Giving Back the Gift

Text:  1 Samuel 1

            There are so many types of giving.  There are times that we give those things that we’re not bothered about keeping.  It’s like clearing out the closet of all those things you don’t want anymore and giving them to a charity shop.  There is the kind of giving that hopes that something will be given in return:  the man who goes out to the pub and buys drinks for a woman and hopes that he will get a good time later that night in return for his investment.  Giving to get.  Then there is giving someone something that you treasure without expecting anything in return.

            As there are many types of giving so there are many ways of receiving.  There are so many who receive a gift who never say thank you.  There are those who receive gifts and refuse to take them because they don’t want to be the object of anyone’s charity or pity.  Then there are those who gratefully receive gifts and who generously share their gifts with others.

            Hannah gave back the gift that she received from God.  Her life is set against a background of spiritual barrenness.  The book of Judges is full of murder, intrigue, sexual abuse and concludes with the near genocide of the tribe of Benjamin.  The final words of the book of Judges sums up the hopelessness of Israel’s situation:  “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).  This was a people without leadership, direction and moral fibre. 

            In the opening words of the chapter we discover Elkanah who had a sound lineage and was a God-fearing man.  He had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah.  Peninnah had children while Hannah was infertile.  A woman without a child was less than a woman.  God had not blessed her.  And so Hannah was the object of Peninnah’s mockery at Shilo year in and year out. 

            When the sacrifice was made, portions of meat from the ‘peace’ or ‘thanksgiving’ sacrifice were given to everyone to eat.  If normal practice was followed, Peninnah would have received enough portions for herself and her children, whereas Hannah would have received only a portion for herself.

            That brings us to the complex problem of translating verse 5 from the Hebrew.  It can be translated two ways.  Elkanah either gave Hannah a double portion by adding his own meat to her single portion (as in the NRSV, NIV), or he gave Hannah the single portion of meat even though he loved her more than Peninnah (REB, Moffat, GN).  If it is translated in the first way, it is a touching account of a husband willing to give his portion of meat to her as an expression of his love and affection.  If it is translated in the second way, it simply highlights the humiliation that Hannah must have felt.  She had the love of her husband and yet the single portion of meat reminded her of her barrenness and the lack of fulfilment that she felt. 

            It is not surprising that Hannah became very depressed, weeping and not eating.  Elkanah tried to comfort her.  “Why are you crying?  Why don’t you eat?  Why are you so depressed?  Don’t you know that I love you more than any number of children I could ever have?” Hannah was helpless, unable to have her heart’s desire, longing for a child. 

            Hannah’s barrenness is a metaphor for Israel’s spiritual sterility and hopelessness.  Was there any hope for her?  Was there any hope for Israel?

            In her desperation, Hannah turned to the Lord in prayer.  She confessed her misery and distress to God and asked that he would remember her by giving a child to her.  She promised that if she had a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord as a nazirite, one who did not drink liquor nor cut his hair.  In essence she bargained with God:  if you give me a boy, I’ll give him back to you.

            Tears streamed down her cheeks.  She mouthed her prayer without making a sound.  The high priest Eli thought she’d had too much too drink and gave her a telling off for being drunk in public - especially in the house of God.  Ironically, he couldn’t keep his own sons under control and yet has a go at a woman.  Hannah defended herself, pleading with Eli, “Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman.”  Because of her inability to have children Hannah had been made to feel worthless by Peninnah and now she was being made to feel worthless by Eli as he judged her a drunkard.  Eli realised that Hannah had not been drinking but had been pouring out her soul to the Lord.  He blesses her, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”  With peace in her heart, Hannah left, her depression lifted from her.

            A baby was conceived and Samuel was born to Hannah - a gift from God and an answer to prayer.  Elkanah continued going to Shiloh year by year while Hannah remained at home until Samuel was weaned from the breast.  When Samuel was three or four years old, Hannah prepared to go to Shiloh to give thanks and keep her promise to return Samuel to the Lord. 

            Her heart must have been in agony.  This baby she had longed for she was about to give away.  This baby that had suckled at her breast.  This baby she had rocked and cuddled through sleepless nights of colic and cutting teeth.  This baby that had brought such elation and joy with the first stumbling steps and gibberish of newly forming words.  This baby for whom she had kissed away the pain of bumps and bruises.  This baby she was going to give back to the Lord.  Yet she wiped away her tears and stifled the pain of her breaking heart and prepared for the journey ahead.  God had been good to her.  She would give back what he had given. 

            Hannah took her sacrifices along with her only son Samuel to give to God.  She told Eli that God had answered her prayer and so now out of a sense of love and gratitude, “She left him there for the LORD” (v.28).  This must have been the most difficult thing that Hannah had ever done in her life.  Every instinct would have protested against leaving Samuel with Eli - the High Priest who couldn’t even control his own sons!  Although she fulfilled her promise to God, it would be foolish for us to think that it was easy for her.  Hannah gave in a way that hurt deeply.

            But what if Hannah had not been willing to lend Samuel to the Lord?  Israel would have been robbed of a great prophet and leader.  It was in her willingness to share the gift she had received from the Lord that her son’s life became a blessing to the whole nation of Israel.  If she had kept Samuel to herself, to love and look after, she would have fulfilled her own needs whilst robbing Israel of a man of vision and hope.

            Hannah’s spirit of giving points forward to another woman who said, “Let it be to me, according to your word.”  Mary’s willingness to participate in God’s plan by giving birth to the Son of God, Son of Man and to let him go to the cross of Calvary, meant that the whole world - you and me - can be saved from our sins and have a relationship to God.

            God’s gift of salvation to us is a continual challenge for us to give ourselves and what we possess to share with others. 

            The late R. G. Le Tourneau, the great Texas industrialist, had the gift of giving.  The key question in relation to the gift of giving is described in his autobiography.  In it he said ‘The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of God’s money I keep.’  He answered it in his life by turning 90% of the assets of the company over to his Christian foundation, and then he and his wife gave in cash 90% of the income that was realised from the share of the business that he kept.  He and his wife never lacked (p. 81, Twelftree, Drive the Point).

            Hannah gave Samuel to God.  She gave everything - no holds barred.  Then God gave her more.  She gave birth to three sons and two daughters.  God gave us his only Son.  God’s gift of eternal life calls us to give to God our gifts, our talents, and our possessions and share them with others.  When we give, he will give us more and more to share.  As the great teacher said, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back” (Ecclesiates 11:1).  What can we give back to God who has given us so much?