Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 1:28
Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshiped the LORD there.
28. therefore also, &c.] Render, And I on my part have given him to Jehovah as long as he liveth: because he was one asked for Jehovah. The exact translation of the Heb. is doubtful, and the remarkable play upon words in it is lost in translation. But the general sense is clear: ‘Jehovah gave me the child, and I restore him in accordance with my vow.’ The word translated lend occurs elsewhere only in Exo 12:36, where it means give rather than lend. A loan may be reclaimed at the will of the lender. Hannah’s surrender of Samuel was complete. See 1Sa 1:11 and ch. 1Sa 2:20.
he worshipped ] Who? Not Samuel, who was too young: but Elkanah, as head of the household, worshipped, while Hannah poured out her heart in the hymn which immediately follows. The Sept. however omits the words, and the Vulg. reads “And they worshipped the Lord there.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Sa 1:28
I have lent him to the Lord.
Samuel, the Child-Christian
There is no child explicable apart from his parentage. The foundations of one generation are in all respects laid in the antecedent generation. In an important sense the boy begins to live when his father begins to live. The child is the parent continued down into a new generation. And so Scripture biography, much of it, begins with a statement and exposition of parentage. You remember how it was with Jesus, with John the Baptist, and now with Samuel. Science today lays large stress on heredity. Revelation emphasised heredity long before science was born. Francillon says that the lives of the mothers of great men form an important branch of biographical literature. The author of the old Hebrew chapter quietly asserts the same fact by going about to narrate to us Samuel by first acquainting us with his mother. There are numerous intimations in Scripture that in the bequest of spiritual legacies the law of heritage works with peculiar constancy and vigour. The promise is unto you and to your children. And that occurs as a frequent and favourite thought, I will establish my covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And this principle is wrought into the structure of the whole Jewish record. It is as though God held parent and child in one individual compact of grace, parental faith throwing itself forward upon the child, and working in and for the child vicariously; the faith of the parent becoming in time the childs faith, just as by a physical law the features of the father and mother reappear in time in the childs face, in growing distinctness. Of Elkanah, Samuels father, little notice is taken. A single remark of his indicates the mutual loyalty and confidences of husband and wife, and along the course of the first chapter is shown his faithful observance of religious obligations. But Samuel was preeminently his mothers boy, as boys are apt to be. It was his mother that prayed for him; his mother that took him to Shiloh with the bullocks, the flour, and the wine; his mother that offered him in consecration. Appreciating the quality of the parentage, then, we have laid for us a basis of just expectancy touching the quality of the offspring. We must just mention Samuels early connection with the church and the sanctuary. I suppose that this, too, had its strengthening and educating effect. It was just in the midst of the sanctuary that the Lords presence became manifest in him, and that the Divine voice shouted clearly and intelligibly in his ears. We may gather from the fact that there is great virtue in early and affectionate association with the church, and in earnest participation in things that concern the church. But great as is the supplementary service which the church can render the child, the home is at once his physical birthplace and his proper spiritual birth place. It is a Spanish proverb that an ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. The home is the first church, the hearthstone the first altar, and the father and mother the first priests. And so the more home there is in the home, the more readily and completely does it fulfil its offices as a child church. And the home, for the same reason, is the childs proper Sunday school. It is not quite evident how Christian parents can ever farm out their children to the spiritual nurture of strangers. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
A mothers formative influence on the characters of her children
Who can hear the name of St. Augustine–that shining light, twice on the point of being extinguished, but snatched by turns from sin and heresy, to glorify the true and living God down to the latest posterity. Who can think of his name without joining with him in recognising, in his two-fold deliverance–next to the hand of God–the influence of the tender, humble, patient Monica? Theodoret, Basil the Great, Emmilia, Chrysostom, and many of those who have walked in their ways, had each their Monica; and were each proofs of the power of a mothers prayers. In later times we read of Bishop Hall, Philip Henry, and his son Matthew, Hooker, Payson, Doddridge, the Wesleys, and of many other bright stars still shining in the churches, who have had pious mothers, and who have confessed to the power of a mothers influence. John Newton learned to pray at his mothers knee; and such was the influence of her life upon his mind (and, be it remembered, that she was called to her heavenly home before her son John was eight years of age), that in after years, when at sea, and in the midst of many dangers, his agonising prayer often was, my mothers god, Thou God of Mercy, have mercy on me! The prayer was heard, and from that time the name of John Newton has been a name honoured in the churches, and he will remain yet for ages as a burning and a shining light. It was through Newton that Thomas Scott, the commentator, was led to Christ, and Wilberforce, the champion of the freedom of the slave, and the author of that Practical View of Christianity, which brought Leigh Richmond into the ministry of Christ. And who shall now go further in attempting to estimate the probable influence of one pious mother? (Footsteps of Truth.)
