“Overcoming Oppression”

Aesop tells us the story of “The Man and His Two Wives.” “In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself. Now the Man’s hair was turning grey, which the young wife did not like, as it made him look too old to be her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. But the elder wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black ones as she could. The consequence was the man soon found himself entirely bald.”

What’s the moral of the story? “Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.”

The Bible tells us the story of another man who had two wives. His name was Elkanah, and the name of his one wife was Peninnah, and the name of the other was Hannah. Elkanah found himself in a difficult spot because, while Peninnah bore him a whole brood of sons and daughters, he loved Hannah who was barren. Which wife, then, should he reward with his favor? The law of God said that children would be God’s blessing for obedience. “He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb… and none of your men or women will be childless.” So the thought was then, if a woman was barren, it was a sign that she was suffering the curse of God for some disobedience. So if anyone deserved to receive a greater degree of Elkahah’s favor it was the wife who got to bear him all those little blessings, right? Doesn’t that seem fair? Isn’t that the premise of the holiday we’re going to celebrate next Sunday – Mother’s day?

Well it sure seemed fair to Peninnah. But everytime Elkanah packed the wives and kids into the mini-van and took them up to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the Lord, it was to Hannah, not Peninnah, that he gave the double portion of the sacrifice. That sounds like a man doesn’t it? She can’t bear children, so he tries to make her feel better by giving her some more meat! Well it doesn’t work. Of course, it doesn’t work.

So Hannah doesn’t feel any better about her childless state because Elkanah gave her some more meat – wonder of wonders - but you’ve got to believe Peninnah feels a whole lot worse. Unloved and unappreciated by her husband, envious that the other woman is more favored than her, the only thing left to her is to elevate herself over her rival by mocking her misfortune as if it were something she deserved. The text says Peninnah provoked Hannah severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb.

When you’re suffering there’s nothing worse than being told you deserve it. That’s what Job’s so-called friends did to him. “Job, you must be suffering all these things because you did some evil thing, and now God’s punishing you for it.” Isn’t that the way we think sometimes? We may not say it aloud, but don’t we sometimes entertain the thought that a person is suffering because of some sin in his or her life? Sometimes we think that about ourselves. Its easy to fall into the error of thinking that when we experience good fortune in life it must be because God is pleased with what we’re doing, and we can begin to congratulate ourselves; whereas when we or another persons suffers ill-fortune it must be because God is angry with him or with us.

So Peninnah says Hannah must be cursed. Peninnah, you see, represents the world – the world that says that the truly blessed people are the “haves”; the world which says, pity the church because all it claims to have is Jesus Christ, and nothing else in this world; the world which praises the church that sells its soul to have everything the world wants in a church, but mocks a church that has nothing but the love of God; the world that looks at faithfulness as barrenness in terms of what it values.

But was Hannah cursed? No. Did God close her womb? Yes. Was Hannah suffering oppression because God had closed her womb? Yes, she was. But He allowed her to suffer that his grace might be magnified in her.

What was Hannah’s response to her oppression? Was it to lash out at her rival? Was it to try to turn her husbands love for her into a weapon against the other? Was it to try to get her husband to divorce her other wife? No, she didn’t try any of these methods to overcome her oppression. She didn’t wrestle with the world; she went into the tabernacle and wrestled with God. And God remembered her, and gave her son. Here’s one more instance of the people of God finding deliverance through fasting prayer.

And having received her deliverance, Hannah cannot contain her joy, but bursts out in spontaneous song,

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

My horn is exalted in the Lord.

I smile at my enemies,

Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

The thing that amazes me about Hannah’s song is that her praise seems almost overstated, if that’s possible. I mean, from one perspective, all we see is a woman having a baby after a long time of trying unsuccessfully. Her situation isn’t that remarkable for the world’s perspective. But with the eyes of faith Hannah sees the answer of her prayer as a sign of the ultimate vindication and deliverance of God’s people.

“The bows of the mighty men are broken,

And those who stumbled are girded with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

And the hungry have ceased to hunger.

Even the barren has borne seven,

And she who has many children has become feeble.

You see Hannah, the barren woman, stands with all the other barren women of the Old Testament- with Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel- as a symbol of the church. In terms of what the world values, the Church is childless. The Church has nothing but the promise of God, nothing but an empty cross and an empty tomb, nothing but the promised Seed Christ. But with him the Church has everything. In Christ, says Paul, the Church has become the mother of us all and nurtures us to everlasting life. And even though the world mocks and provokes us for being empty and feeble in its eyes, by the eyes of faith we see that its the world’s womb that is barren and unable to bring forth living children. And so Isaiah, looking forward to the deliverance we have in Christ says, “‘Sing O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,’ says the Lord.” As Martin Luther said, “The Church may seem to be barren and forsaken, weak and despised, and outwardly to suffer persecution, but she is fruitful before God, engendering by the ministry of the Word an infinite number of children, heirs of righteousness and everlasting life; although outwardly they suffer persecution, yet in spirit they are most free, and are most victorious conquerors against the gates of hell.”

But even beyond the spiritual deliverance we have in Christ, Hannah looks ahead to the ultimate reversal of fortune that we will experience on that great day when our dead bodies will be raised out of our graves and reunited with our souls to stand on the earth again, but with renew bodies and on a renewed earth. Her song continues,

“The Lord kills and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and brings up.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

He brings low and lifts up.

He raises the poor from the dust

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,

To set them among princes

And make them inherit the throne of glory.”

Isn’t that an amazing passage? “He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes, and make them inherit the throne of glory.” You see, although the world is controlled by and large by those who oppose the church, by those who ridicule and mock Christianity as being for the weak and the stupid – names like Ted Turner and Jesse Ventura come to mind - the hope that’s laid before us in the gospel is that in the resurrection we will share Christ’s throne of glory and rule over all the nations.

Yes, we trust that one day in the future we will overcome the world’s oppression, but what about right now? Is it possible that God may exalt us over our oppressors even in this world, in this life? Hear again what Hannah sings:

“He raises the poor from the dust,

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,

To set them among the princes…”

You see Christ has already received all authority in heaven and earth. And our faith is that, in Christ, we have already been raised up to sit in heavenly places, we have already been made kings and priests to God, and that reality works itself out even now in this world. Think of the stories of people like Joseph and Daniel and Esther, people who overcame their oppressors by refusing to compromise with the world, people who suffered for their faithfulness to God, and who were consequently raised up by God to the highest positions authority in some of the greatest empires the world has ever known. We can overcome oppression even now in this world, but it’s not by rebellion, it’s not by revolution. St. Paul says “overcome evil by doing good.”

Read The Body, pp 212-214