1 Samuel 1

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 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. 4 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. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 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. 8 Elkanah her husband 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?"

God never intended more than one wife. Jesus clarifies this in the NT... he taught that it was always supposed to be one man and one woman. But God is merciful, and he doesn't zap us dead the minute we do something wrong. None of us would be alive right now if he did that. He still heard their prayers and still worked his plan in their life, but they walked with consequence in their life for every sin they committed outside the will of God.

Could you imagine the constant bickering and whining between two or more wives. Can you imagine the tensions constantly in your home over who would inherit what measure of authority or what possessions of value. The open door of jealousy, the invitation to envy and covet your brothers goods and blessing. We can be pious all we want and say, oh but some cultures do it and it works. No it doesn't. In their humanity, more than one wife will always result in a measure of forfeited peace and open doors of temptation for your children to sin.

Here we see how tormented Hannah was by the other wife. They lived in the same house, they shared the same husband. A husband that would never fully understand her hurt, because his emotions were spread out and stretched thin trying to keep the peace in his home. His heart was never fully hers as a husband should have loved her. Yes, he loved her, but it was a fragmented and fractionalized love. God didn't throw away his creation over any one sin, but multiple wives was never his plan.

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD's temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon 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."

How easy would it have been to have God answer this prayer and to back down after he gave you a child. But God knew her desperation and the faithfulness of her heart. He took pity on her. I kinda think that even if she would have been less faithful in keeping this vow, God still would have given her a son. Simply because of her anguish. But had she broken the vow, she would have had some hefty consequences to deal with. God is clear in his word, many times, to keep your vows made to the Lord or be left to reap what you willingly planted.

The other thing is that here was the first wife, popping out babies left and right, but you don't see her committing a single one to the service of the Lord. Blessing and Babies are poured out on her and what is her response. To ridicule and torment those without the blessing, and then to not even express any exceptional thanks to God for the favor shown to her. As a result, was it her son that was chosen for greatness. Was she honored for her motherhood... Was her name mentioned in the Scriptures as having honored God for his blessings?... nope.

She would have done well to have looked at Hannah with compassion and put herself for a moment in her place. She should have hurt for her, and knelt beside Hannah in prayer to God, petitioning God to bless her with a child of her own. We can ridicule this woman for her lack of integrity, but are we any different? How do we treat the people that we don't really like, that we feel in competition with, that we are subtly jealous of? Is our response truly any different that this woman's was toward Hannah?

That should be a challenge to each of us.

12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."

Isn't that just the way... in our deepest pain, in our greatest petition poured out before God... some holy Christian person comes along and slaps us with a false-accusation. Some person jumps to a conclusion about us or our behavior, some judgmental legalistic police squad blares things on the intercom that were never in our heart. Here was Hannah, as tho things weren't bad or difficult enough, the priest rebukes her. Did she accept his rebuke and just let it play out, she was a woman afterall.... she was a peon and who was she to tell the priest/pastor that he was mistaken -- that he was wrong?

oh what a can of worms this topic could open in the trendy contemporary church...
the post-post-modern church that naively thinks it's so far removed from reeking of legalism...

15 "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. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."

17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."

18 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.

ELI! I LOVE YOU!
what a man of God.

He allows her to explain herself.
He immediately withdraws his rebuke by agreeing with her prayer, and sends her off with his blessing. He sends her off in peace, no condemnation, no blaming her for his judgmental attitude, no trying to excuse his error with a condescending aire... nope. He is honest and open to letting her explain, and that allows her to leave encouraged rather than weighted down. That is a leader, a man of God, a man who sees himself as a man and not as though he is God.

There's too much arrogance among many cutting-edge priests/pastors today.
I see way more compassion and sincere humility in the traditional churches rather than the current generation of churches that claim to "do the stuff." Doing the stuff in my mind is being like Christ and doing what he modeled/commanded in Scripture no matter who you are, peon or pastor. It almost feels like a Mason spirit -- a manipulative corruption empowered by a congregation that is content to follow an earthly king rather than their Heavenly King. It is a dangerous trend. Rule by absolute power. Leaders that indoctrinate congregations to believe that they are the pointman of a monarchy, and that their mandate over-rides the Scriptures.

They convince people that they are serving the Kingdom of God,
but they are actually building a kingdom unto themself. There are many kingdoms, and many thrones. There is only one Kingdom of God, and ONLY CHRIST sits on that throne... never a man, never a pastor.

We need God to raise up ELI's.
Pastors/Leaders that OWN HUMILITY
rather than wearing it like a mask to hide their selfish ambition.

I would gladly submit to the authority of an Eli despite his imperfections and humanity,
as long as he was submitted to the authority of Christ and was passionate that the Word of God trumps all else. The Church today cries out for such fallible men, such Pastors/Leaders that fight to defend mercy and justice and faithfulness (all three) -- who will fight beside us, rather than lording their authority over us on some high horse looking down.