Vows fulfilled
Hannahs fulfilment of her vow was to be an ample, prompt, honourable fulfilment. Many a one who makes vows or resolutions under the pressure and pinch of distress immediately begins to pare them down when the pinch is removed, like the merchant in the storm who vowed a hecatomb to Jupiter, then reduced the hecatomb to a single bullock, the bullock to a sheep, the sheep to a few dates; but even these he ate on the way to the altar, laying on it only the stones. Not one jot would Hannah abate of the full sweep and compass of her vow. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The connection between God and children to be cultivated
Do not treat lightly, O parents, the connection between God and your children! Cherish the thought that they are Gods gifts, Gods heritage to you, committed by Him to you to bring up, but not apart from Him, not in separation from those holy influences which He alone can impart, and which He is willing to impart. What a cruel thing it is to cut this early connection between them and God, and send them drifting through the world like a ship with a forsaken rudder, that flaps hither and thither with every current of the sea. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The dedication of Samuel
In those rude times which long preceded the birth of science in our country, when there was no appliance of steam to wear vessels off the dangers of a lee shore, nor lights shone forth on sunken reef or rocky headland to guide them through the gloom of night, one of the royal family of Scotland was in imminent hazard of shipwreck. After every effort had been made, but made in vain, to wear off shore, he vowed a vow that it God would interpose to deliver them from death, he would build and endow a chapel, as an acknowledgment of Gods gracious interposition and an expression of his own gratitude. They were saved. And, though a Papist, a better man than many Protestants who forget, in the day of returned health or prosperity, the vows and resolutions formed in an hour of trouble, he fulfilled his promise. In the erection of Maison Dieu Chapel (in Brechin, Forfar), for so it is called, David, Earl of Huntingdon, paid his vow. Associated though it be with popish superstitions, it sprang from higher motives than either ecclesiastical pride or sectarian rivalry; and humble as these ruins are now, they form a venerable and interesting memorial of the simple faith, and devout piety, that ever and anon, like the blaze of a brilliant meteor, lighted up the long night of the dark ages of the Church. Such dedications and vows as those to which that chapel owed its existence, have fallen into too great disuse. The devout, but too much neglected, practice which these famous saints observed, Hannah also recommends to our imitation. It was in the performance of such a vow that she returned to the house of God, not empty handed; but to earn, if I may say so, the high encomium pronounced on her of whom our Lord said, She hath given all she had. In that child of prayer, her only son, the boy whom she leads lovingly by the hand, Hannah presented to God a gift more beautiful and costly, more precious far, than Jacobs tithe of corn and cattle, or Davids richest spoils of war. A blessed contrast to another woman, the unhappy partner of Ananias guilt and also of his doom, who, pretending, while a part was withheld, that the whole price had been given, lied to the Holy Ghost, Hannah, in going to perform her vow, like a martyr marching to the stake, walks in her integrity. Hannahs case was peculiar. She might, repenting of her vow, have kept back not a part of the price, but the whole; nor thereby laid herself open to challenge or censure; to the taunts of Peninnah, her enemy, or of anyone else. When she vowed that if God would give her a son, he should be the Lords, Eli saw her lips move; but no more–and hearing nothing took her for a drunken woman. Only God and she herself knew what these lips had said. That was enough for Hannah. It should be so for us. Thou God seest me, should place us in circumstances of greater restraint than broad daylight, the public street, the eyes of a theatre of spectators; even so it was a sufficient reason for Hannah performing her vow that God had heard the words of her noiseless lips, and that the vow, though a secret to others, was none to Him. It is to the honour of Hannahs sex that