A Look At A Godly Mother! | 1 Samuel 1-2

Today is a very special day! Mother’s Day. I know that for many, Mother’s Day is difficult. For some it’s because children weren’t possible. For others, Mother is no longer physically present for you to honor. For some, Mother wasn’t the perfect picture of Christ’s love in your home.

But on our journey through life for most of us, nothing can compare with the impact made by our mothers. Their words, for good or for bad, are never fully forgotten, & the memory of their presence lasts a lifetime.

Abraham Lincoln said, “No one is poor who had a godly mother.” And I believe he was right. The influence of a godly mother on her children cannot be overstated.

Mothers play a very vital role in a family and in the society.

One writer said, “No nation is ever greater than it’s mothers, for they are the makers of men.”

Dr. Basil Jackson, a psychiatrist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said, “A child will never come to full psychological development and maturation in adulthood unless that child has had a mother in the home.”

The rabbis used to teach, “God can’t be everywhere at the same time, so He made mothers.”

Mothers have a very special place in society, very high priority. The Bible exalts motherhood – Sarah, Rachel, Jochebed, Deborah, Ruth, Elizabeth, Mary. Motherhood is a great and wonderful thing.

Open your Bible to the OT book of 1 Samuel. I want to share with you about a mother, a mother named Hannah. We are going to look at a very lovely and special person Hannah. She presents to us the pattern of a godly mother.

Historical Background: We think we live in a tough time today, and in many ways we do, but the time we live in today is no tougher than the time in which Hannah lived. It was the period of the judges in Israel, and the situation in Israel was extremely difficult. Samson had died, and with the death of Samson there was no great leader in the land, and the land was in a state of fluctuation and turmoil and confusion and there was a desperate need for a great leader in the chaos and the sinfulness of that day.

The Philistine, who were the arch enemies of the Israelites, were gaining round. The priesthood that was supposed to lead the people of God had become totally corrupted. It was a time when not only was the leadership gone, but the priesthood had abandoned its calling.

And so it was a time when God needed a special man, and in order to make a special man you need a special woman, and Hannah was that woman.

1 Samuel 1:1-2 ²There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ²He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah hadchildren, but Hannah had none.

Now we meet a family, strange one at; two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children, Hannah did not, and Elkanah, who was a Levite, was her husband. And if he was a Levite it means that he was at least in the priestly family.

Hannah is the mother that we want to concentrate on. She demonstrates for us– three aspects that are necessary for a godly mother.

Three Aspects Of A Goldy Mother

A Right Relationship To Her Husband.

She Shared With Her Husband In Worship.

1 Samuel 1:3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.

Now Hannah had a believing, worshiping husband. Every year he went up to worship and sacrifice to the Lord at Shiloh. According to Exodus 23, pilgrimage to Shiloh was supposed to be three times yearly. Probably he went up each year the number of times that were prescribed. He was a faithful worshipping man. She had a right relationship to her husband in that she was a part of his worship.

Now I really believe, people, that godly fathers make for better mothers. Do you believe that? A godly father makes a better mother of his wife. And when Elkanah expressed his worship, she was there.

1 Samuel 1:7 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.

 She went with him. When he went, she went. In other words, they had a common bond of worship. I really believe for the full expression of godly motherhood, there must be a shared spiritual strength in the home. It’s very difficult, and some of you live in that situation where you have partner that’s an unbeliever and you know what difficulty it is to bring about a rearing of godly children in a divided house – very difficult. Hannah followed him.

Now he wasn’t a perfect man, was he. He had his faults, did he not? What was one of them? He was a polygamist. That’s a pretty serious one. You say, well does the Old Testament advocate polygamy? Not at all. It was a sin. But it was culturally accepted in this early time, and so it was not uncommon for this to occur, particularly when you had a wife that was barren and couldn’t raise up a child. Then you would be pressed by the society around you to get another wife who could raise up a son for you, which may be the case.

But nonetheless, in spite of a serious imperfection in his character, they had a mutual spiritual expression of worship. And I would just add this ladies, and men as well, you will not find your partner to be perfect, but that should not preclude the fact that you can worship the Lord together in your imperfections. Don’t expect perfection. Where you find the love and the worship of the Lord, that should be sufficient, for none of us is perfect.

So first of all it’s important to know that the right husband relationship involves a sharing in worship.

Hannah And Elkanah Shared Love

 It involves a sharing of love.

Marriage is not just spiritual. It is also emotional, psychological, and physical. And not only did they share their worship, but they shared their affection and their love.

1 Samuel 1:4-5 ⁴Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb

Apparently he felt obligated to Peninnah. She had provided the children and so he gave what was right. But unto Hannah he gave a double portion. That adjective is not included in what he gave to Peninneh. It was something more magnanimous than the legal restriction which he just met in the case of Peninneh. And he did that because he loved Hannah, even though the Lord had shut up her womb.

“And [of course Peninneh,] her adversary had provoked her relentlessly to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb.” Now you put two women in the same house and have the husband love one of them and you’re going to have a lot of trouble. And if the husband happens to love the one who has no children, the one who has children will really mock the one who doesn’t, because that’s how she’ll get back at the husband. That’s what happened.

1 Samuel 1:6-8 ⁶Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. ⁷This 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. ⁸Her husband Elkanah 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?”

See he knew why she was crying. She was crying because she couldn’t have a child, because he would hear Peninnah really abusing Hannah. But he said, “Am I not enough Hannah?”

Giving a worthy portion, or we could translate it a double portion, was usually a gesture in the east and the orient for an honored guest, a preferred guest. Elkanah loved her in a special way, and his love was her security.

You know that most men and women are very jealous and possessive, especially in a marital relationship? Can you imagine what it would be like for your partner to also be married to someone else who was having all his children. Now, I tell you, a woman who could tolerate that is a woman of great grace and understanding and forgiveness. And that’s the kind of woman Hannah was.

You know what secured her in the midst of an impossible situation? She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he – what? – loved her. They shared love. So there was Hannah in a hard place to raise a child, in a hard place to be secure, in a divided family, and yet she had a right relationship to her husband, because they shared worship and they shared love and those two things eliminated conflict.

Application: Now I don’t care what the conflict around you is, there is no circumstance that is so severe that a shared love of God and a shared love of each other can’t overcome it. And I get weary of people who always want to get out of their marriage.

But when all of this is put together, the missing ingredient is children; she had no children. Why?

1 Samuel 1:5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.

 The first thing then about a godly woman: She has a right husband relationship.

2. She Has A Right Heavenly Relationship.

When she has a problem, she doesn’t lash out at her husband. When she has a problem, she doesn’t lash out at her adversary Pinennah. She doesn’t lash out at the children in the house. She doesn’t lose her cool all around. She goes directly to whom? To the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house.

The reason he sat around all the time was he was a huge big fat guy who finally fell over off his stool and broke his neck and died. He was a proverbial slob is what he was. Couldn’t even get up off of whatever he sat on to check on his own kids. And there he was plopped on a seat, leaning on a post that held up the temple. Pretty vivid isn’t it?

And so she came in, you know, for some spiritual advice to see the high priest. “She was bitterness of soul,”

1 Samuel 1:10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.

Listen, ladies, not only do you need a right husband relationship, but a right heavenly one too. It’s needful that when you have some problem you go to the Lord with it. And she vowed a vow:

1 Samuel 1:11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

Now what do we see in this right heavenly relationship?

She Had A Passion For God’s Best

And you know what God’s best was? Children.

Children are a heritage from the Lord. She says it in verse 11, if you’ll just look on my affliction and remember me and not forget me, and all of that means, give me a child, give me a child, give me a child. That’s why she wept. She had a passion for God’s best.

You say, are children God’s best? Absolutely. You’ll say, oh, I don’t know if I want to bring a child into this world. This world is no worse than that one was for her. They are a heritage from the Lord. They are a blessing.

She Was Not Selfish. She didn’t want a child so she could prove her womanhood. She didn’t want a child so she could show him off to everybody. She wanted a child because she believed that a child was God’s best gift.

And she was willing to accept the responsibility. A truly godly mother is not a reluctant mother. A truly godly mother is one with a passion for children, who sees them as a gift from God. A fulfilment of the divine intention for women, not to indulge yourself and not to prove her womanhood, but because they are God’s best gift. So she had a passion for God’s best.

She Was A Woman Of Prayer.

Her heavenly relationship meant she wanted the best and she prayed for it, and all of the praying runs right down to verse 12.

1 Samuel 1:12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.

He watched her. And she wasn’t praying just silently; her mouth was moving all the time. She was impassioned in her prayer.

Why did she pray to God? Because she knew that Elkanah wasn’t the source of children, God was. Do you hear that? Every child that ever is conceived in this world is a gift from God. We cannot take the life of that which God has granted. She prayed. She prayed constantly. Passion turned to prayer.

And then there is also something I hear in verse 11.

Presentation Of Her Child To God.

 1 Samuel 1:11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

 “Lord I’ll make a vow. Here’s my life. Remember me, and give me what I desire, a male child, and I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.”

She promised to give that child to the Lord. And by the way, Deuteronomy 30 says that any time a woman vowed a vow to give her child to the Lord, the husband had to agree. So Elkanah must have agreed in the prayer too.

She wanted to present that child to God.

• She was woman with a passion for God’s best.
• She was a woman of prayer.
• She was a woman of presentation, who wanted a child for one reason, and that was to give that child to the Lord.

Do you feel that way about your children? That your greatest desire is to give them to God? If you don’t, you’re operating on the wrong premises.

She Was A Woman Of Purity.

