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1 Samuel 1 · a question people ask

How could Hannah leave such a young child at Shiloh?

In the text

She said what she would do before he was weaned: "then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever" (1:22). Elkanah said, "Do what seems good to you" (1:23). "The child was young" (1:24): the chapter doesn't give his age, and it doesn't say what she felt. The next chapter tells what followed. "Hannah prayed, and said, ‘My heart exults in the LORD!’" (2:1). "The child served the LORD before Eli the priest" (2:11). "Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice" (2:19).

The verses

“But Hannah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever.” Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to the LORD’s house in Shiloh. The child was young.”
1 Samuel 1:22-24 · World English Bible
“Hannah prayed, and said, “My heart exults in the LORD! My horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”
1 Samuel 2:1 · World English Bible
“Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served the LORD before Eli the priest.”
1 Samuel 2:11 · World English Bible
“Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.”
1 Samuel 2:19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 1

1 Samuel 1: Asked of the LORD

The chapter says twice that the LORD had shut up Hannah's womb (1:5-6), and her face was no longer sad before she conceived (1:18). And in Hebrew the given of "Therefore I have also given him to the LORD" (1:28) is the same verb as asked in "Because I have asked him of the LORD" (1:20).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions