Hannah Presents Samuel to Eli at the SanctuaryBible World
1:261 Samuel 1:26
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.
She returned to Shiloh to tell Eli that she was the woman who had stood there praying to the Lord during the family's yearly worship, and that Samuel was the answer to that earnest prayer, his name meaning asked of God. After his birth and weaning, during his first three years, she brought him to the tabernacle and house of God at Shiloh and gave him to the Lord's service under Eli the high priest, fulfilling her vow to dedicate him rather than withholding the gift she had received. Giving up the care of her beloved child was a real sacrifice made with great self-denial, yet she was grateful and joyful that the Lord accepted her gift as a fragrant offering, and after leaving him she continued to care for him through prayer and a yearly robe while entrusting him to Eli's care. During those first three years she carefully taught him to distinguish between good and evil and led his thoughts to the Creator, and that faithful training made home and school one and enabled him to maintain integrity amid the evil influences and sinful example of Eli's household without following his sons. Her firmness, self-denial, and faithful influence in his earliest years powerfully shaped his character in contrast to Eli's failure to restrain his sons, and stands as an example of devotion and a mother's care in training children to love God and seek His honor.
Hannah's Vow Fulfilled at Shiloh
The verse is Hannah returning to Shiloh and telling Eli that she is the woman who had stood there praying to the Lord. Her distress and prayer had taken place during the family's yearly worship and sacrifices at Shiloh. Samuel was the answer to her earnest prayer, and his name means asked of God.
After his birth and weaning, during his first three years, she brought her young son to the tabernacle and house of God at Shiloh. There she gave him to the Lord's service under Eli the high priest, fulfilling her vow to dedicate him rather than withholding the gift she had received. Her prayer and dedication were followed by leaving him at Shiloh for service in God's house.
Giving up the care of her beloved child was a real sacrifice made with great self-denial. Yet she was grateful and joyful that the Lord accepted her gift as a fragrant offering. After leaving him for service she continued to care for him through prayer and a yearly robe or little coat, entrusting him to Eli's care and to another's care to fulfill her duty. Her yearly gift of clothing is compared to the yearly present brought to Henry while another family cared for him.
Faithful Training and Example
During his first three years his mother carefully taught him to distinguish between good and evil, using every familiar object around him to lead his thoughts up to the Creator. That training made home and school one, with loving father and mother instructing in place of stranger lips. They taught God's requirements and all His dealings with His people, associating thoughts of God with daily life and recounting His mighty works in deliverance. They impressed God's providence and the future life and the true, the good, the beautiful on the young mind. They illustrated lessons by figures and symbols to fix them in memory and initiated the child almost from infancy into the mysteries, wisdom and hopes of his fathers, in a way of thinking and feeling and anticipating that reached beyond things seen and transitory to the unseen and eternal. Such training brought forth youth vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act, with heart prepared like good ground for the precious seed and mind trained to see God in revelation and nature.
That early training led him to choose to maintain his integrity when his youth in the tabernacle exposed him to evil influences and sinful example. It helped him resist the evil in Eli's household, for he did not seek the company of the sons of Eli, who feared not God nor honored their father, nor follow their evil ways. Given to God as a consecrated offering, he was accepted by God because his heart was pure and he revered God. The Lord made him a channel of light from childhood, and later gave the boy a solemn message. His story shows that God can choose and work through the young, and young people who consecrate themselves to God may likewise be accepted and used in His work.
His mother's firmness and self-denial and faithful influence in the child's earliest years powerfully shaped his character. Her faithfulness stands in contrast to Eli's failure to restrain and guide his sons. Her fulfillment of the vow is an example of devotion to God and of a mother's care for her child. Her example shows a mother teaching her child to love and reverence God and seeking for him the greatness of honoring God and blessing others. Her reward encourages faithfulness in training children for God. Her patient, prayerful, and persevering fidelity is the quality needed in the church, Sabbath school, and society. Her entrusting her young son to another's care and leaving him in Eli's care connects a parent's care for a child with sacrifice in order to serve God and fulfill duty.
