I Asked the Lord for This Child
There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon 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 will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of 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.”
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 favour in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”
Years ago I would occasionally read that scientific social columnist … Ann Landers. On one occasion she asked women to write in stating whether they would have children again if they had the opportunity. The question generated one of the greatest responses ever (other than which way to hang the toilet tissue) to Ms. Landers’ column. The response of mothers from the United States and Canada ran over four to one against having children. Many of the respondents were openly hostile in their response which bemoaned ever having children. What a contrast to the Word of God!
Today is Mother’s Day, a day which is set aside to honour motherhood throughout our nation. Though instituted in days long past, Mother’s Day tacitly honours families, and especially does the day honour the traditional family. As an aside, the only family known to God is that in which there are a husband and a wife who have the joy or the prospect of parenthood; there is no Companion Day to celebrate. None of us are here except we had a mother. Some of us had godly mothers who taught us both by precept and example to look to Christ from earliest days. Others of us were not so blessed.
Though I know my mother, I knew little of her during my formative years since she deserted her husband and children when I was but five years of age. Nevertheless, I was taught to honour her as my mother if for no other reason then it honoured the Lord. To my good fortune I have been blessed with a godly wife who demonstrated what a mother can be and what a mother should be. Perhaps the presence of Lynda has kept me from a more twisted view of mothers than I might otherwise have adopted. I don’t present myself as an expert on mothers, but I do know what is taught in the Word of God.
Increasingly, modern thought clashes with the biblical view of children. Motherhood, in the estimate of the Living God, is a blessing and not a burden. Parenting is a source of deepest joy and not a weight to stifle human aspiration. I invite you to explore with me some of the issues surrounding motherhood and in particular the contrast of contemporary views which appear to be in the ascendancy surrounding the issue of children in our day. In order to accomplish this goal I invite you to join me in review of the life of Hannah, mother of Samuel, the last of the judges.
Motherhood is a Blessing – The first point I am compelled to make is by way of contrast to a view commonly voiced in this day … motherhood is a blessing. When I was a youth (years ago when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth) it was said that no home was complete without children. Before I had reached adult years that saying had been transformed and it was agreed that no home was complete without a television. Today, I would suppose that no home is thought complete until connected to the Internet. There has been a change of startling proportions with respect to the presence of children.
Throughout the Word of God I see women longing for children. Those who for one reason or another were kept from having children saw themselves as cursed by God. We meet one such individual in the account of the wives of Jacob – Leah and Rachel. Though I will refrain from commenting on the foolishness of bigamy, note the complementary views expressed by these two women. Leah conceived easily and considered her children a blessing from God. God saw that Leah was unloved and He opened her womb and she had a son whom she named Reuben, which likely means He has seen my misery. Three more children followed Reuben … Simeon, Levi and Judah. Simeon was so named because she felt that the Lord heard her prayer, and Levi received his name because his birth would bind her and her husband. Judah received his name because she expressed her joy in these words: This time I will praise the Lord [Genesis 29:35].
Meanwhile Rachel was suffering great anxiety. Perhaps she rejoiced at her sister’s first pregnancy. Whether the subsequent pregnancies were a source of joy is questionable. What is clear is that by the time her sister had four children and she had none, she was experiencing deep distress. Accosting Jacob one evening she cried out, Give me children, or I’ll die [Genesis 30:1]! Children were so precious in her eye that she felt the absence of children was tantamount to a death sentence.
Jacob’s response reveals that he shared the view of his wives respecting children. Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children [Genesis 30:2]? Though modern medicine might provide a diagnosis to account for the sterility of Rachel’s womb, Jacob was convinced that God had kept his beloved wife from having children. In this, Jacob may have been nearer the truth than any physician in this day.
How often do women speak of bearing a child as God taking away her disgrace! Rachel at last is permitted to rejoice in her firstborn, naming Him Joseph which is a prayer for more children. God had taken away her disgrace [Genesis 30:22-24]. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, saw her sterility as a disgrace and rejoiced in God’s rich gift of a child [Luke 1:25]. Samson’s mother was sterile, a source of deepest sorrow for her [Judges 13:2]. God took note of her condition and specifically chose her to bear a great deliverer for His people.
