(26) And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. (27) For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: (28) Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
With what humbleness did Hannah remind Eli of the past, in order that she might praise the Lord yet more for the present. Lending her child to the Lord is a more suited term, than giving. For what have we to give, that are but tenants of a day? Reader! it is sweet to observe, that though all the gifts of our God to us, are but as things lent, and which the bountiful giver may recall again whenever he pleaseth; yet there is one precious, blessed Gift he cannot, he will not recall, and that is, his Christ. Every other gift we may lose. But God our Father gives us Jesus to have, and to hold forever. Oh! precious, precious Gift! Precious, precious Giver! Some have thought that what is said here, in the close of the chapter, that he worshipped the Lord there; means, that the child Samuel is the person spoken of. No doubt a child so wonderfully distinguished, as his afterlife shows, might from his very earliest years, and under such godly parents, be taught to pray. O that parents would teach their little ones, with the first dawn, of apprehension, to lisp out the praises of Jesus! Is it not out of the mouth of babes, and sucklings the Lord ordaineth strength? Psalms 8:2.