Hannah: A Personification of Ideal Motherhood
I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. – Abraham Lincoln
The name “Hannah” is Hebrew with attractive meaning of grace or favor. In some societies, it has been shortened to Ann, Anne, or Anna. The story of biblical Hannah contained in the book of First Samuel chapters 1 and 2 was a woman of dedication, faith, and perseverance. She was beautiful in personality and of unblemished character. A loving wife and an enviable companion of a man named Elkanah, a Levite of Ramathaim Zophi but she was barren. Her husband, Elkanah, took a second wife, named Peninnah, because of the burning desire to have children, preferably a son. Peninnah bore Elkanah several children (both sons and daughters). Hannah, who could not bear children because the Lord had shut her womb, was grieved and a sorely-fretted woman who watered her pillows with tears. Her life was characterized by misery and mournful countenance at first and became radiant with faith and hope in the end. She became the mother of the renowned Samuel who was both a High Priest and a Judge in Israel.
Hannah was in dire need of a child (preferably a son) because it was considered a sacred duty of a Hebrew woman to bear children to her husband. In that culture, barrenness equated to marriage failure and purposeless life. In her agony, she was so driven to separate herself unto the Lord, amidst her trying domestic relationship and troubles. She became devoted and dedicated to the God of the universe, who alone shut her womb and had the power to open it and bless her. She never doubted her ability for motherhood. Her insensitive husband, so to say and jealous rival wife helped make Hannah’s life miserable and taunted. However, she turned completely without reservation to God and cried to Him for mercy day and night.
Each year Elkanah took his family to the major shrine in Shiloh to worship God and to offer sacrifices at the tabernacle of the Lord. In one of those annual visits, Hannah wept in anguish and prayed to the Lord for her deepest need. In her desperation, she vowed to God that if she could conceive and have a male child, she would give him back to God for the service of the Lord as a Nazarite (I Samuel I:10-11). Near the post of the temple was the priest, Eli, who appeared absent in the Spirit and mistook Hannah’s heartfelt prayer for drunkenness (vs. 14). Hannah humbly and swiftly refuted his allegation by claiming that she had never taken any wine talk less of getting drunk. She was in heaviness of heart and petitioned God for her need. I believe God was setting the stage for manifestation and fulfillment. Eli, touched by her pains, took pity on her, and blessed her.
After Hannah encountered God, her soul was lifted up and her countenance changed; as was her attitude, which altered her entire situation. In the course of time, God remembered Hannah and took away her reproach and predicament. She conceived and gave birth to a male child; she named him Samuel, meaning “I asked of the Lord.” God honors a vow made in faith and backed by prayers. That vow would cost her the very thing she sought for: to be an ordinary woman who would give birth to an extraordinary child.
Hannah kept a date with the vow she made with the Lord. When the child was weaned, she relinquished and brought little Samuel with significant sacrifice to the house of the Lord in Shiloh (I Samuel 1:24). She entrusted him into the hands of the old priest, Eli, as a foster father. She fulfilled her vow by lending the lad, Samuel, to the Lord for answering her petition (vs. 25-28). Hannah denied herself the duty of raising her prayer-answered son. Again, even though Samuel was not begotten from a priesthood family, his mother had prayerfully and sacredly pledged him to the Lord. Once a year, Hannah visited Samuel with valued items that included a little coat for his wear.
Hannah expressed her joy towards God for having fulfilled her deepest desire (I Peter 5:10). She burst into song of praise and thanksgiving and poured her gratitude to God for His mercies and compassion on her (I Sam. 2:1ff). In return, God strengthened her beliefs. In addition, He influenced and imparted Samuel’s prayers and intercessions all the days of his life. Hannah chose to be positive and focused on God: a lifestyle that affected her son’s devotion and dedication to God. That singled behavior of lending Samuel to the Lord is possibly what provoked God to visit her again and again; He gave her five additional children: three more sons and two more daughters.
God’s delay is not denial. What started in barrenness ended up in fruitfulness, multiplication, and dominion? God was simply setting a stage for miracles, which aimed to fulfill His purpose and glory. That delay was God’s way of preparing for Himself an exceptional man who would be raised to fear, honor, obey, and serve His objectives. When God wants to perform a miracle, He starts with impossibility “For with God nothing will be impossible,” (Luke 1:37).
Hannah, the barren became a celebrated mother of Samuel and others. Hannah the despised became Hannah the desired. She never allowed the pressure from her family to affect her trust and hope in God. The motherhood of one child, Samuel, gave her unexplainable joy and an assured place in both her husband’s family and in her community. That single conception and birth emerged and later became Israel’s prophet/priest, Judge, and King Maker. She was a proven self-determined and resourceful woman of faith who was willing to pursue her dreams untiringly to achieve the desired result. God had given her exceedingly and abundantly more than she had petitioned for. God is still honoring vows and answering prayers to everyone who trust in Him; wipe away tears and remove pains and reproaches. If God did it for her, He can do it for you, only if you believe and trust in His saving grace and neither doubting nor giving up.