship offerings, Elkanah gave to Hannah “a double portion” of food. He’s like, “Here you are Hannah, I saved the best for you.” That’s sweet, isn’t it?
So this is the background of the situation. Verse 7 sums up Hannah’s problem for us: “So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she (Peninnah) provoked her,” taunted and teaser her; “therefore she wept and did not eat.” Hannah was so overcome by her situation that all she could to was cry and could not even eat.
Now, I love verse 8! Verse 8: “Then Elkanah her husband said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
I just love that question from Elkanah! He’s trying to cheer up the woman he loves. “Hannah, why are so sad? Look at me! And maybe he brushes his hair to the side and sucks-in his gut for a moment and says, “Am I not better to you than having a son, better than ten sons?!” Isn’t that great? I love it.
And I also love that Hannah does not seem to answer! Silence. “Am I not better to you than ten sons?!” No answer. Hannah’s name means grace. In her silence she is being gracious to her husband.
Okay, we’ve got a handle on Hannah’s problem. What do God’s children do when they have have a particular problem?
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer
- Consider Her Prayer (8-17)
9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord.
10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”
This has to be one of the best prayers in the Bible. There’s no anger here. No malice toward Peninnah, no anger toward God. Just a heartfelt prayer. If you give me a child, if you open my womb and give me a son, I will give him back to you. I’ll give him back to you that he may serve you forever; “and no razor shall come upon his head,” indicating that Hannah was thinking of her future child as that of a Nazarite, wholly committed in a life of service to God.
There’s a priest there at the place of worship. A priest named Eli. And Eli is watching Hannah closely as she prays.
12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth.
13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.
I’m not sure whether Eli lacked discernment or whether he was genuinely concerned about reverence before the Lord. The point is that Hannah is praying fervently; her lips moving, but her voice was not heard.
14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”
15 But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.
16 “Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”
She’s like, “I’m praying. I’m pouring out my should before the Lord! And Eli blesses here with a parting word of encouragement, verse 17:
17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”
And the sense is, “May God hear your prayers. And May God give you what you ask.”
And then, Hannah replies. Verse 18:
18 And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer (what?) sad.
Peace. That’s the third point for those of you taking notes.
- Consider Her Peace (18-28)
Her prayer is followed by peace. It’s hard not to hear the Apostle Paul’s encouragement that would come a thousand years later in Philippians 4:6-7:
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Hannah receives the peace of God. Her prayer leads to peace.
And note this: she has peace before she knows what’s going to happen. Yes, Eli had wished her well: “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him,” but that was no guarantee that she would conceive a child. It was nothing more than a general blessing: “May God give you what you ask.” Hannah got up and went on. Her prayer was offered in faith and trust in God, trusting that God would do what was right. That God would do as He deemed best.
You gather that Hannah would not have loved the Lord less had her womb remained closed. You get the sense that she would have been just as devoted to God. She was willing to trust God no matter what He did. That’s faith.
When we pray in faith, there is a peace that follows. The Bible says at the end of verse 18, “and her face was no longer sad.” Prayer changes us, not just spiritually, but even physically. Her appetite returns and her countenance changes. Peace.
Now, if we had time we would go on to read through the remainder of chapter 1 and into chapter 2 how God poured out even more grace upon Hannah. Most of you know how the story concludes: God gives her a son! God blesses her with a little boy she names Samuel—a name that means something along the lines of “heard from God.” Hannah prayed and Hannah was “heard from God.” God gave her a little boy, Samuel. And after she weans the child, somewhere around age 3 or 4, she brought her little boy to Shiloh and left him there in the service of God. She did as she promised: she gave her little boy back to God.
And through this little boy, little Samuel, would come the appointment of a king, King David, from whom would come King Jesus. And, like Hannah the mother of Samuel, so Mary the mother of Jesus, would give her child back to God in the greater fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan.
