Day 4: 1 Samuel 1:1–8

“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?” (v. 8).

One of the blessed gifts God has given our ministry over the years is Lee Sizemore, who long produced our videos with LifeWay Christian Resources. When we were talking about David and the forces that shaped his life, the time in which he lived, and the people who preceded him, Lee said, “In video production terms, that is David’s ‘back story.’”

What a wonderful term. We all come with a “back story.” Some of us come with a heritage of faith and faithfulness. Some of us come with the testimony of God’s ability to rescue us from terrible circumstances.

So to understand and appreciate David, we need to venture into his back story, where we get to meet both some heroic characters and some despicable ones.

We will look in the coming days at one of the high points in David’s back story, looking at the time when Samuel anointed him to be the king. But we would have no Samuel without a brave and obedient mother named Hannah.

As 1 Samuel begins, we meet Elkanah and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. They had gone up to the tabernacle at Shiloh to offer sacrifices.

Because the Lord had closed her [Hannah’s] womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” (1 Sam. 1:6–8).

I’m sorry to report that Elkanah reminds me of one of the thinly developed characters in a TV sitcom. To his credit we read of his making the appropriate sacrifices with his family, but we also find he is married to two wives. Ultimately the word “clueless” comes to mind to describe Elkanah. There he is, married to two wives, one of them childless in a society where childbearing is everything. And the wife with children is torturing the wife without. In that situation he said, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Does this guy deserve the “I just don’t get it” award, or what? I’m jumping ahead, but when Hannah gave birth to Samuel and later prepared to give him up to be reared by the priests, instead of making an attempt at leadership or at least just an opinion, Elkanah said to his wife: “Do what seems best to you” (1 Sam. 1:23).

Guys, don’t follow Elkanah’s example. Get involved at home. If God has given you a wife, put the effort into understanding her. Is it an impossible task? Most assuredly. But sometimes the challenging jobs are the most rewarding. Wives need men who engage and participate, not abdicate as parent and spouse. For too many husbands the lights are on, but nobody is home.

This is certainly true with Elkanah, which is not surprising when you consider the serious problems that naturally arise from polygamy. This situation certainly adds to Elkanah’s inability to understand or meet his wife’s needs. Simply stated, he had too many wives!

Let’s take a look at where polygamy first crawled into history. Genesis 4:19 tells us: “Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.” Lamech disobeyed God’s very specific directive in Genesis 2:24: “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Tough assignment becoming one flesh when three or more get involved.

We need to nail solidly into our lives two important precepts that come from these Scriptures. First, prevalence does not equal acceptance. Just because polygamy became a common practice, God did not change the rules. Polygamy did not become acceptable with God because it became common with man, any more than research polls cause Him to change His mind about any other sin. Our God is incredibly “public opinion resistant.”

Second, a man cannot be one flesh with two women. Nor can a woman be one flesh with two men. According to God’s math, only two can become one. Both of Elkanah’s wives suffered because of his disobedience to God.

As we have all discovered in our individual lives, one problem unchecked invariably leads to plenty of others. “Year after year” the mother of Elkanah’s children baited Hannah, and “year after year” the woman of Elkanah’s heart bit the bait. Small wonder Hannah felt “bitterness of soul” (1 Sam. 1:10).