the only two offerings on which Jesus, He who offered himself for her and us on the cross, ever bestowed the meed of His applause, were both made by women. The one was a widow. Poor, and meanly clad, in her offering as much as in her dress, she presented a remarkable contrast to many who, sweeping into the house of God, attired in all the gaieties of changing fashions, give a wide berth to the plate at the door, or drop into the offertory, without a blush of shame, the merest, meanest pittance. Though but two mites, hers was a munificent gift, being her little all. The other woman, praised by Him whom all heaven praises, was one–strange as it will appear to such as have not reflected on the blessed truth, that a fallen is not necessarily a lost woman–from whose touch decency and decorum shrinks. As the phrase went, she was a sinner. Lying, where all have need, and the purest love, to lie, at Jesus feet, she washes them with a flood of tears; and, taking an alabaster box of precious ointment, pours its fragrance on the feet that for her, and us, were ire be nailed on Calvary. Beside these women Hannah deserves a place. In her dedication of Samuel, in giving him up who was the light of her eyes and the joy of her home, she parted for Gods sake and his service with the costliest, the most prized and precious, thing in her possession. Before turning the dedication of Samuel to a practical use, let me observe, that though we may have to wait for the reward and recompense in heaven, Hannah had not so long to wait. She says of Samuel, I have lent him to the Lord; and God paid her good interest for the loan. Ages before the great words were uttered by the lips of Jesus, she proved the truth of His saying, Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. There is that scattereth, says the wise man, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat. Such was Hannahs experience. She gave away one child, and God paid her back with five; and promptly too. To turn the dedication of Samuel to a seasonable and important use, let me ask why so few parents now follow Hannahs example? why so few either dedicate themselves, or are dedicated by others to the Christian ministry? When other professions are overstocked, why is it that almost all the churches, both in this country and in America, are complaining of a hack of candidates for the sacred office, and especially of such as possess not only the piety, but the talents and culture which it requires? Why should not our Christian youth come forward to embrace this noblest, though meanwhile poorest, of all professions? Some years ago, leaving titles, estates, luxurious mansions, kind fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and blooming brides, many threw themselves on the shores of the Black Sea, to face frost and famine, pestilence and iron showers of death, under the walls of Sebastopol! And shall piety blush before patriotism? Shall Jesus Christ call in vain for less costly sacrifices–either of money or of men? Let those whom Providence has enriched, some with silver and some with sons, remember the touching question one wrote beneath a figure of our Lord stretched bleeding on the cross, This Thou hast done for me, what shall I do for Thee? (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord] There is here a continual reference to her vow, and to the words which she used in making that vow.
The word Samuel, as we have already seen, is a contraction of the words Shaul meEl, that is, asked or lent of God; for his mother said, 1Sa 1:27, The Lord hath given me my petition, which SHAALTI, I ASKED of him. In 1Sa 1:28 she says: hu SHAUL layhouah, he shall be LENT unto the Lord: here we find the verb is the same; and it is remarked by grammarians that shaal, he asked, making in the participle pahul shaul, ASKED, in the conjugation hiphil signifies to lend; therefore, says his mother, 1Sa 1:28, HISHILTIHU layhovah, I have LENT him to the Lord. This twofold meaning of the Hebrew root is not only followed by our translators, but also by the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Syriac.
And he worshipped the Lord there.] Instead of vaiyishtachu, HE worshipped, vaiyishtachavu, and THEY worshipped, is the reading of six of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., of some copies of the Septuagint, and of the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic.
