Bargaining with the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 1:11,

"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."

Hannah bargained with the Lord. The burning desire of her heart was to have a son, and her great anguish was that she was barren. She brought the matter to the Lord and told him that if he would but bless her with a baby boy, she would commit him to full time service to the Lord and to stay in Shiloh at "the house of the Lord" with the priest Eli.

When she explained herself to Eli, he blessed her and the Lord answered her prayer. She had a baby boy and named him Samuel. Hannah made good on her word and brought the boy to serve the Lord in Shiloh.

Hannah bargained with the Lord. In her prayer, her request was couched in the familiar "if you will do this, I will do that." The blessing the Lord might give would be returned to him in Hannah devoting the answer to her prayer (a boy) in service to the Lord for his lifetime.

Would the Lord have us bargain with him? Should we approach the Lord as one does when engaging in commerce? One of the pitfalls in interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives is assuming whatever we read that happens in these narrative portions is what we are to do. However, there is nothing here in this chapter that tells us we are to go and do the same.

To highlight this, in the same chapter we read of Peninnah, Hannah's husband's other wife (in the days of patriarchal polygamy). Peninnah made a rival of herself against Hannah and was harsh with her. Are the Scriptures telling us to go do likewise? How about the polygamy? Since Elkanah (Hannah's husband) had two wives, are the Scriptures telling us to go do likewise? 

Here is what I think is going on in this narrative. The Lord wanted to raise up another judge in Israel (which would be Israel's last judge), a special judge, one that he would use to transition Israel from a theocracy to a monarchy. (Actually, Israel was already a monarchy - a theocratic monarchy???, but the Jews rejected God as their king and wanted a human king placed over them instead.)

This last judge would need to be cultivated in the things of the Lord and be placed in a strategic position within the nation. This the Lord did by creating a set of circumstances where a Jewish couple agreed to devote their son to life long service at the tabernacle in Shiloh.

Hannah's bargaining with the Lord to accomplish what the Lord desired in the first place illustrates just how good the Lord can manipulate what he wants to bring about. I believe the account gives no voice to the propriety of bargaining with the Lord (although I am not speaking against it here), but speaks loudly of how he brings things about in his own way. He closed Hannah's womb. I am certain he was also behind Peninnah's disgraceful treatment of her, motivating Hannah. I believe the Lord also engineered the event that brought Eli's blessing, and following Hannah's vow, the Lord enabled her to get pregnant through her husband.

What I am suggesting here is that what we have is not teaching on how to get the Lord to answer our prayers, but an opportunity to see just how the Lord, in a breath-taking way, can work in people's lives to accomplish the things he does. I believe his workings in this way are not just limited to things of grave national importance, but are also employed by him in the smaller things that might be important to him in each one of our individual lives. 

I think we might all be surprised at what, and how, the Lord may be doing in each one of our lives right now.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com