There was a time when men were allowed to have two wives in
Israel under a very specific set of circumstances. If their wife was unable to have children
after a certain number of years, they were allowed to take a second wife for
that purpose. This was based on the
commandment to be fruitful and multiply and the need to keep that
commandment. (It is also a misogynistic
precept you won’t find in the law anywhere.)
The practice is never commended and, in fact, is condemned as a practice
of kings. Here, it seems that the man
truly loved his barren wife, Hannah, and favored her by giving her a double
portion of the sacrifice as though she had a child. Her “rival wife” used to provoke her, can’t
you hear her sarcastic comments on her own blessedness? One has to wonder if the provocation wasn’t
caused by Elkanah’s love for Hannah. It is ironic that Eli paid such close
attention to her in the temple when his own sons, who were priests, were acting
badly and defiling the temple and defaming the Lord by their actions. Hannah’s prayer came from a deep place,
seeking justice not blessing alone. Her
prayer was answered, and the Lord essentially had a son for Himself based on
Hannah’s vow. (As a side note, Hannah
wasn’t bound by her vow, Elkanah could have canceled it based on the law.)
If the parable Jesus tells were an actual story, a man
planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants who refused to pay the rents owed
on it, beating the men sent to collect what was due and payable until,
ultimately, the man sent his son and heir who the men decided to kill, what
would anyone have expected the owner to do?
The story would end more or less as it does end, “He will come and
destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Would anyone argue that this would be the end
of the story or that the owner should do otherwise? Of course not, but what was the reaction of
those who heard the parable? “Surely
not!” Why? The ending isn’t a surprise, there was no
plot twist, the story ended exactly the way they would have expected it to
end. The problem is, they saw the meaning
of the parable, they knew it referred to the nation. They couldn’t imagine God would do such a
thing, they had a covenant that said He wouldn’t.
Something new is on the horizon and no one could have
imagined what was actually going to happen in fulfillment of Jesus’ words, “you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Whatever they may have imagined it was not
the explosion of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and thereafter, to
this day. The Holy Spirit is responsible
for the church’s existence for the last two thousand years. If God didn’t give His Spirit there would be
no believers after this first generation.
The perseverance of the church, not to mention the fact that it exists
nearly all over the world and continues to grow to this day, is a witness and
result of the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.
We have a part to play in that great story by being witnesses today and
it should be the joy of our lives to participate and take our part, just like
Hannah.
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