Israel
Sadly, since the industrial revolution took most of us off the farms, children have become, for many, a nuisance and a burden. Sure, we love them when we have them, but few moderns see children as the amazing blessing the Bible calls them. We live in an age in which our culture is willing to execute children before they are born and call it a woman’s right. While faithful Christian parents do not opt for that, more and more are opting to simply avoid having children.
In Psalm 113, we are surprised to find the barren woman as one of the poor and needy, sitting in the dust and the dung heap. The one specified example of uplifting and exalting accomplished by God is providing children to her.
On the one hand, this may be a metaphor for Israel as the bride of God. In Isaiah 54:1, the prophet uses this imagery to refer to the nation:
“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD (ESV).
Recall when we studied Revelation last season, this was the chapter in which we saw the mixed metaphors of the Bride and the City of God (see Isaiah 54:11-14) which paved the way for the imagery at the end of the apocalypse.
Hannah
On the other hand, the psalmist may be calling out a repeated theme in God’s work among His people. On multiple occasions, God blessed a barren woman with child as part of His plan to bless His people.
Consider Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, the Shunnamite woman in Elisha’s day, Elizabeth. Over and over again, God blessed a barren woman with child as part of His plan.
The one most directly referenced in Psalm 113 is Hannah, barren wife of Elkanah in 1 Samuel 1-3, whom God blessed with a son named Samuel. In fact, when she had been blessed with child and brought him to the tabernacle to serve the Lord, she prayed a psalm. Smack in the middle of it, she said:
He raises up the poor from the dust:
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes…
1 Samuel 2:8a (ESV)
Sound familiar? I hope so. Our psalmist says the exact same thing in Psalm 113:7. And while she doesn’t ask the Exodus question exactly as the psalmist did, she does pray, “There is none holy like the LORD; for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2, ESV).
Mary: Not Exactly Barren
Of course, the theme of the blessed barren is not simply a way God demonstrates His blessing on people. Rather, that theme was paving the way for an even more amazing miracle. Yes, God blessed these female saints with child in such a way to demonstrate God Himself is in control of seed and womb (see Deuteronomy 28:4). More than that, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Ms. Manoah, the Shunnamite, Elizabeth, and especially Hannah paved the way for Mary.
Mary wasn’t barren. She was a virgin. Yet, the Lord appeared to her, poor and needy though she was. He once again demonstrated His control of the blessing in the womb and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, produced a son: Jesus.
In Luke 1:46-55, Mary prayed what we call “The Magnificat” in which her soul magnified the Lord. Her prayer is very similar to Hannah’s. The Lord scatters the proud and lifts up the humble. And notice specifically, “his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50, ESV). Some were upset the Blessed Man who feared the Lord in Psalm 112 was…well…a man. But the blessing is for the one who fears the Lord, man or woman. Mary is blessed. Her Son is blessed.
Though “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” the Lord blessed Him and lifted Him up to sit above every throne, rule, and authority and gave Him the name above every name.
May we bow before Him in order to be lifted up with Him.
Next week’s reading is Psalm 114.
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PATHS:
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