I am, as always, happy to have this opportunity. to fill in and Brother Gary claims he has something big on his plate this week. I don't know what it would be but now he's of course busy with Bible school preparation problems and teachers pulling their hair out. So he does a wonderful job coordinating all that. I appreciate it for the Gulf. And like I said, I'm glad to have the opportunity to teach today. I was talking to a teenager this week and sort of giving him some advice and he was talking about quitting school. And I said, told him, I said, you really need to stay in school. He said, why? I said, so you can graduate and get a diploma. He said, why? I said, so you can go to college and get a degree. He said, why? I said, so you can work about 30 years. He said, why? I said, well, then you can retire and you don't have to work anymore. He said, I'm not working now. What's the point? I'll take a mod of chuckle. That's good. All right, 1 Samuel chapter 1, as you can see, we are starting a new series today, and I'm honored to be able to introduce this. is God's sovereignty at work. And I like that word sovereignty. I can even spell it correctly, you can see, but you wouldn't know if it was spelled wrong anyway. But I like to talk about the sovereignty of God. And frankly, I'm glad that God is sovereign. I'm glad that he has all things under control and he doesn't leave things just up to us to do the best we can. And we can see throughout the Word of God, anywhere you want to go in God's Word, you will find the sovereignty of God at work. But especially we want to focus on these books in this quarter, the book of 1 Samuel, and then part of 2 Samuel, part of 1 Chronicles. And the books of the Chronicles sort of overlap the books of Samuel and Kings in certain ways, but that's God's business. If he wants to repeat himself, I know I have to repeat myself all the time. just to get Trista to hear me. And it's time to go Trista, it's time to go Trista. But sometimes God has to repeat himself to us before we will listen. Well today, in the first lesson, it's the story of Hannah, an answered prayer. And we are in 1 Samuel chapter one. Now, as we seek the context, 1 Samuel, picks up where the book of Judges leaves off. And most people are familiar with, I mean, anybody that has studied the Bible much, you're familiar with the last verse of the book of Judges. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. That verse tells us two things, actually. Number one, that Israel did not have a human king at that time. In those days, there was no king in Israel, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And it does not necessarily, it's not necessarily the cause of the second part of that verse. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. See, in actuality, this is the second thing from this verse, they did have a king. And that was God, Jehovah God. But they, as a whole, they had ceased to walk according to God's law. Come on. Later on in Samuel, in chapter 8, verse 7, the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee. They were asking for it. They said, we want a king. Like, you know, all these other nations have kings. We want a king. You know, give us a king. And God is speaking here, and he said, they have not rejected thee. Samuel thought that they were against him. He said, they have not rejected thee, they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. So they had rejected the leadership that God had instituted and had been so faithful for so many years. And the period of the judges, was when Israel degraded. I mean, they went downhill. And we can see a lot of the same characteristics in our own country, of course. But the 450-year period that judges was a very dark time in Israel's history. It was marked by disobedience, idolatry, war, In this book, chapter 2 tells us the priesthood was corrupt. Chapter 3 says there was no word from the Lord during that time. God just didn't reveal anything to them. Chapter 4 shows that the Ark of the Covenant was being treated like a good luck charm. Chapter 7, idolatry was rampant. And chapter 8, even some of the judges were dishonest. So all in all, Israel was an absolute God's chosen people that we're talking about. This is the people that God had a personal relationship with. And look at all the things that he had done for them in their past. He led them out of, of course, even before that, but he led them out of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness, across the Red Sea and through the wilderness and across the Jordan River. I mean, all they had to do was march around Jericho and the walls fell down. I mean, how much more blessed could you get than having God as your ruler? And yet, they forsook God and went through idolatry and various things. And yet, God did not forsake them. Now, you or I might have, if we'd have been God. And I say that all the time. Well, if I'd have been God, I'd have probably done this. Well, it's probably, it's a good thing. And thankfully for Israel, we're not God. And God raised up a man, Samuel. And this book is his story. Samuel can be considered the last of the judges. He was the glue that held Israel together during this time of transition. And what is the transition? Well, Israel had been, since its inception, a theocracy. I looked up the definition to be