KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES || Lesson 18 

KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Eighteen

Psalm 113:9 – He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.

Parallel Passage: 1 Samuel 2:5 – Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.

This verse is a part of “Hannah’s Prayer” which was occasioned by the birth of Samuel.

The Birth of Samuel – 1 Samuel 1:1-20:

V.1-2 – ¹There 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 had children, but Hannah had none.

He had two wives – New Testament instructions against polygamy:  1 Timothy 3:2 – Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Titus 1:6 – An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

V.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.

Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh – In obedience to Exodus 23:14, 17 – ¹⁴“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

¹⁷“Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.

Where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD – Note the type of priests they were and their punishment: 1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25, 34; 4:10-11.

V.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.

This was in keeping with Deuteronomy 16:11, 14 – ¹¹And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name–you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you.

¹⁴Be joyful at your Feast–you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.

See V.6-20.

Application:  With reference to 1 Samuel 2:5, note Galatians 4:27-28 – For it is written: “Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” ²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Let us thank the GOD OF MIRACLES for all His blessings, including the following.

John 1:12-13 – ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Galatians 3:14 – He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.