But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, [I will wait] until the child is weaned; then will I bring him, that he may appear before Jehovah, and there abide for ever.
Hannah has her son at last, and the first thing she does with him is plan to give him away — but not yet. She stays home with a nursing child and a promise she means to keep.
The delay was not hesitation. One writer measures the cost of her gift by the slow work of weaning:
Elkanah went up to worship, but Hannah stayed at home. She said, "I am going to wean the child." It would have been very easy for her to give the child at once. "No," she said, "I will wean the child." Mothers know that weaning a child takes a long time. In that time the child gets entwined in the affections. The child becomes part of the mother, more and more so, as she cares for him before the weaning comes. I believe this shows the extent of the sacrifice Hannah made. She handed him over to the Lord thoroughly weaned.
Why weaning at all, rather than handing over an infant? Commentators read the detail as a picture of the state of soul that God's servants need:
Samuel is born to be in a special way the servant of the Lord. But he must be weaned before he can become this. We cannot help thinking of Psalm 131 here: "But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." As Perowne says, "A weaned child no longer cries, frets, and longs for the breast. It lies still and is content, because it is with its mother. In the same way my soul is weaned from all discontented thoughts and from all fretful desires of earthly good. It waits in stillness upon God, finds its satisfaction in His presence, and rests peacefully in His arms." This is surely what is required for proper service: the childlike spirit, but the spirit of a weaned child.
Hannah names two things she wants for her son, and they are not the same thing. One writer takes them as the pattern for raising any child:
Here we find a mother who brings her child to the Lord. What is her aim? First, that he should appear before Him; second, that he should stay there for ever. This ought to be the great aim of all parenting and the bringing up of our children. First of all, they should appear before the Lord. In other words, they should accept Jesus as their Saviour and so come to know Him. Second, they should stay with Him for ever. In other words, they should accept Him as their Lord, the one they want to follow and serve.
Later, when she hands Samuel over, Hannah says she has "lent" him to the Lord. The word carries more than a temporary loan:
"Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord," she adds: "as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." "Lent" should rather be "given." She did not cling to him for herself. She did not make a scene at parting with the loved and lovable "son of her vows." She gives him up freely and gladly. Was it not for this very purpose that she waited long and prayed earnestly? She was not one of those who make a vow and afterwards regret it.
She did not arrive empty-handed. One writer ties her weaned affections to the full offerings she brought:
Hannah waited until Samuel was weaned. How good it is to bring into the house of God affections that are weaned from the resources of this world. Look at the fullness of what is brought in: "three bulls, and an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine." I do not wonder that worship follows. That is the highest service of all.
The same writer turns the loan the other way round. Children are lent to parents, and letting go is not easy:
We can imagine that it was not an easy thing for Hannah to leave her boy, whom she loved so much, in Shiloh. However, she knew this was according to God's will and to her own promise. Children are a wonderful gift of grace from the Lord. But to a certain extent they are only given "on loan." It would be selfish of us to want to keep them for ourselves. They belong to the Lord. If the Lord wants to use them for Himself, we should count it a privilege to give them to Him.
- Asked. Samuel came in answer to prayer. Hannah now gives back the gift she asked for.
- Weaned. She refuses the quick handover; the slow work of weaning is what makes the gift complete, and it costs her most.
- Fitted. Weaning pictures a soul quieted and satisfied in God. Commentators say that state is what real service requires.
- Brought. Weaned affections do not arrive empty. She comes with full offerings, and worship follows.
- Abiding. Her two aims set the goal for every child brought to God: Saviour first, then Lord for life.
And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what is good in thy sight abide until thou hast weaned him; only, may Jehovah fulfil his word. And the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
Hannah had promised her son to God. Now she asks to stay home until he is weaned, and Elkanah agrees. His short answer carries a prayer, and the quiet years of nursing that follow become Samuel's first training.
Elkanah could have insisted on the yearly journey. Instead he leaves the timing to his wife and adds a prayer. One writer takes that prayer as a sign that he too expected something from this child.
Elkanah's own faith had less energy than his wife's. Still he says, "May the LORD establish His word." That shows he shared her expectation, at least in some measure, that blessing would come to Israel through the child Hannah's prayer had won. His words suggest he hoped God would give Samuel some special mission. Like his noble wife, he expected better days for God's people through the birth of this son.
Hannah stayed home in order to keep her vow, not to escape it. What she received she meant to give back.
Hannah goes up at the proper time, when the child was weaned — not before... Here was a true heart. For a woman like this, God's blessing was only the occasion, and the means, of giving that blessing back to Him. The Lord was the object of her soul. Who can suppose that she loved Samuel any less? She could well gather — and she was right — that such a child was not born for nothing: hers was a son given for God's purposes in Israel.
The waiting made the parting harder, not easier.
It would have been very easy for her to give the child at once. "No," she said, "I will wean the child." Mothers know that weaning is a long process, and during it the child becomes wound around the mother's affections... To me this shows how great a sacrifice Hannah made. She handed him over to the Lord fully weaned.
Weaning is more than a stage of childhood here. One writer ties it to a psalm about a quiet soul, and to what makes a person fit to serve God.
Samuel is born in a special way to be the servant of the Lord; but he must be weaned before he can become this. We cannot help thinking here of Psalm 131: "like a weaned child is my soul within me." As Perowne puts it: "A weaned child no longer cries, frets, and longs for the breast. It lies still and is content, because it is with its mother. In the same way my soul is weaned from all discontented thoughts and from all restless desires for earthly good. It waits quietly on God, finds its satisfaction in His presence, and rests peacefully in His arms." This is what proper service calls for: the childlike spirit — but the spirit of a weaned child.
Where does such quiet come from? One writer traces it to the discovery of Christ Himself.
