1 Sam 1:19-28 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Hannah poured out her soul in the LORD’s house at Shiloh, was misunderstood by Eli the priest, and answered him plainly. Eli blessed her: “may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him” (1 Sam 1:17). She got up and went to eat, “and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more” (1 Sam 1:18).
At that point, the passage had not yet said that God answered her. This lesson begins early the next morning.
19They rose up in the morning early and worshiped the LORD, then returned and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.
20When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the LORD.”
21The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
22But Hannah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever.”
23Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to the LORD’s house in Shiloh. The child was young.
25They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli.
26She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD.
27I prayed for this child, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him.
28Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD.” He worshiped the LORD there.
The LORD remembered her. “They rose up in the morning early and worshiped the LORD, then returned and came to their house to Ramah” (v. 19). Of what happened at home, the passage says only: “the LORD remembered her” (v. 19). In the last lesson, she had prayed, “remember me, and not forget your servant” (v. 11).
Asked of the LORD. “When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel” (v. 20). The passage records what she said as she named him: “Because I have asked him of the LORD” (v. 20).
But Hannah didn’t go up. Later, “The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow” (v. 21). “But Hannah didn’t go up”; she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever” (v. 22).
Do what seems good to you. Elkanah said, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him” (v. 23), and added, “only may the LORD establish his word” (v. 23). “So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him” (v. 23).
The child was young. “When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to the LORD’s house in Shiloh” (v. 24). The passage adds one more line: “The child was young” (v. 24).
I am the woman. She brought the child to Eli and said, “I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD” (v. 26). In the last lesson, in the same place, Eli had thought she was drunk. This time she said, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him” (v. 27).
Given to the LORD. “Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD” (v. 28). When she made her vow, she had said, “then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life” (v. 11). She did what she had vowed. The passage does not say what she felt at that moment; it records only her words, followed by one line: “He worshiped the LORD there” (v. 28).
The law of Moses says this about vows: “When a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (Num 30:2). When Elkanah went up to Shiloh that year, he too went to offer “the yearly sacrifice and his vow” (v. 21).
Readers can see this: in those days, a vow made to the LORD was to be carried out according to the words that came out of one’s mouth. Hannah had vowed, “I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life” (v. 11), and that is what she did (v. 28).
Perhaps what you have asked for has not yet come. Then the last lesson’s “I poured out my soul before the LORD” (v. 15) is still for you; this lesson is not asking you to compare yourself with Hannah.
Perhaps what you asked for has already come. When Hannah named her child, she said, “Because I have asked him of the LORD” (v. 20). She did not forget where this child came from. A psalm asks, “What will I give to the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Ps 116:12).
This week: Think of something you once asked for and later received, big or small. Write it down, and say thank you to God for it.
Scripture: World English Bible.