Additionally, we need to note that those who displease the Lord or those who dishonour His Name are divinely kept from having children as a form of punishment. Certain acts are considered so odious before the Lord that the resulting union will surely result in an absence of children within that union. Should a man sleep with his aunt or sleep with his brother’s wife, no children will bless that union [cf. Leviticus 20:20,21]. Clearly such action is detestable to Holy God and He will not bless such union, and the means by which He withholds His blessing is through keeping them from children. When God curses a land, children are no longer seen in the land [e.g. Jeremiah 18:21]. A drop in the birth-rate is evidence of the withholding of God’s blessing on a land.
In our text, Hannah was childless while Elkanah’s other wife, Penninah, had children. Penninah used this situation to irritate Hannah … to make her fret, no doubt vying for her husband’s attention. The competition between these two women illustrates the futility of divided affection. God’s ideal is one woman united to one man. Though Elkanah favoured Hannah, she remained childless. His actions in the text indicate that he tried to comfort her in part because of his concern for her failure to conceive. Clearly her lack of children was the source of continual sorrow to Hannah, for she wept both in her home and whenever she went up to Shiloh to appear before the Lord.
Focus on the verses beginning with verse ten. Her tears are flowing and she prays in bitterness of soul. In deep distress this grieving woman makes what we would likely think to be an extreme vow. O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon 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 [verse eleven].
Hannah continued praying silently, her lips moving without sound escaping her mouth. Eli, the priest of God who served at Shiloh saw her and misunderstood. It would have been most unusual for an individual to pray silently in that day, and especially before the Lord in that holy place. Once Hannah had explained her grief and the reason for her petition before the Lord, Eli pronounced a blessing and a benediction. His words, spoken as a representative of the Living God, were sufficient to comfort Hannah, encouraging her to believe that God had heard her cries.
Perhaps we are uncomfortable with the words of the wise man, but we cannot escape the fact that he considers the woman blessed whose children arise and call her blessed [Proverbs 31:28]. It is not sufficient to claim that an accident of culture accounts for his failure to note that her co-workers arise and call her blessed. The most natural thing in the world is that a mother should be considered blessed and deeply loved by her children.
The 113th Psalm is a Psalm of praise to the Lord God. As God is described, the Psalmist makes this singular statement in the ninth verse.
He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
It is God who gives the privilege of motherhood to a woman, blessing the home with the voices of little children and blessing the nation with youth. If nothing else should be accomplished by this message let this one great truth settle into your heart and grip your imagination – women are divinely blessed when permitted to occupy the exalted position of a mother. By that same token, the nation filled with young families is blessed.
I urge you to see this issue from the biblical perspective and not to succumb to the contemporary spiritual malaise which despises the goodness of God. To despise motherhood is to despise the rich gift which God longs to give to His people. Can a nation continue while treating God’s goodness with despite? Can a people long exist which despise the rich gifts of the Holy One? Can a family long serve with the blessings of heaven on that couple who despise the divine rewards God longs to give them? When we sanction the destruction of the unborn, treating God’s rich gifts as though they were but trash, we reflect the world’s attitude. When we consider children to be a bother and a curse instead of rejoicing in the blessing they represent, we have embraced the attitude of this dying world.
Children are Entrusted to Families by God – How can we reconcile the contemporary view which sees children as a burden rather than a blessing as is true with the view expressed throughout Scripture? We cannot! Those who know God must be convinced that God seeks to be honoured through godly offspring. This is the message of God through His prophet Malachi. You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring [Malachi 2:13b-15a].
Think of that! God seeks godly offspring! Not only does God seek to bless His people through entrusting them with children, but also He anticipates that those receiving His gift will accept the responsibility to train the children in righteousness. I believe in evangelism, and I believe that evangelism begins in the home. A godly home is the surest source of godly men and women.
You will no doubt recognise the following verses from the Psalmist.
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
[Psalm 127:3,4].
Children are a reward from the Lord, but too often they are presented as a curse by our contemporaries.
The thought presented is not only that God desires to give children to those He would bless, but that He delights to give children that they may be received as a precious heritage. God longs that children might be raised to glorify Him. In that spirit Hannah prays, asking that God would bless her with children, but also vowing that she will raise that child to the glory of God.
