Have you ever observed a stranger weeping? Did you approach them and ask, “Are you okay?” Typically when someone is weeping, we have sympathy for them. Maybe even empathy, because most of us know what it feels like to be so distraught that we are weeping bitterly.
Similarly, in our story this week, 1st Samuel 1:1-2:11, Hannah reaches a breaking point. Look at verses 9-14, “Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish 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, 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.’”
When we observe someone weeping, we don’t accuse them of being unruly. But that’s what the priest Eli does. He sees Hannah’s mouth moving without any sounds and assumes she’s drunk.
Think about what Hannah has been through. Her rival Peninnah provokes Hannah to the point of despair, causing her to lose her appetite and weep at the dinner table. Her husband Elkanah says, “Don’t think of it as any big deal because you have me.” And now Eli assumes she is drunk out of her mind. Hannah has been dumped on over and over by the people in her life. How she responds is astounding.
Though emotionally, spiritually and relationally broken, Hannah has just prayed a deeply faithful prayer to God. She calls God “Lord Almighty.” The word “Lord” is in all capital letters in most English Bibles, signifying that in the original Hebrew this is the personal name of God, “Yahweh.” When “Almighty” is added to the name of God, it refers to the “Lord of Hosts,” sometimes rendered as “Lord of the Angel Armies,” or figuratively as “the Lord who is Omnipotent,” all powerful, “Almighty.” This is a way of referring to God as saying, “Lord, I know that with you anything is possible.” Hannah is saying, “Lord, I’m desperate here. I so badly want a child, a son. I know you can do it.” This is a prayer of faith, trust and hope. This is a prayer from one who feels unseen and misunderstood by so many around her. She wants to be seen.
Hannah goes on to ask God to look at her and remember her. That’s bold. As if God doesn’t see her and has forgotten her. She just called him “Almighty”! Is she being contradictory? If he is almighty, omnipotent, all powerful, of course he has been seeing her and remembering her all along. But the problem, for Hannah, and so often for you and me, is that theology sometimes doesn’t seem to apply to what we are going through in our real world. We know who God is intellectually, but we don’t feel like we are experiencing him in our real world.
Hannah is desperate to have a child, and nothing is happening. This cannot be the first time she has prayed asking God for a child. Year after year, nothing. Many of you know the feeling of asking God to intervene in your lives for all sorts of reasons, and you faithfully pray, but years go by and all it seems like is radio silence from God.
Hannah prays a painful lament, like we read in the psalms. The laments are cries of complaint to God. “Wake up God! How long are you going to sleep on the job? You promised you would take care of me, but I am really struggling here, people are against me, mistreating me, and you are nowhere to be seen, heard, smelled, or felt.” That’s what Hannah is doing, lamenting. Lament is a viable, biblical, necessary, honest way God wants us to talk with him. So we can see Hannah as being quite faithful here. (Learn more about lament here.)
Then she takes it to the next level, saying “God if you give me a son, I will give him back to you for his whole life, and no razor will be used on his head.”
This is a risky vow. Hannah is relinquishing her role as mother to the child. If she follows through with the vow, won’t she be right back in the same position of being childless and facing the bullying from Peninnah? (For a description of the bullying, see the previous post here.) Possibly so, but for Hannah it could be worth it. At least then she would be able to say, “I do have a son, and I have given him back to serve the Lord.” Which is something that Peninnah apparently did not do, and that could give Hannah the high road. Whether Hannah figured all that into her prayer, and vow to God, we don’t know, but it is true.
Hannah takes it one step further. She doesn’t just vow to give a child back to God, she says that the child will serve all the days of his life, and never cut his hair. Why that extra step? Hannah is referring to a special vow, the Nazirite Vow, described in the Mosaic Law in Numbers 6:1-21. The word Nazirite is not the same as Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. The word in Hebrew “nazir” refers to abstaining. The Nazirite was abstaining from any grape byproduct, from cutting their hair, approaching dead bodies, even if their own family member died. But the Nazirite vow was generally temporary. It was an act showing their dedication to the Lord, usually for a defined limit. So what Hannah is saying to God is the Nazirite vow on steroids. She is making it a life commitment for her child.
Thus Hannah responds to Eli’s comment about her being drunk. Look at verses 15-18. “‘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.’ Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’ She said, ‘May your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.”
How about Hannah’s phrase in verse 15, “I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.”? That’s such a great description of prayer. We reveal our innermost longings, desires, pains, and dreams to God. We pour them out to him.
Thankfully, Eli gets it, and sends her off in peace with his own stamp of approval on her request. Hannah leaves with a new feeling in her heart and mind. She is experiencing the peace that Eli mentioned.
From there on out, the tone of the story completely changes, as we’ll see in the next post.
Engaging Scripture 
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