Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - 1Sa 1
"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" (1Sa 1:4,5).
So often we witness the barren woman in the Divine plan. Is
God unmerciful to deny good things to His servants? Let us recognize that God in
His providence often works through the adversity of His children, and there is
no ultimate evil for those who conform to His will. Long years of meekly endured
trial -- and childlessness was a great trial to an Israelite woman -- may in
fact be only a necessary preparation. We must all be trained to subordinate our
natural desires, even when they seem worthy in themselves, to the promotion of
God's will. It is possible that if God had immediately granted children to
Hannah, as he had to Peninnah, that the one might have been as selfish and
ungrateful as the other. It is almost certain she would never have felt the urge
to dedicate her children wholly to the Lord.
"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" (vv 6,7).
Peninnah had all things, acquired from a benevolent God,
children and social rank and satisfaction and probably wealth -- yet she gave no
glory to God. And continually, perhaps in subtle ways, and with feigned
"sorrow", she reminded the less fortunate Hannah of her plight. By comparison,
Hannah had very little (a barren woman was a reproach and a pitiable creature),
yet she recognized herself as belonging to God. Therefore her problems were His
and she was not alone in her distress. There was no retaliation, but a turning
of the other cheek, a casting of her burdens upon a greater Power.
Leaving the table of feasting, for which she had no appetite
(v 7), she made her way to the sanctuary nearby, where God might be approached.
She knelt in the court, outside the veil of the holy place, sensing that her
prayer of faith would pierce the heavy curtains and find its way to the golden
mercy seat. And so "she prayed to the Lord, and wept sore."
"Consider Hannah's example. Her story is well known. Hannah
longed for a child, but it was denied her until after much prayer she was
granted her request, and received the desire of her heart. She was to become a
mother and so fulfil the wish of every woman in Israel. Motherhood was
particularly desirable in Israel, for the covenant promised that the 'seed of
the woman' would bruise the serpent power, and every godly woman desired to
contribute to that end. So Hannah hoped and prayed, and hoped and prayed again,
until, in the goodness of God, her ardent ambition was realised in the birth of
little Samuel. Did Hannah then, in her excess of joy and the love that she
poured out upon the child, forget her obligations to God? By no means! Having
experienced the goodness of Yahweh in the birth of Samuel she turned to Yahweh
in fervent thanksgiving. More, she attempted to repay God, and so endorse the
genuineness of her thanks, by a most generous act of unselfishness: she gave the
child back to Yahweh. Her thanks were endorsed by sacrifice. Yahweh's gift to
her found response in her gift to Yahweh. What a wonderful example. We often
pray for things; do we remember to thank God in return when the prayer has been
answered? Thanksgiving is a gracious act of recognition of benefits received...
Is it not a divine command that we 'in everything give thanks; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you' (1Th 5:18)?" (HP
Mansfield).
"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' " (v 11).
Her beautiful and delicate prayer (v 11) and her later song of
triumph (1Sa 2:1-10) must have been the constant study of the young maiden Mary
a thousand years later; we have intimations of Hannah's spiritual daughter in
every word of this godly woman (cp Luk 1:46-55 especially). Even to this day the
whole creation groans in affliction (Rom 8:22), waiting for the manchild who
sits at the right hand of the Father. How great will be the joy of the world
when he returns (Isa 54).
"Then I will give him to the LORD": That very thing that
Hannah wanted most, she promised to give away. For her there could be nothing
short of total and absolute consecration. Her son -- if God were to grant her
request -- would be a Nazarite, totally dedicated to God, not for a fixed period
(as was common), but for life!
"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.' When the
man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the
LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, 'After
the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will
live there for ever' (vv 20-22).
Hannah saw beyond the present and the immediate future. Her
eyes and her heart were fixed upon eternity! What a great purpose the sorrow of
one barren woman played in the development of God's plan! The real strength of
Israel lay not in its judges, nor in its priests, and there was "no king in
Israel" (Jdg 21:25). The strength of Israel lay in its godly households, few
though they were, where women like Hannah created islands of purity, order, and
peace. Her quiet faith and subtle strength were victorious at last to move
mountains and alter the landscape of the Divine plan.
