God works through ordinary people facing extraordinary pain. Hannah, a barren woman in a hostile household, pours out her anguish before the Lord rather than seeking revenge or retreating and He answers. He still does.
The following study questions are AI generated and may contain errors.
Pastor Brandon describes Hannah’s three possible responses to her suffering: revenge against Peninnah, retreat from Elkanah, or relief in the Lord. Which response do you find most challenging to choose in your own difficult circumstances, and why?
Hannah’s vow to dedicate her son back to God reveals a sacrificial faith rather than an attempt to manipulate Him—she essentially offered to give God what she was asking Him for. How does this reshape the way you approach prayer and what you ask of the Lord?
Even Eli, the high priest and highest religious authority in Israel, misunderstood Hannah’s prayer and initially accused her of being drunk. What does this reveal about the limitations of human judgment—even among spiritual leaders—and how should this affect where we ultimately bring our deepest concerns?
Hannah’s face was “no longer downcast” and she ate something before the child was even conceived. What does this teach us about the relationship between faith, encouragement, and answered prayer? Where in your own life do you need to trust God’s faithfulness before you see the answer?
The sermon traces a theological line from Hannah’s ordinary household struggles through Samuel and King David all the way to Jesus Christ as the eternal King. How does understanding Samuel’s role in this larger redemptive story change the way you view the significance of your own prayers and faithfulness in everyday life?
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
So we have a special treat tonight. Most of us here have already gotten to know Pastor Brandon, and we just celebrated a few months ago his ordination. I know we have been praying for him, and he did a remarkable job emceeing the other night at Faith Overfest. But we have a special treat tonight because we’ve been talking for some time about having him actually come to the pulpit and share God’s word, and we get to hear from him tonight. Brother, thank you for being here. So glad to have you and looking forward to what God has placed on your heart.
Thank you, brother. Such a pleasure to be here with you guys, humbled to be here and feed his sheep. God is definitely the main shepherd, and to be called a little shepherd is humbling any and every time that I come before his sheep and his flock. I come by way of True Life Community Church, but I definitely consider Little Hills a home. Just looking at Paul and the way that he writes other churches, he couldn’t be at every church that he planted. Now, I didn’t plant this church; that’s not what I’m saying. That was him, but it’s just a reminder that you can not be at a certain place that many times and still consider it a home.
This evening, we’re going to be in the book of Samuel. The book of Samuel was one of those books that really brought my attention in the year 2020, when so much was going on—the pandemic. I was just thinking, well, let me spend this time to read a lot more. I came across this commentary of the book of Samuel, and in the introduction, the author says this is the best-written book of the whole Bible. I thought, I don’t know about that, man. But as I’m reading, I’m like, it really is. You get your classics like David and Goliath, David and Uriah and Bathsheba, all of these points in biblical history that really transitioned a lot of things. So it’s been on my mind and heart for half a decade. My wife, Jocelyn, has heard much about it. I am honored to be able to share the first chapter with you this evening. We’re going to be in chapter 1, verses 1 to 20.
It says, “There was a certain man from Ramathayim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other, Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year 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. 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.
Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s 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. Her 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?’
Once 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. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And 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.’
As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.’
‘Not so, my Lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’
Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’
She said, ‘May your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning, they arose and worshiped before the Lord, and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife, Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So 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.’”
Let’s pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Though we may be attached to certain books of the Bible, your whole word is sufficient. With that fact and with that truth, we lean heavily on just your Spirit to open our minds and hearts to whatever you want to be taught or said, and that we may use that to apply to our lives, Lord. May your Spirit be all in what I say to your sheep. I pray this all in your Son’s name. Amen.
When it comes to the birth of a child, when that’s brought up, you notice that a transition is about to occur. You think of Moses when he comes into play in the first two chapters of Exodus. The Israelites were in oppression at that time under the Egyptians, going through a tough time. Moses was called into play—the birth of him. He leads the Israelites through the Promised Land, not an easy task, pretty hard, 40 years of that. So you can only imagine it wasn’t that far of a distance, but it took 40 years. But he gets them to the Promised Land. And with that comes the book of Judges, a time where the people of God were not acting godly. They were called to be a representative of God, a light to the other nations. But instead, they started to act more like Sodom and Gomorrah.