Once believers discover what Christ can be to their hearts, and let Him take first place there... every attraction and enticement this world can offer will lose its power. This weaned state is in this way the effect of enjoying Christ Himself.
The verse names two things Hannah did: she nursed, and then she weaned. One writer takes both as a pattern for raising children.
First, she nursed her young son (1:23). In spiritual terms, we must give our children spiritual food for their souls. It is never too early to feed them with such food, the "pure spiritual milk of the word" (1 Pet. 2:2)... Also, breast milk is formed ahead of time, and inside the mother. There is no spiritual version of fast food or a ready meal. Our children will be blessed only as we give them something that has first grown in us, that we have experienced and practised ourselves.
Second, Hannah weaned her son (1 Sam. 1:23). Our children cannot depend only on spiritual food from their parents forever. We have to "wean" them. They need to learn to stand on their own two feet, and feed themselves spiritually. They need to build up their own close relationship to the Lord Jesus.
Hannah did not treat God's gift as a reason to sit back.
It was pure grace on God's part that Samuel became what he was. Yet Hannah also saw the human side: responsibility, which stands together with God's grace. She did not lean on God's grace and use it as an excuse to neglect her duty toward the heritage God had given her.
- Wait. Hannah stays home not to keep Samuel but to make her promise good; the delay is devotion, not hesitation.
- Word. Elkanah's prayer, "only, may the LORD establish His word," shows he shared her hope that this child had a mission for Israel.
- Weaning. Samuel must be weaned before he can serve — Psalm 131's picture of a soul quiet and satisfied in God, not fretting for what it lacks.
- Way. That quiet comes from enjoying Christ: when He has first place in the heart, the world's pull fades.
- Work. Feed, then wean: Hannah gave Samuel what she had lived herself, then let him stand alone — grace never cancels a parent's responsibility.
And she took him up with her when she had weaned him, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a flask of wine, and brought him to the house of Jehovah to Shiloh; and the boy was young.
Hannah had promised her son to God before he was born. This verse is the moment she keeps that promise. She walks up to Shiloh, where the house of the LORD stood, with the child, a bull, flour and wine. Two small details carry the weight: she waited until he was weaned, and she did not come empty-handed.
Hannah could have kept her vow the week Samuel was born. She chose the slower road, and those years of feeding and holding him made the parting cost more.
It would have been very easy for her to give the child at once. "No," she said, "I will wean the child." Mothers know that weaning takes a long time. In those years the child takes root in the mother's affections. The child becomes part of the mother. I believe this shows how great a sacrifice Hannah made. She handed him over to the Lord thoroughly weaned.
The animals, flour and wine are not travel supplies. Commentators read them as the standard offerings, each one picturing something of Christ.
When Hannah had weaned the child, she took him to Shiloh, and on the ground of sacrifice dedicated him to the Lord. The slain bullock for the burnt offering speaks of Christ in the complete devotedness of His death. The ephah of flour speaks of what He was in His lowly manhood under the eye of God. The bottle of wine speaks of the joy that God always found in Him. So, in this picture, the boy Samuel was presented to the Lord in the value of all that Christ is to God.
(The older translation quoted here says "three bullocks." The ESV says "a three-year-old bull.")
Why does a bull have to die before Eli the priest can take the child? Because this child, however much prayed for, comes to God on the same ground as everyone else.
One of the bullocks is sacrificed and the child brought to Eli. She knew this was important. We never read of a child rightly presented to the Lord without some symbol of the death of Christ going with it. Only on the ground of that death can any human being be acceptable to God.
Once the son was in her arms, she still did not take the promise back. Set beside the child, the offerings are almost nothing.
When God answers her request with the gift of Samuel, she does not take back her offer. This humble wife of Elkanah the Levite brings a costly sacrifice to the Lord: "three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a flask of wine." Yet it is nothing beside the gift of Samuel. She parts with her only son, the son God Himself had given her, the one she had "asked of God." So she shows that God was more precious to her than the son she had wanted so much.
The weaning and the offerings belong together. What fills God's house is a heart no longer feeding on other things.
Hannah waited until Samuel was weaned. How blessed to bring into the house of God affections which are weaned from the resources of this world. Look at the fullness of what she brings in: "three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine." No wonder worship follows. That is the highest service of all.
Beside the weaned child stands Eli, the aging priest at Shiloh. Age and standing do not wean a person.
There were two things very striking in the case of Samuel. He had been first weaned before he was presented to the Lord in Shiloh. You see that man of importance, who fails to hear the voice of the Lord in the assembly gathered to Him in Shiloh. Ah, he never was weaned. Have you been weaned, or did you take a place at Shiloh with your heart still linked with the world and like it in your ways?
Israel's revival did not begin in public. It began in a home, with one woman's hidden grief.
Away in Mount Ephraim a man named Elkanah lived with his wife Hannah. They were deeply attached to each other. Their one sorrow at home was that Hannah had no children. This godly, unknown woman went through hidden and bitter struggles of soul. In those struggles lay the beginning of revival for Israel. A praying woman brought in, in the ways of God, a new era.
- Asked — Hannah prayed for a son, and her hidden struggle became the start of a new era for Israel.
- Weaned — she did not hand over an infant. The waiting years wound the child into her affections, and that measures what the gift cost.
- Sacrificed — the bull, flour and wine picture Christ's death, His lowly manhood, and God's joy in Him. No one comes to God rightly except on the ground of that death.
- Returned — the offerings were costly, yet nothing beside Samuel himself. Handing him over showed that God mattered more to her than the son she had begged for.
- Worship — affections weaned from the world are what fill God's house, and worship is the result. The question the passage leaves is whether we have been weaned, or come with hearts still tied to the world.