That Hannah gives her child back to God is an acknowledgement that God is greater than her child. Hannah loves the Lord more than she loves the prospect of conceiving, and she loves the Lord more than she loves the prospect of having, a child. And she gives her child back to God demonstrating that she loves the Lord more than even she loves her own child. She loves and worships God. She does not worship her child.
An immediate and probing question comes to mind. It’s unsettling, but necessary to ask. “Have I allowed my children (or grandchildren) to become a shrine at which to worship?” I wrote that question down in my notes as a reflection question to share with you.
**Reflection Questions:
- Have I allowed my children to become a shrine at which to worship?
Yes, it is important to focus on the family, but not if the family takes the place of God. We are right to be proud of children and to do our best for our children and grandchildren. But God is first place and no one else is to sit at that throne, no matter how cute and cuddly.
And as they grow, the temptation becomes even greater somehow to give them the “perfect upbringing,” but too often by “perfect upbringing” we mean giving them every opportunity to succeed and develop and glory in what the world values.
Today’s American families spend so much time shuttling children from one event to the next: band, ballgames, and birthdays. And too often at the expense of spiritual nurture and training.
The best request for our children is verse 11—“then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…” There is no better aspiration for our children than this. And to give him or her to the Lord is to give entirely.
Whether our child serves the Lord in full-time ministry as Samuel did is not the point. The point is Hannah’s recognition that God takes first place and that our primary role as parents, grandparents, and guardians is to raise our children in godly homes to be godly men and women.
Training them up is a challenge, to be sure. But it is a great honor as we serve a great Lord. As we serve a God who always does what is right with our children. This is the second reflection question:
- Do I really trust God to do what is right with my children?
Again, every child we have belongs to God. Isn’t that right? The Lord closes the womb, the Lord opens the womb. He does as He pleases. And He does what is right. He may give us children. He may not. He knows what He is doing.
If he grants us children then we will take care to follow the principle in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
It’s important to remember that the proverbs are principles, not iron-clad guarantees. We are sinners raising sinners. Anything can go wrong! And it often does.
I find it helpful to define the “it” of Proverbs 22:6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it—from what?—from the training; the teaching. So we hear the proverb this way: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” because he can’t depart from it. It’s in him. All that training has been poured into him.
He may ignore it, but he can’t depart from it. It’s there. All your teaching is there. It’s in him. It’s in her. You have trained him or her up in the way they should go. All that teaching is in them. They may ignore it for a season—perhaps a very long season—but it’s there. You’ve done your job.
And sometimes that training comes back to train you.
Many of you know my younger son is in the Army National Guard. We went a few weeks ago to his graduation from basic combat training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. We drove his truck because I thought he’d like to see it after 10 weeks of training and maybe get to drive it some. We found out he wouldn’t be able to drive it—rules and all that; you’re in the Army, you know, you do what they tell you. So I drove during his day pass off the base, and we were going to get some food to go and take it back to the place we were staying. He and Michele were going to get Buffalo Wild Wings and I was going to get something from Panera around the corner. So we pulled into the parking lot and I figured we’d be there pretty quick—just place the order and get it to go. So I’m pulling into the lot and Nic’s truck is huge. At least it’s big to me. And pulling that into a parking space can sometimes be a bit challenging. So I pulled into a space and I figured I had probably taken up part of another space, but I really didn’t want to back up and straighten it out. I figured, “We’re near the end of the parking lot, no other cars around, we’ll be in here for just a few minutes, no big deal.”
We get out of the truck and make our way towards the door of the restaurant, Nic looks back and sees the truck and says, “Dad, you’re double-parked.” I said, “Yeah, I know, it’s okay. We won’t be here long.” He shook his head and said, “Psshhh—no integrity.” I stopped! Just convicted! I said, “You know what, Nic? You’re right. I’m going to go back and straighten it out.” I straightened out the truck and made my way back to the entrance of the restaurant and I was like, “Thanks for calling out your old man, Nic.” And I was half-expecting something like, “Hey, it’s okay, dad. No big deal.” But I said, “Thanks for calling out your old man, Nic,” and he just kept moving and said, “Yep.” I got preached to by my son!
