Chapter 55—God Calls the Child Samuel
This chapter is based on
1 Samuel 1
;
2:1-11
.
Elkanah, a Levite of Mount Ephraim, was a man of wealth and
influence who loved and feared the Lord. His wife, Hannah, was a
woman of fervent piety and lofty faith.
Their home was not gladdened by the voice of childhood, so the
husband contracted a second marriage. But this step, prompted by
lack of faith in God, did not bring happiness. Sons and daughters
were added to the household, but the joy and beauty of God’s sacred
institution had been marred and the peace of the family broken.
Peninnah, the new wife, was jealous and narrow-minded, and bore
herself with pride and insolence. To Hannah, hope seemed crushed,
and life a weary burden; yet she met the trial with uncomplaining
meekness.
At Shiloh Elkanah’s services as a Levite were not required. Yet
he went up with his family to worship and sacrifice at the appointed
gatherings. Even amid the sacred festivities connected with the ser-
vice of God, the evil spirit that had cursed his home intruded. After
presenting the thank offerings, all the family, according to the custom,
united in a solemn yet joyous feast. Elkanah gave the mother of his
children a portion for herself and for each of her sons and daughters.
He gave Hannah a double portion, signifying that his affection for her
was the same as if she had had a son. Then the second wife, fired with
jealousy, claimed the precedence as one highly favored of God and
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taunted Hannah with her childless state.
This was repeated from year to year until Hannah could endure
it no longer. She wept without restraint and withdrew from the feast.
Her husband vainly sought to comfort her. “Why weepest thou? and
why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to
thee than ten sons?”
Hannah uttered no reproach. The burden which she could share
with no earthly friend she cast upon God. Earnestly she pleaded that
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