precise. Theocracy is defined as government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. So, in a theocracy, the religion of a nation is synonymous with the government of the nation. I don't think that any other country other than Israel was ever designed to have this type of government. Israel was special. Israel enjoyed a special place in God's eyes. And so they were a theocracy. You know, the word theo refers to God, of course. And so you've got the rulers of the nation were also the spiritual religious leaders. of the time. Well, as we've already seen, Israel got tired of that arrangement and they failed to remember how good they had it when they were following God's leadership through Moses and Aaron, the high priest, and how all the things God had done for them. Well, they forgot all that and they got tired of the arrangement. And so they rejected God's rule over them. And they began in a long time, a long transition, but they began the transition to a monarchy, which is a political system in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an individual ruler who functions as Now, of course, we are not a monarchy. And even Great Britain is not a true monarchy because they have a parliament and the king is mostly a figurehead as that. But in these days, a monarchy was a true monarchy. I mean, what the king said went. And so Israel is transitioning to a monarchy. And in the coming chapters, we're going to see Israel begging Samuel for a king of their own. We want to be like other nations. We want to have a king and a military leader. And we want, you know, we want to have that, regal figure sitting on the throne. And a lot I'd like to say about that, but that's not this lesson. I won't spoil that story for whomever teaches that lesson. Today, we have a story that begins in bitterness and ends in blessing. And that's the story of Hannah and her miracle son, There have been a lot of people down through the years that have had miracle children, Samuel was one of the true miracle children of the Bible. So now as we get into the lesson, searching the text, the first point is Hannah's marriage in verses one through five. So let's read here in the chapter. It says, now there was a certain man, Ramoth Aem Zothem, How would you like to live in a town like that? You'd make Cincinnati the park as well. Of Mount Ephraim and his name was Elkanah. the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoth, and Ephrathiah. So quite a lineage that were given there. And it said, and he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninah. And Peninah had children, but Hannah had no children. So let's talk about this fellow. First of all, the husband's name was Elkanah, which means God has obtained. And I don't know the significance of that in his life. Often, when parents would name their children, They would name them based on the circumstances surrounding their birth or what was going on in the history of the nation at that time. And you'll notice the E.L. El, as you've heard the pastor say many times, that's the word for God. You know Elohim, you probably know that word. Well, El is a shortened form of Elohim. It refers to God. And many names in the Old Testament, especially, El is part of the name. Beth El meant the house of God. Elijah, that's the same thing. That means the Lord is my God. So you see that El popping up in a lot of places. And it says in verse 2 that this man, Elkanah, had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Now know this, that God never condoned polygamy. He never condoned a plurality of wives. It seems that in Old Testament times, He didn't make a big issue out of it, but marriage was always designed to be one man, one woman, for one lifetime. We see in Matthew 19 verses 4 through 6. And Jesus answered and said unto them, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning. So this is not something new that Jesus is bringing out in the New Testament. He said at the beginning, this is the way it was. He made them male and female. A lot could be said there. We give them current events. And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain, or they two, shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And I think you can see in the tone of those verses, that you got two coming together to be one flesh. And that is not meant to be shared. Polygamy was never a part of God's design. It was always contrary to God's design. And while in the Old Testament times, as I said, God, in fact, it talks about how God winked at certain things. And he said, well, why is that? I don't know. I'm not God. And I don't know his thinking. But the truth is that marriage has always been about a man and a woman coming together and becoming one flesh. Now, it's likely. I don't say it's certain, because we're not told. But I think it's likely that Delcana married Hannah first. And we know that he loved her and we'll see that in a verse in just a minute. But then when she, I'm saying now this is what we presume, when she was not able to have children, he married Canina in order to have kids. You know, sort of helping God along like, you know, Abraham and Hagar, and they took marriage into their own hands. Sarah even suggested to Abraham that he take Hagar and have a child with her and will fulfill God's purpose and God's promise that way. And that was