Hannah carried a deep hurt that seemed to grow worse year after year. Surrounded by circumstances she couldn’t change—and a painful voice that wouldn’t let her forget—she reached a place of overwhelming sorrow. In Part 1 of Hannah’s Hope, discover the struggle behind her tears and what God may be doing when hope seems far away.

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Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.

It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.

Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.

And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.

And it's been a day throughout those years since then and even prior to then that mothers and motherhood, I believe, has been rightly exalted and esteemed into a most honored position that we certainly need to continue to do.

But certainly in our culture today that isn't necessarily the case.

Our culture today doesn't esteem, doesn't exalt motherhood, certainly in the way it has in the past.

Certainly in the last 20, 30 years it's taken a turn a little bit.

But I know every one of us here today are so thankful for our mothers.

But throughout the Bible, as we look in the Bible and we look at examples of motherhood in the Bible, Scripture is full of them.

And we see that Scripture, that is God continually esteems and exalts motherhood.

I think of Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who was a woman of great foresight, great foresight in a woman of great faith.

I think of the great woman in Second Kings, chapter four.

I preached a message on that before of her great faith in God and because of her faith in believing, going to the prophet, her son is raised literally from the dead.

I think of Ruth, who last year on Mother's Day actually preached a message.

I think I was preaching through the book of Ruth.

And I preached a message on Ruth, who sacrificially served her mother in law, Naomi.

And she was blessed to be the mother, the wife of Boaz and the mother of Obed.

And Obed bore Jesse, and Jesse bore David.

And of course David was the seed from which the Messiah, our Messiah came.

And in the New Testament, certainly we can look at the examples of two godly women named Elizabeth.

And we can look at another godly example of another woman by the name of Mary.

But there is one very, very special, I think, mother and lady in the Bible that Scripture devotes much attention to.

And that's where I want to turn this morning.

And her name is Hannah.

So I want you to turn with me, if you would, to First Samuel, chapter one.

And Hannah became a mother by faith.

And she appears as a childless wife, a childless woman in 1st Samuel chapter one.

But by faith, she becomes a mother of one of the greatest men of the Bible, a Prophet by the Name of Samuel, First Samuel, chapter one.

And look with me, if you would, at verse one.

And I'll read down through verse 20 First Samuel, chapter one and verse one.

And we'll read from verse one down through verse.

Now, there was a certain man of Ramaphaim, Zotham of Mount Ephraim.

And his name was Elkanai, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tehu, the son of Zuph and Ephrathite.

That's the hardest part done.

All right.

And he had two wives.

The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah.

And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.

And his two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas the priest of the Lord were there.

And when the time was that Elkanah offered.

He gave to Peninnah his wife.

And to all her sons and her daughters portions.

But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion.

For he loved Hannah.

But the Lord had shut up her womb.

And her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret.

Because the Lord had shut up her womb.

And as he did so, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her.

Therefore she wept and did not eat.

Then said Elkanah, her husband, to her, hannah, why weepest thou?

And why eatest thou not?

And why is thy heart grieved?

Am I not better to thee than ten sons?

So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk.

Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.

And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore.

And so she vowed a vow and said, lord, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid.

And remember and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child.

And I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.

And there shall no razor come upon his head.

And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.

Now Hannah, she spake in her heart.

Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.

Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.

And Eli said unto her, how long wilt thou be drunken?

Put away thy wine from thee.

And Hannah answered and said, no, my lord.

I am a woman of a Sorrowful spirit, I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

Count not thine handmaid for a daughter, Belial, or the devil, for out of the abundance of my complaining grief have I spoken hitherto.

Then Eli answered and said, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.

And she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.

So the woman or Hannah went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

And they rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house.

And Ramah and Elkanah knew how Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

Wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah, after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son and called his name Samuel, saying, because I have asked him of the Lord.

The story of Hannah takes place during the time of the Judges, a time when Israel had forsaken God to do things and live their life their own way.

This time period is summarized in the last verse of Judges with these words.

And I know I mentioned this verse when I was preaching on the book of Ruth, but it does summarize, I think, very well, the time in which she lived.

It says in the last verse of Judges, in those days there was no king in Israel.

Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And folks, we all know that when we do what is right in our own eyes, we are in trouble.

And there was great problems in this nation because they were doing what was right in their own eyes, having entered the land of promise with victory and with great strength.

But because they were doing what was right in their own eyes, the people had lost their way spiritually, they lost their way politically, they had lost their way militarily.

Judges, chapter 2 and verse 10 explains why.

And there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

They had forgotten God.

They had not remembered God.

Commentator Richard Phillips, I think, aptly states, forgetting the Lord.

Listen, folks.

Forgetting the Lord, the greatest evil that can befall any generation.

Forgetting God is the greatest evil that can befall any generation.

And certainly I believe we are witnesses of that even in the country and culture in which we live in America today.

It is into this setting that God allows us to look inside the home, a family whose father is named Elkanah and whose wife and wives are named Hannah and Peninnah.

And we see the story of what appears a hopeless, barren woman named Hannah in our text.