Hannah was not asking for a toy, but for a heritage which would honour the Name of the Lord. She petitioned the Living God as omnipotent, Lord of Heaven and earth. There is a beautiful thought presented in the nineteenth verse. After Hannah had poured out her heart before the Lord and received an acknowledgement that her cries have been heard, we read that early the next morning they arose and worshipped before the Lord. She pours out her soul and God gives her assurance that He has heard her cry. Then she is able to worship. Perhaps that accounts for the constant search which seldom culminates in worship for us in this hurried world. We fail to continue seeking the face of God and yet think we can rush into His presence. Thus, we fail to worship because we have no answer from Him for our cries.
God graciously answered Hannah’s cry and opened her womb. Upon returning home she became pregnant and in the course of time she delivered a son whom she named Samuel, which in the Hebrew tongue sounds like God heard. This child is to live before the Lord. He is dedicated to the Lord from the womb. He would be a Nazarite from birth, marked as holy to God throughout the whole of his life.
The Law required all adult males to appear before the Lord for the three major festivals of Passover, Firstfruits and Tabernacles [cf. Deuteronomy 16:16]. It seems to have been the habit of this family that all the members attended these ceremonies together. When the next journey to Shiloh was required of the family following Samuel’s birth, Hannah remained at home. Elkanah accepted Hannah’s request though he took the remainder of his family with him.
For three years Hannah remained at home with the child, until the boy was weaned. The custom of Hebrew women was to wean their children at three years of age. Accordingly, Hannah kept her promise and at the appropriate time she presented the boy before the Lord together with a generous offering of the young bullock together with flour and wine triple the amount required of such an offering. As she presented the child to Eli, she glorified the Living God. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. The passage ends with these words, And he worshipped the Lord there [1 Samuel 1:27,28].
I wonder what would happen if families in this day dared asked God for a child? I wonder what would happen if families in this day dared present their children before the Lord to serve Him always? I cannot help but think that God would be glorified and we would be blessed beyond anything we have known heretofore. I know that some consider the subject of families a topic off-limits to preachers, but I have authority to confront you with the mind of God. I know that some consider their actions in this realm of family a private matter, but the issue must be confronted by God’s people if we will heed the Word of God. I cannot help but wonder whether there are yet godly men and women willing to plead with God for offspring and who will dare present those children to the Lord from the womb?
Have you ever noted in the Word of God the emphasis upon families which are filled with children? Let me one example. When God wishes to encourage Israel, He speaks of sending His angel before the people. Then He makes this rich promise. Worship the Lord your God, and His blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span [Exodus 23:25,26]. Let me caution you that if you consider this verse to teach that health and long life are a blessing from God, then you must be equally convinced that barrenness is a curse from God.
When Hosea wishes to curse the people in their spiritual harlotry, he says:
Give them, O LORD—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
and breasts that are dry.
Upon this cry, God responds with the following curse:
“Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,
I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.
Ephraim is blighted,
their root is withered,
they yield no fruit.
Even if they bear children,
I will slay their cherished offspring.”
[Hosea 9:14-16]
As we face the prospect of eight hundred young Canadian men and women going to the Balkans to serve in a role for which they are neither prepared nor equipped, I cannot help but wonder whether God is perhaps ready to apply just such a verse to us. I tremble for the nation which dares think it can spit in the face of Holy God with impunity.
The Spirit of the Age Must be Resisted – In a former church among the members I was privileged to pastor were two dynamic young people. I had led the young man to faith, baptised him and watched him grow to vibrant faith in the ensuing several years. The young woman had united with our congregation, fallen in love with this young man, and after a courtship of some time they determined that they would be wed. As we progressed through the course of premarital counselling I insist upon, a problem arose. The young woman was even then approaching the age of thirty and longed to have a child. The young man wanted no children, considering them to be a burden to life. He feared that children would make demands upon his aspirations in life and deter him from achieving the goals of wealth and position.
