Day 903: Lending to God - 1 Samuel 1 vs 21 – 2 vs 1

21-23 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay 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, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there for ever.” Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

24-25 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26-27 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshipped the Lord there.

Chapter 2 vs 1 And Hannah prayed and said,“My heart exults in the Lord; my strength (horn) is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 1 Samuel 1:21 – 2:1 English Standard Version

Are you someone who keeps promises you've made to others? More importantly, have you sought to live up to any commitments you made to the Lord? I sadly admit that I've not been faultless in this area. We mustn't take it lightly. In Deuteronomy 23:21-23 we read: “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.”

I suspect that Hannah knew those words and in our reading we see how she faithfully kept the pledge she had made to God if He would bless her with a son. (vs 21-23) Two things struck me about Hannah's keeping of her promise to God. Firstly, the statement she made to Eli when she says: “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to Him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” (vs 28)

I'm told that the Hebrew word for 'lent' is a difficult one to translate, so some Bible versions translate it as 'dedicated’ to the Lord', or 'given’ to the Lord. The thought of lending the Lord something may strike us as odd. It could simply be that in offering Samuel to serve the Lord all his life, it didn’t mean that she was disowning him. But there is a way we can 'lend' to the Lord. Proverbs 19:17 says: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed.”

But sometimes it’s not a matter of lending something to the Lord, but a case of not clinging to things in order to follow Him with a whole heart. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” God certainly fulfilled that in Hannah's life as in the next chapter we read that “she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.” (1 Samuel 2:21) She ‘lent’ one child to the Lord, He blessed her with five more!

The other thing that struck me is how Chapter Two begins. What are we told in vs 1?

It must’ve been a deeply sad moment in one way for Hannah as she left her now weaned young son with Eli. I can imagine how long she may have hugged him, and how many tears may have fallen. But, nevertheless, her heart was full of praise to the God who heard and answered her prayer, and vindicated her in the eyes of the one who’d previously taunted her and mocked her barreness. She sees the Lord as her Saviour. As we seek to follow Jesus in the world we will also meet up with those who mock, and we may also be called to make some personal sacrifices along the way. But God's salvation will always put a song in our heart. We can never outgive Him.