Based on 1 Samuel 1 and 2
It was again the time for the yearly sacrifice
Unto the LORD in Shiloh.
All the faithful of Israel came
to take part in the sacred rite
Of Moses’s Ceremonial law.
There was a certain Ephratite,
Elkanah was his name,
Coming from mount Ephraim year by year
With his children, his two wives,
To receive God’s blessings for their lives.
When with devotion celebrating the occasion,
He gave portions of meat to his family – receiving it happily,
Except for one
(though receiving a worthy portion).
It was Hannah – one of the wives of Elkanah.
But she did not eat but weep –
she had no children,
For God had shut up her womb…
“What is wrong with me” she thought,
“why can I not Conceive?”
This was her constant grief.
Elkanah did not mind, he loved Hannah deeply,
Speaking To her tenderly:
“Am I not better than ten sons to thee?”
…………………..
How could he understand what it meant,
when a woman in Old Israel
could not bare children?
She was looked at
With suspicion like as being cursed;
Children were deemed to be a gift of God,
But a barren woman – shared this blessing not,
That was the worst …
For there was the other wife Peninnah,
being pregnant
Every year, having sons and daughters.
Their joy and laughter there was painful
For Hannah’s ears to hear.
And this Peninnah, the more children she had, the prouder And haughtier she got –
looked down on Hannah as a woman
Of no worth, teasing her for days and days.
When every year to Shiloh they were coming,
The meaner, nastier her mocking to
Hannah was becoming.
How could she eat
while her mind was in grave torment
By this heinous, malicious, harassment?
Those cold, icy words were piercing her heart
As with arrows of hot iron.
It was enough!!! – she could bear no more – weeping very sore
Hannah left the place now in great agony.
“I must plead with God once more,
Deeper, more earnest than before,
He is my only hope; He will hear me.”
Hurrying to the Sanctuary, falling on her knees,
Tears streaming down her face, praying silently,
But her embittered soul cried out loudly
With impassioned intensity
in the urgency of her plea.
She vowed a vow and said:
“O LORD of hosts, if Thou indeed
Will look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember Me,
and will give Thine handmaid a man child,
Then will I give him unto the LORD
all the days of his life.”
Never Heaven heard a prayer of
such ardency, surrender,
Intreating for a child so very deeply longed for –
Then to the Giver back would render –
That prayer Heaven will remember.
…………………..
Such heart wrenching vow only could evolve
In a soul so afflicted, a heart so sorely wounded
That it could dissolve
The very dream of
a long-cherished motherhood,
But now only for a moment would…
If only this reproach so cruel from the mouth
Of her rival Peninnah – being barren –
could be stopped,
Then peace and contentment would fill
the heart of Hannah
Holding no more resentment
towards this Peninnah.
………………..
Eli the priest observed her mouth,
rebuking her for he heard No voice;
she must be a woman drunken in her vice.
But Hannah said: “I am not drunk, I am a woman
Of a sorrowful spirit, in the bitterness of my soul
Have I poured out my heart to God.”
Eli then said graciously:
“Go in peace, and the God of Israel
Grant you the petition
you have asked from Him.”
Comforted by these words
Hannah returned and did eat,
She no more did weep, was no more sad,
What made her husband very glad.
Next day the family rose early,
for to worship to be ready,
To receive God’s blessings for the journey home,
With all those to Shiloh there had come.
With children small and older,
traveling took longer
In the mountainous terrain of mount Ephraim.
At their home in Ramah,
devout Elkanah with affection
Thanked God for His protection; all was well
Then the usual routines and scores set in.
…………………..
An amazing change came over Hannah,
she was cheerful, Joyous, never more depressed,
What left prying Peninnah’s curiosity impressed.
For God remembered Hannah, she conceived, she received
What she believed, then bore a son –
For Hannah – now a mother – a new life begun.
Amen.
To be continued.
By Edda Tedford (BC)