Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD. . . But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. 1 Samuel 2: 11, 12, 18, NKJV.
Dear God, we are grateful for Your Word. Please help us to learn from it, and apply our hearts unto Your wisdom. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Hannah was an extraordinary woman! That is the very least that I can say about her! Where does a woman get the inner-strength to take her only son – one whom she has wrestled with God for – and send him away, when he is just an innocent, trusting, wide-eyed, little boy, to live with a priest whose own sons are described as “corrupt?” This is a hard sentence to read.It is also a hard situation to imagine.
Where is Elkanah in all of this? What does he have to say? Yes, he has other sons, but this is his first son from the wife of his dreams! The love of his life! There is a subtle silence at the end of the statement: “Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. . . When he did not see Hannah getting ready for the yearly trip he inquired about it. Her reply was, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the LORD and remain there forever” (1: 22b). She had made this promise to the LORD, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” (11). Emphasis provided.
She was not lending him to the LORD. She was leaving the child in God’s hand. Elkanah’s response is an interesting one: “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him. Only let the LORD establish His word” (23). Emphasis provided. Perhaps Elkanah had heard what was going on in the household of Eli the priest. It would seem as if he is saying, Let God bring to pass what you are asking for our son. May God confirm these words, he seems to be saying. It took a big man to do what Elkanah did. As her husband, he could have annulled her vow. (Numbers 30: 10-15). Instead, he respected her wish to give their firstborn to the LORD, with a prayer, that God would do His part!
The year that little Samuel was born, Hannah did not go up to Jerusalem. She remained at home with her little boy. Every moment alone with him was priceless. In his first years, the formative years, the decisive years, Hannah knew that whatever she wanted to see in the man Samuel, had to be built into the child Samuel. So she remained at home with her son and carefully watched and prayed over the formation of his character. Soon the day came when she must keep her promise to the LORD, by taking him to the temple, and leaving him in the care of Eli the priest. How hard that must have been. Except that Hannah knew that she could not do a better job of raising little Samuel than God could. The task of raising the child would be God’s, not hers; not Eli’s. She had faithfully done her part. Now God must finish the work!
Today, as in Hannah’s day, it is a good idea to leave our children in God’s hand. Perhaps not in the same way that Hannah did, but by doing all that lies in our power to give them a good start in life. One area in which we could make a big effort to give them a good start, is by investing in their Christian education. We may not always be happy with the cost of Christian education, or even the way things are done at our institutions. Let us be faithful in denouncing wrong practices, and hold people accountable for their actions. But like Hannah and Elkanah, after we have been faithful in doing our part, let us leave them in God’s hand, and pray that God will “establish His word,” in the lives of our children.