Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 2:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• Hannah’s exultation was placed in the Lord.  Her words were certainly a rebuke to her enemies, but what they heard from her was a call to trust in the Lord.
• Accumulated wealth or prominence in this life are not what make a person great.  The Lord is the one who gives and takes away all these things.
• Hannah’s “horn” and the “horn” of the Anointed are exalted at the beginning and the end of this prayer.  The horn of the animal was a symbol of strength.  Therefore, this was being used as a figure of speech; as if an animal would rise up on it’s hind legs and lift it’s horn in the air as a showing of strength.

Questions to consider:

1. If riches, fame, or power do not make a person great, what and Who does (Verse 9)?
2. We might expect Hannah to be rejoicing in her son, as if he was the ultimate prize.  But, what did the birth of Samuel remind Hannah of instead?  What was her great prize?
3. Why would the woman who already has a number of children become forlorn when the barren woman has her own (Contrast Hannah’s source of Joy with Peninnah’s)?  How does this illustration tie in to verse 9?  How does this passage (Verses 3-10 specifically) describe the Gospel?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 1:1-28

Helpful thoughts:

• In this first chapter, we come across the familiar theme of a man who loves his first wife and then marries another in order to produce an heir/offspring.
  • Hannah’s infertility was not by chance.  The Lord was at work.
• Elkanah thought that perhaps he was worth more to Hannah than ten sons.  But, it was actually God (The Lord of Hosts) who was worth more than ten sons.
• The firstborn son (For all Israel) belonged to the Lord (Exodus 13:2) to commemorate the plague of the firstborn in Egypt (Numbers 8:16-17).  They could be redeemed at one month or given to the Lord for service for a period of time.  Hannah (And Elkanah in support with her) chose to give Samuel to the Lord for life.

Questions to consider:

1. What can we learn up to this point about Eli and the condition of worship at Shiloh from this chapter?  What was Eli’s assumption of Hannah’s silent fervent prayer?
2. How did God use infertility and a “rival” or troubler (Peninnah) in Hannah’s life for her good?  What came from these hardships?
3. Why was Hannah’s face no longer sad after she had prayed (Verse 18)?  What brought an end to her “great anxiety and vexation” since she had not even gotten pregnant yet?  How can God’s Gospel promises give us joy and peace even while we wait in the midst of hardships?