CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.—
1 Samuel 1:24. Hebrew mothers were accustomed to suckle their children for three years (2Ma. 7:27). “A child three years old is not troublesome in the East, and his nurture and education could be committed to the women that served at the door of the Tabernacle. By the education which the boy received in the Sanctuary he was even as a child to grow into the service; and moreover, as a child, he could perform little outward services” (Lange’s Commentary). “Three bullocks.” Two would be required for the customary yearly offering, viz., one for the burnt-offering and the other for the thank-offering, the third was probably a special offering in connection with Samuel’s consecration, and on this account, the only one whose slaying is mentioned in 1 Samuel 1:25. “The child was young,” literally, “the child was a child,” i.e., not merely in tenderness of years, but in docility, meekness, and gentleness” (Wordsworth).
1 Samuel 1:28. Lent. “The meaning to lend, which the lexicons give to the word both here and in Exodus 12:36, has no other support than the false rendering of the Septuagint, and is altogether unsuitable both in the one and in the other. Jehovah had not lent the son to Hannah, but had given him; still less could a man lend his son to the Lord” (Keil). “He” refers to Elkanah, and not to Samuel (Keil).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 1:24-28
VOWS
I. When we pledge ourselves to a certain act or line of conduct on condition that God grants us a certain blessing, we must be very careful to fulfil our vow. If we enter into such a contract with a fellow-creature, we hold ourselves bound by honour to observe every jot and tittle of the contract. Let us be at least equally scrupulous in the performance of any pledge which we give to God. Hannah had placed before the Lord the conditions under which she would give to His service a son, to dwell in His house for ever. The petition had been granted on her own terms, and there is no holding back on her part. She evidently hastened to perform her vow; there was none of that deferring (Ecclesiastes 5:4) which looks like a repenting of the promise made. “When she had weaned him”—as soon as ever his age permitted his separation from his mother’s care—“she took him up with her.” And the sacrifices of thanksgiving which accompanied the dedication of this darling child show that the gift was that of a “cheerful giver”—that this great act of devotion on her part was performed with gladness (Psalms 100:2).
II. Our faith is strengthened, and our gratitude deepened, when our vows can be paid on the very spot where they have been made. “Arise, and go up to Bethel” (Genesis 35:1), said the Lord to Jacob. The command indicates that to visit the spot where he had fled from the face of Esau, and where he had dedicated himself to the service of God, would deepen the patriarch’s gratitude for all the mercy and truth that had followed him since, and would strengthen his faith in the “faithful Creator” and covenant-keeping God. “Arise, and go to Bethel” testifies that it is good to pay our vow in the place in which it was made. The very sight of the spot brings before us more vividly than anything else can do the circumstances of the past, and thus makes us realise more fully the blessings we have received in answer to the prayers then offered. Hannah was enabled to pay her vow in the very spot where she had made it: “I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying to the Lord,” etc.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 1:28. A double sacrifice was celebrated; one of the victims is endowed with reason, and the other is not; the one is offered up by the priest, the other by Hannah. That which was offered by the mother was a far more costly sacrifice than that presented by the priest. For Hannah offered the fruit of her womb; she treads in the steps of Abraham, she emulates the self-sacrifice of the patriarch. But Abraham received back his son and led him away, but Hannah leaves hers in the temple for the rest of his days.—Chrysostom.
Hannah’s piety did not cool when her wish was gratified.—Steele.
That God gives in answer to prayer, and that man devotes to God what he obtains, so that God takes again what He has given, or lays claim to it for the ends of His kingdom, is the law of reciprocity in the intercourse between the living God and His saints; the latter contribute nothing for the realisation of the special ends of His kingdom which they have not received from Him, and are not by Him enabled to contribute.—Lange’s Commentary.
True religion is a divine life in the soul, which its author first tries and then honours.
1. It is a life of faith, hope, and love.
2. It is tried by Satan, who will seek to place such men as Hophni and Phinehas at the altar, if it be but to distress and drive away from it such worshippers as Hannah. The family is often our furnace, it has pains as necessarily secret as severe; and where they can be told they are told in vain to any but God. Such was the family of Hannah. The Church itself will try the patience and faith of its true members. It will try whether we can acknowledge a true minister of God, and meekly bear with his infirmities, though, like Eli, he mistakes our case, and chills the heart which he should cherish; whether we can receive the promises of God from His mouth, though it sometimes speaks unadvisedly. The Church is a fire to try the Church. 3. But true religion will be owned and honoured of him who gave it, as was the case with Hannah. The Lord often does so beyond all that we ask or think. Hannah had asked for a man-child; but it was not in her contemplation to ask for a Samuel—that light of Israel—that prophet mighty in word and deed—that blessing and pattern to the world in every age.—Cecil.