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Samuel’s Consecration and Restoration to the Lord
1Sa_1:21-28
I. The child Samuel at home till he is weaned. 1Sa_1:21-23
1Sa_1:22. After the child is weaned from his mother’s breast, Hannah will bring him to the Sanctuary. That the Heb. verb ( âָּîַì ) means here “to wean,” and does not include the idea of education (Seb. Schmid) as in 1Ki_11:20, is plain from the “gave suck,” ( åַúֵּéðֶ÷ ) in 1Sa_1:23. The ground adduced for this opinion, namely, that the child would otherwise be troublesome to Eli, is of no force; for, apart from the fact that a child three years old (this was the term of weaning, according to 2Ma_7:27) is not troublesome in the East, his nurture and education could be committed to “the women that served at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting,” (1Sa_2:22).—The “appearing before the Lord,” for which Hannah will bring her son to Shiloh, supposes the existence there of the National Sanctuary instituted by Moses, and answers to the law (Exo_23:17; Exo_34:23): “Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord Jehovah.” The “abide for ever,” all his life ( òַãÎòåֹìָí ) indicates the life-long consecration to service in the Sanctuary from his weaning on, while otherwise this service was binding only from the 25th year to the 50th. 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 (Then.), so that the objection, that, as a newly weaned child, he was unfit for the Temple-service, falls to the ground.
1Sa_1:23. Only the Lord establish His word, that is, maintain, fulfil it, bring it to completion. The “word” ( ãְּáָøåֹ ) refers not merely to Eli’s word, 1Sa_1:17, but to God’s factual discourse, which consisted in hearing Hannah’s prayer, and in the real promise which he had given, by the birth of the child, in reference to his destination to the service of the Lord. Bunsen excellently says: “Word, that is, may He fulfil what He designs with him and has promised by his birth, comp. 1Sa_1:11; 1Sa_1:20. The words refer, therefore, to the boy’s destination to the service of God, which the Eternal has in fact acknowledged by the partial fulfilment of the mother’s wish.” Similarly Calvin already: “Elkanah seeks from God, and suppliantly begs with prayers, that, since God has bestowed on him male offspring, He will consecrate him and make him fit for His service, and direct him by the power of His Holy Spirit, by which his service shall be grateful and acceptable to God.” Since there is no express word of the Lord to which the “word” may be referred, the Sept. avoids the difficulty by translating (groundlessly) ôὸ ἐîåëèὸí ἐê ôïῦ óôüìáôüò óïõ “that which came out of thy mouth.” The Heb. text is not therefore to be changed (with Then.), to accord with the Sept., into “only, let thy word stand” ( àַêְ úָּ÷ִéîִé àֶúÎãְּáָøֵêְ .) Clericus: “God had shown, not by words, but by very deed, that He approved Hannah’s vow, and had promised her a living son; and Elkanah prays that He will perform His promise. There is therefore no need to invent with the Rabbis an oracle uttered to the mother concerning the child about to be born.”
1Sa_1:24, sq. The case is the same here with the diverging translation of the Sept., “with a three-year-old bullock” [instead of “three bullocks”], which is occasioned by the singular “the bullock” of 1Sa_1:25. The contradiction between “three bullocks” and “one-bullock” cannot indeed be removed (with Bunsen) by regarding the sing as collective, Jdg_6:25 being cited in support of it; but it may properly be said with Keil that “the bullock” in 1Sa_1:25 denotes specially the offering with which the boy was returned to the Lord, “the burnt-offering by which the boy was dedicated to the Lord for life-long service in His Sanctuary, the two other bullocks serving for the yearly offering.” As it was understood that the two others were for the yearly festival-offering, that is, burnt-offering and thank-offering, it was not specially mentioned that they were sacrificed. Further, three bullocks are required by the quantity (one ephah) of flour which Elkanah takes with him, since, according to Num_15:8-10, three-tenths of an ephah of flour was required for a burnt-offering of one bullock. The peace-offering, like the burnt-offering, was connected with a meat- and drink-offering.—A striking example of the arbitrary fashion in which the Alex. translators got over difficulties in the text is found in their translation ìåô ’ áὐôῶí “with them” at the end of 1Sa_1:24 [the Heb. reads “the child was a child”]; as if, instead of the difficult ðַòַø [“child”], to which the sense requires the addition of the predicate “small,” the text had read òִîָּí “with them.” The addition of the Sept. to 1Sa_1:24, “and his father slew the offering which he made annually to the Lord, and he brought the boy near,” and the translation in 1Sa_1:25, “and he slew the bullock, and Hannah the mother of the child brought him to Eli” are to be explained as efforts at exegesis, and give us no ground to correct the Heb. text, as Thenius supposes. Not the mother alone, but both parents gave the boy over to Eli, and thus presented him as an offering to the Lord.