And while I’ve laughed about that incident, I thank God that all that training we poured-into Nic when he was younger and less willing to follow it, all that instruction is still in him and still in Matthew—and the Lord even uses it sometimes to come back to train me. Praise God.
Peace comes by trusting in God’s goodness and living for God’s glory. Trust God to finish the stories.
- Am I united with my children more than I am united with Christ?
Believers are united with Christ by faith. It is because of our union with Christ that we enjoy salvation, adoption, sanctification, glorification. All this because of union with Christ: Christ is in us and we are in Him. He is with us and we are with Him. Union with Christ.
But I wonder sometimes if we’re not more united to our children? Do we find our sense of value and purpose in Jesus or in our children? Are we so focused on them that we measure our worth as parents or grandparents based upon their successes or failures?
What if their successes end in failure? What then? What if they’ve got the best education, the best job, they’re up for promotion. And here you were at the outdoor BBQ just the other day with your neighbors bragging on him and then—the moral failure happened. And the scandal surfaced. And the termination took place. What then? How will you respond?
What if you train them up in the way they should go and you “dot every I” and “cross every T,” but God, for His own glory, allows your little girl to go down a path for a season that brings much discouragement and hurt. What then? Are you more united with Christ than your little girl? Can you find life and purpose in Jesus even as you continue to pray for God to do what is right for your child and grandchild?
Do we really trust God to do what is right in His time?
I recall when both of my boys were born doing the same thing the day of their arrival into this world. Video of Matthew. Guy in elevator: “Your first?” Yes. Thought so. He was right, poor Nicholas didn’t get near the same video footage!
There in Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville Georgia, there in a little chapel…getting on my knees and giving them back to the Lord: “Here is Matthew, Here is Nicholas, I give them to You.” I remember feeling something of the solemnity of the moment as I bowed there in the chapel of that hospital, but the truth is, that was a relatively easy thing to do. While a child is just a baby, dedicating that little one to the Lord as we are doing here today, is a relatively easy thing to do. I did not until much later come to know how difficult it really is to give our children to God. To trust Him unhesitatingly, to believe that He will do what is right in the lives of our children, in His time, for His glory.
Trust God to use your child in whatever ways He sees best. You can’t go wrong granting your child to the Lord. How will God glorify Himself in your child’s life? Mission field, secular employment, take him or her through a difficult journey—or journeys; trials, difficulties, discipline—perhaps it will not always be clear exactly how God is working. But if you grant your child to the Lord you can be sure he is always in good hands.
Furthermore, it is through our union with Christ that we teach our children what is most important in life. It’s not making the most money, winning the big game, becoming the top dog—it is Christ. To live for Christ, to love Christ.
I leave you with these words written by Alistair Begg, on a Mother’s Day morning many years ago:
When the sun sets on our earthly journey
and our children reflect upon our lives
their memories will not be stirred by our qualifications,
or our financial status, or our educational stature.
They will not be preoccupied with the furniture we left them,
the jewelry they now wear, or the material things we’ve been able to leave behind.
What will linger in their memory and cause them to smile or move them to tears
will all have to do with the fact that we gave ourselves to them.
It is as a mother that your children will remember you most of all.
Your tender sympathy, your compassion in their disappointments.
Your radiance, even when half-hidden through the mist of tears, your commitment even in the evenings of long, unexplained sighs.
It will not be that you managed to do it perfectly, nor even that you did so consistently.
But know this: that deep in their spirits they will be able to say, “I was everything to my mom. She loved me to the point of fatigue. She listened when no one else would. She advised with my best interests at heart. She presented Christ to me and me to Christ.”
- Let’s pray.
- Response Song: “All I Have is Christ.”
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