Elkanah plays the same role as Judah did in The first telling of Christmas. The_Director's_Bible_-_017
As Elkanah goes up to the temple he finds Hophni and Phinehas there. Their names mean pugilist (boxer) and mouth of brass. At the time of Christ, God found priests who were beating the people with the law and had not love . (1 Co 13:1)
Elkanah had two wives.
In the Prostitute-Virgin Bride Motif we see that the first wife is the earthly wife who, although has children, are not the children of the promise. They are earthly children who are dead in trespass and sin.
The second wife, Hannah, is the wife who is loved but is barren. She represents the church, the bride of Christ. Her name means grace. Mary was covered with grace in order to be in the overshadowing of God.
Rod of discipline
When her husband offered the sacrifice, he gave his first wife and her children their portion. And he gave Hannah a worthy portion. (1 Sam 1:5)
But the word also means angry or wrath. As Tamar was given the rod, Mary was told the power of God would overshadow her. It was the power of God in discipline hinted at in the sensus plenior of the word play.
Silence before Christ
In fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi (Mal 4:6), God did not speak to Israel for four hundred years until John spoke. Bread represents the body of Christ as the Living Word. So when Hannah did not eat, (1 Sam 1:7) it represents the same silence of the Word of God before the time of Christ.
Scapegoat
Hannah vows that if God gives her a son that he shall be a Nazarite from birth. The Nazarite did not cut his hair.
- 1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
The Nazarite is a picture of Christ who bore our shame. (Heb 12:2) The scapegoat bore our sin, and the Nazarite our shame. The image of the Nazarite is the same as that of the scapegoat.
Holy Spirit shall come upon you
Hannah was thought to be drunk. (1 Sam 1 13). This is reminiscent of Pentecost when the people who had been filled by the Holy Spirit were thought to be drunk. (Acts 2:13) And again when the Holy Spirit gathered the bride at Sychar (meaning intoxicated). (Joh 4:5)
Not unclean
Hannah said she had not drunk wine or strong drink. Wine is the grace of the blood of Christ and strong drink is the law (which deludes people into thinking they are righteous). Hannah was not unclean and did not require the law or grace. She was in the same cleft of the rock as Tamar was when hid by the veil.
==A play on words
- 1 Sam 1:18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.
Hannah means grace.
God’s son
Since Elkanah plays the same role that Judah did of God, when Elkanah begat a son, God begat a son.
She named him…
Samuel meaning His name is God. Is that close enough to “God with us” , or “Eternal God” to finish the Christmas story?
Other barren women
Luke - Elizabeth barren
Elizabeth had been barren [1], unable to conceive. By the word of the Lord, she became pregnant [2].
This account is not simply an interesting tidbit about things that happened around the birth of Jesus. It is an outline note, so that the one delivering the document would preach from the Old Testament concerning the fulfillment of the hidden prophecy.
Elizabeth declared that the Lord has taken away her reproach. [3] Applying 'remez' we find the prophecy of Isaiah:
- Isa 4:1 ¶ And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
The seven desolate women prior to Isaiah are prophecies of the bride of Christ who was desolate until Christ, but made fruitful by the word of God. Paul tells us that when he speaks of marriage, he is not speaking of marriage but of Christ and the church. [4] He is sharing this hermeneutic hint that all the women of the Old Testament represent the church in the mystery of Christ.
Seven barren women
Sarai, Abram's wife, was barren [5] and bore Isaac by the word of the Lord. [6][7]
Rebekah, Issacs wife, was barren and conceived by the Lord [8]
Rachel, Jacobs wife, was barren [9] and God took away her reproach with Joseph. [10]
Monah's wife was barren [11], but conceived at he word of the Lord and bore Samson. [12]
Hannah, Elkanah's wife, was barren [13], but conceived at the word of the Lord. [14]
Michal and Uriah's wife were both barren. They are each wrapped up in in the Prostitute-Virgin prophecy of the church and because of this, the two women represent one. Michal remained desolate [15] [16] While Bathsheba is with David before her reproach is removed; before the son of the adultery died, she is called 'wife of Uriah'. When David comforts her, she is called 'his wife Bathsheba' and she conceives Solomon.
The Shunammite Woman was barren [17] and she conceived by the word of the Lord [18]. She was made desolate a second time by the death of the son [19] but he was resurrected in a foretelling of the cross. The world was desolate without Christ,and was made desolate a second time by the cross.
The number seven represents completeness or wholeness or totality. All the prophecies of the barren women wrap up into the prophecy hidden in Elizabeth. They point to the birth of Christ in the desolate world.
References
- ↑ <bible>Lu 1:7</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Lu 1:13</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Lu 1:25</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Eph 5:32</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Ge 16:1</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Ge 17:19</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Ge 21:3</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Gen 25:21</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Ge 30:1</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Ge 30:22-24</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Jud 13:1</bible>
- ↑ <bible>Jud 13:3</bible>
- ↑ <bible>1Sa 1:1-2</bible>
- ↑ <bible>1Sa 1:17</bible>
- ↑ <bible>2Sa 6:23 </bible>
- ↑ We see similar patterns of two being treated as one in prophecy with Cain and Abel, Isaac and the ram, Rachel and Leah, etc.
- ↑ <bible>2Ki 4:14</bible>
- ↑ <bible>2Ki 416-17</bible>
- ↑ <bible>2Ki 4:32</bible>