1Sa_1:26 sq. Hannah makes herself known to Eli by reminding him of the circumstances under which she had prayed for the child (1Sa_1:11 sq.)—On “stood” ( äַðּöֶּáֶú ) Clericus remarks: “they prayed to God standing.” For the custom of standing in prayer comp. Gen_18:22; Gen_19:27; Dan_9:20. In time of deeper devotion and emotion a kneeling posture also was adopted, (1Ki_8:54; 2Ch_6:13; Ezr_9:5).
1Sa_1:27. Three things move Hannah’s soul deeply and joyfully: 1) The recollection of the moment when she stood here and called on God for this Song of Solomon 2) the contemplation of the answer to her prayer, and the granting of the thing asked, and 3) the determination now to restore to the Lord what He had given her in this answer to her prayer.
1Sa_1:28. “And also I” ( åְâַí àָðֹëִé ) refers back to the words “and the Lord hath given me,” and implies a requital, et ego vicissim, “and I in my turn,” (Cler.). “It cannot be shown that äִùְׁàִéì means “lend,” as is generally assumed; it occurs in 1Sa_1:28, in the sense of “grant,“ “give.“ Knobel on Exo_12:36. Further, the signification “lend” is here inappropriate, because the “I also” expressly brings out the correspondence to the “gave,” of 1Sa_1:27. äִùְּׁàִéì means “cause to ask or demand,” “grant what is demanded,” “give.” The sense is: the Lord gave him to me, and so have I also given him to the Lord, as one asked or demanded. Calvin: “The sense is plain enough, namely, that she gave, dedicated to God the child obtained from Him by prayer.” The short concluding sentence “he is asked for the Lord,” expresses her determination to give him to the Lord for His service.—“They prayed,” not sing., referring to Elkanah, but plur., Elkanah and Hannah, (comp. 1Sa_1:19), Samuel not being included. [The plur. “they prayed” is easier, but the Heb. reads “he prayed,” (though some regard the form as plur.), and so Chald.; Syr. Ar. Vulg. have the plur.; Sept. omits the clause. If taken as sing. it no doubt refers to Elkanah, who, as head of the household, represented his wife and conducted the worship. (So Abarbanel äåֹãָä áְðֶãøֶ àִùְׁúּåֹ ; he also mentions Samuel and Eli). This is the view of Keil and Wordsworth. The Bib. Comm. takes it as fem, sing., and makes Hannah the subject.—It is impossible to convey in an Eng. translation the fine play upon words of the Heb. in the principal sentence of this verse and the preceding. Literally it reads: The Lord has given me my asking which I asked of Him; and I also have caused the Lord to ask him; as long as he lives he is asked to the Lord. The contrast between the Qal and Hiph. of the verb “to ask” ( ùàì ) is brought out in Exo_12:35 (asked, not borrowed, as in Eng. A. V.) and 36 (gave, not lent). Keil and Erdmann make the Hiph. a denominative from ùָׁàåּì “asked” == “to make one asked,” but there does not seem to be authority for this; the best rendering is “give.”—Erdmann puts a semicolon after “liveth;” but it is better, with Chald. Syr. and Eng. A. V., to put it after the first Jehovah.—The ancient vss. (except Vulg.) take the äéä “is” here to be equivalent to äéä “lives,” or perhaps, read äéä , and it is better to adopt the latter reading. Otherwise we must translate “and I also have given him to Jehovah all the days for which he was asked for Jehovah.”—Tr.].
2. 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 realization of the special ends of His kingdom, which they have not received from him, and are not by Him enabled to contribute.
3. Among the heroes of God’s kingdom who have been brought to the Lord by the prayers of their mothers and consecrated as His instruments, Samuel is a shining example of the full, unselfish devotion of the whole life to the Lord’s service, which is the condition of great profound capacity to further the kingdom of God.
