What does the Bible say about infertility?

"Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion: for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?" (1 Sam. 1:1-8)

Now, we want to view this in the context that we find it, a woman beset by adversaries, a woman sorrowing bitter in soul because she had not received what she desired. We know from the book of Daniel that the Jewish women desired to give birth to a son, and that son they hoped would prove to be the Messiah, the long promised One to Israel. Every Jewish mother longed for this, that she might be the one whom God would use to bring into being the Messiah. So for a Jewish woman to be barren was a great reproach to her.

Here we find that it was God who had closed up her womb, I believe to test her faith and to cause her to pray in the way she did in order that she might be an example for us of prayer and perseverance and answer and response to God. Oh, what a wonderful story it is. So Hannah was persecuted and ridiculed and how deeply she felt it. She might have gone to her husband and complained of the treatment, but in verse 10 she prayed unto the Lord and she wept sore.

Furthermore the story of Hannah not only sets forth the great principles by which God is carrying out His purposes of grace, but it gives rich moral instruction to every tried and sorrowing child of God. How striking the contrast between Hannah unable to eat, and weeping sore in bitterness of soul, as stated in verse 7, and Hannah when she "went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad," as recorded in verse 18. How came this difference? Was it change of circumstances or the removal of that which caused the sorrow? Not at all; the circumstances had not altered; she was still the barren woman. The secret of the change is found in the fact that she had poured out her soul before the Lord. The persecution of her adversary, the fretting of spirit, the bitterness of soul — she had poured it all out with weeping before the Lord. Having poured out her sorrow, the word came to her, "Go in peace." Her sorrow is poured out and God's peace is poured in. A striking illustration of the exhortation which bids us "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).

When we learn to take true rest in serving the Lord, there will be good results, as verse 3 indicates. Israel will be greatly blessed with children in the millennium, and will learn indeed that the children are a heritage from the Lord, a reward for dependence on Him. Today not every godly believer is so blessed, but often that deficiency is made up by the comfort of having spiritual children; and any imbalance that is characteristic of the day of Christ's rejection will be wonderfully corrected in the coming glory.

Then children are likened to arrows in the hand of a warrior, useful for gaining victories over enemies. "Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them" (v. 5). There are some who criticize those who have more than one or two children, but God does not. It is said of Susannah Wesley that she had 22 children, and taught them all to read by using the Word of God. Her son, John Wesley was greatly used by God in the salvation of large numbers; and her son Charles was given grace to write more hymns than anyone else on record, — many of them very excellent hymns.

"And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, [Am] I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I may also be built up by her. And she gave him Bilhah her bondmaid as wife; and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and also heard my voice, and given me a son: therefore she called his name Dan (Judge). And Bilhah Rachel's bondmaid again conceived and bore Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, Wrestlings of God have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali (my Wrestling). When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she took Zilpah her bondmaid, and gave her to Jacob as wife. And Zilpah Leah's bondmaid bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, What fortune! and she called his name Gad (Fortune). And Zilpah Leah's bondmaid bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, With my happiness; for the daughters will call me happy! and she called his name Asher (Happy)" (Gen. 30:1-13).

One understands too well, too sadly, why Rachel should view her own childlessness and her sister rich in children with chagrin. Self wrought and blinded her to her sister's lack of Jacob's heart of which she had the monopoly. It was envy, that base feeling which cannot endure another, even a sister's, having what she had not; and this broke out in unreasonable and impious repining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault. No wonder that his anger resented her unworthy state in his rejoinder, Am I in God's stead Who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? But he yielded to her proposal, and takes Bilhah that she might obtain children by her maid. Had not honoured Sarah done the like? Yes, but through Ishmael its fruit did it not issue in the expulsion of both Hagar and her son? Was this encouraging? How different from Hannah the sorrowful under Peninnah's provocations, or even the high-priest's misjudgment! She broke out into no unseemly murmurs against her husband, but wept and prayed and vowed to Jehovah, and was heard of the God of Israel.

How could those who feared God have communion with all this? What could it be but distress of soul to Hannah? Men abhorred the offering of the Lord, and those who went on with the outward form did so with heartless indifference to the holiness of God and the authority of His word. This was the case with Peninnah, who, with proud contempt and scorn for Hannah's tenderness of conscience, took this public opportunity of provoking her; and the more confidently as she could point to her many children as a proof of the Lord's blessing, while Hannah's barrenness must be a sure indication of His displeasure. This intensified, not only her grief, but her isolation. In the midst of a crowd of outward worshippers and in the presence of Eli she was alone, but alone with God.