God allows us, as we look inside this home, to see four things I want to share with you here this morning.

We see Hannah's hurt.

We see a picture of Hannah's husband.

We see Hannah's hope.

Then we see Hannah's healing.

So let's take a few minutes and let's look at each of those here this morning.

First, let's look at Hannah's hurt.

We see that in verse two, it says, and he had two wives.

The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Penana.

And Peninnah had children.

Look at the end of verse two.

But Hannah had no children.

Right off the bat, we see the first reason that Hannah was hurting, and that was.

Hannah was barren.

She was childless.

You need to understand.

We need to understand that unlike our culture today, having children in that day was where a woman found their identity.

It's where they found their significance.

It's where they found their meaning in life.

Today, many women find their identity in their looks.

They find their identity in their career, their job.

They're out in the job place today.

Or they find their identity in their social status.

Maybe.

But in this Jewish culture, a woman found their identity in having children.

You see, the future survival of every family and every nation was determined largely by the number of children who were being born.

So a family's future income, their status in society was completely a function of how many children that they had.

They really believed what it says in Psalm 127, 3 lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

They believed that.

They took that to heart.

They knew that the more children they had, we might say, the more hands they had to work in the field, the more hands they had to work in the shops or whatever else was needed in their culture, in their home, in their society, in that day and time.

So the more children the family produced, the greater its social status and the greater that family's wealth.

Also, if you didn't want to starve to death in that day and time in your old age, you had to have adult children that would take care of you.

Unlike our day and time where you might have government aid or nursing homes, they didn't have such things back in that day and time.

Reminds me, I was doing a Bible conference out in Yucca Valley, California, just a few weeks back.

And as we drove up to the church, I couldn't help but notice a sign on the street by the church where we drove up it said, Old Woman Springs Road.

And I thought, what a name for a street, Old Woman Springs Road.

And I thought, that's got to have a story to it.

And the story was, these Indian ladies, as they got older, there was no one to take care of them.

They were too much of a burden on their tribe.

So they would send them literally on this road.

It's paved now.

It used to be a dirt path.

They would send them off by themselves up this dirt road into the mountains to set up there by the spring and literally die.

Old Woman Springs Road.

If women didn't want to die, if in their old age, dad, a mom did not want to die, it required that they have many children to take care of them as they got older.

And in order to have.

Listen, in order to have four children that would live to adulthood in that day and time, you would have to have at least 10.

The mortality rate was very, very great in that day.

Also, the nation's economic and military security was completely dependent on.

Upon the growth and the number of children, new children being born to that nation, to that country.

So bearing children was a.

We might say a life and death issue to a family.

Bearing children was a life and death issue to a nation.

Hebrew scholar Walter Brudgman says, barrenness is a way of human history.

It is an effective metaphor for hopelessness.

For without children, there is no foreseeable future.

There is no human power to invent a future.

Therefore, women in that day who bore lots and lots of children.

Listen, folks, they were heroes.

A woman who bears a lot of children today is.

We might look at them.

Or people would look at them and say, boy, you poor soul, you've been cursed.

Somebody has eight, five, 10, eight children, whatever it might be, have a lot of children today.

It was completely different back in that day and time because they looked at motherhood.

They looked at women who had a lot of children as heroes.

And these women felt like heroes, and they were treated like heroes.

In their culture, women who couldn't bear any children felt completely useless and considered to be utterly worthless to their family and to their nation.

As a result, Hannah's life was one of roaring agony, as you can imagine, because her culture was shouting out to her, children are everything, and if you don't have children, you're nothing.

So we might ask, then why was she barren?

This passage answers this question for us.

In fact, it answers it at the end of verse six.

It says, because the Lord had shut up her womb, she is barren.

Because God meant for her in his sovereign Will, for His glory, for his good, meant for her at this time in her life to be childless, to be barren without child.

But why did God, in His Sovereign will, choose for her to be barren?

I believe Richard Phillips is correct in his commentary when he says there are many reasons why God brings trials into the lives of his people, often to stimulate our faith.

But in the case of so important a figure as Samuel, the point has not to do with Hannah, but with Israel.

The Lord closed Hannah's womb to remind Israel that he had also caused the people to be spiritually barren because of their idolatry and their unbelief.

So Hannah's barrenness was a picture of.

Of the spiritual barrenness in the day and time that she lived, a picture of the condition of the hearts of the people who were doing what was right in their own eyes.

Now let me just pause and say this.

Statistics tell us that about 7% of women in our culture today in America are infertile.

And if this is you today, I know this could be a very, very hard day and maybe a very, very hard day for you.

And my heart goes out to you for the pain that you may be experiencing even as we go through this passage.

But my prayer is that you'll be encouraged and find hope through the word of God as I share it with you this morning.

Hannah was barren and she was hurting and in great pain.

She felt that she had no value to her family.

She felt she had no value to the nation.

She felt that she was useless.

There was no value or meaning to her life.

But not only was she hurting because she was barren, but also Scripture tells us and gives us a picture here.

