He knows everything – 3 July 2020

El De’ot is the God who knows all, or as Hannah said in the original, “God has deep knowledge.” The Hannah of chapter 1 verse 9, and the Hannah in the verse mentioned above, are worlds apart. In verse 9 we read, “She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly.” Hannah experienced great sorrow for she was childless in an era where a woman’s “worth” was often determined by her ability to bear children to give her husband progeny.

She was fortunate to have had a husband who loved her and did not push her aside because of her childlessness. Notwithstanding this fact, she was still very unhappy as she dearly wanted a son. She then made a promise to the Lord and her wish was fulfilled. Hannah gave birth to Samuel who was destined to become a very important person in the history of Israel.

In chapter two, there are no more tears. To the contrary, we find Hannah in a jubilant mood, singing a beautiful song of praise to the Lord. Most probably the song was part of a well-known psalm of the time. In the song, she praises Him as the Holy One, the God who is a rock or protector like no other and when He acts “the hungry are hungry no more”. We find all of these attributes of God in other parts of the Bible as well, but in verse 3 she brings a unique characteristic of God to the fore. He has knowledge like no one else, knowledge of what we do, but also knowledge of our deepest needs and joys. Hannah experienced this first-hand and named the child Samuel. The exact meaning of the name is uncertain, but broken down to its separate parts, Samu El might mean “God has answered” or “a gift from God”.

So many times we completely forget that God knows our deepest fears, our greatest wishes and also our greatest joys.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you know me much better than I know myself. In unison with the poet of one of the psalms, I want to thank you that you protected me even before I was born for you knew me long before that. Amen