Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb. Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. 8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" (1 Samuel 1:1-8 NASB)De oppresso liber is the motto of the US Army Special Forces. It's on the patch signifying the whole element in the Army, and it is part of the warp and woof of their training. It means, "To liberate the oppressed", and if you follow their methods and activities, it fits most of the time. The US Army Special Forces, within the larger umbrella of "Special Operations Forces" is unique. They are less "commandos" and more "mentors" among foreign people groups, not even nations as much as people groups. The people groups are more often than not, oppressed in some way.
From just a cursory read through Scripture, it seems my Master has something of the same interests. He tends to work through the oppressed to accomplish His goals and purposes. He chooses the unexpected, the least powerful, least respected, least wise, and the most obedient (or those are the ones who make it into written record). As the Book of Samuel begins, irony stacked on irony sets the circumstance into which Samuel is born.
Hannah means "grace", and it's the name my wife and I chose for my daughter. She was a gift of my Master's favor to us. So, "Grace" has no children, but her husband's other wife has plenty. So the first irony is that "Grace" has no gift of children from the Maker of all things. It's a hard irony because of the other ironies with which it occurs.
The second irony is Hannah's husband is a devout man, going yearly, faithfully to worship in Shiloh, paying vows, and making sacrifices. He is faithful, and he shares his faithfulness with his family, all participate. Yet, this faithfulness does not garner Hannah a child. He and his household's faithfulness to the Master of the universe does not warrant the giving of a child to one named for His grace. This too is a hard irony.
The third irony is that Hannah is loved by her husband partly from pity of her inability to bear children. He would give her a "double portion" from the sacrifices, giving his other wife and her children one portion each. So neither her name, nor the faithfulness of their family, nor the love of her husband is enough to warrant children from the Master.
The fourth irony is the treatment that Hannah gets from her "rival", a very interesting Hebrew word for "one who provokes another to active anger". Hannah would fume at the treatment of the other wife, trembling and weeping. Her husband's response would always be, "am I not better to you than ten sons?" which was a silly question only a man would ask. This was the bitterest irony, the one of hate out of jealousy for love which was only there because of pity. The nexus of all these ironies, her name, the love of her husband and hate of her rival, all revolves around the irony of her closed womb. Hannah feels nothing like an example of the grace of the Master she worshiped so faithfully. Then the Divine Special Force steps in, and the oppressed are liberated.
The normal view of this book is to look at this account as a setting for Samuel and no more. But the stark contrast of what was and what my Master brought about is part of why Samuel's origin is so dramatic. The drama out of which he is born is part of what sets him apart. It provides the reason for the quality of his holiness before his Master. Samuel would not be who he became without his mother enduring what she did before he arrived. The history of Israel, the people of the Maker of all matter, hinged on the painful ironies of a humble woman named, Grace.
How often to I complain of my "suffering" which is really nothing of the sort at all? How many times, caught in such an irony as Hannah experienced, do I blame my Master for His oppression of me? I'm not alone in that since some Psalms express the same lament, but it's here in this humble beginning of Israel's last judge that I see that my Master does not waste a pain endured.
This isn't a competition for who endures the most pain either. This account is different from other accounts in Scripture, but the point remains much the same. It would seem that redemption, as my Master practices it, is transformational of people and circumstances. Order does not seem to be important to my Master's method. It seems that the person at the end of the transformation is His means to accomplish His purpose among His people.
So, pain and suffering in the life of the people of their Creator is simply the sharpening of a tool He will use to save and dispense His favor on them. It would seem that my Master prefers irony as a teaching tool. Like parables, few find them, but those who do hopefully live richer lives. I'd like to live my life as miner in search of the ironies of my Master. Which means I have stop whining, start searching, and praise and worship my Master every single day, and every part of every day. How ironic that I found this one, and miss so many others. Well, let me grab my pick, shovel, and "lighted helmet". I've got some digging to do.
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