Image created by AI (Artificial Intelligence) with a bit of help from an old retired teacher.
Hannah is a lovely Bible character. She is a Godly woman and we are going to spend a whole Day Share looking at her strengths. However, life was not easy for her. She was married to a man named Elkanah and they lived in a place with a big name - Ramathaim-zophim. I guess there was a large signpost at the entrance to their village! It was located in the hill-country of Ephraim. The Israelites were tending to live in the remote hilly areas because of past failure to capture their inheritance when they came into the land of Canaan. We do not learn much about Elkanah - he is very much in the shadow of his wife who is more spiritual than he is. Hannah is not the only wife - Elkanah has another wife named Peninnah. It is likely that Elkanah took another wife because of Hannah's failure to conceive. Peninnah had children - we are not told how many - but sadly Hannah had none. This was a serious matter in those days. It was expected that a wife would bring her husband many children - sons especially to carry on the family inheritance. Elkanah favoured Hannah - when he had killed an animal to sacrifice to God, he gave Hannah twice as much as he gave to Peninnah. This might have made Peninnah bitter and jealous of Hannah. She taunted her about her inability to conceive and rubbed salt in the emotional wounds Hannah was experiencing.
There is ample evidence of the negative impact of polygamy in the Bible. God had spoken about a one-man-one-woman relationship in the book of Genesis but it was men who reacted against monogamy and introduced many wives. As far as Elkanah's two wives were concerned, the relationships were marred by rivalry and bitterness. Peninnah is described as Hannah's 'rival' (1 Samuel 1:6) and there are two words used to describe her treatment of Hannah. Firstly, Peninnah provoked Hannah or upset her. This is the Hebrew word - ka’ac which means ‘to trouble.’ The same word is translated ‘anger’ 42 times and it is translated as ‘provoked’ 4 times in the whole of the Old Testament (and two of these are in 1 Samuel 1:6-7). I suggest that Peninnah was deliberately seeking to make her ‘rival’ angry. This is a typical bullying approach.
We are not told how she did this but her tactics were brutally effective. She might have used sarcasm to remind her of her failure to bear a child. She might have taunted her with a reminder of what she is missing out on. "It is not Elkanah's fault you are not conceiving. He has no problem getting me pregnant so the problem lies with your barren womb" is the sort of taunt with which Peninnah goaded poor Hannah on a daily basis.
Hardly surprising that this had a deep effect on Hannah. This is where we have the second Hebrew word. It is the Hebrew word ra’am which means ‘to be violently agitated.’ It literally means ‘to tumble’ and the same word is often used for the crash of thunder. Peninnah bullied Hannah year after year and in a sense she achieved her desired effect - Hannah was deeply upset. The bullying was related in some way to the annual visit to the Lord’s house (the tent of meeting at Shiloh). There were two symptoms arising from Hannah’s upset. Firstly, she was tearful and secondly she lost her appetite.
But Elkanah noticed that his wife was upset - a good start although it was hard to ignore. However, he was awkward and clumsy in his attempt to resolve this situation. Firstly, he asked her an unnecessary question, “Hannah, why are you crying and not eating?” It was clear that there was a good reason for his wife’s distress - her barren state made much worse by the other wife’s bullying. But Elkanah lacks sensitivity when he adds, “Am I not better to you than ten sons?” He is missing the point and he is making it all about him. There is a bit of conceit in this clumsy attempt at dealing with his wife’s problem. He is lacking in empathy. This is essential in trying to comfort someone in distress - it is the ability to enter a person’s circumstances.
Just to top it all. Hannah has an insensitive husband who thinks that spoiling his wife by giving her more food than his other wife will solve all her problems. Instead, this causes Peninnah to be jealous and to bully Hannah even more. Then on their annual visit to Shiloh, she encounters the old blind priest, Eli who accuses her of being under the influence of alcohol.
God was aware of this dear woman’s distress. God answered her prayers in His time. Your situation might be different from Hannah but you can appreciate how she is feeling. You have been there - you have been in tears. You have maybe lost sleep or have lost your appetite. You feel that nobody sees or understands. God sees your distress. He knows completely how you are feeling this morning. God’s Son personally experienced being misunderstood and being the object of slander and abuse. He draws near to those in distress.
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