contrary to what God wanted and not what His plan was at all. Well, here we have sort of the same circumstance with Hannah and Penina. So look at verse 3 again. This man went up out of the city. and the sacrifice of the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. They were a couple of scoundrels, but that's another lesson for another time. But what we see in this verse is that this Elkanah was presumably a man who did fear God and worshiped God. I don't think he was obedient in having the two wives, but notwithstanding that, He was a man who worshiped God and believed in the true God. Verse four, and the time was, when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Canaan his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions, but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion. I don't know what that means exactly, but we know it's something better than what he gave to Penina. Now why did he give Hannah the worthy portion? It says, for he loved Hannah. Notice it doesn't say he loved Penina. It says he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. So the fact that she was childless was not her fault and it wasn't Elkanah's fault. the Lord had shut up her womb. And as we'll see, it was only temporary, and God did bless her with a child. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, as I said, it doesn't say that he loved Benaina. It gives me the impression that she was a wife of convenience. that he married her just in order that she would bear children. But it was for Hannah, the Lord had shut up her womb. And this was in the providence and the sovereignty of God. And you've got to understand the importance that people placed on having children in those days, and especially in Israel. In 1 Timothy 2, and I'm not trying to beat you over the head with this, I didn't write it. It says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority over man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first born. Then Eve and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, now here's the part I really want you to notice. Notwithstanding, she shall, is that right? She shall, she shall, she shall. No, she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Now, when it says that she will be saved in childbearing, He's telling, I think, the men and the women that women are not to be cast aside as being inferior. The order of of authority, if you will, in the marriage relationship is not a matter of women being inferior to men. It is a matter of a wife being subordinate to her husband. Now, all of us, most of us anyway, have worked for someone at some point in our life. And you had an employer, you had a boss or a supervisor, a foreman, whatever. Now, he was over you and you had to do what he said. That doesn't mean that he or she was superior to you. It means that you were subordinate to them. That was the order of authority. And that's, I think, very clearly taught in scripture as a whole about wives being submission to their husband. It's a matter of subordination, not a matter of inferiority. Back to this childbearing thing, the saving grace of women is bearing children, at least in this context. He tells us that they'll be saved in childbearing. Ladies, among other things, that is something that men absolutely cannot do. I mean, this transgender nonsense baloney notwithstanding men can't have babies and I got one in and out of that but don't listen don't buy into the lie that motherhood makes you a second-class person In modern society, of course, the feminist movement has pioneered or championed the idea that, you know, stay-at-home mothers and having kids and taking care of them, well, that's, you're not, you're just wasting your potential. Listen, if you want to go out in the world I'm not putting that down. What I am saying is that motherhood and rearing of children, having children, bearing children, and then rearing children is one of the greatest callings and one of the greatest accomplishments that can be had in life. And I'm thankful that I had a stay-at-home mom. She was there when I got home from school, and she's putting Band-Aids on my cuts and fed me good meals. And as I said, that's not necessarily what has to be, but it's a good thing. And don't let the women livers convince you that motherhood, child rearing, childbearing, that type of thing, that that's second class citizenry. No, that's a great honor. And another reason why childbearing was important to Jewish women was the possibility of being the one to bear the Messiah. And Jewish young ladies throughout all the years of Old Testament history, and in the New Testament up till Mary, they lived with the hope the dream that they might be the one to be the mother of the Messiah. And they wanted to have children. Remember, Rachel was barren for a long time. And Leah was having all the kids, and Rachel had no kids. And she told Jacob, she said, give me children or I die. She said, I will die if I can't have children. And then Jephthah's daughter, remember Jephthah was one of the judges, and he made a foolish vow before the Lord. He said, if I win this battle and whatever comes out of the door to meet me when I get home, I will offer it as a sacrifice unto the Lord. I don't know what he expected. That was just stupid, but he got home and his virgin daughter came out