Is Hannah also among the prophets?

This article was published on The Melbourne Anglican (TMA). Read it in full here.

Dr Rachelle Gilmour is Bromby Associate Professor of Old Testament, Trinity College, University of Divinity

Hannah’s prayer

The book of Samuel in the Old Testament opens with a moving story of a woman named Hannah. She longs to have a child. Her feelings and responses are relatable to many people today who struggle to become parents or live with another deep longing. She grieves, she cannot eat, she weeps, and she prays.

Hannah also takes action. Hannah negotiates a deal with God: if God gives her a son, she will dedicate him to God’s service. Accordingly, God gives her a child. Her son, Samuel, grows up to become a priest and Samuel anoints the first king in Israel. From Hannah’s desire, from her prayer and negotiation with God, comes one of the biggest political changes in Israel’s history: Israel’s first monarchy.

In Hannah’s story, God can be negotiated with. God doesn’t have a plan that is unchanging or set in stone. Hannah desires a child, and Hannah’s prayer convinces God to give her one.

Israel’s prayer

Hannah’s story fits with a common theme in the Bible where God turns situations upside down––lifting up the weak and bringing down the powerful. In 1 Samuel chapter 2, after Hannah has dedicated her son Samuel before the Lord, she prays again…

Rachelle Gilmour

Rachelle Gilmour is Bromby Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity College. She completed her studies in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the University of Sydney (PhD), before undertaking postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Edinburgh. She has also held positions as Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at BBI: The Australian Institute of Theological Education, and research fellow at the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University.

staff.divinity.edu.au/staff/rachelle-gilmour/