1 Samuel 1:13-17 ¹³Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk ¹⁴and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” ¹⁵“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” ¹⁷Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

She was a woman of purity. She was a woman of virtue. She poured out her heart to the Lord and drank neither wine nor strong drink. She refrained from it all.

Recap:

She Had A Right Heavenly Relationship.

• A Woman Of Prayer
• A Woman Of Passion For God’s Best
• A Woman Of Presentation
• A Woman Of Purity.

Hannah Was A Woman Of Patience.

1 Samuel 1:18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Why? She believed God, and she was going to be patient till she heard God’s answer. You want to know what the result was?

1 Samuel 1:19-20 ¹⁹Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Samuel means – Heard by God.

She was patient and her prayer was answered. She wanted God’s best; she prayed for it; she offered that life back to God; she lived in purity; God answered her prayer.

Application: Patience of a mother: Put Illustration if needed.

Dear Mothers, you will invariable come through situations in life and in your family where you will have to exercise patience. Patience with God in answering your prayers. It can be a challenge with your husband or a challenge with one of your kids. I have seen that God will surely restore things as you wait patiently for him.

What was the response? Chapter 2

1 Samuel 2:1-2 ¹Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. ²“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

And she goes on and on, all the way down to verse 10 praising the Lord. Just filled with praise for God.

Elizabeth did that when she heard of John the Baptist. Mary did that, didn’t she, when she heard of the birth of Jesus. You know, today some people find out their pregnant, and instead of praising God for such a gift, they get upset about it. A godly mother has a right husband relationship and right heavenly relationship.

A Right Home Relationship

1 Samuel 1:21-22 ²¹When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, (Elkanah kept going back, going back to Shiloh) ²²Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”

She kept her vow: I’ll give that child to the Lord as soon as he’s weaned; and for a Hebrew mother, between two and three years of age. But she said, I’m not going up there until this child is recovered, so that it can feed itself.

Do you know, that’s putting the child as a real priority. Some people might say she put the child over worshiping the Lord. No, because she was taking care of the best gift God ever gave her. She was rending to God the highest service possible. It was more important for that woman to stay there and nurse that child than to go offer sacrifices to God. She knew the priorities. She stayed home with the child in total dedication and commitment, training, loving, instructing, and caring for that child.

1 Samuel 1:23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

First of all, she was dedicated to the child. That’s the right home relationship.

Mother’s invest your life in those children. Believe me, it didn’t stop there.

Then she dedicated the child to the Lord.

She was not only dedicated to the child, but dedicated the child to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:24-28 ²⁴After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. ²⁵When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, ²⁶and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

It’s a fabulous thing to think about. A woman gave her child to the Lord, keeping a vow and a promise she had made to God.

But that doesn’t mean she didn’t care anymore about the child. Not on your life. She cared about that child the rest of that child’s life. She never really let go at all. In fact as they would go back to the temple through the years, they would always go back and express their care and their love to the child.

Some, highlights as we draw to a conclusion:

1 Samuel 2:11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

 1 Samuel 2:18-19 ¹⁸But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

That wasn’t the end of the story. Hannah gave her first born but God blessed her with more children.

1 Samuel 2:21 And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

Five kids. Maybe she got more than she bargained for. That’s the way it is with God. “And Samuel grew before the LORD.”

Contrast with Eli’s sons: You want to know something? Eli had two sons, rather, Hophni and Phinehas. Never in the entire story of Eli and these two sons is their mother’s name mentioned, and the results are utterly tragic.

1 Samuel 2:22-25 ²²Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ²³So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. ²⁴No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. ²⁵If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.

1 Samuel 1:26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.

 1 Samuel 3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

1 Samuel 3:10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

 1 Samuel 2:15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

 1 Samuel 3:19-21¹⁹The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

But that was Samuel.

The sons of Eli? – sad story.

1 Samuel 4:12-22 ¹²That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. ¹³When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry. ¹⁴Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” The man hurried over to Eli, ¹⁵who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. ¹⁶He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?” ¹⁷The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” ¹⁸When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel forty years. ¹⁹His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. ²⁰As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention. ²¹She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. ²²She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

Sad ending isn’t it. They all died. Never a name of a mother mentioned in the family of Eli. And look at the price.

But Samuel grew and ministered to the Lord. There is no price high enough to value the virtue of a Godly mother.

• She Has A Right Relationship To Her Husband.
• She Has A Right Relationship With God.
• She Has A Right Relationship At Home.

I trust this is a good reminder to all of us. Let’s pray together.

Father, thank you for our time today, just simply to touch again this beautiful and thrilling passage. To be reminded over again of the high priority You place on motherhood. We hear even now the echo of the voices of our precious little children, the cries of the littlest ones who stood before us tonight, the songs of the older ones who sang and who spoke. We thank You for them all. We pray that You would give us the grace and the strength to raise up a godly seed, that they, like Samuel, might minister before You and not be like the children of Eli. And may we know that it depends upon a right relationship to husband, to heaven, and to the home. Help us to make that commitment, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.