This and the following chapter are connected in most copies of the Septuagint and Vulgate thus: And Anna worshipped, and said, My soul is strengthened in the Lord, c. It is very likely that the whole passage, from the beginning of ver. 26 to the end of ver. 10 of the ensuing chapter, contains the words of Hannah alone and that even the clause, He worshipped the Lord there, should be, And she worshipped the Lord there, and prayed, and said, &c. Indeed this latter clause is wanting in the Polyglot Septuagint, as I have stated above.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have lent him to the Lord, or, given him, &c., i.e. do now give or offer him; for she did not lend him for a time, with a purpose or right to require him again. The words may be rendered thus, And I also asked him, or made myself to ask him. (a usual Hebraism,) for the Lord, i.e. I prayed for this child, not only for myself, and to take away my reproach, but especially that I might have a child to serve and devote to the Lord. And so the following words,
as long as he liveth, are not to be joined with this foregoing clause, but with those which come next after them; and that whole clause may be thus rendered, as a consequent upon the former: And, or therefore all the days in which he is, or shall be, he is or shall be lent or given to the Lord; or, as one begged for the Lord, and for his service, and therefore justly given to him.
He shall be lent, or rendered, or used as one given in my prayer; for this was the condition of my prayer, that he should be the Lords.
He worshipped; not Eli, who is not mentioned but 1Sa 1:25, and then only passively, not as speaking or doing any thing; nor Elkanah, of whom here is no mention; but young Samuel, who is the subject spoken of in this and the foregoing verse, and who was capable of worshipping God in some sort, at least with external adoration; of which see See Poole on “1Sa 1:22“. And so the particle
there is emphatical, signifying that hereby he entered himself into the worship and service of God in that place, to which he was devoted by his parents, and now did devote himself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord,…. To be employed in his service, not for a few days, months, or years, but for his whole life. The Targum is,
“I have delivered him, that he may minister before the Lord;”
as she had received him front him as an answer of prayer, she gave him up to him again according to her vow: as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord, or as the Targum,
“all the days that he lives he shall be ministering before the Lord;”
or “all the days he shall be asked” (or “required”) by or for the Lord e; that is, he shall be lent unto him, and serve him as long as it is desired:
and he worshipped the Lord there; in the tabernacle at the same time; either Elkanah, who with Hannah brought the child to Eli, and now gave thanks to God for giving them the child, and prayed unto him that he might be received into the service of the sanctuary; or else Eli, to whom the child was brought for admittance, who when he heard that Hannah’s request was granted, which he had entreated also might be or had declared it would be, bowed his head, and gave thanks to God for it; or rather the child Samuel, as he was taught and trained up, bowed himself before the Lord, and worshipped him in the tabernacle as soon as he was brought into it, though a child; for he only is spoken of in this and the preceding verse; and by some interpreters f the name Samuel is supplied; the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read in the plural number, “and they worshipped the Lord there”: that is, Elkanah and his wife; so Mr. Weemse g translates and interprets it.
e “Quamdiu” , h. e. “expetitus aut requisitur”, Peter Martyr; “quoties a Jehova postulatur”, Piscator. f Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. g Observat. Nat. c. 18. p. 77.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(28) I have lent him to the Lord.The rendering of the Hebrew here, I have lent, and in Exo. 12:36, is false. The translation should run: Therefore I also make him one asked of the Lord; all the days that he liveth he is asked of the Lord. The sense is: The Lord gave him to me, and now I have returned him whom I obtained by prayer to the Lord, as one asked or demanded.
And he worshipped the Lord there.He, that is, the boy Samuel: thus putting his own child-seal to his mothers gift of himself to God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Lent him to the Lord It is hardly proper to translate the word , to ask, in any of its forms by lend. It is used in the Hiphil form only here and Exo 12:36, and in that form means to cause to ask. So the passage in Exodus 12 should be rendered, “And Jehovah gave the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they (the Egyptians) caused them (the Israelites) to ask.” That is, the great favour which the Israelites received from the Egyptians disposed the former to ask of the latter such things as they desired of them; and so anxious were the Egyptians to hasten the departure of the Hebrews that they willingly presented them all they asked, even to the spoiling of themselves. Compare Exo 3:22. Accordingly we would translate this verse, And I also cause him to ask of Jehovah all the days which he shall live; he is the asked of Jehovah. To cause him to ask of Jehovah is the same as causing him to be in constant intercourse and favour with him, and this was to be Samuel’s lot and destiny. Comp. note on 1Sa 1:20, and 1Sa 3:21.