4. An important principle of education is herein contained: every child should be devoted to the Lord’s service, from the beginning of his life on, with self-denial and prayer; and, in accordance with this destination, should receive his life-direction by education, selfish parental love yielding to the counsel of the divine will. Calvin: “Hannah, forgetting her own advantage, gives all the glory to God, thinking it would be well enough with her, if only God were glorified; and indeed it is right to yield to God all we have, whatever it may be.” In the education of children the using them to the divine and holy must begin with the weaning. From the beginning of his life the child must be “about his Father’s business.”
1Sa_1:21. Osiander: After receiving divine benefits we should not be more slothful in performing divine service, but rather be so much the more diligent and industrious.—Pious mothers are performing acceptable divine service when they are rearing their children faithfully and in the fear of God.—It is no reproach to a man when he prefers his wife’s better opinion to his own. [1Sa_1:23. Matt. Henry: So far was he from delighting to cross her, that he referred it entirely to her. Behold, how good and pleasant a thing it is, when yoke-fellows thus draw even in the yoke, and accommodate themselves to one another; each thinking well of what the other does, especially in works of piety and charity.—Tr.]
1Sa_1:24. Cramer: The rearing of children gives to parents, it is true, great toil and trouble, but when it is done in faith, it constitutes better works than when monks and nuns perform all their fasting, praying, castigations and indulgence-ceremonies; for those, not these, are enjoined by God in His word. Accordingly they are true acts of divine service, and receive from God their reward.
1Sa_1:25. Von Gerlach: That a three-year old boy should be already given over to the temple, was done in order that from the first awakening of his higher spiritual powers he might already be living amid these holy surroundings.—Seb. Schmidt: Children must at times be carried to divine service.—Starke (1Sa_1:26-27): The wonders of God’s goodness we should openly celebrate, and not keep silent about them. 1Sa_1:28. Parents give their children back to God when they advance them to holy baptism, present them to God in prayer, and rear them in a Christian manner. [There are many who think this can be, and often is, quite as well performed without infant baptism as with it.—Tr.]—Cramer: We should devote to the ministry the best talents and dearest children.
[1Sa_1:28. Giving back to the Lord: 1) All we have was given by the Lord. 2) All we have should be really consecrated to Him, and regarded and treated as His. 3) The Lord will then make all promote both our good and His glory.
1Sa_1:10; 1Sa_1:26. Agonizing supplication and joyful thanksgiving. Look on the two pictures and learn the lesson.—Chap. I. Hannah, her sorrows and her joys: I. Her sorrows. 1) She was childless. 2) She was derided and ridiculed. 3) She was unjustly accused by a good man. II. Her joys. 1) In the tender love of her husband. 2) In the answer to her agonizing prayer. 3) In being the mother of a prophet.—Tr.] [Chrysostom has five sermons on Hannah, which are discursive as usual, but contain some passages in his best vein. Works, ed. Migne, Vol. IV., p. 631.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1Sa_1:28. Erdmann renders: I have made him one prayed for (asked, erbeten) to the Lord as long as he lives; he is asked to the Lord (for the Lord). See Exegetical Notes in loco.—Tr.]
[Rashi says 22 months; Kimchi and others 24 months. For other opinions see “Synopsis Criticorum ” in loco.—Tr.].
[Rashi: “The Bath-qol (‘daughter of the voice’) went forth, saying: there shall arise a just one whose name shall be Samuel. Then every mother who bore a son called him Samuel; but when they saw his actions, they said, this is not Samuel. But when this one was born and they saw his manner of life, they said, this is that Samuel; and this is what the Scripture means, when it says, ‘the Lord confirm His word,’ that Samuel may be that just one.”—Tr.].
áִּé in connection with àֲãðִé is an interjection, “hear,” or “I beg,” or “truly, my lord,” (Gen_43:20; Gen_44:18; Exo_4:10; Exo_4:13; Num_12:11; Jos_7:8; 1Ki_3:17; 1Ki_3:26). Many explain it as = “per me obsecro,” citing the corresponding Arab oath “per me.” Another explanation (Ges.) supposes a contraction of áְּòִé “request,” since “in the Aramaic translations áְּáָòåּ stands for the Heb, áִּé , for which the Samaritans at least wrote áòåּ ‘obsecro’ without áְ , Gen_42:30.” Ewald says: “Most probably áִּé is shortened from àָáִé (Job_34:36; 1Sa_14:12), a simple Interjection.”
[The German is: mit der Entwöhnung schon hat die Gewöhnung … zu beginnen.—Tr.]