She returned to Shiloh to tell Eli that she was the woman who had stood there praying to the Lord during the family's yearly worship, and that Samuel was the answer to that earnest prayer, his name meaning asked of God. After his birth and weaning, during his first three years, she brought him to the tabernacle and house of God at Shiloh and gave him to the Lord's service under Eli the high priest, fulfilling her vow to dedicate him rather than withholding the gift she had received. Giving up the care of her beloved child was a real sacrifice made with great self-denial, yet she was grateful and joyful that the Lord accepted her gift as a fragrant offering, and after leaving him she continued to care for him through prayer and a yearly robe while entrusting him to Eli's care. During those first three years she carefully taught him to distinguish between good and evil and led his thoughts to the Creator, and that faithful training made home and school one and enabled him to maintain integrity amid the evil influences and sinful example of Eli's household without following his sons. Her firmness, self-denial, and faithful influence in his earliest years powerfully shaped his character in contrast to Eli's failure to restrain his sons, and stands as an example of devotion and a mother's care in training children to love God and seek His honor.
Hannah's Vow Fulfilled at Shiloh
The verse is Hannah returning to Shiloh and telling Eli that she is the woman who had stood there praying to the Lord.
Her distress and prayer had taken place during the family's yearly worship and sacrifices at Shiloh.
Samuel was the answer to her earnest prayer, and his name means asked of God.
After his birth and weaning, during his first three years, she brought her young son to the tabernacle and house of God at Shiloh.
There she gave him to the Lord's service under Eli the high priest, fulfilling her vow to dedicate him rather than withholding the gift she had received.
Her prayer and dedication were followed by leaving him at Shiloh for service in God's house.
Giving up the care of her beloved child was a real sacrifice made with great self-denial.
Yet she was grateful and joyful that the Lord accepted her gift as a fragrant offering.
After leaving him for service she continued to care for him through prayer and a yearly robe or little coat, entrusting him to Eli's care and to another's care to fulfill her duty.
Her yearly gift of clothing is compared to the yearly present brought to Henry while another family cared for him.
Faithful Training and Example
During his first three years his mother carefully taught him to distinguish between good and evil, using every familiar object around him to lead his thoughts up to the Creator. That training made home and school one, with loving father and mother instructing in place of stranger lips. They taught God's requirements and all His dealings with His people, associating thoughts of God with daily life and recounting His mighty works in deliverance. They impressed God's providence and the future life and the true, the good, the beautiful on the young mind. They illustrated lessons by figures and symbols to fix them in memory and initiated the child almost from infancy into the mysteries, wisdom and hopes of his fathers, in a way of thinking and feeling and anticipating that reached beyond things seen and transitory to the unseen and eternal. Such training brought forth youth vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act, with heart prepared like good ground for the precious seed and mind trained to see God in revelation and nature.
That early training led him to choose to maintain his integrity when his youth in the tabernacle exposed him to evil influences and sinful example. It helped him resist the evil in Eli's household, for he did not seek the company of the sons of Eli, who feared not God nor honored their father, nor follow their evil ways. Given to God as a consecrated offering, he was accepted by God because his heart was pure and he revered God. The Lord made him a channel of light from childhood, and later gave the boy a solemn message. His story shows that God can choose and work through the young, and young people who consecrate themselves to God may likewise be accepted and used in His work.
His mother's firmness and self-denial and faithful influence in the child's earliest years powerfully shaped his character. Her faithfulness stands in contrast to Eli's failure to restrain and guide his sons. Her fulfillment of the vow is an example of devotion to God and of a mother's care for her child. Her example shows a mother teaching her child to love and reverence God and seeking for him the greatness of honoring God and blessing others. Her reward encourages faithfulness in training children for God. Her patient, prayerful, and persevering fidelity is the quality needed in the church, Sabbath school, and society. Her entrusting her young son to another's care and leaving him in Eli's care connects a parent's care for a child with sacrifice in order to serve God and fulfill duty.