the door to meet him. And without going into all the things about it, it appears that he did what he had vowed to the Lord that he would do, and that is that he would offer her as a sacrifice to the Lord, but before that, The daughter and the young ladies that she knew went off a ways and it says they bewailed her virginity. Apparently, she died without having the opportunity to have a child. That's why. One of the reasons why. They wanted to have children and especially they wanted the opportunity to perhaps be the mother of the Messiah. Now, Hannah's child did not turn out to be the Messiah, of course. But he was, nevertheless, one of the greatest men in Israel's history. I mean, you had Abraham, you had Moses, but I would say Samuel is right up there with them as the things that he did for Israel during their history. Well, that's Hannah's marriage. Now we move on to Hannah's mocker. Look at verse six. And her adversary. Who is this? This is Padina. This is the other wife. This is the baby factory, if you want to put it that way. 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." So you have Penina mocking Hannah. Now this reinforces my belief that Penina did not enjoy a love relationship with Elkanah. She saw that Hannah was loved and her only defense The only way she could think of to make herself feel better was to provoke Hannah constantly pointing out that she was childless. And that's a common way that people make themselves feel better about themselves is to make others feel worse about themselves, attack others. And I don't think Penina had any kind of a warm relationship with Elkanah. She was just there to have kids and she was lashing out at Hannah because she saw that Hannah was loved. Then we go to Hannah's misery, which is already touched upon, but look at verse 8. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? Why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am I not better to thee than ten sons? He said, look at me. I'm Superman or whatever, you know. He said, am I not better than ten sons? Well, I think any, mother that's ever had a child. You love your husband, but you love your children too. And especially in these days, children were desired. They were extremely desirable. She didn't have any, and she was grieving. Verse 9. So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had thrown him down. 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. So you see that she has bitterness in her soul. She wept sore. Hannah grieved. She was in misery all these years. I don't know how many years it was, but it was a long time that she waited and prayed and perhaps even fussed at God a little bit. Maybe, Lord, why haven't you allowed me to have children? And I realize I'm just conjecturing, speculating, but we get that way sometimes. We might not, you know, charge the Lord with being less than good to us, but we might tell somebody else and hope the Lord overhears, you know. And I don't know if that was Hannah's mindset or not, but we do know that she was very torn up about this. Well, I move on now to Hannah's mission. Verse 11, and she bowed and bowed. In other words, She came to a point where she said, I'm going to do something positive. Instead of just weeping and being bitter, I'm going to do something positive. And here's her mission. She vowed a vow and said, Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a manchild, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. And that's a Nazarite vow. We'll pass that. But she said in verse 11 that her barrenness, she called it an affliction. She viewed that as a physical shortcoming. But notice that even in her grief and even in her bitterness, she knew where to take her problem. Instead of lashing out at Elkanah, she takes her petition to God and she makes a promise. She said, you give me a son and I will give him to you. In verses 12 through 14, when I read those, Eli, the priest, made the mistaken assumption that she was drunk. because she was praying and her lips were moving, but she wasn't making any sound. And I think it's a sad commentary on the priesthood at that time that Eli's first thought about praying Hannah was that she was drunk instead of praying. And Eli was almost as bad as his two sons, Hoppy and Phineas. Well, Hannah, in verses 15 and 16, made a protest. In verse 17, Eli says, all right. He answered and said, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. So Eli puts a blessing on her in verse 18. And she said, let thy handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat. And her countenance was no more sad when she had put it into God's hands. and prayed about this thing. And she found peace about it. And she was confident that God was gonna answer her prayer as best would be for him and for her as well. Now we move on, Hannah's miracle. Verse 19, and they rose up in the morning early and worshiped before the Lord in return. And he came to their house, to Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and they came together, and the Lord remembered her. You know what she prayed? Remember what she prayed? She said, remember me, don't forget me. The Lord remembered her. And I believe the Lord remembers us as well. God doesn't forget us. In verse 20, wherefore, it came to pass when the time was come about, after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel. There's