He worshipped the Lord there The reference of he is obscure, leaving it doubtful whether Elkanah or Samuel is meant. They worshipped, that is, Elkanah and his wife, is the reading of some of the Hebrew MSS. and the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac and Arabic versions, and is much to be preferred.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 1:28. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, &c. Therefore also I have given him, according to my petition, unto the Lord, for as long as I promised in my petition to give him unto the Lord, &c. Waterland. This version of Dr. Waterland’s seems perfectly conformable to the original; from a survey of which it appears evident, that Hannah herein refers to the petition which she made for a son, to whom also she gave a name agreeable to this petition. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, instead of, and he worshipped, read, and they worshipped.
REFLECTIONS.The day of the solemn feast being accomplished, we have,
1. The return of Elkanah and his family, after having risen up early to worship God, before they proceeded on their journey. Note; (1.) Early devotions promise a happy day. (2.) However urgent our journey, we shall lose nothing by taking God’s blessing along with us before we set off.
2. Hannah becomes a joyful mother. God answers her according to her prayers, and she acknowledges the mercy in the name she gives her son, Samuel, as asked of the Lord. Note; God’s mercies deserve to be kept in everlasting remembrance.
3. The care she took in nursing the infant. She was not unnatural, like some mothers, who deny their breasts to the fruit of their womb, but suckled him herself. Note; (1.) When we have a lawful hindrance from the house of God, such as suckling an infant, we may look up with comfort to him over the cradle, and expect God’s blessing and presence there. (2.) The best improvement of our mercies received from God is to devote them to God.
4. When the child is weaned, as it is generally thought at three years old, Hannah performs her vows, goes up with her son, and takes along with her sacrifices and offerings, as grateful acknowledgments of the mercy that God had bestowed. Presenting him to Eli, she reminds him of what had passed, and surrenders up the precious gift to the perpetual service of the God that gave him; then offers her sacrifice, and rejoices before the Lord. Note; (1.) Though we may have just reason to delay, yet must we in their season pay our vows. (2.) They who are surrendered up to God, must henceforth regard themselves no longer as their own, but his for ever.
5. Samuel was early taught: no sooner had he learned to lisp, than prayer was the language. Though a child, he worshipped before the Lord. Note; (1.) Children should early be taught the way to a throne of grace. (2.) The minds of little ones are very early susceptible of religious impressions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
How sweetly the Holy Ghost teacheth the Church in the history of all characters, the universal taint which marks our poor fallen nature! Elkanah, though a pious man, cannot be content without breaking the order of God, in a double marriage. And Hannah, though a partaker of grace, must have a child, or she is a woman of a sorrowful spirit. Oh! how fully doth God the Spirit teach us, by such views, the necessity of redemption by Jesus. Dearest Redeemer! we humbly feel our need of thee, and earnestly pray to be interested in thee. Lord! without thee, and thy righteousness, what are the best of men, but sin and corruption!
See Reader in this verse of Hannah’s petition, the blessed effects of prayer! What cannot prayer accomplish! Prayer can shut up, and open again the windows of heaven. For Elias we are told, was a man of like passions with ourselves; and yet at his cry, so the Lord answered. Hannah was one also partaking of human infirmity. And yet the Lord proved himself a prayer-hearing, and a prayer-answering God. Oh! for faith, to plead with God in Jesus’s name, nothing doubting, and our Lord Jesus hath said, that all things we ask believing we shall receive.
