Did God Close Hannah’s Womb? Does God Close Wombs Today?
In 1 Samuel 1:6, it is recorded that ’God closed Hannah’s womb’. Most people just read this without thinking much into it. But does this wording of the Scripture line up with the rest of the truth of God’s Word and the character of God?
Is it true that God actually closed Hannah’s womb? Does God close people’s wombs today?
God did not close Hannah’s womb, nor does He close wombs today.
The truth is, all sin and death were brought into the world by the devil, not by God.
When it is recorded that God closed Hannah’s womb, it would be better translated that God allowed Hannah’s womb to be closed. How could God allow something that is so against His will? Because God allows what we allow on this earth, and man allowed sin and death to enter.
Barrenness was a result of the curse of the law. When the Israelites chose to rebel against God, sin and death were able to come into their lives, resulting in all kinds of misfortune, including infertility.
It was never God’s intention for sin and death to be a part of our lives, and even from the beginning, He had a plan to redeem us from this curse through His Son, Jesus!
Deuteronomy 7:14 gave a specific promise to all Israelites that if they would keep the commandments of the Lord, there wouldn’t be any barren among them.
The nation of Israel had obviously broken this covenant, allowing barrenness into their lives. Praise God that Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law for us! We are redeemed from the curse of the law!
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Galatians 3:13
Jesus brought us the full revelation of what God is like. Before Jesus came, people only knew certain aspects of God.
Also, people in the Old Testament did not have knowledge of Satan and his activity in the earth the way we do in the New Covenant. Much of what was blamed on God was not God at all.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James 1:13
God was not responsible for Hannah’s closed womb, neither is He responsible for people’s infertility today. God is never the cause for barrenness or infertility, He is, and always has been the answer for it!
God loves children. He loves fruitfulness, and He loves increase. Children are a blessing from Him. He has not changed and never will. God is not withholding children from you.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3
God Does Not Close Wombs
When you look at the story of Hannah or anyone else who was barren in the Bible, pay special attention to what happened when they connected with God. Each time they connected with God, His will was brought into their life. They received their breakthrough and the ability to conceive and bring forth a child.
It is always God’s will for a married couple to bring forth children. In fact, it is the purpose of marriage (Malachi 2:15).
After connecting with God and receiving His will for her life, Hannah went on to have five more children after Samuel (1 Samuel 2:21). The Lord brought fruitfulness to her womb and removed the social disgrace associated at that time with infertility. God is a good God!
God is not working against Himself. He is not closing wombs one minute and then opening them the next. Have you ever thought about that? God would be working against Himself!
Why would God close wombs after He has blessed humanity with the ability to bring forth children? He would not do that. God will not violate His Words, which are His covenant.
When Jesus was accused of using Satan’s power to cast out devils, he explained that a Kingdom working against itself is divided and cannot stand.
Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12: 24-28
The Kingdom of God is not divided against itself. God is not causing sickness in your reproductive system and then healing you. God is not closing your womb and then reopening it.
Did God Close Hannah’s Womb?
A woman in Old Testament times such as Hannah who could not bear children was viewed as cursed by God. Bringing forth children was a sign of God’s blessing on a family.
Barrenness was the ultimate tragedy for a married Hebrew woman. The inability to pass on the name of her husband resulted in insecurity, scorn, and humiliation in society. Hannah was experiencing this misery (1 Samuel 1:6).
God did not close Hannah’s womb. Children are a result of the blessing of God (Genesis 1:22). When God blessed humanity with the ability to conceive and bear children, He did not later change His mind and revoke His blessing on some people by closing their womb. In fact, once God blesses, it cannot be reversed, even from Him.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29
When God says something, it becomes covenant. He cannot go back on His Word the way many humans do. If He did, the universe would literally fall apart because everything is held together by the power of His word.
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Hebrews 1:3
So why does the Old Testament attribute so many evil things to a good God? Many times in the Old Testament, when it says God caused something, it actually would be better translated He allowed it.
God allows what we allow. Love is not truly love if freedom is not present. God has given you freedom to make your own choices, and He does not violate your free will.
In the Old Testament there are many instances that at face value look like God caused great harm to His people. These incidents seem to contradict what we know from the New and Old Testaments about the true nature of our Heavenly Father.
To understand these verses that seem to contradict the nature of God, it is important to understand the Hebrew idioms used in the Old Testament writing.
In his book, “Figures of Speech used in the Bible”, E W Bullinger explains the Idiom of permission in this manner: “Active verbs were used by the Hebrews to express not the doing of the thing, but the permission of the thing which the agent is said to do.”