You can come to the accounts of Levi and the concubine and see that this is pretty graphic. Like, why is this occurring if he had just brought them out of Egypt from 400 plus years of oppression, and now they’re in this state of treating their own people in the most wicked manner?
What’s coming into play with Samuel is that his birth is transitioning the book of Judges to now a monarchy, a kingship. He’s a king maker. And with him, you see him anoint the first king of Israel, Saul. Now, of course, Saul, the Israelites in the wilderness did not do well in his testing. Then there was David that Samuel anoints. So he anoints the first two kings.
David is a man after God’s own heart. He had his trials and tribulations, but he did something that Saul would not do—that’s repent and turn back to the Lord. So Samuel, what he does, brings that connection: the people are oppressed, not from the Egyptians, but they’re oppressed in their own wickedness. So it’s another sign of just how much we need Jesus Christ. Sin is so heavy that we can have a person treat us as slaves, but sin will always be around that corner to clutch us. That’s what you see with the Israelites.
I was thinking of Moses’ birth and Samuel’s birth, and then I thought of Jesus’ birth. All of it goes in together. You see Moses, you see Samuel, and then there’s that other transition of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And it’s mentioned by Paul in Acts 13, verses 16 to 23.
It says, “Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said, ‘Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me. The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt. With mighty power, he led them out of that country. For about 40 years, he endured their conduct in the wilderness, and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance.
All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’
From this man’s descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.”
So that’s just a testament of how God worked through Samuel anointing the second king of Israel, and how his kingship lasted all the way until Jesus Christ. Jesus is the last king of David’s line, the one for eternity. But it started with Samuel being born from a woman who was barren and going through a tough time. So that’s what we’re going to look at.
That’s why the book of Samuel starts off with Hannah. So we see in verses 1 through 8, I want to read again, just to get us back on track.
This is a hostile household. It says, “There was a certain man from Ramathayim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf, an Ephraimite. He had two wives, one called Hannah and the other, Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
Year 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. 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.
Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s 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.
Her 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?’”
Hostile household is what we have here. And you may think, okay, why does Elkanah have a second wife? Why didn’t he just stick with Hannah? Well, during that time, inheritance was very important. If a person like Elkanah came from a wealthy background to be able to afford a second wife— I can’t afford a second wife; I can barely afford the one I got.
So he came from a wealthy background, and so Peninnah was brought into place just for reproduction. And with her, you see hurt to just know that the love isn’t there like it is for Hannah. Hannah had the love, but she didn’t have the child. Peninnah had the child, but not the love. And so hurt people hurt people. We observe and see that those that hurt another person, there’s something that they wrestle with. There’s something ugly inside of them to treat people in an ugly way.
Hannah’s response, which I love in all of these situations, she could have brought revenge to Peninnah. She could have said, “You may have the children, but I have our husband’s love.” But she doesn’t go that route. She doesn’t attack Peninnah. Instead, she goes off and weeps bitter tears. But she doesn’t attack her rival, which I think is a lesson for us to take in—to not return fire with fire, but to show as much love as we can in that situation.
Then her other response is with Elkanah. Elkanah, a husband who he’s trying, y’all, and he’s trying to get words of encouragement, and he doesn’t do that well. He comes off a little bit insensitive, as you see in verse 8. It says, “Her 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?’ Am I not the man enough more than ten sons?” That is what he’s saying to her.
He sees his wife breaking down, crying bitterly. He wants to pick up the pieces. Men like to fix things. I’m not the best fixer. I’ll probably pay somebody to come and fix a lot of the items in the house because I have other things, like a sermon to work on. But we like to fix things. So when he sees Hannah falling apart, he’s like, okay, how can I pick up this piece and this and this piece? Oh, I got an idea— why don’t I tell her, “Am I not more man than ten sons?” So that’s not the right approach, clearly, in how to comfort a person who is barren and downhearted.
