CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.—
1 Samuel 1:9. “Post,” or portal. “Probably a porch which had been placed before the curtain that formed the entrance into the Holy Place” (Keil). “Temple,” “or palace, so called not on account of the magnificence of the building, but as the dwelling place of the God-king of Israel as in Psalms 5:8” (Keil). “I think this is the first place where the temple of Jehovah is mentioned. This confirms the opinion that the book was compiled after the building of the Temple” A. Clarke.
1 Samuel 1:11. “Sterile women in the East to this day perform pilgrimages to holy places, and often make a vow that, in case they should be blessed with a son, he shall become a monk (Fausset). “Vowed a Vow.” This vow contained two distinct points—
(1) That she would dedicate her son to the Lord in a life-long service, while as a Levite he was only bound from the age of 20 to 50 (Numbers 8:24-25), and
(2) that “no razor should come upon his head,” by which he was set apart as a Nazarite for the whole of his life. “There is no notice in the Pentateuch of a Nazarite for life; but the regulations for the vow of a Nazarite of days are given in Numbers 6:1-21.… Of the Nazarites for life three are mentioned in the Scriptures: Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. The only one actually called a Nazarite is Samson. The Rabbis raised the question whether Samuel was in reality a Nazarite. It is expressly stated that no razor shall come upon his head; but no mention is made of abstinence from wine. It is, however, worthy of notice that Philo makes a particular point of this, and seems to refer the words of Hannah, in 1 Samuel 1:15, to Samuel himself. We do not know whether the vow for life was ever voluntarily taken by the individual. In all the cases mentioned in sacred history, it was made by the parents before the birth of the Nazarite himself. According to the general law of vows (Numbers 30:8), the mother could not take the vow without the father. Hannah must therefore either have presumed on her husband’s concurrence, or secured it beforehand. The Nazarite of days might have fulfilled his vow without attracting much notice until the day came for him to make his offering in the temple. But the Nazarite for life, on the other hand, with his flowing hair and persistent refusal of strong drink, must have been a marked man. Whether in any other particular his daily life was peculiar is uncertain. He may have had some privileges which gave him something of a priestly character—there is an ancient tradition that Nazarites were permitted even to enter into the Holy of Holies. Perhaps it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the half-sacerdotal character of Samuel might have been connected with his prerogative as a Nazarite. Though not necessarily cut off from social life, when the turn of his mind was devotional, consciousness of his peculiar dedication must have influenced his habits and manner, and in some cases probably led him to retire from the world. And as the vow of the Nazarite was taken by his parents before he was conscious of it, his observance of it was a sign of filial obedience, like the vow of the Rechabites.… The meaning of the Nazarite vow has been regarded in different lights. Some deny that it involved anything of an ascetic character; others imagine that it was intended to cultivate, and bear witness for, the sovereignty of the will over the lower tendencies of human nature; while some regard it wholly in the light of a sacrifice of the person to God.… That the Nazarite vow was essentially a sacrifice of the person is obviously in accordance with the terms of the Law (Numbers 6:2). In the old dispensation it may have answered to that “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which the believer is now called upon to make.” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary.) That part of the vow of the Nazarite which had to do with his spiritual nature was the abstinence from strong drink. The other observances were merely ceremonial, and related only to the outward man. But strong drink can and often does influence the mind, and may be the means of moral deterioration. Even when not indulged in to excess, it may be used to such an extent as to dull the spiritual sense, and to unfit men for holding intimate communion with God. It was not a mere arbitrary statute when “The Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine or strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die” (Numbers 10:8-9).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 1:9-11
THE PRAYER OF HANNAH
In this prayer we have—
I. A recognition of God’s faithful performance of His promises. When a parent promises to meet his child in a certain place at a certain time, and the child is found waiting at the appointed place at the given time, the act is a declaration of faith in the parent’s faithfulness. The child’s position and attitude denote a recognition of the truthfulness of the parent’s word. God had promised to “meet the children of Israel” in an especial manner in the tabernacle (Exodus 29:43) “in the place which He should choose to place His name there” (Deuteronomy 16:11). Hannah’s choice of the house of God as the place whence she would direct her prayer—whence she would look up for help in her sorrow—is a declaration that she believed the Divine Word. Her presence there declares that she believed in another Presence there—even of Him who was known to Israel of old to “dwell between the cherubims” (Exodus 25:22; 1 Samuel 4:4).
II. A recognition of God’s knowledge of the secrets of the human soul. “She spake in her heart, only her lips moved” (1 Samuel 1:13). Speech of some kind is necessary if one human being would communicate with another, and there are some thoughts and feelings which, not being capable of being put into words, must remain for ever uncommunicated to any earthly friend. In this sense the heart is compelled sometimes to “know its own bitterness,” and “no stranger” (no one outside the spirit) can “intermeddle therewith” (Proverbs 14:10). The human body is the means by which the human soul reveals itself, and yet it conceals often more than it reveals. So word is the body of thought—the great means of making thought known among men—yet it often hides more than it makes known. But “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit” (Romans 8:27). He stands face to face with the inmost feelings—the deepest emotions—of every human soul. He needs not the information conveyed by words—He sees not through them as “through a glass, darkly,” but without that veil between reads the aspirations of the burdened heart—hears the “groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). Hannah recognises this truth when, without words, she speaks to the Eternal God. By her silent prayer she shows she was penetrated with that sense of the Divine Omniscience which filled David’s mind when he wrote “O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me, Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalms 139:1-2).
III. A recognition of obligation to God before the petition is granted. “Thine handmaid.” Hannah was God’s handmaid whether the blessing she craved was granted or withheld. A servant (while he acknowledges the relation) is bound to obey his master’s commands—to acquiesce in his will, whether that will always coincides with his own or not. While the relationship is acknowledged the obligation continues. Hannah, by her own acknowledgment, was a servant of the God of Israel. She was under an obligation to serve Him, whether He fulfilled her heart’s desire or not. She recognises the fact that she was already God’s debtor—bound to obey His commands and acquiesce in His will, whatever might be the issue of her prayer. She admits that her obligation will be increased if God grants the desire of her heart: “If Thou wilt look upon Thine handmaid,” etc.; but she does not make her obligation to God depend upon her prayer being answered.
IV. A recognition of God’s care for the individual. That system of government and that code of laws are most perfect which take cognisance, not only of a nation as a whole, but of the special need of the individual—when it meets the need, not of men in a mass merely, but of each man. This can be done but imperfectly in human systems. Laws which are generally beneficial press hard in particular cases, or overlook particular exigencies. But it is not so in the Divine administration. His laws take hold of the individual man, and His providence works for each one, without injury to any. Each blade of grass drinks in the sunlight and is watered by the showers, as abundantly and as sufficiently as though it was alone upon the earth, instead of being a unit amid countless millions. And so each soul is as much the object of God’s care as though He had no other creature to care for. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30). Hannah’s prayer—a personal statement of her own personal sorrows and desires—shows that she recognised the fact that the God of Israel not only “knew the sorrows” of the nation as a whole, and was “willing to come down to deliver them” (Exodus 3:8), but that He had regard to the heart-grief of a single sorrowful woman among the thousands of Israel.
V. A very specific statement of her desire. “If Thou wilt give unto Thy handmaid a man-child.” All successful pleading is specific. If it begins with generalities it does not end with them. When a barrister pleads for his client he does not content himself with general appeals—he puts definitely before the jury and the judge what he wants them to do. The widow made a definite statement of her want to the unjust judge—she told him exactly what she wanted him to do—“Avenge me of mine adversary” (Luke 18:3). It has been said that “Generalities are the death of prayer.” Hannah’s prayer was most definite—she not only asks for a child—but for a son—and not only for a son but for one who would be in a special manner a servant of Jehovah.
VI. A recognition of the Divine working in and above natural laws. Hannah acknowledges God as the only Giver of natural life. The laws of nature, either in vegetable or animal life, are not the causes of that life, but the means by which the Creator pleases to give it. They are not the gods to whom the praise is due, but the servants of the one God who works in them and by them. Hannah’s prayer recognises the truth that life can only come into being by the fiat of the Eternal. She asks for a living child from the only Life-Giver of the universe—from Him who alone “hath life in Himself” (John 5:26).
VII. A dedication of the desired blessing to the service of the Giver. “If Thou wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.” The precious gift should be returned to the Giver. God’s gift to her should be her gift to God. “The way to obtain any benefit,” says Bishop Hall, “is to devote it, in our hearts, to the glory of that God of whom we ask it: by this means shall God both pleasure His servant and honour Himself; whereas, if the scope of our desires be carnal, we may be sure either to fail of our suit, or of a blessing.”
In all the points we have noticed—in its faith in the Divine Word—in its recognition of Divine Omniscience—in its acknowledgment of the Divine claim to service—in its confidence in the Divine care for the individual—in its definiteness—in its discernment of a Divine power in all the laws of nature—and in its purpose to devote to the service of God the boon craved for at His hands—this prayer of the Hebrew matron may serve as a model for all prayers in all circumstances and in all ages. It is especially worthy of the study of those who are pleading with God, not for the gift of children—but for the spiritual life of children already given—of mothers whose daily and fervent prayer is put up to God that those whom He has given to them may be, in a spiritual sense, “sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 1:10. “If a woman has prayed with so much importunity,” says St. Gregory, “to obtain a son from God, how ought we to pray to be made His children.”—De Sacy.
