Hannah returns her child to God.

Like Sarah, the mother of Isaac, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, Hannah is a woman without a child. When the family each year goes to the holy place at Shiloh to make offerings to God, Hannah can make only her own offering. Her husband’s second wife has many sons and daughters who each offer a sacrifice. This grieves Hannah, who prays for a child and makes a vow she will return the child to God.

In this she is like Mary, Jesus’ mother, who must believe in her son and participate in his mission. Hannah prays in thanks to God in a prayer that Mary’s Magnificat echoes.

Samuel becomes Israel’s last and greatest judge, a holy man whom God calls as a child as he sleeps in the temple where the Ark of the Covenant stands. He leads the 12 tribes in making the transition from a confederacy to a kingdom. He anoints Saul and then David as king.

Hannah takes Samuel to Shiloh.

In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Holy One.”

The man Elkinah and the whole household went up to offer to the Holy One the yearly sacrifice and to fulfill his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him that he may appear in the presence of the Holy One and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazarite for all time.”

When Hannah had weaned Samuel, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Holy One at Shiloh. The child was young.

After they slaughtered the bull, they brought the child to Eli. Hannah said, “Pardon, my lord, as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the Holy One. I prayed for this child, and the Holy One granted my request. Now I, in turn, give him to the Holy One; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Holy One.” Hannah left Samuel there.

1 Samuel 1.20-22, 24-28

  • What parallels do you see between Hannah and Mary?
  • Compare Hannah’s prayer
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