Ep. 71 - Samuel is Born

In the last three episodes, we went away from the main Israelite story to talk about the story of Ruth—which happened sometime during the wild and crazy days of the judges. But now, we’re jumping back into the main Israelite story. If you kidzos remember, the last judge we talked about was Samson. And when Samson died he took a whole bunch of Philistines with him. And really weakened the Philistines’ grip on Israel. But even though they were weakened, the Philistines were far from defeated. They still ruled over God’s people. And sadly, a lot of Israelites seemed okay with that. When Samson had fought against the Philistines, the Israelites hadn’t joined him—in fact, they’d stood against him! And because they didn’t join Samson, because they didn’t join the deliverer that God had sent them, they didn’t turn back to God either…at least not fully. As far as we can tell, most of the Israelites kept right on worshiping idols. And for the first time, there was no big turning back to God when God had sent them a judge. No big change. And as time went on, many of the Israelites kept worshipping idols and their understanding of God and his tabernacle kept fading and fading. Israel was a bit of a mess. So, what was God going to do? Was the merry-go-round of doom gonna start up again? Would God raise up another judge like Samson? Or was God all tapped out on judges? Well, let’s find out.

Well, God wasn’t quite done with sending judges to Israel…at least not yet. But it does seem that God was done sending warrior judges. Instead, after Samson, God started making the high priest of Israel to be both high priest and judge. Do you kidzos remember way back in episodes about Moses that God made Aaron the high priest of Israel? And that God had said that Aaron’s descendants would go on serving as high priest? Well, all through all the time of the judges…all the way from Othniel to Samson…this had been happening – the high priest job had been going from son to son to son…until the job eventually came to a man named Eli…who served as Israel’s 11th high priest. And Eli had been the high priest when Samson died. And when Samson died, it was Eli who took on the job of judge. And as far as we can tell, Eli did his best to be a good judge. But with everything going on in Israel, with all the idol worship and how the knowledge of God was fading, Eli definitely had his work cut out for him.

Now during this time the tabernacle (the place where the high priest worked) was in a place called Shiloh. And if you kidzos will remember, God had put in place a number of festivals and holidays that happened every year…and some of those were celebrated at home or in town, and some were celebrated around the tabernacle. And while many of the Israelites had fallen away from God, there were still lots of Israelites who would make these yearly trips to the tabernacle in Shiloh…including a man named Elkanah…along with his two wives – Hannah and Peninnah. Now as we learned with the story of Ruth, while having multiple wives happened sometimes, Israelite men were not usually keen on it. So why did Elkanah have more than one wife? Well, the Bible doesn’t exactly say, but from what we can tell it seems that Elkanah married Hannah first, and that Hannah was the woman that he loved and that he wanted to spend his life with. But then it turned out that Hannah couldn’t have babies. And as we also know again from the story of Ruth, this was a big deal. It was super important to have a male child who could inherit the family’s land and carry on the family name. So, probably feeling like he had no other option, Elkanah married a second wife – Peninnah – who ended up having lots of children for Elkanah.

Now of course this made a horrible mess of the family. Elkanah loved Hannah and did not love Peninnah. So of course, Peninnah was super jealous that Elkanah loved Hannah. And wouldn’t you know it, Peninnah went out of her way to make Hannah’s life a living nightmare. The Bible says that Peninnah, “provoked [Hannah] severely to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.” (1 Sam. 1:6 NKJV) Peninnah constantly reminded Hannah that should couldn’t have children…probably making Hannah feel like she wasn’t even worthy to be Elkanah’s wife, like she wasn’t even worthy to be a woman…and this drove Hannah crazy. And it got especially bad when the family would all go to Shiloh for these yearly festivals. Because Hannah would no doubt see all the other happy families, happy mothers, and happy little children…and with Peninnah’s never-ending reminders that these happy scenes were something she would never have…Hannah just couldn’t take it anymore.

So what did Hannah do? Well, Hannah did what everyone should do when we are at the end of our rope…she took it to God. And one day, after all the of day’s celebrations were over, Hannah went to the tabernacle to pray. The Bible says that Hannah, “prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” (1:10) She poured out her soul to God. And while she was praying, she decided to make God a promise, and she said to God (and Leah is going to help me with the voice of Hannah), “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.” (1:11) Hannah made a promise to God that if God gave her a son, that she would give him to the Lord…that is to say, Hannah would give her son to be a priestly servant – her son would live at the tabernacle, he would be raised by the priests at the tabernacle, and his whole life would be dedicated to the tabernacle services.

But while Hannah was praying, the Eli high priest was closely watching her. Because the way that Hannah was praying caught his attention. The Bible says that while Hannah was praying that she, “spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.” (1:13) So as Hannah prayed in anguish and as she poured out her soul, her words were spoken so softly that no one could hear her. (Which BTW kidzos, this is the way I do most of my praying. Lots of people pray mostly in their thoughts…which there’s no problem with that…but I think that actually saying the words…even saying the words super super softly…is better than just thinking them. That’s just me…but maybe it’s something for you kidzos to try sometime.) And as far as we can tell, it seems that Eli had never seen anyone do this before. Because at first, Eli thought that she was drunk! And Eli went up to Hannah while she was praying and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” (1:14)

But of course Hannah was far from being drunk. And she replied to Eli, and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” (1:15-16) Hannah let Eli know that she was just praying her heart out to God. And of course, after hearing Hannah actually speak out loud…and that she wasn’t slurring her words or anything, he instantly knew that she really wasn’t drunk. And not only that, but Eli was super impressed with Hannah’s answer. Because even though he had no idea what Hannah was praying for, he blessed her prayer, and said to her, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” (1:17) And this seemed to help Hannah to feel much better. Because the Bible says that Hannah, “went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” (1:18) And the next day, the family packed up their things, headed home, and life returned back to normal.

But life didn’t stay normal for very long. Because wouldn’t you know it, not too long after they got back from Shiloh, Hannah got pregnant. And while the Bible doesn’t exactly say how she felt about it, it’s hard to imagine that she wasn’t super happy. This thing that had been hanging over Hannah’s head for so long was finally gone…Hannah was able to get pregnant. And after some time went by, indeed Hannah had a health young boy…the all-important male child…what every Israelite woman hoped for…and she named the child a name that we are going to be hearing a lot more about in next episodes…Samuel.

Now while Hannah was super happy to have had a son, of course, she couldn’t forget that she’d made a promise – a promise that if she had a son that she would give him up to serve the tabernacle. And of course, that time of the year came around again when it was time to go to the tabernacle. But Hannah wasn’t quite ready to give him up, and she begged her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he will appear before the Lord and remain there forever.” (1:22) Hannah wanted to wait until Samuel was no longer breastfeeding…which ya know…was probably fair seeing that priests probably weren’t up for that. So, Elkanah agreed, and Samuel stayed with his mother until he was at least 2 or 3 years old. No doubt these were precious years for Hannah…just the tiniest slice of time that Hannah and her miracle son could be together. She knew that every day was a blessing and I’m sure she made the most of it.

But of course, the day finally came when Samuel was weaned…and then it came time to make the yearly trip to the tabernacle. There was no more delaying it…and Hannah prepared herself to make good on her promise. As the family packed, Hannah made sure that they brought an extra special offering for the tabernacle – three bulls, five bags of flour, and a skin of wine. When they arrived in Shiloh, a thankful but sad Hannah took her son’s little hand, walked him to the tabernacle…walked him right up to Eli the high priest…right to the very same spot where they had talked 2 or 3 years ago, and said to Eli, “As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore, I have also lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” (1:26-28) And with that, much to Eli’s surprise, Hannah gave her precious Samuel to Eli.

While Hannah wouldn’t be raising Samuel and spending time with Samuel like I’m sure she wanted to, this wouldn’t be the last time that she would see her son. The family tradition of going to Shiloh every year went on. And of course Hannah looked forward to these visits. Every year she would even make Samuel a little robe…just to make sure that Samuel didn’t forget that he had a loving mother who thought about him all the time. And God’s blessings to Hannah didn’t stop at just one child. In part because Hannah had been faithful to her promise, Hannah went on to have three more sons and two daughters – a full and thriving family – more than Hannah had even asked for. And as the years went by, and as the boy Samuel grew up, he faithfully worked for Eli…doing everything that was asked of him…and doing a wonderful job. What was in store for this boy Samuel…the miracle son from a barren woman? Did God have a plan for Samuel? Would God use Samuel for great things? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.