I detain the Reader with one observation more, in the dedication of Samuel to the Lord, to remark the sweetness, and graciousness of pious parents making a solemn surrender of their little ones to the Lord. To whom shall we commit them, but to Him from whom we have received them? May not every pious parent say; ‘All cometh, Lord, from thine hand, all is thine own, and of thine own do I give thee’. But how is this subject heightened to the soul of the believer, in the recollection that such was the unequalled love of the Father to a lost world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end, that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life: Oh! forever blessed be God for Jesus Christ!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 1:28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
Ver. 28. Therefore also I have lent him. ] Or, Returned him whom I have obtained by petition unto the Lord. So did Hunter the martyr’s mother: a and Mr Bradford begged of his mother to do the like. b The stork is said to leave one of her young ones where she hatcheth.
a Act. and Mon., 1397.
b Ibid., 1504.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD = Jehovah. Punctuate thus, “to Jehovah as long as he liveth. He shall be”, &c. Note the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6) in verses: 1Sa 1:27-28. “Jehovah hath given me my petition (sh e ‘elathi) which I asked of Him (sha’alti): therefore also I have lent him (hishiltihu) to Jehovah. ”
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
lent him: or, returned him, whom I have obtained by petition
to the Lord: The word hishilteehoo, “I have lent him,” is the Hiphil conjugation of shual, “he asked,” – 1Sa 2:27, and refers to the name of Samuel.
he shall be: or, he whom I have obtained by petition shall be returned
he worshipped: Gen 24:26, Gen 24:48, Gen 24:52, 2Ti 3:15
Reciprocal: Gen 28:20 – vowed Lev 27:2 – When Num 6:2 – to vow Jdg 11:31 – shall surely Jdg 11:39 – to his vow 1Sa 1:22 – and there 1Sa 2:11 – minister 1Sa 2:20 – loan 1Ch 6:33 – Shemuel Pro 22:6 – when Pro 31:2 – the son of my vows Ecc 12:1 – Remember Mar 10:14 – Suffer 2Co 8:5 – first
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 1:28. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord But not with a purpose to require him again. Whatever we give to the Lord may, upon this account, be said to be lent to him, because, though we may not recall it, yet he will certainly repay it to our unspeakable advantage. As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord Or, as the words may be properly translated, All the days that he shall be desired for the Lord; that is, as long as God shall think fit to employ him in his own house: which was till he made him a judge, 1Sa 7:15. Then he was no longer fixed at Shiloh, but went about the country, to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh; afterward he settled at his own house in Ramah, as we read there, 1Sa 1:17. Still, however, he was wholly the Lords and lived entirely to him, employing all his powers of body and mind in his service. And he worshipped the Lord there Not Eli, but young Samuel, who is spoken of in this and the foregoing verse, and who was capable of worshipping the Lord in some sort, at least with external worship. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, however, translate the words: And they worshipped the Lord.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he {l} worshipped the LORD there.
(l) Meaning, Eli gave thanks to God for her.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The beginning of Samuel’s worship 1:28b
"The future of the story now to be told in I and II Samuel concerns not only the newly born son, but the rule of Yahweh to whom laments are addressed and thanksgiving uttered. No wonder the narrative ends with yielding, grateful, trusting worship." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 39.]
The "he" who worshipped before the Lord (1Sa 1:28) may refer to Elkanah, the leader of the family and the main man in the context. It might also refer to Eli to whom Hannah was speaking. [Note: Youngblood, p. 575.] I think it probably refers to Samuel, the most immediate antecedent of "he" in 1Sa 1:28. If this interpretation is correct, this reference marks the beginning of Samuel’s ministry, which all of chapter 1 anticipates.
Hannah obeyed the Mosaic Law when she fulfilled her vow (1Sa 1:24-28). This contrasts with the disobedience of Eli’s sons (1Sa 2:11-36). In Deuteronomy 28 Moses predicted the outcome of these two responses to God’s Word, and the writer of this book illustrated it in 1 Samuel 1, 2.
Hannah’s obedience resulted in great blessing. God blessed her with fertility, He blessed her and her husband with this child and other offspring (1Sa 2:20-21), and He blessed Israel with a spiritual leader.
"This beautiful story of a faithful mother in Israel whom God honored by giving her a son is the crown jewel in the argument of the book. Yahweh looks for faithful, godly men and women whom He can set over His People." [Note: Homer Heater Jr., "A Theology of Samuel and Kings," in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 121-22.]
Godly parents should give their children away-to the Lord for His service.