Sermon Tone Analysis

/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.