An example of an idiom in the English language is when you say someone is “pulling your leg”. They are not literally pulling your leg, but it is a saying that means”tricking you or joking with you”. This is an idiom.
This is the case in certain Old Testament scriptures. For example, in Exodus 9:12, the Scripture reads that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Here an idiom of permission is used. The verb “hardened” means He allowed it to be hardened.
God will allow you to harden your heart toward Him if you choose to do so. You could say God “caused” Pharaoh to harden his heart in the sense that God gave the command “Let my people go” and because of God’s command, Pharaoh chose to harden his heart.
God allowed these things, not caused them. God allows what we allow, because he has given dominion on this earth to mankind (Genesis 1:26).
God did not desire these horrible things to take place in the lives of His people any more than you would want destruction to come upon your own children.
In the case of Hannah, when we read “God closed her womb,” a better translation would be that God allowed the womb to be closed rather than God caused the closing of the womb. God “allowed” infertility in the sense that He allowed man to make the decision to sin and permit the devil to have authority in the earth.
God did not want her womb to be closed. He wanted fruitfulness and blessing upon her, which is exactly what He did for her when she reached out to Him.
Today we have many medical explanations for infertility and pregnancy complications, but back then, they just assumed it was God, when in fact, it was the enemy who brought infertility into the world through the sin of man.
Sin was rampant during the time of Hannah. Sin and death had entered the earth and allowed the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy from God’s people. The book of 1 Samuel, where the story of Hannah is found, tells us that there was no widespread revelation of God during that time.
…And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 1 Samuel 3:1
God has set up certain precepts and laws. When man rebels against them either out of ignorance or rebellion, destruction is the end result. God also set up the law of gravity, but no one would blame God for killing a man who jumped off the top of a building. The man killed himself by violating God’s law of gravity. So the true picture in many of these Old Testament scriptures is that Satan is the one causing the destruction and he is allowed to do so as man chooses to break God’s laws and go his own way.
God Does Not Cause Sickness
All forms of infertility, barrenness, or miscarriage are caused by some form of sickness and disease in the body of the woman or man. God does not cause sickness. He is the source of life, healing and health.
Sickness is not from God! Sickness was brought into the world when sin and death entered through the transgression of Adam and Eve.
Sickness was not the intent of God. God created our bodies to be fruitful, and through the work of Jesus, that fruitfulness has been restored to us.
Jesus bore all our sicknesses and all our diseases (Isaiah 53:4). He has brought an end to the curse of the law for those of us who believe.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Galatians 3:13
All forms of sickness and disease, including those that cause infertility, are under the curse of the law. Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law!
These things are not allowed in our lives anymore, and we can enforce that truth in our bodies when we understand how to use the authority Jesus has given us.
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to destroy infertility and barrenness! This is the heart of God.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
Jesus Never Closes Wombs
It is important to note that any argument that uses Old Testament Scriptures to try and prove that God closes wombs, withholds children or causes suffering must be brought into the light of New Testament teaching.
Jesus came to show humanity the true nature and character of the Father. Before Jesus came, no one had a full understanding of the true nature of God. Jesus came as the exact representation of the Father’s nature.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1:18
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15
As you read through the Gospels, you will see that Jesus never closed anyone’s womb. Jesus never caused sickness or brought it on a person. Jesus never withheld healing from anyone. Absolutely never.
Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father do. Jesus never closed wombs, and neither does God.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19
The work of Jesus on the cross has changed everything.
In the New Testament, we now have authority over the devil. We now have authority over sickness and disease that Old Testament people did not have. We have the Holy Spirit living in us- and He never leaves us.
The Old Testament does not talk much about the devil, because God’s people in this time did not have authority over Satan like we do.
We see references to the the devil and the kingdom of darkness much more in the New Testament, because now we have authority over darkness.
We have been given authority over sickness and diseases. Jesus has given us His very own righteousness, and we now can rule and reign over these forms of evil and destruction.
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Matthew 10:1
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19
Jesus has provided healing for every single thing that could be causing infertility, sterility, or miscarriage.
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
Because of the work of Jesus, you have authority over anything that could be causing barrenness. You don’t even have to know what the problem is- you can receive the healing that Jesus has provided. Whatever is causing infertility has been defeated on the cross. Take hold of this truth and begin speaking life to your body and to your womb. For more about this, read How to Believe God For a Pregnancy. You are blessed!
I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. Leviticus 26:9
To learn more about God’s covenant of fruitfulness with you, I highly recommend reading God’s Plan for Pregnancy by Nerida Walker.