Hannah: Weeping as Prayer

Lectionary connections
Sunday, November 17
1 Samuel 1:4-20

Placing In Context

The opening chapter of 1 Samuel is so peculiar for scripture as it offers a “reason” as to why Hannah cannot have children: God has closed her womb. Then, we see why she has conceived and bears a son: God has remembered her. She was not forgotten by her spouse, who deeply loved her, nor by the other women who commented on Hannah’s plight. If anything, people are remembering Hannah as God seems to forget her. Even Hannah forgets herself, in some sense, as she becomes laser-focused on her closed womb, enclosed and darkened by grief. She forgets to eat and care for herself, weeping outside the temple and taking on a new identity: “a woman deeply troubled.”

Beliefs that Endure

Hannah’s anxiety and vexation (as in verse 16) take over her life, but her faith stays strong and stable. She weeps not at home but at the doorstep of the temple, adamant that God will hear her cry and see her pain.  Sure enough, Eli sees her. He blesses her, and she returns home smiling, for she feels seen in her grief. She is on her way to being remembered.

Moving Forward

The story ends like the happily-ever-after tale that haunts women struggling with infertility: if you pray enough, God will remember you and open your womb. Such a belief can be beautiful to those whose efforts produce children and dangerous to those whose hearts still cry out.

Instead of leaping to prayer as a vending machine (insert faith and receive your heart’s desire), we see Hanah and remember Hannah. She was more than a womb waiting to receive and bear a son. She was a woman deeply grieved and fiercely faithful. Grief and lament can be powerful words of faith that move us forward, trusting that the opening up of our broken hearts is how we know and see one another. Remembering ourselves offers solace to those who feel forgotten.