Hannah: Trusting God With Your ProblemsChikamu

Hannah kept her vows

When Hannah prayed in the temple, she promised the Lord: “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed ... give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” This last phrase implied that Hannah’s son would be a Nazirite, which meant that he was fully dedicated to the Lord. A Nazirite would stay away from wine and let his hair grow long as a sign of his dedication. One could take the Nazirite vow for a time, but Hannah promised that her son would be “lent to the Lord … as long as he lives”.

Hannah kept her vow. When Samuel was still very young, his parents brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh to serve the Lord under Eli the priest. They still went there every year and were able to see him, but it must have been very hard to let this boy go when they had longed for him so deeply. Hannah put her thankfulness to God above her own feelings.

Samuel became a prophet of the Lord and led the people of Israel all of his life. So he was not only a blessing to Hannah and her family but to a whole nation!