Hannah's Prayer

David: The Man of Prayer PART I
Dr. Timothy Keller
12 April 2015

1Samuel 1:3-11, 18-20; 2:6-10
3Year 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.  4Whenever 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.  5But Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.  6Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.  7This went on year after year.  Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her til she wept and would not heat.  8Her husband Elkanah 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?"

9Once 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.  10In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.  11And 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."

18She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes."  Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

19Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah.  Elkanah mad love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.  20So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him."

2:6"The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and exalts.
8He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

"For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's;
on them he has set the world.
9He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

"It is not by strength that one prevails;
10those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

"He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed."

Hannah - Desperate woman that radically changes her life through prayer.

HANNAH'S SORROW
--Barren woman; the other fertile wife is rubbing it in.
--She's not living up to the cultural ideals (bearing children)
--v.10 Deep anguish.
--Sadness comes from the polygamous marriage and she's unable to bear children.
--Every culture puts pressure for people to live up the cultural ideals.
--How successful are you?  People that don't fit in are stigmatized.

HANNAH'S RESPONSE TO SORROW
--Her husband loves Hannah more than the other wife who is having the children.
--Hannah doesn't answer her husband or the other wife that is provoking her.
--She doesn't give in to building her life on her husband's affection.
--Hannah doesn't become enslaved to the things around her.
--v.9 Hannah stood up (similar to our understanding of "she put her foot down")
--She chooses not to have her culture and surroundings define her
--She decided to take decisive action and she prays.
--She finds peace right after praying, but she didn't get pregnant yet--so her peace wasn't conditional on having her prayer be answered with a child.
--She also dedicated her child to the priesthood which wouldn't have benefited her status.
--Her son couldn't own or inherit the father's stuff.
--Her son wouldn't live with her either.
--Her child would not be for her, but her child would be for God.

HANNAH'S SAVIOR
--She sees a pattern and a person in her song.
--v.6+7 Those who stumble are armed with strength.
--God shows his work through weakness.
--Pattern is that he works through suffering and weakness.
--Person - "His anointed" - The Messiah; there was no king of Israel at the time.
--Is she forseeing David....and Jesus?
--Parallels with Mary--mother of Jesus and her song which is based on Hannah's song.
--Restructure our heart to get cultural oppression off of our back.