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Good Tuesday morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever paid a high price for being true to your word, or making good on a vow or a commitment?
In our journey together, we are in 1 Samuel 1 and the remarkable story of Hannah, Elkanah and little Samuel. A vow has been made, and it would require an amazing, sacrificial commitment to fulfill that vow!
Out of the desperation of the competitive home environment of Elkanah and his two wives Penninah, her children, and Hannah and her infertility, has come a vow and a miracle!
First Hannah’s desperate cry to God for help, and her outrageous vow to God, that she would return back to Him a son, if God would open her womb and bless her with a miracle baby.
Second, her miraculous pregnancy and the birth of a miraculous son she named Samuel. Hannah chose that unusual name “Because I asked the LORD for him.” Can you imagine, for the rest of his life, this boy was known as the answer to a mother’s prayer! While you may not be named Samuel my friend, are you the answer to a mother’s prayer?
Notice please in verse 21 one year has passed and the time has come for Elkanah to return back to Shiloh with his family for their annual worship pilgrimage. “When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go…” (1 Samuel 1:21) Do you notice Elkanah takes his entire family on this annual pilgrimage? Why?
This tells me Elkanah takes seriously the God given privilege and responsibility to lead his family well in ‘knowing God and walking in all His ways’. Several times Moses and Joshua had challenged the Hebrews to chose wisely and lead their children well, so their children would grow up respecting and honoring God in their lives, and when they had families, they would follow the example of their parents. It’s the promise of Psalm 78:1-7, isn’t it?
In his farewell message to the people Moses had said “Now chose life so that you and your children may live, that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, hold fast to Him, for the LORD is your life…” (Deut. 30:19,20) Elkanah was doing just that, making the children impacting choice, to be faithful to God, and doing it well.
A generation later, Joshua had said in his farewell message, “Choose you this day whom you will serve, as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) Do you see Elkanah was doing this faithfully each year, and thus his children were growing up in a family with their daddy leading the way, establishing the family culture with his spiritual leadership. How does that compare to your family my friends?
Do you see it says in verse 21 Elkanah went to Shiloh each year to “…offer the annual sacrifice and fulfill his vow…” The sacrifice was a worship sacrifice of gratitude to God for His blessings, His protection and His provision for Elkanah and his family. But what about this matter of a vow? We have the record of the vow Hannah made in verse 11, but I see no record of Elkanah making a vow to God?
My friends, Elkanah, as the male head of his family, the patriarch of his clan, was living the vow he’d likely taken as a young boy, as all good Hebrew young boys did, in their transition to manhood, to live as a God honoring man. And to raise his family to know and honor God. The law of Moses was his guideline and what we’ve just seen as his commitment to prioritize this annual worship pilgrimage is an evidence of his commitment to be such a God honoring man. Do you have such a man in your family who is determined to live and lead his family to be God honoring?
Notice Hannah remained at home in Ramah with their infant son Samuel, but she did so with an intent of making good on her vow, when Samuel was old enough to live separated from his mother and family. She said “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.” Hannah had made a radical vow before God, and this plan was how she would fulfill her vow, by taking her son to the Tabernacle to live there permanently in service to God. There is no evidence any other mother had done so, nor that it was a widespread practice at that time.
Numbers chapter 6 explains to us the “Nazarite” vow of consecration unto the LORD, which was made for a specific time period. It was a very rare thing. For Hannah, perhaps she had this in mind, but felt led to consecrate her son for his entire lifetime, not just a temporary period of time. As we continue our study of Samuel over the next few days, I believe we’ll discover WHY God evidently moved Hannah to make such a radical vow, which would cost her so dearly.
I wonder if you noticed something in Elkanah’s words to Hannah? “Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the LORD make good His word.” (1 Sam. 1:23) What did Elkanah mean by that? What word of the LORD was Elkanah hoping God would make good to Hannah? As she made her vow to God about a son in her infertility, God had not requested that of her, nor did He promise her anything in return for that vow.
But if you’ll take a moment and look at the end of Numbers chapter 6, which describes the Nazarite vow, you’ll discover a priestly blessing, God instructed Aaron to speak over the people. You’ve likely heard it before: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:22-26)
Could it be that over this past year, Elkanah and Hannah had several times discussed the vow Hannah had made to God, and together had they prayed to God seeking to understand the full implications of this radical vow? Might God have turned their attention to this Nazarite vow chapter in Numbers and in their reflection, might they have claimed this blessing as God’s response to their radical vow? We don’t know, but if that is what Elkanah meant in 1 Samuel 1:23, perhaps that helps us understand the blessing Eli spoke over them in 1 Samuel 2:20, “May the LORD give you children by this woman, to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD.”
The next few verses in Hannah’s story are heart wrenching aren’t they? “So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was… and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh.” (1 Sam. 1:23,24)
What just happened in your heart as I read that, especially you women who have birthed children? Most of you know I grew up as a son of missionaries in a foreign country, in the 50’s and 60’s. I was fortunate. The only English language school in the entire country was in the city in which my family lived. All around the world, however, there were boarding schools, built in those days to receive the children of missionaries who lived in remote places, where education was not available. To those schools, missionaries brought their children, often beginning in the first grade, age 6 or so, and those kids would live at those schools, coming back to their parents for the summer and perhaps one or two breaks during the school year.
Do you know anyone who grew up like that… either parents who sent their children, or children who were dropped off at those schools? Oh my, what a price to pay so the Gospel could be brought by missionaries to the extreme remote places. That helps me to understand, just a little, what Hannah was anticipating in these few years, that she had her infant son Samuel in her arms. How many tears did she shed as she looked ahead, to the gut wrenching day she would hand him over to live at the Tabernacle, in fulfillment of her radical vow.
In closing today, do you see what Hannah said to Eli the High Priest, when that day finally came and she brought her son Samuel to the Tabernacle? Perhaps the boy was 4 or 5 years old? “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” (1 Samuel 1:26,27) WOW!! What a statement. What a radical action of making good on a vow taken in the desperation of infertility.
It is followed by six very powerful words: “And he worshiped the LORD there.” That statement is a summary of Samuel’s life. He was born to be a worshiper, at a time when Israel was floundering as a people, because Eli, Hophni and Phinehaus, the three men who should have been worshipers, leading the people of Israel in living as a God honoring people of God… were themselves spiritually floundering.
This tells me that in those few years Hannah had Samuel at home with her, she trained him to be a passionate God worshiper! She had no idea what would happen in Samuel’s lifetime, nor what role Samuel would play in Israel’s history. But she did the most important thing any mother can do… she lived what Moses commanded all parents: “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up… be careful you do not forget the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)
That gives us a lot to think about today doesn’t it my friends? No matter your age, or how geographically far your children, grandchildren or even nieces or nephews might live from you. . . how can you and I have that kind of influence on them? What have Elkanah and Hannah taught us today? How can we build family spiritual cultures which produce Samuels?
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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