1st Samuel 1:1-8 A CERTAIN MAN In various places and times in the scriptures we learn that God, by His grace, takes people from obscurity and uses them to bring about blessing to His people. Some of the judges were not well-known men or women and were used of God in spite of what could be considered, unfavorable circumstances. The incarnation of Christ began in a very humble setting, but the angels of heaven watched and worshipped. Some of those recorded in the book of Acts were not well-known people but a brief word is mentioned about them to let us know that God knows every effort put forth to bring glory to him. It is not uncommon for people to say today that they are inadequate to do a certain work for God because of their background and lack of education or some other reason. None of these excuses means anything to God who is determined to bring the proud man down and is determined to bring the humble man up. This principle and practice of God is testified to at the beginning of the book of first Samuel.
Elkanah lived in a small village in the hill country of Ephraim with mountains all around that probably would limit the production of his fields and would expose his flocks to the wild animals that are inclined to live in the mountains. It was in this place of small beginnings, where streams of water begin that become large rivers, roads from little villages lead to large highways to travel, and small fields that produce little, provide sustenance for many as their produce is added to that of many other small fields in a city market. Obscurity in a small place does not limit God nor does it give us an excuse for not diligently seeking to live our lives for Him. Our surroundings, even in an evil day when the majority of people have no interest in, or time for God, do not absolve us from our responsibility to serve Him and obey His word. Great congregations of people may attend places of "worship" but our commitment is to "worship the Father in spirit and in truth." This has nothing to do with the building or the amount of people who gather together. This is me and God, my Gracious Heavenly Father.
Elkanah is introduced at the beginning of the book as a "certain man," of a certain place, from a certain tribe, from a certain family background who had "two wives." Apparently to some people living in those days, polygamy was a sign of wealth because of potentially having a lot of children. It also may have been accepted as a practice because of those sons who died in battle and the need of others to carry on the family name and preserve the family inheritance. For whatever reason Elkanah had two wives, there are problems that come with doing things our way than the way God intends. Husbands have a certain lack of understanding of women that can lead them, not only to be ignorant of what their wife needs, but to even be insensitive to what they should be like toward her. To have two wives would double that problem. It calls for a deliberate desire to understand one's wife on the part of a husband in order to find and maintain that special bond that makes a marriage such an important part of life. When a man begins to take his wife for granted, he has created a low wall between them that can gradually build up to create a barrier between them.
This man took one of his wives, Peninnah for granted because she bore him children and would be busy about caring for them from day to day. He got used to her. That is not a good thing to happen in any relationship particularly the husband-wife relationship. Underlying bitterness toward her husband moved Peninnah to take out her bitterness and jealousy on Hannah. Elkanah apparently made it no secret that he loved Hannah in a special way. In his male simplicity, he didn't realize his love for Hannah and his lack of personal attention to Peninnah was the cause of friction in his household. Even though a man may be legitimately busy with his daily work and his work for the assembly and meeting the needs of other people, that does not excuse him from his priority of loving his wife "even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it." When we sense things are not right between us as a married couple, it is the husband’s responsibility to find out the cause of the difficulty and deal with it as quickly as possible. To look for areas of blame in order to excuse ourselves is never right. Find the problem, act to bring about the solution and if there is blame in some way, take that, and be grateful that you can do so.
Elkanah was a man of spiritual understanding [v.3]. The need of obedience to God was important to him personally. It is a very positive thing about this man that he preserved his family by including them in the journey to the house of God. Year after year he and his whole family journeyed to Shiloh where the tabernacle was and offered the suitable offerings to the Lord. It would have been a very special time for him to take his portion of the peace offering and pass it to his wives and children. But even there he let his favor of Hannah be seen. The first few times Peninnah and her children may have thought he was feeling sorry for her barrenness. Even though he could have legally divorced her, he kept on loving her and seeking to show her evidence of his caring heart. This partiality created irritation and provocation in the family. Elkanah would have known about the terrible evil going on at the house of the Lord because of Eli's lack of discipline and Hophni and Phinehas' sinful practices. However, he went there anyway and worshiped in spite of the failure of others.
We know there is failure in others who attend our assembly gatherings because there is failure in us. Because of some things we personally don't thing is right according to our opinion doesn't give us the right to absent ourselves. When there is something we can do, to correct something wrong, then we should do what we can to accomplish that. If it is our own opinion and others don't seem to share that, then we should check ourselves out to see if I am the one who is wrong, and do something about it. There are times when uncorrected evil is allowed to continue and teaching is given that is doctrinally wrong. Then we may have to go to some other place where the word of God is carried out after having made clear why this is necessary.
There was another positive characteristic of Elkanah. He seemed to have a natural understanding [v.4] of the value of including his wives and children as participants in spiritual things. He knew the limitations of his wife Peninnah and her children. He didn’t expect from them what they couldn’t give. Natural affection is a wonderful thing but we need more than that in our homes in order to bring out the potential that is inherent in each one. We need to know, or at least seek to understand, what is needed by each person and is consistent with their personality. To compare one with another is not a good thing. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it," does not mean we can guarantee our desired result from our children. When we take time to know their bent and the way they respond to different things, we have an opportunity to nourish that and hopefully guide that person to be a successful person in their own right.
Emotional understanding [v.5] can be evasive to some men because most males are goal oriented people and the emotional side of a personality is hidden under a cloak of masculinity. To Elkanah's credit he knew that in distress and despair, one is more conscious of the need of God. He could understand, at least in a measure, the need of his wife Hannah. He would have heard her prayers perhaps, or at least knew her grieving heart was because of her lack of a child. He didn't realize the depth of her spirituality because he thought she wanted a child for her own sake. That was doubtless part of her concern, but her real desire was for a son to give to the Lord for his life to be lived for the Lord and to guide the Lord's people back from the "dark paths of sin." She had to share her husband with a woman who ridiculed her. Even though her husband loved her, he could not solve the problem.
In learning from this man, we understand the value of encouragement to our wife even though we cannot solve all the problems she might have. We need to love our wives in spite of social criticism and we need to accept their difficulties as our own and take that burden from them as much as possible. Our families are important to God and what they do has an effect on our credibility as parents even though we cannot make them be what we might want or expect of them. We can take them to the house of the Lord even though things may not be there what we know they should be. Take our families anyway because there are impressions created in them when they are young that they will not forget no matter how far they may stray. The importance of God in a person's life is usually instilled in our children when they are young. Another lesson for us to learn is that ignorance of a problem is not an excuse for being insensible to the feelings and needs of others, especially our spouse. Linked with that in a way is the fact that jealousy is not an excuse for bad behavior. "Jealous is as cruel as the grave" and has a negative effect that reaches farther we would expect. An encouraging lesson to learn, even from this dysfunctional family, is that God will work in families and individuals in families in spite of problems that may be in the home life. God is a sovereign God, even when there is failure, despair and defeat all around us, and He can bring good from the place we least expect it.
He was only a simple man of old who didn't do everything right He didn't seem much like a man of faith, but more like one who lived by sight However, he knew in his heart things that were important for the sake of his family to do God had a claim on this man, and whatever he was, his wives and his children all knew They needed his leadership and practical guidance for each of them to understand What God said in His word wasn't a choice he made, God's word was an authoritative command To meet at the place chosen by God alone and at the time God Himself did decree So that there He would meet with His own chosen people, and that His glory there they could see.
Family life is not always easy, sometimes there are complications that abound It is in times like that parents bowed low on their knees are often found By rebellious and wayward children who look with shame-filled eyes and then walk away Conscious that their parents are supplicating and making intercession whenever they pray So, when they continue to reject God and His interest in the salvation of them Hopefully their conscience will stop them from doing what is wrong and they will repent of their sin God's grace reaches out to them in distant places farther than our voices can reach And brings back to their memories and consciences long hidden truths that their parents did teach.
We will know the results of prayer when the day of recompense before God will come
The results of the prayers of parents, and their influence of life and labor on daughters and sons Even though the days are evil in the world and in churches truths are gone that were once held Hopefully there will have been enough reality seen that in an awakened conscience will tell One who had turned away that God in great mercy still in love and grace yet awaits The prodigal who will return in genuine repentance, and turns in simple childlike faith To accept the fact that God still offers salvation full, sufficient and free That they saw first in their parents lives when they bowed low on their knees.
"Father God, our prayers continue daily for our children and grandchildren. Grant that they will not only repent to Thee when they sin in honest confession, and have their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, but that they will commit themselves to following the Lord and walking by faith in the light of Thy word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."