Iyar 26
Hannah
“And
יהוה
visited Ḥannah, so that she conceived and bore
three sons and two daughters, while the young Shemu’ĕl grew before יהוה.” (1Sam 2:21 ISR)
The
story of Hannah, and her heart-rending petition to ABBA Father to end her
barrenness, and “give” (1Sam 1:11)
her a son, is found in 1Samuel 1:1 through 1:20. Those of us who have read and studied this
account know that the son Elohim “gave” to Hannah was Samuel, the man who
became one of the most famous prophets in the history of Israel.
Let
us look at “the rest of the story”. Barrenness was the ultimate humiliation for
a married Hebrew woman, yet Hannah knew that her answer lay with her Creator,
that only EL-Shaddai could help
her. When YHWH “remembered” Hannah, and
she conceived a child (see 1Sam 1:19-20), Hannah knew her prayers had been
answered.
According
to Torah, first born males that opened the womb belonged to YHWH Elohim (see Ex
13:2), but were to be redeemed the 31st day after birth (see Ex
13:11-13; Num 18:15-16). The exception
to this was if they were of the tribe of Levi (Numbers 8:13-19). Genealogical records found in 1Chronicals
reveal to us that Elkanah, Samuel’s father, was a Levite, his ancestors having
relocated to this particular area belonging to Ephraim (compare 1Chr 6 with
1Sam 1:1). This is further confirmed
when the young child Samuel is given an ephod
to wear as he ministered before Elohim (1Sam 2:18-19) – only those of the tribe
of Levi may wear an ephod, which is a
priestly garment, and again, only those of the tribe of Levi may minister in
the Mishkan (tabernacle).
This
also may explain why Hannah made the decision not to make the annual visit to the Tabernacle until the child
Samuel was weaned. In the culture of
that time, children were not weaned until at least three years of age, and
sometimes as old as four or five. These
early years in a child’s life have been labeled as the “formative years”; many
child psychologists’ believe that a person’s character is created and developed
in the first 3 to 5 years of their life.
If this is true, it says much for Hannah’s training of the young child
Samuel, before she released him into
the care of the aging priest, Eli, and his two corrupt sons (2Sam 2:12-17).
It
is very likely that young Samuel was told, by his mother Hannah, of the
life-long service to YHWH that was to be his.
From his mother he probably heard that the King of the Universe answers
prayer, and it is possible that he may have even learned the words to the song
that she would sing at his dedication (1Sam 2:1-10). All the lessons that the young Samuel learned
at Hannah’s knee were to train him, prepare him, for a life long ministry and
service to our Creator. Samuel would
learn the voice of Elohim at an early age, and in later years, it would be said
of Samuel “יהוה was with him and let not one
of his words be without effect” (1Sam 3:19, emphasis mine).
Hannah
did not just “give” her son back to the Father.
She prepared him, as only a mother could, as only a mother should, for a
lifetime of service to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a beautiful example of a Godly mother we
have in Hannah…
“My
son, watch over your father’s command, And do not forsake the Torah of your
mother. Bind them on your heart always;
Tie them around your neck. When you are
walking about, it leads you; When you lie down, it guards you. And when you
have woken up, It talks to you.” (Pro
6:20-22 ISR)
©2018
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