The story of Hannah in the Old Testament can be found in the the first book of Samuel.   It is about the vow that she made to Yahweh and her subsequent song/prayer of thanksgiving.  It is also about a larger narrative, where she becomes part of God’s greater plan of salvation.  In this account of Hannah, we also see  the classic biblical movement from barrenness to abundant life, from death to resurrection.

At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Hannah and her husband Elkanah.  Similar to other Old Testament women like Sarah, Rachel, and Rebecca, Hannah was unable to have children – she was barren.  Infertility was very difficult for women at the time, because the two most important things in life were land and children.  Children were needed to help in the fields and to perform other work required for the community.  In fact, the blessings of children were interdependent with the blessings of land.  Children were especially important for a woman because if  the husband of a childless woman died, she could end up a penniless widow, with no heirs to support her.

[Elkanah] had two wives, one named Hannah, the other one Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.  He regularly went on pilgimage from his city to worship the Lord of hosts and to make sacrifices at Shiloh.  When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, but a double portion for Hannah because he loved her, though the Lord had made her barren.  [Peninnah] to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to [Hannah] that the Lord had left her barren.  This went on year after year; each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord, Peninnah would approach her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat.  (1 Samuel 1:2-8)

It must have been so hard for Hannah to see her husband’s second wife, happy with her children, while she could not have children of her own.  But Elkanah surely loved her strongly, despite the fact that she was infertile.  He would always give her a second portion at Shiloh, which would probably cause Peninnah to be jealous, leading her to take it out on Hannah by taunting and mocking her because she had no children.  However, it pained Elkanah that Hannah was so unhappy.  He repeatedly asked her why she was crying and grieving and refusing to eat.  He asked, “Am I not more to you than ten sons?”  Here, it seems as if maybe Elkanah is reminding Hannah that her worth as a woman was not completely dependent upon her ability to bear children.  She is innately worthy as a child of God, no matter what situation she is in.

Once, when they were at pilgrimage at Shiloh, in her distress, Hannah went to the temple of the Lord to pray, and that was where she encountered the priest Eli, who was responsible for guarding the sanctuary and determining who can enter it.

In her bitterness, she prayed to the Lord, weeping copiously, and she made a vow, promising, “O Lord of Hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the Lord for as long as he lives; neither wine nor liquor shall he drink and no razor shall ever touch his head.  As she remained long at prayer before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth, for Hannah was praying silently.  Though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard.  (1 Samuel 1:10-13)

Then Eli actually confronts Hannah, because it is a festival time and he thinks that she is drunk.  By this questioning, Eli is held up in this reading as so foolish that he cannot recognize who is worthy of entering the sanctuary and who is not.  On the contrary, Hannah is shown as wise and faithful, and she pours out her heartache, making a vow to Yahweh to dedicate her first son to God.  To make a vow was serious business in the Old Testament, with a lot of regulations.  The rules for such vows can be found in the book of Nunbers:

The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, or any pledge to which such a woman binds herself, is valid.  [However,] if it is in her husband’s house that [a woman] makes a vow or binds herself under oath to a pledge, and her husband learns of it yet says nothing to express to her his disapproval, then any vow or any pledge she has made remains valid. But if on the day he learns of them, her husband annuls them, then whatever she has expressly promised in her vow or in her pledge becomes null and void; since her husband has annulled them, the Lord releases her from them.  Any vow or any pledge that she makes under oath to mortify herself, her husband can either allow to remain valid or render null and void.  But if her husband, day after day, says nothing at all to her about them, he thereby allows as valid any vow or any pledge she has made; he has allowed them to remain valid, because on the day he learned of them, he said nothing to her about them.  If however, he countemands them, some time after he first learned of them, he is responsible for her guilt.  (Numbers 30:10-16)

So nevermind all of the repetitive run-on sentences in this passage.  Apparently, if a woman is a widow or divorced, her vows are considered valid – by her own authority.  However, a vow to God that is made by a married woman can be reversed by her husband at the time that he learns about it.  On the other hand, if he allows the vow to stand and somehow prevents her from keeping her promise, he can be held accountable for that before God.  One commentary I read said that maybe Hannah did not speak the words out loud, because she did not want Elkanah to be beholden for her vow.

So as the story goes, Hannah is relieved by having made this promise and in a sense returns to herself.  Perhaps even if her desire was not granted she felt at peace that she had done what she could.  And Elkanah allows her vow to stand, even though he may not have wanted any child he had with Hannah to be dedicated as a Nazarite for the rest of his life.  It seems very decent and respectful of him in his treatment of her. Elkanah stood by Hannah in her vow, even though she made it without him present, and he may have needed to go out of his way so that Hannah could fulfill her promise.  After a time, Hannah did become pregnant and she named her first born son Samuel, because it means “God has heard” for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

Once [Samuel] was weaned, [Hannah] brought him up with her, along with a three-year old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and presentd him at the temple of the Lord in Shiloh.  After [Elkanah] had sacrificed the young bull, Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said, “Pardon my lord.  As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the Lord.  I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request.  Now I, in turn, give him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord.”  She left him there and as she worshiped the Lord, she said: (1 Samuel 1:24-28)

My heart exults in Yahweh, my horn is exalted in my God.

