Thought of the Day (TotD): Hannah and Samuel

Some preliminary information on my 'Thought of the Day' blog.
This will not be posted daily, only if I have thoughts about things that I think are actually worth sharing. They may be daily or they may be monthly. There are some that are building up that I will post over time as well.


Hannah and Samuel:
For people who don't know the story in Israel at the time of the Judges but the end of those but before the time of Kings, there was a man named Elkanah. He was relativity well off and in love with a woman called Hannah. They got married but it turned out that Hannah couldn't have children. So, as was customary in the day, Elkanah married another woman named Peninnah who could have children.
Although this happens and there is nothing particularly said in the Bible (Old Testament) about polygamy generally the Bible records all the bad things that happen because of it: favouritism, fighting, hatred, bitterness etc.

Anyway I digress. Hannah is sad because, although her husband loves her she feels unfulfilled. So she goes and prays to God for a child as Peninnah continues to hate her and insult her, especially when she is given twice the share of food by Elkanah than Peninnah is.

So Hannah goes to the 'Temple' (which at this time was the Tabernacle tent as the first Temple was built by Solomon about 160 years after this event). She goes and prays to God there. The High Priest, Eli, is sleeping somewhere near where she is crying out to God. He sees her lips move but no words coming out and presumes her drunk. "And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” (1 Samuel 1:14 ESV). This is insane isn't it? This guy is the leader of the worship of God in the country and he sees someone praying and thinks she must be drunk. I think we can learn a lot from this about being loving if we are in a position oft leadership. Eli judged a book by its cover and was found wrong. That must have been embarrassing for him. But he redeemed himself by helping, praying for her and giving her his blessing afterwards, but how much better would it have been if he had did it in the first instance.

So after some time God grants her petition and Hannah has a BABY. An actual baby, she who was barren has a son. She promised, a few years before, in the Tabernacle at Shiloh that she would dedicate a son to God if He saw fit to grant her one.
Now, this could sound like bribing God. "God if you give me this, I will give it to you, all I want to be able to do is stick out my tongue at Peninnah when she brings up my lack of children." But, perhaps it was the deepest desire of Hannah's heart to have a son that she could dedicate the Lord and His service in Shiloh.

The next time the family are going back to Shiloh Hannah and baby Samuel (which means heard by God by the way) stay in the hill country of Ephraim, where they live. Hannah will keep her vow to the Lord and give the boy over to service but she has to wean him first. This event could take until he is five years old.
We have this image of Hannah handing over a little baby to the old priest in the Temple. That is not the case at all, he was probably of Irish school going age when he was brought to Eli. Samuel probably thought of it as the equiv. of an Irish child going to boarding school (normally the first day is exciting).

So Samuel is brought to the tabernacle to serve God with Eli and his attitude, seen in the third chapter, towards his duties is evidence of the fact that he enjoyed what he was doing and he did want to do.