And so Hannah could have replied to Elkanah in the way of, “Okay, well, you don’t understand what I’m going through. I’m about to leave.” But she doesn’t retreat. She could have brought revenge to Peninnah, and she could have brought retreat to Elkanah, but she does not do that. The response that Hannah does is relief in the Lord. She brings herself to the Lord’s feet and cries to Him.
We see that in verses 9 through 11: “Once they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And 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.’”
With this, you see a true response, a great response of deep faith in the Lord. She could have chosen those other options that are easy to grasp, but instead she went before the Lord. Just the way that it’s worded brings back just how magnificent the writing is in this book. You see that Hannah stood up. She was eating. It says, “When they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up.” Though she’s standing up, her spirit is low. When she walks to the tabernacle where Eli was sitting—Eli is sitting, but he doesn’t respond in a high manner way, because back then to sit in a chair brought honor and prestige. Many people sat on the floor during that time. So for Eli to sit by the Lord’s house in his chair and to see what is taking place with Hannah, who is in front of him standing but her spirit is low, is an awesome juxtaposition of just what the narrator is trying to describe to us in this situation.
You may think, okay, when Hannah is approaching God in this manner, is she manipulating Him? Is she manipulating God by saying, “You know what? If you give me this, I will give you that.” But no, I don’t believe that’s the way Hannah approached the situation. I believe it was a sacrificial manner in how Hannah approached God. Many times, you see people say, “Will you give me X, Lord, and I’ll give you Y.” But in Hannah’s case, she says, “You know what? Give me X, and I will give you X.” So it’s this sacrificial heart and desire of Hannah to be asking of the Lord but also to be so thankful to the Lord to give the child that she so much desires back to the Lord himself.
I’m inspired by people like Hannah. Many times men of the faith, we run to the Davids, the Jacobs, all of these powerful men who are examples, Elijah. I think that we should acknowledge those like Hannah, who show so much faith and so much strength to come to the Lord and to respond in relief when you see many men, even today, that don’t act in that same manner. So I’m highly encouraged at just the way that Hannah acted.
The theologian from the fourth century, John Chrysostom— great last name, John Chrysostom— said this about Hannah in the fourth century: “Where tears are, there is always affliction. Where affliction is, there is great wisdom and attentiveness. Truly here was the daughter of Abraham. He gave when it was demanded of him. She offers even before it is demanded.”
The theologian is speaking about Abraham and Isaac, how the promised child to bring as many children as the sand on the shore, Abraham desperately wanted this child. But we know with him and Sarah, it didn’t go exactly as planned. They tried a different route. But once the child did come, the Lord tested Abraham to see: now that you have the child, is it the child that’s replacing all your faith and trust in, or is it still me? When the Lord saw that Abraham was going to go through with it, He stopped him and said, “I know that his heart is truly after me.” And that’s what we see in Hannah. She gave before even asked of the Lord. So just another great reminder of just the woman of the Bible being an inspiration for us all.
Let’s continue on with verses 12 to 18: “As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.’ ‘Not so, my Lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I’m a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’
Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’
She said, ‘May your servant find favor in your eyes.’ And she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.”
What you see here is the chief priest, the highest of position in the Israelite community, the highest of religiosity. And he still doesn’t act in the manner of understanding Hannah’s situation, which is a testament that God’s eyes see better than even the most religious in this world, which is humbling because I know that I can tell a person who comes to me, “Go to the Father first,” because men are weak. We misunderstand a lot of things. I’m going to make some mistakes, and we see that in Eli, the high priest. He misunderstands Hannah’s situation. But Hannah, with her deep faith and heart, is still encouraged by Eli’s blessing.
