Friday, August 01, 2008

I Samuel 1:21–28

I Samuel 1:21–28: Hannah Dedicates Samuel

Synopsis

In the last passage, we read about Samuel’s birth. In this passage, Hannah dedicates him to service of the LORD.

As before, Hannah’s husband Elkanah takes his family to offer their annual sacrifice, but this time, Hannah declines to go with him. Instead, she is going to wait until she has weaned Samuel, and then take him and present him to the priests, to serve the LORD. Elhanah tells her to do what seems best, but then he says, “… only may the LORD make good his word” (verse 23), which the footnote says might also be, “… may the LORD make good your word.” Either way, I don’t know what he means by this.

Anyway, Hannah waits until Samuel is weaned, and then brings him to the house of the LORD, along with a bull, some flour, and some wine, for a sacrifice. After the sacrifice, she brings the boy to Eli, and reminds him that she is the same woman who had prayed for the boy at last year’s sacrifice; so she is now giving the boy to the LORD.

Verse 28 finishes by saying, “And

he worshiped the LORD there,” but I’m not sure who the “he” is, whether it’s Eli, or Samuel.

Thoughts

Over the thousands of years since this text was written, I’m sure many people have written about the fact that Hannah had been praying for this boy for so long, but she was willing to give him up to serve the LORD. For Hannah’s thoughts on the matter, the next passage will illuminate us, as she will be praying to the LORD about the matter. (Spoiler alert: She’s happy with the situation.)

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