Today we’re back once again with Alabama teaching pastor and author Bruce Green who writes at A Taste of Grace. He’s currently working his way from the book of Judges and, like this one, into 1 & 2 Samuel. Clicking the header which follows will link you to his site where this first appeared.
The Strength of the Insignificant
The book of Judges prepares us for the monarchy. In 17:6 and again in 21:25 we hear, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Rather than there being a central human authority that united everyone and led them in the same direction, tribalism prevailed in Israel. We saw this during Deborah’s time when some of the tribes went to war against Jabin and the Canaanites while others didn’t (5:15-18).
The stories of Ruth and Hannah also prepare us for the monarchy, but in a different way. In the book of Ruth, we learn that David comes from the lineage of Ruth (she was his great grandmother – 4:18-22). But more to the point we learn what kind of person his great-grandmother was—although she was a Moabite, she made a grand commitment to Yahweh God (1:16-18).
This emphasis on character is continued in the story of Hannah. Hannah was the mother of Samuel who anointed the first two kings of Israel. The enlightened Jewish person wouldn’t have failed to make the connection. They would have understood the stories of Ruth and Hannah to be telling them that the great kings of the nation had their beginnings in these two humble women. Their humility led to the exaltation of David and Samuel. It’s not hard to see the same parallel between Elizabeth and Mary with John the Baptist and Jesus.
As we turn to Hannah, it’s clear from 1 Samuel 1 that Hannah had a lowly status. From the world’s point of view, she was insignificant. She was married to a man named Elkanah. But she was not the only one married to him. Elkanah was also married to a woman named Peninnah. It this less-than-ideal arrangement sounds strange and uncomfortable to you—it worked out even worse for Hannah.
The most likely scenario is that Hannah was Elkanah’s first wife and when she was unable to have children, he married Peninnah. And when she provided Elkanah with the children that Hannah could not, Hannah’s anguish would only have been intensified while Peninnah’s status would have been solidified.
And that leads to Peninnah’s relationship with Hannah. She appears to have despised her. Elkanah precipitated some of this by giving Hannah a double portion to sacrifice at the feast as a show of his love for her (v. 4-5). Peninnah retaliated by provoking Hannah (v. 6). Human nature being what it is, I seriously doubt if this behavior occurred only at the time of the feast but perhaps there it was at its worst then. The family would probably be in closer quarters making the situation more volatile. This despising and provoking had gone on for years and the writer speaks of Hannah’s deep anguish, bitter tears, and inability to eat (v. 7,10).
Maybe we could sum it all up by just saying that Hannah was “not.” She did not have children, she did not have her husband’s undivided love, she did not have Peninnah’s respect—she was not! And her condition couldn’t be cured by Elkanah’s insensitive assurance that he should mean more to her than ten sons (v. 8)!
Paul will tell us in 1 Corinthians 1:28-29, that “God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.” In other words, Hannah was the perfect person for God to use to send someone (Samuel), who would anoint the first two kings of Israel. Through this lowly, despised woman who was not, He brought the kings of Israel. He took someone who was insignificant in the eyes of the world and gave her great significance. You could say that God is in the business of making the insignificant significant.
But Paul’s point isn’t really about the kings of Israel—it’s about the kingdom of heaven. Entrance into it isn’t secured because of what we are in human terms, it is secured because of who Christ is and what He has done. What we are only gets in the way. Therefore, Paul says, God made all of that (our status), unimportant by the cross and His choosing of the lowly, despised, and not is meant to reinforce this. If we’re able, there’s a real strength to be found in insignificance.
That’s because the kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit, not those who by the world’s standards are rich in reputation. Our search for significance begins and ends in Jesus because through Him God makes the insignificant significant. The Corinthians were foolish to be putting stock in their worldly status and so are we.
We must decrease and He must increase.
Christianity 201 
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