September 13 – Samuel

September 13 – Samuel
1 Samuel 1:1-20

Samuel has to be one of my favorite characters from the Old Testament. Even before his conception, he had been prayed for and dedicated to God.

Samuel’s father, Elkanah, had two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. Now, Elkanah loved Hannah, but since she couldn’t have children, Peninnah just taunted her … to the point where Hannah cried all the time and couldn’t eat.  Elkanah was heartbroken and asked her “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”  But, the taunting never ceased.

One day, Hannah decided she was just mad. She went to the temple and cried and prayed.  That day she made a promise to God that if he would just give her a son, she in turn would give him to the Lord for all the days of his life (1 Samuel 1:11).  The priest, Eli, thought this crazy woman muttering ceaselessly at the temple was drunk.  She assured him she was just praying out of anguish and grief.

He said to her, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (1 Samuel 1:17).  With those words, Hannah got up, ate something and began to feel better.  The family returned to their home and she conceived a son.  His name was Samuel, which means ‘heard of God.’

Hannah lived up to her promise.  When Samuel was finished nursing, she took him back to the temple and presented him to Eli, saying, “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28a).

Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 does not portray a woman who grieved over losing her son to the Lord, but a woman who rejoiced because the Lord answered her prayers.  All she had ever wanted was a son, and she had that.  1 Samuel 2:19-21 finishes this story with more good news.  Every year when Elkanah and his family went to the temple, Hannah took a linen robe that she had made to Samuel.  She got to see her son grow up to be a man of the Lord.  Elkanah and Hannah had three more sons and two daughters and Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord (1 Samuel 2:21).

The story of Samuel’s birth is as much a story of Hannah’s faith as anything else.  Because of her commitment to the Lord, he became a great man of God. The Lord honored that commitment by filling her life with a family and extraordinary love.