The contention between this couple was severe; the matter seemed irreconcilable. I counselled that marriage be delayed until this issue could be resolved. If there were no resolution, perhaps it would be best for them to each seek another mate. At last that young woman said, “Pastor, I will set aside my desires. I love him and I know that in time he will come to my point of view.” I cautioned her against assuming any such thing. Men seldom change because of love, though young women do not wish to hear such a thing. I warned her that she needed to know up front that she would not likely change her fiancés’ mind. I also cautioned him that he was certain to inflict a hurt on her soul which could never be erased if he insisted on marrying this young woman without changing his view of children. Despite my cautions and notwithstanding the concerns I strenuously registered the young man and woman married and began life together.
They have now been married nearly nine years. That young man is successful beyond his wildest dreams in the business world. The couple has sufficient wealth to enjoy all that this life can afford. They have a beautiful house, new cars, and they enjoy frequent trips to exotic locations throughout the world. She is pursuing some educational dreams which were once dashed by her father. However, they are childless. She grieves and weeps because she knows she will never hold a child born of her own womb. Her nieces and nephews, though a delight, cause her to weep whenever they are around her. Her husband has not changed his mind and he cannot understand her feelings. He insists that he has given her everything … everything but a child.
If this couple were an exception I would still be concerned. However, I discover to my chagrin that they represent a growing class represented among those professing the Faith once delivered to the saints. A growing number of men and women have determined that they will have no offspring since children would make undue demands upon their time. These couples believe that the acquisition of wealth, the accumulation of goods and the building of a portfolio are of greater importance than receiving the divine gift of children. In this attitude which they display they differ little from those who abort the unborn and show that they detest God’s gift.
As an aside of no small consequent, when a society despises heaven’s gift of children, they approximate His ancient people whom He condemned because of the sacrifice of their children. God charges that His people failed to obey his laws. Because of their rebellion He gave them over to statues and laws drafted from their own imagination … laws which would destroy them. The laws of the land multiplied and the people were ever more strangled by the new regulations of an expanding bureaucracy and increasingly entangled with the contradictions of each new law. At the last comes this frightful statement which must surely find application to our attitude toward children in this day. I let them become defiled through their gifts — the sacrifice of every firstborn — that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord [Ezekiel 20: 26].
Children are treated as disposable and they react with anger toward their parents. Should we be surprised? We resent our children and they want nothing to do with the falsity which characterises our generation. Should we be surprised? We slaughter our infants in the womb, entrust the early education of our toddlers to strangers in state sanctioned day-care centres instead of assuming responsibility in our homes, give them keys to our homes but fail to entrust them with access to our heart, tell them they need to feel good about themselves without telling them the Good News, and then we wonder why they should be so angry with this world we have carefully crafted.
Parents complain that they have given their children everything and cry because their children don’t respect them, but people need love and not things. Less then five percent of youth now enrolled in an activity of this church will be in a service to worship by the time they are eighteen years of age. Can we blame them? What is there in this church to make youth want to be like us? Why would any young man or woman want to emulate us in our worship? I am not suggesting pandering to their whims, but I am recommending treating children as the divine gift God meant them to be. I do recommend that we of all people should be recognised as those who honour the home and as those who honour God’s gift of family.
News programs and magazines wonder why children should murder children. These children are merely acting out the roles we have assigned them … roles which ensure that they are neither welcomed nor respected for the treasure they represent for us as a nation and for us as a people. I am not making excuses for people like Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold; I am confronting us as a congregation. As psychologists debate whether children should be used to gratify the depraved sexual urges of wicked men, as educators debate how to make children feel good about themselves, and as learned lawyers endeavour to draft new laws to make children behave, let us take the first step to change our situation. Let us as a church determined that we will create an environment which honours God, including welcoming His gift of children. First in our homes, then in our church, and always throughout our lives, let us receive God’s gracious gift.
Parents are to be honoured as those who dare believe that children are a precious gift from the hand of our gracious God. Children are to be received with joy among us, and especially in our homes. I urge you who are married to seek God’s gracious gift of children as you resist the spirit of this age. I urge all of us to refuse to slide into the cauldron of callused sentiment which crudely jokes about the trials of putting up with children. Instead, I urge that we are a congregation and as a people make every effort to glorify God through treating children with respect and through providing for their presence among us.
May God bless each mother and may God bless each of us with a spirit of determination to glorify Him. Amen.