Sunday, June 18, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading
1 Samuel 1:1–20

There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.” (NRSV)

Reflection
Hannah weeps because she is provoked. She is provoked by a rival, Peninnah, one of the other wives of Hannah’s husband, Elkanah. Peninnah has multiple sons and daughters, but Hannah does not. Hannah, in the biblical manner of Sarah and Rebekah, suffers a “closed womb,” a serious affliction in a time that valued women mostly for their procreative utility. And for this, her rival provokes her, and Hannah weeps and fasts.

The verb provoke appears most commonly in the New Revised Standard Version with reference to God, as in, “Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness” (Deuteronomy 9:7). There are only three New Testament occurrences of provoke, all in epistles. Two warn fathers not to provoke their children (Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21), and one urges believers to provoke one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). That one is my favorite.

But back to Hannah. In the same way that God is provoked, so is Hannah. When Hannah prays through bitter tears in the temple for her misery to be noticed, she prays to One who knows well the pain of provocation. God identifies with Hannah. The anxiety and vexation she professes to Eli — these are emotions God knows. Hannah’s experience mirrors God’s.

Are you anxious? Vexed? Distressed? Provoked? These are not alien to the life of God, just as they were not alien to one of the great heroes of the faith, Hannah. Her example is vulnerability and sloppy public prayer. Her example is faith.

Prayer
God of the provoked, impart to us the faith to cry out when we are anxious, so that, like Hannah, we might witness to your great care for all your children. Amen.

Written by Rocky Supinger, Associate Pastor for Youth Ministry and Worship

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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