A Response to God’s Faithfulness - 1 Samuel 1:21-28

There are some passages of Scripture that are incredibly relatable. You read it and think I know exactly what that’s like. And then there are other passages of Scripture that you read and think, this is a little unusual. Of course, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable, my point is simply that some passages are easier to connect with on a human experience level than others.

This episode with Hannah is on one hand very relatable, but on the other incredibly unusual. Hannah’s love for Samuel and her desire for the Lord to work through him is relatable, but dropping her son off at the tabernacle is unusual.

As far as I know, no one has dedicated their child to the Lord and then tried to drop him off here at the American Legion. In fact, I urge every parent here not to drop your children off here at the American Legion - I don’t think it’d work out the same way that it did for Samuel.

But of course, that’s not the central message of this particular passage. The central message of this passage is that Hannah was faithful to the vows she made before God. She took what she said seriously.

Perhaps you’re thinking well, that’s why I don’t make vows before God, but the truth is many of us have made binding vows before God. Think about it, many of us have made marriage vows, church membership vows, maybe you’ve sworn to tell the whole truth in court, or perhaps you even promised to support and defend the constitution of the United States.

God’s Word has a lot to say about taking oaths:

Numbers 30 says, “If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

One of the characteristics of godly people that David mentions in Psalm 15 is that they “swear to [their] own hurt and [do] not change.”

Of course, Scripture is clear that we’re not to make rash vows. We’re not to make oaths in a flippant, indifferent sort of manner. We’re supposed to consider oaths and make them soberly.

Interestingly enough, chapter 22 of the Westminster Confession of Faith is dedicated to “Lawful Oaths and Vows.”

Oaths and vows should be taken with the utmost seriousness, which is why we should rarely make them. You and I shouldn’t have to constantly swear oaths and vows, because, as James says, “let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’”

The idea is, vows should be rare, but when we do make them we should keep them! The Biblical conception of oaths and vows is very different from our modern conception of oaths and vows.

Oaths and vows when made are treated with indifference. We often make and break vows without batting an eye.

Which is why what Hannah does in this passage is so shocking! Not only does she make a heavy vow to dedicate her son to God, she actually follows through with it. And the passage that we’re looking at this morning breaks down simply into two parts: Hannah’s faithfulness to God (vv. 24-26) and God’s faithfulness to Hannah (vv. 27-28).

But again, all of this is rather shocking when you consider Hannah’s life circumstances. Her life was, especially prior to the birth of Samuel, quite depressing. Her marriage was painful to say the least. She was barren. She was consistently mocked by her husband’s other wife, Peninnah for being barren. Eli the High Priest mistook her for a drunkard.

And so she took her pain and suffering to the Lord and prayed. And in her prayer, she made a vow: Lord, if you “will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life.”

We’re now at the point in Hannah’s story where we can clearly see that God answered her prayer. God gave her a little boy, whom she named Samuel. Samuel sounds like Hebrew for ‘heard of God.’ No doubt, as we’ll see later does Samuel, “hear from God,” but for Hannah his life represented, “hearing from God” as well. Which is reflected in what she says about Samuel in verse 20: “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

Will Hannah be faithful? (vv. 21-23)

Now, we know what happens in Hannah’s story, after all, we just read it. However, there is a nagging question that lingers in the background of verses 21-23. And that is, will Hannah actually follow through on the vow she made to the Lord? Will she actually do what she said she was going to do?

No doubt, Hannah’s husband Elkanah was aware of the vow that she had made. In fact, it was his responsibility as his family’s spiritual leader to know what was going on in his house. In fact, the book of Numbers gives special instructions to husbands whose wives make vows before the Lord.

Numbers 30:6 says, “If [a married woman makes a vow] or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.”

And so it’s for that reason, Elkanah’s every bit as responsible for Hannah’s vow as she is, which helps us understand why we’re told that he went up to worship God at Shiloh to “pay his vow.”

Elkanah didn’t promise to dedicate Samuel to the Lord, Hannah did that, but he shared in the responsibility of making sure that it was fulfilled. Elkanah and Hannah’s conversation makes a little more sense in light of this background. You can imagine the scene right? He’s packing the family up to go to Shiloh and stops, looks at Hannah holding her dear little Samuel and asks, “are you and the little boy coming this year?”

To which she says, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.”

The weaning process in the ancient world looked very different than it does today. It could easily take up to three years for a child to be weaned. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the potential problem here: every year that passed by, the more time that Hannah spent holding little Samuel and rocking him to sleep, would only make following through on her vow that much more difficult.

It’s the natural motherly instinct for her love of her baby to only grow.

That’s what I mean - the question looming in the background is: will Hannah follow through? Will she actually do it?

You can almost hear the concern growing in Elkanah’s mind: “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.”

Elkanah consents to wait, but it seems as if he was even beginning to wonder so he says, “May the Lord establish his word.” In other words, may the Lord compel your faithfulness. Because he could certainly see that it was only going to get harder.

And Hannah had every excuse imaginable at her disposal to get herself out of her vow, right? She could easily say that in a moment of weakness she said a few things that she now regrets. After all, she was stressed, upset, and crying when she dedicated Samuel to the Lord, so no one can actually expect her to follow through on it, right?

People swear vows only to turn around and break them without batting an eye over the most meaningless, insignificant sort of stuff. But Hannah’s vow to dedicate Samuel to the Lord, by giving him to the priest at the tabernacle - that’s heavy.

Would any of us blame her if she tried to get out of her vow? In some ways, I think most of us would almost expect it.

But of course, that’s not what Hannah does.

Hannah’s faithfulness to God (vv. 24-26)

Hannah is faithful to her vow that she made before the Lord. She does what must have been so incredibly difficult to do: take Samuel to the tabernacle, drop him off with Eli, and walk away.

But she didn’t just take Samuel did she? Look at verse 24, “she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.”

She brings the items necessary for a fulfillment of a vow offering which is outlined Numbers 15:8-10. We’re told in Numbers 15:8-10:

“8 And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or for peace offerings to the Lord, 9 then one shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

Most modern translations say that Hannah brought a “three year old bull,” however, the original Hebrew says that Hannah didn’t take one three-year-old bull, but instead three bulls.

Most translations say, “three-year-old bull” in part because verse 25 only mentions one bull. It says that they “slaughtered the bull,” which was just a common way of saying they slaughtered all the bulls. Interestingly enough, the primary reason many commentators argue that Hannah brought only one bull is because of the fact that three bulls would have been over-the-top generous.

Bulls were signs of wealth in the ancient world. And so, a three bull sacrifice had the potential to send a family of decent wealth into poverty.

But three bulls makes a tremendous amount of sense when you realize that everything Hannah brought was over-the-top generous.

Numbers 15 says that only one bull is required but she brings three. Numbers 15 says that only three tenths of an ephah of flour was required; she brings an entire ephah. Numbers 15 only requires half a hin of wine; she brings an entire skin of wine.

Hannah’s sacrifice is noteworthy because she follows Numbers 15 to a tee, except for one detail: she brings much more than was required.

But that’s not all she sacrificed. Did you catch what was mentioned at the end of verse 24? We’re told that, “...she brought him [Samuel] to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young.” She brings Samuel to the tabernacle too.

Suddenly, the bulls, flour, and wine seem incredibly insignificant don’t they? And of course, I don’t want to imply that she literally sacrificed Samuel, rather she’s giving to the Lord what was undoubtedly the most important part of her life to the Lord, just as she promised. After caring for Samuel for the first few years of his life, she’s going to drop him off and walk away.

Again, please don’t drop your children off at my house, or worse, here at the American Legion. It probably won’t work out the same way it did for Hannah and Samuel.

But Hannah is really on to something here, because she looks at Samuel and doesn’t think to herself, here’s a little boy who I can vicariously accomplish all my goals through. She doesn’t look at him and think this child is going to live the life I wish I would have. She doesn’t dump all of her dreams and goals on Samuel. She doesn’t view Samuel as her treasured possession.

Hannah understood a deep theological truth that we so often fail to remember and that is, everything we have is the Lord’s already! The better way to look at what’s going on here is Hannah is giving back to God something he already possessed. Samuel was already the Lord’s and He was going to use him as he saw fit.

So this dramatic drop off is nothing more than Hannah simply demonstrating to God what she already knew to be true - that everything she owned - a few bulls, some flour, a bottle of wine, and yes, even her dear son, had never really been her things to begin with! They had always been the Lord’s.

But we’d all do better to remember that everything from your house, to your cars, and bank accounts - even your children - are on loan to you from God. Which is why we should feel less entitled to them. We’d do better to loosen our grip on the things we think we own.

Which, by the way, is why tithing is such an important act of worship. It’s not the church demanding money from you as it’s often presented: it’s you recognizing that everything you have - is God’s to begin with, and so, you’re simply demonstrating that He is more valuable to you than your possessions and money.

When you remember that your possessions are in fact, blessings from God your sense of entitlement will begin to melt away. But not only will your entitlement melt away, you’ll be liberated to live more generously. Suddenly, your home, money, and even your family are no longer things to possess but opportunities to express your gratitude to God and further his kingdom.

Hannah’s prayer for Samuel was so much bigger than the prayers for worldly success that’s so common today. Hannah saw Samuel as a boy who could be used by God to accomplish and fulfill his will! At the end of the day, that was her heart’s desire for Samuel. That God would use Samuel to bring Himself glory.

All Christian parents want their children to put their faith in Jesus Christ. We all want that for our children. We pray all the time here at Providence that our children put their trust in Jesus Christ. But I hope that’s not where our prayers end.

We want them to be saved for a purpose - to reach the lost, stand for truth, and accomplish the will of God! Who knows, maybe one of the little boys who runs around after church will one day stand behind the pulpit at Providence Presbyterian Church! Maybe your little girl will one day become a bold lioness for Christ or the Proverbs 31 woman.

My point is, we don’t want our children to be bare minimum Christians. We don’t want them to constantly ask themselves how can they be as worldly as possible and a Christian at the same time? That’s a terrible question isn’t it? We want our children to be faithful to the Lord and bold for Him.

But that’s exactly what Hannah wanted for Samuel! She wanted him to not only know, trust, and serve the Lord, but to accomplish the will of God. She wanted him to faithfully lead the people of Israel.

But in order for all of this to happen, Hannah had to be faithful to the vow that she made before the Lord.

God’s faithfulness to Hannah (vv. 27-28)

Here’s the truth, Hannah had to be faithful to her vow because God had been faithful to her. Look at what she says in verses 27-28: “27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”

Hannah was well aware of God’s faithfulness in her life, because she asked for a son and God answered her prayer.

Dale Ralph Davis in his commentary on 1 Samuel translates verses 27-28 like this:

“For this child I prayed, and [God] gave me my asking which I asked from him; and I also have given back what was asked to [God]; all the days he lives he is one that is asked for [God].”

We don’t speak like that, however, Davis was trying to capture the fact that in the Hebrew, Hannah was emphasizing the fact that God had answered her prayers. In other words, Hannah is emphasizing God’s faithfulness in her life.

God was faithful in every way. He not only gave her a son, he gave her a son who would bring him glory. And we’re even given a glimpse of it at the very end of verse 28. We’re told, “And he worshiped the Lord there.” Who is he? He is Samuel. Samuel worshiped the Lord there at the tabernacle, just as Hannah had prayed and vowed.

After all, that was a big component to Hannah’s prayer for a son wasn’t it? She didn’t just want a son for her own pleasure, she wanted a son who would serve the Lord and God answered Hannah’s prayer in every way. He is faithful.

Which is such a contrast to every other figure in this passage. Everyone in Hannah’s life is pretty much a disappointment. Elkanah was a faithful worshiper of God, but his polygamy was the source of a lot of Hannah’s pain. Then on top of that, his other wife, Peninnah regularly mocked Hannah’s barrenness. And then even the high priest, the man who was supposed to be the most godly man in all of Israel cannot distinguish genuine faith from drunkenness.

Hannah had every opportunity to blame God for her unfortunate circumstances, but instead she believed that it was the Lord alone who could deliver her from her pain.

Everyone around Hannah was a disappointment, except for the living God. God saw her pain and suffering and he answered her prayers.

And it was because God had answered Hannah’s prayers, she had to follow through on her vow to dedicate Samuel to the tabernacle. God had been so faithful to Hannah, Hannah had to be faithful to him.

Even her elaborate sacrifices are an expression of gratitude to God. You might even simplify her response to God’s faithfulness in her life down to one word: worship. The only appropriate response to God’s faithfulness in her life is to worship Him.

I know many of you have been through or are in the midst of trials, but I hope and pray that even in the midst of suffering and still say that God is good. His goodness, grace, and mercy is always greater than the brokenness of this world. Hannah certainly understood that.

In fact, Hannah understood that her sins separated her from God and were only forgiven through the blood of a sacrifice, in the same way your sins and my sins are forgiven through the blood of a sacrifice: the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And so, no matter what’s happening in your life, you and I should always be able to say that God is good and faithful because of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross! We know that God is good because Jesus purchased your salvation on the cross.

And it’s there we’re reminded that God has been so faithful to you and me, and so we must be faithful to Him.

Let’s pray together.