The “hand of God in history” might be the appropriate title of many of the books of Scripture, for the sacred records largely illustrate the agency of God in the affairs of men.… That simple Hannah on her knees, with her face toward the tabernacle and the mercy seat, and her lips trembling with her prayer, became the link of a chain in the revival of piety and patriotism in the promised land. Her day of small things was to be succeeded by a life which would shed its blessings upon the chosen people, and illuminate a chapter of Hebrew history.—Steele.
Herein she took a right course to get comfort. So did David (Psalms 109:4) and Paul (1 Corinthians 4:13), “Being defamed we pray.” If she should have rendered to Peninnah railing for railing, there would have been somewhat to do. Prayer and patience are the best antidotes against contumelies and contempt; the one hot, the other cold; the one quickening, the other quenching. Prayers and tears are the saints’ best weapons; their “great guns and their scaling ladders,” saith Luther.—Trapp.
A mid vexations and assaults, what should impel us to prayer?
1. The certainty that if men do us hurt, it does not occur without the Divine permission.
2. The feeling that even the best human consolation cannot satisfy the heart which is thirsting to be consoled.
3. Firm confidence in the help of the Lord, who in His faithfulness will help and in His power can help, when men will not help or cannot.—Lange’s Commentary.
1 Samuel 1:11. She thrice calls herself the Lord’s handmaid, out of a profound sense of her meanness and His majesty, and desires a man-child because only such could wait upon the Lord in the service of the tabernacle.—Patrick.
It may be asked whether Hannah or whether any parents have the right thus to consecrate their children, and so, without their consent, to interfere with their personal liberty? I answer, here was no vow of perpetual celibacy or of religious poverty. He had the liberty of marriage, for the Scripture speaks of his sons, and he preserved the possession and use of all his property. The engagement into which Hannah entered on behalf of Samuel simply consisted in his being attached to the tabernacle service for some years longer than an ordinary Levite, which was an honour, and in being brought up in the centre of religious influences. It was a precaution against the moral contagion of the times, and tended to promote a natural growth of piety in him—to make the love of God within him grow and strengthen with his years. It is true Hannah destined her son for a Nazarite, but this was only under the condition that God made him willing to accept the vow. She knew that He who inspired her to vow would inspire her child—if he were granted—with a willingness to perform his part of it; that, if God granted her the son, he would perfect his gift in inspiring him with a desire to be devoted to His service.… The human spirit, as it is since the fall, would never have established the custom of vows. Such an engaging of Providence would have appeared unworthy of the Supreme Majesty. The institution could only have come through a revelation. The universal usage, diffused among all nations, proves that the tradition descended from the family of Noah. God has condescended by this religious commerce, to bind us to Himself more firmly by means of our wants and our desires. He desires to impress upon our minds the truth that He rules in the least events of our lives, and, by this kind of contract that He makes with us in vows, He would awaken our faith by accepting the conditions that we offer, and in accomplishing that which we expect of Him.—Le Maistre de Sacy.
A vow is to be made with prayer, and paid with thanksgiving.—Trapp.
She has received nothing as yet, and she begins her prayer with a promise. She testifies already her gratitude to God, while her hands are still empty.… “I have two pleas,” it is as if she had said, “I am Thy servant, and I am in trouble.” “And my child shall be entirely and absolutely Thy servant. I give up all my maternal rights. I desire to be his mother only so far as that he shall owe his existence to me, after that I give him up to Thee.” She does not say, “If Thou wilt give me three sons, I will give Thee two, if Thou wilt give me two, I will give Thee one,” but “If Thou wilt give me one only, I will consecrate him entirely to Thee.” … She does not name her rival in her prayer, she utters no invectives, she complains of no injury, and speaks only concerning the matters which fill her soul.… If we are wise, not only will our enemies be unable to do us the least harm, but they will be the occasion of our greatest good, if prayer is our resource from the vexations that they cause us.—Chrysostom.
The local service promised by the mother was afterwards interrupted, chiefly by the call of Samuel to higher duties as prophet. To the mother the sanctuary-service seemed the best pursuit of life; but God had something better for the son. Yet Hannah’s devout spiritual purpose is maintained in her son’s life.—Translator of Lange’s Commentary.