Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
In the 1990’s there was a men’s movement based primarily in America which rallied millions of men to raise their commitment to God and to their families to live God honoring lives. It was called the “Promise Keepers” movement, and it was life changing for many men and their families. That was 30 years ago, and I wonder what those men would say has been the lasting impact of that movement in their lives and legacies? I was part of that movement and I remember those stadium rallies with 75,000 men worshiping God, repenting of sin, making promises to God about how they would live their lives going forward.
Promises to God are very significant, aren’t they? In fact, would you agree vows exchanged in a wedding ceremony are more vows made TO GOD then they are promises made between a man and a woman who are in love and want to be married? Last week we looked at such a vow which the Moabite widow Ruth made to her mother-in-law, Naomi. (Ruth 1:16,17) Ruth’s words are often repeated in wedding ceremonies today, 3000 years later! Ruth’s story is honorable. She lived her vow to the fullest, even in very difficult times.
Yesterday we were in Shiloh, Israel, about 3000 years ago, with Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah. In her worship and prayer time at the Tabernacle of God, Hannah made a vow before God: “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.” (1 Samuel 1:11)
Hannah desperately wanted to be a mother, and she lived at a time in history when infertility was unexplained and there were no options. Nothing was more shaming than a married woman unable to bear children. Husbands who had married women who were unable to become pregnant, often married again in order to have children, especially sons, to carry on the family name.
Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, had done that, and his second wife Peninnah evidently had several children and regularly said and did things which shamed and ridiculed Hannah. Hannah had no recourse. The miracle of pregnancy is God’s miracle to perform. With tears Hannah prayed, begging God to miraculously enable her to become pregnant and bear a son.
I’ve often wondered…, was it desperation or was it a genuine consecration to God and desire to be mother to a ‘Nazarite‘. (Judges 13:7) That moved Hannah to make what some would call an outrageous vow to God in hopes of a son? We presume it was soon after Elkanah and his family, including Hannah, returned from Shiloh to their home in Ramah, that Hannah did miraculously become pregnant by her husband Elkanah. Can you imagine the great joy she had as she experienced the daily changes inside her as her pregnancy progressed? How often did Hannah and Elkanah talk about the vow Hannah had made with God and what it would mean, practically for her to raise a Nazarite son, consecrating him to God for all his lifetime?
The next year, as the time came for Elkanah and family to make their annual trek to Shiloh for worship, little Samuel would have been only about three months old at most, so Elkanah agreed Hannah should remain home nursing and nurturing their son.
The 1 Samuel 1:21 record gives us this insight into that decision: “When Elkanah went up with his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, ‘After the boy Samuel is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.“ What? Did you hear what Hannah just said, my friends?
In her prayerful contemplation of the vow she had made, Hannah had evidently come to the realization that the only and best way Samuel could live consecrated to the LORD God for all his lifetime and also serve the LORD all his days, would be if he actually LIVED at the Tabernacle in Shiloh! Now it should not be difficult for us to imagine the heart tearing implications of that for Hannah who so desperately longed to be a mother!
Have you ever thought about the fact that this vow Hannah had made and her conclusion of how best to fulfill that vow would have major implications for her husband Elkanah? Sons were vital to every Jewish family. From the time they were young boys, sons worked alongside their fathers in whatever vocation their father had. Sons learned their father’s trade, and sons knew they would be responsible to care for their parents in their old age. Sons also carried on the family name, inherited the family estate, and produced sons of their own to do the same.
So, for Elkanah, Hannah’s vow and the actual, practical outworking of that vow, by sending Samuel to live permanently at Shiloh serving at the Tabernacle, would in some ways be worse than Samuel not ever having been born! Yet God had been working in Elkanah’s heart and his response to Hannah is amazing: “Elkanah replied, ‘Do what seems best to you. Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the LORD make good His word.’ So, Hannah remained at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.” (1 Samuel 1:21-23) What do you hear, my friends, in the respect Elkanah has for his wife Hannah and her commitment to honor her vow to the LORD God?
Men, if you were part of the “Promise Keepers” movement 30 years ago, as I was, I challenge us all to look closely at our marriages and families. Have we kept our ‘promises’? Have we faithfully pursued deepening our relationship with God? Have we spiritually been the leaders of our families? Have we built God honoring personal reputations and legacies in our vocations and our hobbies and our social circles? Have we mentored our children, raising our daughters to seek God honoring boyfriends and eventual husbands, and our sons to be God honoring young men who then dated and married God honoring young women?
And finally, are we now God honoring grandfathers, serving and loving our ageing wives, still mentoring and challenging our adult kids to live God honoring lives as they raise our grandkids?
Oh my, Elkanah and Hannah give us a very high standard for marriage and fulfilling promises made to God, don’t they? I think we have a great deal to reflect on this weekend and so here’s a worship song to help us do just that…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Samuel 1:21-23.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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