that L again. The word Samuel means ask of God. Samuel is the one that I asked God for. Called his name Samuel saying because I had asked him of the Lord. So, in verses 21 through 23, Well, let's just read that. And the man, Elkanah, and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord a yearly sacrifice, and he vowed that Hannah would not up. For she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord, and thereby forever. And Elkanah and her husband said unto her, do what seemeth thee good. Terry, until thou weaned him, only will the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck, until she weaned him. So, Sandra would have been weaned probably at the age of two or three. I think that Hannah, she was going to keep her promise, but she perhaps wanted this time with her son to enjoy him, to be able to mother him, to spend time with him. And then perhaps age three, if we conjecture correctly, when he would be able to understand the things of God. And you say, well, that's awful young. You know, my wife teaches ages two and three. And I'm amazed at all the stuff she goes through. I mean, if I were teaching age two and three, I would say, what could they possibly know? Give them a picture to color and let it be done. She goes, you'd think she was teaching the adult class in her preparation. I mean, she decorates and she prepares the lesson and she teaches them, and I believe they're getting it, even at age three. And that's what was going on, I think, there with Samuel. He came to that age and he was weaned and able to eat solid food and then Hannah decided there, or she had already decided, that it was time for him to be given to the Lord, and she committed him to the house of the Lord, and he would live there and be reared in the things of the Lord. And that's, I'm ahead of myself, Hannah's mindfulness, verse 24, and when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, an eighth of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord, in Shiloh, and the child was young. They slew a wolf and brought the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. Hey, Eli, you remember the one you thought was drunk? was praying here's the results of my prayer and verse 27 for this child I pray I've seen that particular phrase in a lot of nurseries or kids' bedrooms. And people, mothers especially, mothers got the soft part, and mothers using that as a testimony for this child. I pray, and the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of Him. Therefore, also, I have, and I like the way she puts this, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he'll worship the Lord there. She was mindful of the promise that she had made. She had promised the Lord, Lord, if you will give me a child, I will give him to you. And she used the word lent, like lending something to somebody. She would always, he would always be her son, and he would always, or she would always be his mother. But Hannah knew that God had something special in mind for Samuel. And Samuel became quite a guy. He became the anointer of kings. He anointed both Saul and David later on. During his life, he was the conscience of the nation. He was the conscience that was lacking in King Saul, and he would rebuke Saul. Saul, you're not following the Lord's leadership. You're not doing what God would have you to do. He instructed, he encouraged, he rebuked, and it's a wonderful story, a wonderful study of his life that lies ahead for us. So, just to finish off, I'm already over time. Why did God, let's speculate a little bit, why did God make Hannah wait so long for a child? Why couldn't he have, you know, just given it to her earlier on? Well, there's several reasons that might fit the bill. First of all, to show his sovereignty, causing a woman past normal childbearing years to conceive. She probably was not as old as Sarah, but they believed that she was probably 70 or so. And then you 70-year-olds ready to have another kid? I don't think so. But she was ready. She was ready. Another reason for the wait was God would satisfy his timing. And he needed Samuel for a particular time in Israel. And then thirdly, perhaps God made a way so that Hannah would realize how special, special Samuel was to the Lord and be willing to give him up for God's purpose to be fulfilled. Brother Steve Cox posed the question to me last week. And he said, I know you're getting ready to teach this lesson. And he said, do you think Hannah would have been willing to give Samuel up if she'd have had him 10, 15 years earlier? And that's a good thought, that because she prayed for him so long, because she realized how special Samuel was, she was willing at that point to take the son of promise, the son of her old age, the son that she prayed for, and lend him to the Lord. Whatever the reason, God always knows what he's doing, and that's that sovereignty thing. He's always sovereign in the affairs of man. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this lesson, and what a sweet story we find here, and we pray, Lord, that it would impact us and help us to see that you are sovereign in our lives, and that when we wait upon you, then you always do what's best for us and what it brings glory unto you. Bless the service now that follows and our pastors who brings the message in Jesus name, amen.