I have swallowed up my enemies; I rejoice in my victory.

There is no Holy One like Yahweh; there is no Rock like our God.

Speak boastfully no longer, nor let arrogance issue from your mouths. 

For an all-knowing God is the Lord, a God who judges deeds.

The bows of the mighty are broken, while the tottering gird on strength.

The well-fed hire themselves out for bread, while the hungry batten on spoil.

The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes.

Yahweh puts to death and gives life; God casts down to the nether world and raises up again.

Yahweh makes poor and makes rich; God humbles and also exalts.

Yahweh raises the needy from the dust; from the ash help, God lifts up the poor, to seat them with nobles and make a glorious throne their heritage.

Yahweh gives to the vower his vow and blessses the sleep of the just.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and God has set the world upon them.

Yahweh will guard the footsteps of the faithful ones, but the wicked shall perish in the darkness. 

For not by strength does a person prevail; the Lord’s foes shall be shattered.

The Most High in heaven thunders; the Lord judges the ends of the earth. 

Now may Yahweh give strength to his king and exalt the horn of God’s anointed.

Hannah – 1 Samuel 2:1-10

With respect to literature, Hannah’s story is an annunciation – a particular type of ancestor story which teaches that children are divine gifts, rather than human accomplishments.  Hannah was persistent in her prayer, she kept her vow to God, and is celebrated for it.  Hannah’s story also prefigures the annunciation to Mary in the New Testament.  Mary was another marginalized, but faithful woman, who responded to God’s intercession in her life with the Magnificat, a song of gratitude and justice.  Mary’s song has the same structure as Hannah’s song – a personal song of gratitude, but also a kind of collective, national song of thanksgiving and yearning for justice.  In the songs of Hannah and Mary, we hear the rare voices of these two women in the Bible clearly.  Hannah’s song is perhaps the longest speech that a woman makes in the entire Bible.  I love this song and plan to include it, along with the acrylic monoprint shown above that I made to pair it with, in the book that I am writing.

So Hannah and Elkanah took Samuel to Eli in the temple of Shiloh and presented him to be dedicated to God as a Nazarite for the rest of his life.  So what would living life as a Nazarite entail?  The title Nazarite comes from the Hebrew word nazir, meaning consecrated, and the rules that govern this vow/vocation can be found in Numbers 6:1-21.  The vow would require one to abstain from all wine and anything else made from the grape vine, to refrain from cutting one’s hair, and to avoid becoming ritually unclean by contact with graves or corpses.  This vow could be temporary, and if a timeframe was not specified, the default time would be 30 days.  At the end of that time period, the Nazarite would be required to make three offerings: a lamb as a burnt offering, a ewe as a sin offering, and a ram as a peace offering.  In addition to these, the Nazarite would bring a basket of unleavened bread and grain and drink offerings to the outer courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem.  There the Nazarite would shave off his or her hair and place it on the fire with the peace offering. Permanent Nazarites, such as Samuel were allowed to cut their hair once a year and they followed slightly different rules that are not found in the Bible. Other Nazarites in the Bible include Samson and John the Baptist.

Ultimately, what I like best in this story is the way that Hannah becomes part of salvation history. Samuel will become a great prophet, who will later anoint King David, all due to the faithfulness of Hannah.  How awesome it is that God chose a barren, taunted woman, in an obscure family in Israel, to bear a prophet and leader of the people.  Truly the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

 

Readings: The New American Bible, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington DC, 1970.

Reference 1: Don Benjamin, The Old Testament Story, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2004.

Reference 2: https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/3214-pouring-out-my-soul.

Reference 3:Elizabeth Fletcher, Hannah – Bible Woman, Women in the Bible website, 2006.

Referemce 4: Heather Farrell, Hannah’s Vow, Women in the Scriptures website, 2015.

Reference 5: Jean, Women of the Bible (5) Hannah and the God of Nobody, In All Honesty website, 2010.

Image 1: The Infant Samuel Brought by Hannah to Eli, 17th century by Gerbrandt van den Eekhout. (1621-1674)

Image 2: Hannah brings Samuel to Eli, by Robert Anton Leinweber (1845-1921) published in Hulbert’s Story of the Bible by The John Winston Company, 1932.

Image 3: Hannah’s Song, Julie Henkener, 2023.