And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.
The man Elkanah went up with all his house to Shiloh for the appointed yearly worship and sacrifice to the Lord. The yearly going up was a family act, with husband, wives, and children present together for worship and offering.
Irregularities had entered the sanctuary service so that his attendance there as a Levite was not required, yet he still chose to go up to worship and to sacrifice together with his family. After the offerings were made, it was the family custom to share together in a feast that was solemn and yet joyful.
The surrounding account sets this yearly worship against Hannah's faithfulness and self-denial in keeping her vow concerning Samuel and honoring her commitment to God. Her fidelity stands in contrast with Eli's failure to restrain his sons.
The verse belongs to the account of Samuel receiving his early training from his faithful mother under God's plan in which home and school were one. Loving father and mother, rather than stranger lips, were to teach children God's requirements and make them acquainted with all His dealings with His people. They were to associate thoughts of God with all daily life, to recount His mighty works in deliverance with eloquence and reverential awe, to impress providence and the future life upon the young mind, and to use figures and symbols to illustrate lessons and fix them in memory. In this way the child was initiated almost from infancy into the mysteries, wisdom, and hopes of his fathers, with thought and feeling guided beyond things seen and transitory to the unseen and eternal. This training produced youth vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act, with hearts prepared like good ground for precious seed and minds trained to see God in revelation and nature.
Hannah's patient, prayerful, and persevering fidelity in this account is held up as an example needed in the church, in the Sabbath school, and in society.
The man Elkanah went up with all his house to Shiloh for the appointed yearly worship and sacrifice to the Lord. The yearly going up was a family act, with husband, wives, and children present together for worship and offering.
Irregularities had entered the sanctuary service so that his attendance there as a Levite was not required, yet he still chose to go up to worship and to sacrifice together with his family. After the offerings were made, it was the family custom to share together in a feast that was solemn and yet joyful.
The surrounding account sets this yearly worship against Hannah's faithfulness and self-denial in keeping her vow concerning Samuel and honoring her commitment to God. Her fidelity stands in contrast with Eli's failure to restrain his sons.
The verse belongs to the account of Samuel receiving his early training from his faithful mother under God's plan in which home and school were one. Loving father and mother, rather than stranger lips, were to teach children God's requirements and make them acquainted with all His dealings with His people. They were to associate thoughts of God with all daily life, to recount His mighty works in deliverance with eloquence and reverential awe, to impress providence and the future life upon the young mind, and to use figures and symbols to illustrate lessons and fix them in memory. In this way the child was initiated almost from infancy into the mysteries, wisdom, and hopes of his fathers, with thought and feeling guided beyond things seen and transitory to the unseen and eternal. This training produced youth vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act, with hearts prepared like good ground for precious seed and minds trained to see God in revelation and nature.
Hannah's patient, prayerful, and persevering fidelity in this account is held up as an example needed in the church, in the Sabbath school, and in society.