Rosh Hashanah 2026!

The haftarah portion for Rosh Hashanah occurs in 1 Sam 1:1 – 2:10. In this portion we read the story of Hannah interceding in the temple and then rejoicing over the birth of the Prophet Samuel. The key to Hannah’s strength was not in a gifting as we would tend to think today. It lay in her lack. God created a divine desperation that plagued her and drove her to pray. Being childless was considered a curse in Israel. Hannah had to push past the label of being barren, push past her feelings of brokenness, and then push past the ridicule of her rival. Looking at her hopeless situation one would hardly think that a miracle was at hand. There is a place where one’s barrenness in one place gives way to a birthplace in another. God is constantly leading us from barrenness to birthpace if we will not lose hope.

Hannah cried out over something that God had reserved for a specific purpose. When her feelings of failure were overcome with her faith in God, the prophetic ministry of Samuel was born. It is a truth that God uses barrenness and ordains it for his purpose. Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel were barren, and these matriarchs teach us that nation-changing ministries can be generationally built by prayer and seeking God. Manoah’s wife birthed deliverance of the nation through Sampson the Judge. The benevolent Shunammite, that was kind to the prophet Elisha, birthed a promise that seemed to die, but God willing to show his mercy raised him from the dead, showing that God’s word is sovereign and can abide alone. Finally, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, whose husband was visited by an angel, birthed the herald of the Messiah, a testimony of God’s faithfulness.

The point is that the barren woman, as a prophetic type, teaches us something about the person of God that cannot be learned in any other place. Barrenness produces a tangible faith that, when joined with the promise of God, produces a spiritual birthing that can alter the course of nations. Even the nation of Israel was prophetically labeled as barren but was given the promise of birth (Is 54:1-17).

We have looked at our places of barrenness in terms of how we have been victimized by it, but do not see the God-ordained purpose that lay directly beyond our pain. People have looked at us strangely when that place of barrenness pushes us past the status quo and often violates norms in spiritual life as we struggle with our own faith in desperation. Hannah was so broken, her voiceless sorrow looked like drunkenness to Eli but to God something reverberated loudly through the heavens. Don’t despise your day of barrenness that serves to empty you out of everything but the power of God. God holds our brokenness as precious. He honors our faith and there will be a day of prophetic outpouring when our promise breaches our barrenness and the heavens open to reveal the purpose of God. She believed that her present brokenness did not determine God’s ultimate blessing and that the promise of God would win out over her pain and circumstances.

Hannah rejoiced in her overflow as she came in contact with the sovereignty of God and the awesomeness of his power (1 Sam 2:1-10, Hannah’s song). God had a time for her barrenness to end. He spoke the season into existence, he arraigned the players, the conditions, and the personalities. When he spoke “a closing of the door”, everything changed, and it not only changed for Hannah and her struggles, the entire nation of Israel would eventually be changed as well.

The "Hannah-anointing" we carry understands the prophetic timing of God. We dedicate this year to changing the world with the saving grace of Yeshua. Our place of barrenness will blossom with healing, deliverance, and salvation and we will boldly proclai, the majesty of Messiah to a world that desperately needs him.

As we move through the holidays, we are preparing to walk in the blessings and power of God. Begin to rejoice now. Even in the barrenness, God’s mercy for us does not change and his favor is not withdrawn from his people. He loves us and calls us his own. As we prepare for renewal and dedication remember that walking in faith has a lot to do with ordering our priorities. Keep things simple and focused. Do not over encumber or complicate things to the point of making your progress unmanageable. Lastly, stay connected to your spiritual community. There is strength in numbers. We are always stronger, sharper, and more capable when we operate in community.

L’Shana Tovah

Rav Calev, Apostolic Messianic International