Israel's destiny was in eclipse; there was apostasy,
confusion, and decline on every side. But to remedy these great evils, God chose
no grown man. His ways are not our ways, and a thousand years are but as one day
in His sight (Psa 90:4; 2Pe 3:8), and He never has to hurry. Instead, the
Almighty prepares through necessary affliction a special mother, and then causes
a special and cherished child to be born. In God's own time when the precious
"seed" has sprouted and grown to maturity, deliverance will come. The thankful
mother, lost among the thousands of Israel but at one with her God, nourishes at
her breast the destiny of her people. With his mother's milk and tender care,
Samuel receives also her simple faith. ("Who is best taught?" the rabbis asked.
"The one who is taught by his mother.") It is only for a few short years, but it
is enough. Together they wait for the time to visit Shiloh.
Reading 2 - Isa 46:1
"Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by
beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for
the weary" (Isa 46:1).
BEL: A Babylonian god (compare Baal), usually identified with
Marduk or Merodach, the chief deity of the Babylonians.
NEBO: "The name of a Babylonian deity mentioned only in Isa
46:1... Nebo was the tutelary deity of the ancient city of Borsippa, some 15
miles south-southwest of Babylon. He achieved great popularity throughout
Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions during the 1st millennium BC. The name
of this god appears as an element in at least three Babylonian names mentioned
in the OT: the great king Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian official Nebushazban,
and the military commander Nebuzaradan" (Anchor Bible Dictionary).
NEBO STOOPS LOW: Nebo, always pictured as straight as an
arrow, is caused by God to "stoop": compare the fate of Dagon in 1Sa
5:3,4.
THE IMAGES THAT ARE CARRIED ABOUT: Compare v 7. These idols
have to be carried by their devotees; but -- by contrast -- Yahweh carries His
people (Isa 46:3; Deu 1:31; 32:11) -- not the other way around!
Reading 3 - Rev 3:14
"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true
witness, the ruler of God's creation" (Rev 3:14).
"The word solemnly confirms that which went before; and Jesus
is the great Confirmer; immutable and forever is 'the Amen' in all his promises.
He was a Priest to pardon and cleanse once; he is Amen as Priest still. He was a
King to rule and reign for his people, and to defend them with his mighty arm;
he is an Amen as king, the same still. He was a prophet, to foretell good things
to come; his lips are most sweet, and drop with honey still -- he is an Amen
Prophet... He is Amen in every single title which he bears; your Husband, never
seeking a divorce; your Friend, sticking closer than a brother; your Shepherd,
with you in death's dark vale; your Help and your Deliverer; your Castle and
your High Tower; the Horn of your strength, your confidence, your joy, your all
in all, and your Yea and Amen in all" (CH Spurgeon).
The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was
transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament,
then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is
practically a universal word. It has been called the best-known word in human
speech. The word is directly related -- in fact, almost identical -- to the
Hebrew word for "believe" (aman), or "faithful." Thus, it came to mean "sure" or
truly," an expression of absolute trust and confidence. When one believes God,
he indicates his faith by an "Amen". When God makes a promise, the believer's
response is "Amen" -- "so it will be!" In the New Testament; it is often
translated "verily" or "truly." When we pray according to His Word and His will,
we know God will answer, so we close with an "Amen," and so also do we conclude
a great hymn or anthem of praise and faith.
The word is even a title of Christ Himself. The last of his
letters to the seven churches begins with a remarkable salutation by the
glorified Lord: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God" (Rev 3:14).
We can be preeminently certain that his word is always
faithful and true, because He is none other than the beginning of his Father's
new creation, and thus he is our eternal "Amen." As 2Co 1:20 reminds us, every
promise of God in Christ is "yea and amen," as strong an affirmation of truth as
can be expressed in the Greek language.
It is, therefore, profoundly meaningful that the entire Bible
closes with an "Amen". "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen" (Rev 22:21), assuring everyone who reads these words that the whole Book
is absolutely true and trustworthy.