Once Eli understands that she isn’t drunk and that she’s really in deep anguish, he tells her in verse 17, “Eli answered, go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” In that alone, Hannah heard those words after at first being confronted as a drunk. To take that and say, “You know what? He still blessed me.” This is a high priest, and I don’t know how I would have reacted to the high priest misunderstanding me. Because, like, wait a minute. Hannah, my rival, is attacking me. My own husband misunderstands me. And then I’m thinking, okay, I will go to the Tabernacle where the Lord is and where the high priest is sitting right there. I’m weeping bitterly. And Eli, the high priest, thinks I’m drunk. Like, at that point, you would think that Hannah would just run off in the wilderness and just forget everything. But she’s so faithful in her heart that she’s like, no, no, no, that’s not the case here. And then after explaining that to Eli and Eli blessing her, it says here that Hannah was encouraged.
It says that her face was no longer downcast. She went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. She was encouraged before she even saw the blessing. Isn’t that amazing? That the blessing didn’t come, the child did not come yet, but she was so encouraged that her face was no longer downcast and she ate something. Such great faith that Hannah displays for us.
So we get towards the conclusion of verses 19 to 20. It says, “Early the next morning, they arose and worshiped before the Lord, and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife, Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So 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.’”
What an amazing thing we have here—that God answers Hannah’s prayer. God delivers a child to her. It’s a testament that God brings blessings to an ordinary household with ordinary problems. Though we may feel like we’re insignificant and far away from God’s eyes, He understands us even better than a preacher or a pastor can. He’s always observing, and He always asks us to come to Him with tears that are bitter at times. They’re not sweet; they’re not joyful, but they’re bitter, deep, heavy, and great anguish. And He answers whether it’s a yes or no. God is always observing.
That’s a comforting feeling that I can know even if the Lord says not yet or no, I know that He’s always there listening. When I’m feeling like I’m all alone and nobody understands me, the Lord is always listening. So I believe that God brings blessings through ordinary problems in an ordinary household.
And just to cap off how important Samuel coming into place is and bringing the transition of the monarchy, but also the transition from the monarchy to King Jesus, we see the Apostle Peter talk about this in Acts 3. We heard Apostle Paul speak about it now. Let’s hear what the Apostle Peter says.
It says, “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what He had ever told through all the prophets, saying that His Messiah would suffer. Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you, even Jesus.
Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to everything He tells you. Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from your people.’
Indeed, listen to this: beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed.’
When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
With that, all peoples will be blessed from this book, from the ancient Near East thousands of years ago. We’re still being blessed today, and we can still take God’s living word to those around us who don’t have that faith in Jesus Christ the King.
I pray that those here and online watching, if you have placed your faith in King Jesus, that you will continue to spread that information as far as you can. We are people who are faulty. We will make mistakes. I make mistakes every day. But it’s important that we have that faith in the heart of Hannah. On days we want to cry, cry to the Lord. There’s no better person to cry to.
Continue to spread Jesus’ word, His gospel. If you have in place your faith in Jesus, all those people I mentioned who have their faith in Jesus once did not have their faith in Jesus. We didn’t understand the goodness, the gloriousness of being a child of God, to be a daughter or son of God.
I pray that those out there who do not have faith in Jesus will come to Him and ask Him tough questions, ask Him questions like Hannah asked the Lord. You may have something that you’re wrestling with and struggling with, and nobody else knows. Come to Him. God is faithful, and He’s always listening.
I pray that we use this as a reminder. Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us such a great example of your daughter. Your daughter shows so much great faith, was going through such a tough time, but she continued to go to You to find relief. She didn’t seek revenge. She didn’t seek retreat. But she sought relief from You.
Lord, please continue to remind us of this truth every day to come to You when we see the world crying out and trying to get revenge or to retreat. Lord, give us the heart to find relief in You and that we can spread that great relief and news to those around us who are crying out and don’t know where to turn.
I pray that we continue to seek Your Son, who is our King, that we may be great ambassadors of Christ as Paul said, that we will be such great ambassadors in a world that does not belong to us. We are foreigners, that we will spread His message in a peaceful manner. We thank You so much for Your Son and for Your Spirit.
I pray this all in Your Son’s name. Amen.
Start the Conversation