1 Samuel 1:8-11
Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."
Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."
Hannah, why do you weep?...Am I not better than ten sons?: Elkanah, seeing Hannah’s sorrow, attempts to comfort her. His words are very endearing. However, Elkanah fails to comprehend the magnitude of Hannah’s grief and her abundant longing for a son. As hard as Elkanah tries, he is no substitute for a son.
Temple: The word “temple” in verse 9 translates from the Hebrew as a large public building. This rendering of the word as temple should be “tabernacle” and should not be confused with Solomon’s temple which was constructed about 140 years after the events of this chapter.
Bitterness of soul: In Hannah’s sorrow, she takes her feelings and prays to the Lord. Hannah takes her many sorrows—having a divided house, bearing barren, having to endure jealousy and hurtful words by Peninnah—Hannah seeks God. She lays her grief before the Lord and seeks refuge in her time of need.
O LORD of hosts: Hannah begins her prayer by calling on the LORD of hosts. This title for God appears 260 times in the Old Testament. It has the idea of calling on the “LORD of the Heavens Armies”. Hannah, feeling attacked by her revival, Peninnah, and being misunderstood by her husband, she calls on the LORD of Heaven’s Armies to come and be her protector, her great warrior through these perilous times.
She made a vow: Vow making in the Old Testament was a serious matter. Unlike today when people make promises left and right and often have no intention of keeping them, promises made in the times of the Old Testament were binding oaths. In Numbers chapter 30, there is a long list of rules and regulations Israel had to follow regarding vows. “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do all the proceeds out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2).
As we read farther along in Numbers chapter 30, we come to a section about married woman committing themselves to vows: “If she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by an obligation with an oath, and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not forbid her, than all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband indeed annuls them on the day he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows of concerning the obligation of herself shall not stand; her husband has annulled them, and the LORD will forgive her. Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it or her husband may annul it. But if her husband indeed says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her obligations which are on her; he has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard them” (Numbers 30:10-14). This is tremendously important for we know that Hannah fulfilled her vow. Thus, Elkanah supported Hannah’s decision to dedicate her son to the LORD. Again, we see the incredible love Elkanah had for his wife, allowing her to give up a son, the son of his beloved Hannah, to the LORD.
Moreover, oaths promised to God required prompt payment. If Hannah did not fulfill her vow, God would have considered her for her failure to uphold her promise as sin. We are told it is best to guard our lips from promising oaths to God. “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the LORD your God will surely require it of you. However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what goes out of your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God, what you have promised” (Deuteronomy 23:21-23).
Jesus also admonishes us in a similar fashion not taking oaths. “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the LORD.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white of black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond this is evil” (Matthew 5:33-37). Although we are apt to boldly profess oaths to the LORD, our sinful nature often prevents us from fulfilling our promises. Since God gains nothing by our vows, it is best if we hold our tongues and not incriminate ourselves to promises to God which we cannot fulfill.
I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head: These are the words of a Nazarite vow. For a full description of the Nazarite vow, please read Numbers 6:1-21. In summary, the Nazarite vow included the following:
1. Abstaining from grapes or any grape product. This included not eating grapes, raisins and grape seeds. It also meant not drinking vinegar, grape juice or wine. Not indulging in things from the grape vine signifies putting a distance between all fleshly desires.
2. Not mourning for the dead. A Nazarite was not to take part in any type of mourning ceremony for the dead such as not coming near the dead body, not shaving his head or wearing sackcloth and ashes (which were all common mourning practices in Israel). A dead body causes a person to become unclean for seven days. “The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days” (Numbers 19:11). When a person became unclean, they were not allowed to enter God’s dwelling place. “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by defiling My tabernacle that is among them” ((Leviticus 15:31). By being unclean, a person was not allowed to partake in fellowship with others and was forced to stay away from God’s holy place. The unclean had to be set apart, away from others to prevent spreading their uncleanness to others. By becoming unclean, a Nazirite would break fellowship with God; he would be forced to stay out of God’s dwelling place for seven days until he could purify himself and again come before the presence of the LORD.
3. The hair was never to be cut while under the vow. Nazarites were to let their hair grow while under the vow. Men in Israel had short hair. Paul writes, “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him” (1 Corinthians 11:14). Long hair was to set apart a person from the rest of Israelites as holy to the LORD; long hair was a public sign of the Nazirite vow. Upon completion of the vow, the person was to cut his hair and offer it on the altar as a sacrifice to God.
4. Usually the vow was a specified time—weeks, months or years. Samuel and Samson are two unique examples in the Bible in which their parents dedicated them to be Nazarites their whole lives.
1. Abstaining from grapes or any grape product. This included not eating grapes, raisins and grape seeds. It also meant not drinking vinegar, grape juice or wine. Not indulging in things from the grape vine signifies putting a distance between all fleshly desires.
2. Not mourning for the dead. A Nazarite was not to take part in any type of mourning ceremony for the dead such as not coming near the dead body, not shaving his head or wearing sackcloth and ashes (which were all common mourning practices in Israel). A dead body causes a person to become unclean for seven days. “The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days” (Numbers 19:11). When a person became unclean, they were not allowed to enter God’s dwelling place. “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by defiling My tabernacle that is among them” ((Leviticus 15:31). By being unclean, a person was not allowed to partake in fellowship with others and was forced to stay away from God’s holy place. The unclean had to be set apart, away from others to prevent spreading their uncleanness to others. By becoming unclean, a Nazirite would break fellowship with God; he would be forced to stay out of God’s dwelling place for seven days until he could purify himself and again come before the presence of the LORD.
3. The hair was never to be cut while under the vow. Nazarites were to let their hair grow while under the vow. Men in Israel had short hair. Paul writes, “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him” (1 Corinthians 11:14). Long hair was to set apart a person from the rest of Israelites as holy to the LORD; long hair was a public sign of the Nazirite vow. Upon completion of the vow, the person was to cut his hair and offer it on the altar as a sacrifice to God.
4. Usually the vow was a specified time—weeks, months or years. Samuel and Samson are two unique examples in the Bible in which their parents dedicated them to be Nazarites their whole lives.
An interesting parallel occurs in Scripture when comparing Samuel and Samson. “There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine of strong drink, not eat any unclean thing. For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines’” (Judges 13:2-5).
Samson was born about 30 years before Samuel. The parallels between their birth—both women were barren, both gave birth to sons, both dedicated their sons to be Nazirites, etc.—are incredible. It is hard to know if Hannah knew about Samson before she promised to dedicate her son as a Nazirite for all the days of his life. If she had heard about Samson, perhaps, she wanted her son to continue the works which Samson did by fighting the oppressive Philistines. (Samuel, in his lifetime, did continue to battle against the Philistines.) If Hannah had not heard about Samson, this is a great example of how God was leading Hannah to accomplish His will. God was able to orchestrate Hannah’s desire for a child with Israel’s need for a great leader.
I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life: Since Elkanah was a Levite and a priest, the child born to Hannah and Elkanah would be already dedicated to the LORD as a priest. God regarded the tribe of Levi as His special possession. The time of the Levite’s service to the LORD lasted from the ages of 30-50 (Numbers 4:2-3). Hannah, in her vow to the LORD, was giving God the service of her son in an even greater way—vowing her son shall serve God ALL of his days and as a Nazarite, which was an even greater consecration than a Levite. Hannah could have easily not made this tremendous vow to the LORD. This probably was not the first time Hannah had prayed for a son. However, only in the midst of her intense sorrow and anguish, does she feel it necessary for her to make such a vow to the LORD. We do not know the reasons behind God’s plans, but God had wanted Samuel to be dedicated to Him for his whole life. It was only after Hannah had gone through much pain and sorrow that this vow was drawn out of her. And through it, the amazing life and service of Samuel to God and the nation Israel forever impacted the world—bringing Israel from a lose knit group of 12 tribes into being a formidable kingdom lead by one of the greatest kings on earth. God used Hannah’s grief and sorrow to bring about tremendous blessings. Oh what lessons we can all learn from this! What sorrows and pains must we endure to allow God to draw out from us dedication and service to God. It is through these offerings He is able bestow upon us abundant blessings.
1 Samuel 1:12-14
And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!"
And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!"
As she continued praying: From the Hebrew, this translates as “as she multiplied to pray”. As with many prayers in the Bible, we have hear only a brief summary of the prayer Hannah prayed.
Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: Hannah being in deep silent prayer, prayed so fervently, her lips moved. Often when I am in the midst of a deep prayer, I find myself like Hannah, with silent words passing from my heart to my lips. What a beautiful picture of Hannah’s deepest desires being expressed before God passing from her heart into silent prayer.
How long will you be drunk?: It is a bit shocking that the priest Eli would consider Hannah drunk. But the fact the Eli even considers drunkenness may elude to the debauchery of Israel’s state of worship. At the fellowship offering, there was usually wine enjoyed with the meal. Eli’s suspicion that Hannah may be drunk seems to suggest drunkenness and non-reverent behavior may have been common around the tabernacle. Combine lewd behavior this with the wickedness of Eli’s sons in service at the tabernacle, it seems to paint a very dark time in Israel’s worship of the LORD. Poor Hannah is once again being misunderstood. Thankfully, we have a High Priest who never misunderstands us. “Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrew 4:14-16).
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