In this lesson, students learn how God gives families children.
Devotion
Psalm 127: 3-5
Indeed, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward from him.
4 Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows
in the hand of a warrior.
5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they dispute with enemies at the city gate.[b]
It is common for people today to think of children more as a curse than a blessing. People want to enjoy themselves and not have the burden of children in their lives. It seems that the more money a couple has, the less they desire to have children.
You could ask your parents, and they probably would agree that parenting comes with both joys and sorrows. But most of us would also would agree with the psalmist, children are a blessing.
Our hearts ache for those who desire to have children and yet have none. We pray for them that if childlessness is in their future that God gives a way for them to get past their hurt.
One famous football coach said that anybody who didn't want their children, even those who were unborn, he and his wife would raise them. He is a Christian and recognizes the truth that all human life is precious and that Jesus died for the sins of all--even those who don't want their children.
The lesson
1 Samuel 1:14 So Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you! And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.
Poor Hannah, as if things couldn’t get any worse. She had come to God’s house to pray, and the priest thought that she was drunk!
Hannah was a woman of sorrowful spirit. She wanted a child so desperately! Unlike our day where people champion the murder of pre-born babies, in those days the gift of children was still appreciated for what it is: a gift of God!
Hannah’s husband did his best to consol her, but Hannah knew that only God could give her the comfort she needed. So she went to God’ house to pray, and pray she did.
Well, guess what. God heard Hannah’s heartfelt prayers, and God answered Hannah’s heartfelt prayers: Hannah had a little baby boy named Samuel, who would grow into one of God’s greatest prophets!
God also promises to hear and answer your prayers, too! “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Psalm 50:15)
Oh, He may not answer them the way you think they should be answered, but you can be sure that God will always answer your prayers in the way that is best for you. That’s the way any loving parent does things!
And know what? God has already answered your every prayer a long time ago, when He brought another little baby boy into the world: His own Son; Jesus Christ!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
This sinful old world that rejects God will make you just as miserable as Hannah with its daily dose of heartaches. The Good News is that sooner or later, the misery of this life will be over, and when you believe in Jesus Christ and what He did for you on the cross, your every prayer will be answered once and for all when Jesus takes you home to be with Him in heaven!
God made Hannah go from sorrow to singing. He can do the same for you!
“And Hannah prayed and said: My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:1-2)
1 There was a man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives. One was named Hannah, and the other was named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 Every year this man went up from his city to worship and to offer sacrifices to the Lord of Armies[a] at Shiloh. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were serving there as priests of the Lord.
4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions of food to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, but the Lord had kept her from having children.[b]
6 Hannah’s rival kept taunting her to make her miserable, because the Lord had kept Hannah from having children. 7 Year after year, when Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her, so Hannah would weep and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Hannah’s spirit was very distressed, and as she prayed to the Lord, she sobbed and wept many tears. 11 She made a vow and said, “O Lord of Armies, if you will carefully consider the misery of your servant and remember me, and if you do not forget your servant but give your servant a male child,[c] then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli was looking at her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking silently from her heart. Although her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get away from your wine!”
15 Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman with a very troubled spirit. I have not been drinking wine or beer, but I have poured out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless, wicked woman. I have been speaking like this because of my great misery and because of how I have been grieved.”[d]
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel give you what you have asked for.”
18 She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went on her way. She ate, and her face no longer looked sad.
19 They got up early in the morning and worshipped the Lord. They then returned to their home at Ramah.
Elkanah was intimate with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel[e] because she said, “I asked for him from the Lord.”
21 When this man Elkanah and his entire household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go up with them, because she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before the Lord and remain there permanently.”
23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do whatever you think is best. Wait until you have weaned him. Yes, then the Lord will establish his word.”
So the woman stayed at home, and she nursed her son until she was ready to wean him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her. She also took a three-year-old bull,[f] twenty-five pounds[g] of flour, and a container of wine, and she brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh. The boy was ⎣with them. And they brought him before the Lord, and his father killed the sacrifice as he regularly did before the Lord, and he brought⎦ the boy.[h] 25 When they had killed the bull, they presented the child to Eli. 26 She said, “Excuse me, my lord. As your soul lives,[i] my lord, I am the woman who stood here next to you, praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked for. 28 So now I have also dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So he worshipped the Lord there.
Footnotes
1 Samuel 1:3 Traditionally Lord of Hosts or Lord Sebaoth. God is the Lord of Armies because he rules the army of angels and the army of stars. If he rules over these great powers, he rules over everything.
1 Samuel 1:5 Literally had closed her womb
1 Samuel 1:11 Literally seed of men, an unusual expression
1 Samuel 1:16 Or provoked
1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew words heard by God.
1 Samuel 1:24 The translation follows the reading found in a Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll and in the Greek Old Testament. The main Hebrew text reads three bulls, but the following verse refers to only one animal.
1 Samuel 1:24 Hebrew an ephah
1 Samuel 1:24 The words in half-brackets are included in a Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll. The main Hebrew text has the cryptic reading the boy [was] a boy. The longer reading may preserve evidence of an accidental skip during the copying of the standard Hebrew text from one occurrence of the word boy to the next. This Dead Sea Scroll also has additional words in verse 25, which specify that Elkanah presented the sacrifice and Hannah presented Samuel to Eli.
1 Samuel 1:26 This is an oath that means I swear on your life.
Visitation, by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1491), depicts Mary visiting her elderly cousin Elizabeth.
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Anna toont haar zoon Samuël aan de priester Eli