A Loan to the Lord—1Sa_1:13-28; 1Sa_2:18-21
In the time of Samson, the high-priest seems to have been Eli who probably also exercised the civic functions of judge, which, by the theocratic constitution of the state, naturally devolved upon the high-priest, in the absence of the kind of dictatorship which “the judges,” raised up from time to time, exercised. Some exception may be made in respect of such authority as may have been conceded to Samson in the tribes of Dan and Judah; but from the death of that hero we must regard Eli as exercising alone the authority which belonged to the office.
The last high-priest whom the history presents to us is Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, who was Aaron’s eldest son, and the succession to the high-priesthood seems to be the inheritance of that line. But this Eli is descended from Aaron’s youngest son, Ithamar. We have no intimation how the change took place. It was not from the failure of the line of Eleazer, for that line subsisted, and was, in the person of Zadok, restored to the priesthood in the time of Solomon. Josephus places three high-priests between Phinehas and Eli—the same who are set down by the names of Abishua, Bukki, and Uzzi, in 1Ch_6:50-51—where they are placed in the line of Eleazer, so that Eli must have been the first high-priest of the line of Ithamar. It is possible that when Uzzi died, his son was too young to exercise the office of high-priest; and as that office was too essential to the theocratic institutions to remain in abeyance, it may be that Eli, as the eldest representative of the line of Ithamar, was appointed to the priesthood in his place. This is a circumstance that often happens in the regal successions of the East; and we have no reason to suppose that this was an usurpation or an unwarranted intrusion into the high-priesthood on the part of Eli.
Now, when Hannah went to the tabernacle to pour out her grief before the Lord, Eli was sitting “upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.” The “temple” is here, of course the tabernacle—the original word being applicable to any sacred structure appropriated to the service of Jehovah. Sometimes the temple itself, afterwards built, is called a tabernacle in Scripture, as in Jer_10:20. We do not understand that Eli’s seat was by a post of the tabernacle itself; for while it may be questioned that even the high-priest had any right to sit there, it is certain that if he had been seated there, Hannah could not have approached near enough for him to mark the movements of her lips as he did. It would, therefore, appear that Eli had a seat by a post at the entrance of the court of the tabernacle, where, probably, he sat as high-priest and judge, to give advice in cases of difficulty, and to hear and decide any cases that might be brought before him.
Now we learn that Hannah “spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.” This is the first instance of unuttered prayer recorded in Scripture. Prayer is almost always oral in the East, even in public; and that this was the case in Israel, at least at the hilly place, is shown by the fact that Eli did not readily comprehend this proceeding of the afflicted woman, but hastened to the conclusion that she had taken too much wine at the feast—in fact, that she was drunken. He therefore rebuked her. It must have seemed to her a great aggravation of her affliction that every one, except her husband—that even the high-priest of God—would misunderstand her, and that she must meet with misconstruction and reproof from the very quarter where she was best entitled to look for encouragement and support. She, however, humbly vindicated herself, and Eli finding he had been mistaken in her, said, “Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” She did go in peace. She was no more sad. Her faith sustained her. She was persuaded her prayer had been accepted of God; and it had. In due time she had a son, and she called him Samuel (asked of God), because she had asked him of God.
From that time Hannah went not up with the family to Shiloh at the festivals. She purposed not to go up until the child should be weaned, and “then will I bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever.” This would suggest a protracted age for weaning, if he was then to be of a fit age to be taken up and left at the tabernacle. In fact, weaning takes place much later in the East than with us. The Mohammedan law prohibits a woman from weaning her child before the expiration of two years from the period of its birth, unless with the consent of her husband. The Jewish commentators generally take the period, in this instance, to have been two years; and we know that the time was sometimes extended to three years or more But even three years seems too early for the child to be taken from the mother, and left in the care of strangers at the tabernacle—still more if we consider that his destination was to render some service there. There may therefore be something in the observation of an old writer, Note: Comestor, Historia Scholastica, 1473, of which there is a French translation by Guyart, under the title Les Livres Historiaulx de la Bible. Paris, 1495. that there was a threefold weaning of children in old times: the first from the mother milk, when they were three years old; the second, from their tender age, and the care of a nurse, when they were seven years of age; and the third, from childish ways, when they reached the age of twelve. We incline to the seven years, which is certainly not too early—and twelve is perhaps too late; for Hannah, when she reappeared at the tabernacle with the child, expected that Eli would speedily call to mind their previous interview, an incident not sufficiently marked, one would think, however important to her, to be remembered after twelve years, by one who had, in the meanwhile, been in the habit of seeing numerous people under every variety of circumstance, from all parts of the land. However, we may not be too positive Eli was an old man; and twelve years is but a short space to those who are advanced in life. Alas, our years shorten sadly, and pass with rapid wings, the more precious they become to us.
It is an interesting and touching picture to see that now glad mother appearing in the same place before Eli, leading her child by the hand up to the venerable man, who seemed as if he had not moved from that seat by the pillar of the Lord’s house, in all the time since she saw him there last. “Oh, my lord,” she said, “I am the woman that stood by thee, here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath granted me the petition I asked of him. Therefore, also have I lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth shall he be lent unto the Lord.”
After the event had been commemorated by proper offerings and sacrifices, and Hannah had given vent to her full heart in an exulting hymn, she returned with her husband to Ramah, leaving her child in the care of Eli. She did not, however, discontinue her maternal cares for him. She knew he was in safe hands; but her motherly heart made her watchful for him, and solicitous for his welfare. Now she was constant in her periodical visits to the tabernacle, and witnessed with joy of heart the growth of her eldest son in person and heavenly grace, and in favor with God and man. “She made him a little coat, and brought it from year to year, when she came with her husband to the yearly sacrifice.” While her diligent fingers wrought that “little coat,” how pleasantly her thoughts dwelt on that son who was to wear it. She hoped great things for him, as mothers do: but her highest aspirations for him could hardly reach that exalted pitch of real greatness in Israel which lay awaiting him. The lad’s immediate duty lay in rendering such little services as his age allowed about the person of the high-priest; and, eventually, in some of the lighter services of the tabernacle. Old Eli became greatly attached to him; and he perhaps found, in the reverent affection and endearing ways of this little boy, some consolation under the grief and disappointment which the profligate career of his own sons occasioned. So impressed was he by the fine qualities of this child—so affected by the circumstances of his birth—and so gratified by the excellent conduct of the pious parents—that he bestowed upon them his solemn blessing, and prayed that they might have rich returns in kind for the child they had so faithfully and entirely lent to the Lord. And so it came to pass. Hannah had afterwards three sons and two daughters. This was large interest for her “loan.” But the Lord is a very bountiful paymaster; and amidst all the fervid speculations which inflame the world, to lend to Him remains the best investment which any one can make of aught that he possesses.
Autor: JOHN KITTO