She was hurting because she was belittled.

She was belittled.

We see in the passage that Hannah was not only the only wife in this family.

Look with me again at verse two.

And he or Elkanah had two wives.

The name of the one, Hannah, the name of the other, Peninnah.

And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Then look at verse six.

And her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.

And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, she provoked her.

Therefore she wept and did not eat.

So Elkanah, like most men in that day in that culture, practiced something called polygamy.

Let me pause and say that wherever polygamy is practiced in Scripture, we see both disorder, we see jealousy, and we see ruin.

When Jacob was deceived by Laman and ended up having both Leah and Rachel as his wife.

Scripture reveals that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and Leah was, it actually says, was hated.

Abraham's wife Sarah became jealous of Hagar and insisted that Abraham send Hagar and her baby away.

Even though polygamy, like many other sinful practices, are shown in Scripture, God nowhere in Scripture accepts it, God nowhere Scripture commends it, but rather shows the sinful results of it.

Listen, folks, I just want to reiterate this morning.

God's design for marriage was and still is one man and one woman.

And because there are two wives in this home, immediately when it says he had two wives, we know there's a problem because there were two wives in his home.

Elkanah shows greater love to Hannah and it enrages Peninnah.

Even though Peninnah has a children and Hannah has no children, Elkanah shows greater love to Hannah than he does to Peninnah.

And it makes Peninnah very upset.

It angers her.

It enrages her.

And as a result, Peninnah continually belittles Hannah.

In fact, in verse 6, again it says, and her adversary, I.e.

Peninnah, also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb.

Because she had no children, Peninnah was continually riding her, continually taunting her.

If you want to see a picture of one of the baddest women in the Bible, one of the meanest women in the Bible, here's a picture right here of Peninnah in the home and with Hannah, where she is continually chiding.

She's continually taunting Hannah because she has no children.

She has them, but she doesn't.

And the reason she's on her back is because Elkanah loves her Hannah more than he loves Peninnah.

Commentator Dale Davis imagines what a conversation may have looked like when Peninnah was with her kids around Hannah.

Here's Peninnah conversation may have went like this.

Now, do you children have your food?

Dear me, there are so many of you, it's hard to keep track of you.

Mommy, Ms. Hannah doesn't have any children.

What did you say, dear?

I said Miss Hannah doesn't have any children.

Miss Hannah.

Oh, yes, that's right.

She doesn't have any children.

Does she, Mommy?

Doesn't she want children?

Oh, yes, she.

She wants children, I'm sure, very, very much.

Wouldn't you say so, Hannah?

Don't you wish you had children, too, Hannah?

Mommy, doesn't Daddy want Ms. Hannah to have children?

And have kids?

Oh, certainly it does.

But Miss Hannah keeps disappointing Daddy.

She just can't have kids.

Why not?

Oh, I believe it's because God won't let her.

Does God not like Miss Hannah?

Well, I don't know.

What do you think?

Can you imagine a conversation that went on in this home?

Conversations like that kind of conversation.

Where Hannah was continually being belittled.

By the words that came out of the mouth.

And the actions that came out of the mouth.

Of this very mean and belittling woman by the name Peninnah.

And as a result of Peninnah's belittling, it says Hannah wept and she wouldn't eat.

In fact, Scripture tells us that she didn't only do this at home.

That even when they went to the temple, when they went to the Lord's house, even when they went to church, she did it at church.

Can you imagine that?

Here's a woman who continually taunts this other woman, this other wife in the home.

And provokes her and makes her angry and teases her.

But she doesn't just do it in the home.

When she comes to church like we are here today, she brings that with her and taunts her in church in front of everybody else.

No wonder Hannah was weeping sorely.

No wonder she was upset.

No wonder she could not eat.

She was living in constant emotional pain.

You might say to yourself, how could anybody treat somebody else that way?

Friends, listen.

Because of our sinful hearts.

We can easily do the same thing to someone that we're jealous of.

Commentator William Blake says, to suffer in the tenderest part of one's nature.

Is no doubt a heavy affliction.

But to have a heart eager to inflict such suffering on another Is far more awful.

He continues by warning all who play the part of Paninon.

Who mock those who are suffering.

He says, you may succeed for the moment.

And you may experience whatever satisfaction can be found in gloated revenge.

But know this.

That you have been cherishing a viper in your bosom.

That will not content itself with fulfilling your desire.

It will make itself resident in your heart and distill its poison all over you.

Folks, we all must be careful.

That we're not treating others around us.

Who are experiencing suffering like Hannah.

Whatever that suffering may be.

That we don't treat them like Peninnah was treating Hannah.

And listen.

You may not literally have a visible Peninnah in your life that's doing this.

But we have an enemy who will come to you and whisper in your ear, the devil will come to you.

And whisper in your ear and tell you continually that you're nothing, you're body and you'll never amount to nothing.

He delights in doing that and inflicting that kind of pain, certainly in our life.

So what could Hannah do?

How could the hurt and pain be relieved?

You have listened to the first part of a two part message by evangelist Sam Wood.

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