There was a merciful provision in the law (Deut. 25:5-10) that no man's family should be allowed to die out, while a brother survived to perpetuate the line. In Israel, to be childless was a reproach, and for a man's name to be blotted out — his family to become extinct — was regarded as a special mark of God's displeasure. The Sadducees, in our Lord's day, might seek to ridicule the truth of resurrection by bringing in this merciful provision, but they only showed their ignorance of "the Scriptures and the power of God." It was provision for the earthly not the future life, that God had made. Most appropriate was it, therefore, that He should see that names should not be blotted out in Israel, save to mark, as in Achan, His solemn judgment of an awful sin. There seems, too, to be a recognition in His provision of that hope in the heart of every Hebrew woman, that through her in some way the promise of "the woman's seed" might be fulfilled. This was to be clone literally in the line which was to be preserved through Ruth.

The barren woman is in Scripture the type of nature's ruined and helpless condition. There is no ability to do anything for God — no power to bring forth any fruit to Him; all is death and barrenness. Such is the real condition of every child of Adam. He can neither do anything for God nor for himself, as regards his eternal destiny. He is emphatically "without strength"; he is "a dry tree," "a heath in the desert." Such is the lesson taught us by the barren woman.

However, the Lord caused His grace to abound over all Hannah's weakness and need, and put a song of praise into her mouth. He enabled her to say, "My horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation." It is the Lord's special province to make the barren woman rejoice. He alone can say, "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the Lord." (Isa. 54:1)

"Thus says Jehovah, Keep ye judgement and do righteousness: for my salvation [is] near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed [is] weak man [that] does this, and the son of man [that] holds fast by it; that keeps the sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil" (vv. 1, 2). The following verse (3) is even more express: the most distant, "the son of the stranger," and the most desperate, "the eunuch," were not beyond the reach of God's merciful and mighty blessing. And this is repeated in the most forcible language as to both classes in the subsequent verses, concluding with the expression of Jehovah's mind to be known and read of all men, that His "house should be called a house of prayer for all peoples." "Neither let the son of the stranger that has joined himself to Jehovah speak, saying Jehovah has entirely separated me from his people; nor let the eunuch say, Behold, I [am] a dry tree. For thus says Jehovah, Unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose [the things] that please me, and hold fast by my covenant, to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister to him and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast by my covenant — even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices [shall be] accepted upon my altar: for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. The Lord Jehovah who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather [others] to him, with those of his that are gathered" (vv. 3-8).

In a certain way the condition of singleness (maybe for life) can be a form of suffering, loss and deprivation. Therefore, it is natural and not a sign of being ‘unspiritual’ to feel this and to mourn about it. Jephthah’s daughter said to her father, ‘Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go and descend to the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions’ (Jdg. 11:37). She wanted time to mourn her situation and then she would surrender to God’s ways. There is a time for everything — also for mourning. Whether this is two months (as with Jephthah’s daughter) or longer depends on the individual case. But sooner or later the time must come when we surrender to God’s ways. We have to be ‘watching lest there be any one who lacks the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it’ (Heb. 12:15). This often leads to accusations against God. But not only does this dishonour God; it also harms our life of faith.

Hannah then, conscious of her desolation as a wife without a child (which we know to a Jewess was an immense loss, and by her justly felt as such), was led by grace to cast her care on the Lord without judging Him hard towards her, and spreads her soul's desire and grief before Him. And so it was that this came out in the presence of God where the high priest saw her. Others went to worship there with their thank-offerings; she drew near with her tears, and there too she felt none the less the provocation of her adversary. But the remarkable feature of the tale is, that God calls our attention to the fact that the high priest himself had not the communion of His mind. He that ought most of all to have entered into the greatest difficulties of the people of God was certainly in this case among the last to appreciate the case. I have no doubt that Peninnah, bad as she was, knew more of the secret of Hannah's grief than Eli; certainly even she did not think her a drunken woman as the high priest did. It was clear therefore that what God lets us see at the starting-point is the failure of him who up to this moment was outwardly the appointed means of communication both from God to the people, and from the people to God. At least such the priest was meant to be, and such he was officially. Here was the fact. Nor was this the only feature to be deplored in the priesthood then, as we shall find afterwards. But here it suffices to draw attention to the first patent fact — the sorrow of a righteous one in Israel — the absence of that which she might normally have looked for from the Lord, the lack of which He caused her to feel in order to spread it before Himself at the very moment when she was misjudged by him who above all in Israel ought to have pleaded for her, bearing up her cry as her intercessor before Jehovah. At length, convinced by her meek endurance of his reproach, Eli bids her go in peace, with the prayer that the God of Israel might grant her the petition she had asked of Him. In due time the answer came from Jehovah, who remembered her. "And it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel."