1 Samuel 1:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “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.”

NIV: Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, 'After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.'

NASB: But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, 'I will not go until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, so that he may appear before the Lord and stay there for life.'

CSB: Hannah did not go and explained to her husband, "After the child is weaned, I'll take him to appear in the Lord's presence and to stay there permanently."

NLT: But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, 'Wait until the boy is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the Lord permanently. '

KJV: But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.

NKJV: But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “ Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.”

The time has come for the annual sacrifice to the Lord in Shiloh. Elkanah has planned to travel to the temple there to participate in the ritual. He also plans to pay the vow to the Lord he now shares with his wife Hannah (Numbers 30:10–15), or to pay a separate vow he had made (1 Samuel 1:21). Hannah had vowed to give any son the Lord would give to her right back to Him for a life of service in the temple (1 Samuel 1:11).

Hannah, though, tells her husband, "Not yet." She and the baby would not go with Elkanah to Shiloh. She suggested they wait until the child was weaned: no longer breastfeeding and eating solid food. Then she would take Samuel to the temple so that he could live in God's presence forever. She said this because God's presence was understood to rest on the ark of the covenant, which was in the temple at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1).

To delay in paying a vow to the Lord was a serious matter and not to be treated lightly. Still, Hannah had a point. The baby could not live on its own apart from her until he could eat independently. In that era, it was common for a child to be three years old before being considered fully "weaned."

First Samuel 1:21–28 tells of how Hannah and her husband Elkanah kept their vow to give a son back to the Lord if she could conceive and give birth to one. Hannah suggests they wait to take the child to Shiloh and give him to the priest until Samuel is weaned. Once he is, they take a large offering to the temple. Hannah tells Eli the priest that this is the boy she was praying for on the night they met. The Lord granted her request. She gives the boy over to the Lord for as long as he lives.

Elkanah lives in Ephraim with two wives. Hannah is barren, while his other wife has many children. At the annual family sacrifice and feast in Shiloh, Hannah weeps and pours out her grief before the Lord. She vows to give a son to Him for lifelong service if the Lord gives her a boy. After confronting Hannah for drunkenness and then seeing that she was praying from her depth of emotion, Eli the priest blesses Hannah and affirms her prayer. Elkanah and Hannah conceive, and she gives birth to a son that she names Samuel. Once he is weaned, she presents him to Eli at the temple and gives him over to the Lord as long as he lives.

First Samuel 1 begins the story of Samuel with the account of his unlikely-seeming birth. Samuel's mother Hannah is barren. During a family trip to temple of the Lord in Shiloh, she weeps bitterly before the Lord and pours out her grief. She vows to give a son back to the Lord if He will allow her to bear one. Eli the priest blesses her and affirms her prayer. Before long, Samuel is conceived and born. Once he is weaned, Hannah brings the boy and a large sacrifice to the temple. She gives Samuel over to the Lord.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.