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Patriarchs and Prophets
This was repeated from year to year, until Hannah could endure it
no longer. Unable to hide her grief, 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?” he said; “am I not 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
He would take away her reproach and grant her the precious gift of a
son to nurture and train for Him. And she made a solemn vow that if
her request were granted, she would dedicate her child to God, even
from its birth. Hannah had drawn near to the entrance of the tabernacle,
and in the anguish of her spirit she “prayed, ... and wept sore.” Yet she
communed with God in silence, uttering no sound. In those evil times
such scenes of worship were rarely witnessed. Irreverent feasting and
even drunkenness were not uncommon, even at the religious festivals;
and Eli the high priest, observing Hannah, supposed that she was
overcome with wine. Thinking to administer a deserved rebuke, he
said sternly, “How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from
thee.”
Pained and startled, Hannah answered gently, “No, my lord, I am
a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong
drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine
handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my
complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.”
The high priest was deeply moved, for he was a man of God; and
in place of rebuke he uttered a blessing: “Go in peace: and the God of
Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.”
Hannah’s prayer was granted; she received the gift for which she
had so earnestly entreated. As she looked upon the child, she called
him Samuel—“asked of God.” As soon as the little one was old enough
to be separated from his mother, she fulfilled her vow. She loved her
child with all the devotion of a mother’s heart; day by day, as she
watched his expanding powers and listened to his childish prattle, her
affections entwined about him more closely. He was her only son,
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the special gift of Heaven; but she had received him as a treasure
consecrated to God, and she would not withhold from the Giver His
own.