The story of Hannah – Christian Today

Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster explains the story of Hannah from the Jewish perspective and her “threefold revolution”.

On Rosh Hashana – Jewish New Year – we read the story of Hannah and the way she introduced the world to prayer. 

There are many themes of Rosh Hashana, including reflection, repentance and sacrifice. But in some ways the story of Hannah is essentially the most remarkable of all. This is the story of somebody who within the face of constant every day persecution resets her life and in so doing reworks the destiny of the Jewish people.

Hannah’s story is present in the opening chapter of the Book of Samuel. It deals with barrenness and the blame game that accompanies infertility.

Hannah lived within the pre-monarchic period of the eleventh century BCE. Through her immense bravery, Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who became a spiritual hero to the Jewish people: prophet, priest and military leader, in addition to their last judge. Samuel was from a really young age brought up in Shiloh by the High Priest, Eli, within the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the precursor of the Temple.

But why Hannah and what was her role?

In 1 Samuel 1:1 it states that there was ‘one man’ called Elkanah. Usually the Hebrew would state ‘a person’. The addition of ‘one’ signals that Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, was special and his lineage was from the tribe of Levi. Elkanah means ‘G-d has acquired’ and he had prophetic gifts. 

Elkanah had one other wife, Penina. She had children – unnamed. But Hannah had none. Verse 5 implies that Hannah was the favourite wife and was given the choicest portion of the sacrificial offering to appease her ‘anger’ at remaining childless. 

Unlike in the sooner case of loving sisters, Rachel and Leah, nonetheless, where Rachel was favoured by Jacob, yet Leah gave birth to way more children, including Judah, the ancestor of David, Penina treated Hannah to every day taunts and contempt. Unlike Rachel and Leah, she lacked empathy.

Moreover, also unlike the parallel Rosh Hashana reading of Genesis 21, Hannah didn’t have Sarah’s option of removing her own rival Hagar and wild son Ishmael from the household. Sarah’s reason for this drastic motion was the pernicious influence of Ishmael on her own son Isaac, which was hindering his spiritual growth. 

Hannah’s case was different. Rachel and Leah displayed true sisterly love. Sarah was Hagar’s mistress. Hannah didn’t have these attributes. So she took the drastic motion of herself leaving for Shiloh and the Mishkan. Here she ‘poured out her soul’ to G-d in such a way that the High Priest, Eli, thought she have to be drunk.

In Hebrew prayer means ‘to guage yourself’. It’s a reflective verb. Hannah was fed up and at the tip of her tether. None of the boys who ran her world could help her. Her husband meant well but didn’t do anything about Penina. Eli, the High Priest, understood sacrifices, but didn’t understand personal communication with G-d and was due to this fact judgemental.

But Hannah’s silent prayer was also a challenge to G-d. Why did He treat her like this?

Surely He could change things. Frequent journeys to Shiloh to sacrifice didn’t appear to vary one’s life for the higher. Is this simply rote behaviour? Was something else needed?
A latest type of motion was required, and Hannah was its instigator in Jewish history. Hannah wasn’t drunk from wine but from sorrow. Instead of drowning her sorrows in drink, she downed her sorrows in prayer. 

This was possibly essentially the most radical act in Jewish history to date. Hadn’t the ultimate verses of Deuteronomy stated that we’re ultimately accountable for our own fate? And wasn’t the shofar blowing of Rosh Hashana designed to point out us the way in which? And didn’t the last chapters of Isaiah, read within the month leading as much as Rosh Hashana, encourage us  to ‘rise, shine, in your light has come’.

At that moment, Eli, the High Priest, realized that a barrier had been broken in the event of the Jewish religion. He due to this fact decided to be on the proper side of history and help Hannah. 

Hannah returns home with Eli’s blessing, conceives and provides birth to Samuel. When Samuel is aged two, at the tip of the weaning period, Hannah hands Samuel over to Eli at Shiloh, as a ‘loan’ to G-d. Eventually Hannah wants Samuel back. He is her son, her gift, and they might not be separated endlessly. He is due to this fact not a present but a loan.

What a contrast with Sarah. When Abraham takes her beloved son, Isaac, to be sacrificed at Mount Moriah, he doesn’t even let Sarah know, and he or she dies shortly thereafter, some say of grief. This story of the Akedah (Genesis 22) can also be read at Rosh Hashanah, but Hannah appears to have greater empathy, vision and wisdom than Abraham.

Hannah’s revolution was threefold. She introduced the concept of prayer as therapy and as way more efficacious than sacrifice. With prayer comes connection, reciprocity and ease with G-d. All radical concepts.

Secondly, Hannah introduced a less centralized attitude to religion, during which time and place weren’t at all times or necessarily the prime aspects. Hannah found that the person could actually influence outcomes without remaining depending on established institutions and essential personages. Later, as an illustration, Samuel would again upset the hierarchy by replacing Eli’s own sons who were simply lower than the job of spiritual leadership.

And, most of all, Hannah demonstrated the facility of prophecy, which was to switch the priesthood because the most important source of proximity to G-d. Hannah herself was a prophet. 

In addition the Mishkan itself can be dismantled and the Ark of the Covenant taken by the Philistines. The Mishkan would now not represent the center of the nation. The prophet would develop into the center of the nation, initiated by Hannah and implemented by her son, Samuel, who served G-d his entire life within the prophetic capability, having two biblical Books named after him.

Importantly, Hannah realized that men are mere mortals and sometimes steeped in illusions. Husband Elkanah told her she was much loved, but tolerated Penina. The High Priest Eli was a very good man, but on his own terms and due to this fact judgemental regarding behaviour he couldn’t understand, whilst over-indulging his own children.

We due to this fact conclude that Rosh Hashana, crucial day within the Jewish calendar (actually lasting two days each in Israel and the diaspora), can also be a celebration of ladies.

Yes, now we have the blowing of the shofar, reminding us of our true calling; now we have the apples and honey to sweeten the judgement pill.

However, without the proactive impact of ladies like Sarah and Hannah we wouldn’t have Isaac or Samuel; we wouldn’t understand the actual meaning of sacrifice. Most of all, we wouldn’t be blessed with the unique power of prayer, where we pour out our tears to G-d, knowing that sometimes it is much better to buck the trend, break the bounds of established norms, and learn latest ways to fight for what is true.