19 Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord , and returned e again to their house in Ramah . And Elkanah [1]had relations with Hannah his wife , and the Lord remembered her. 20 It came about [2]in due time , after Hannah had conceived , that she gave birth to a son ; and she named e him Samuel , saying, " Because I have asked him of the Lord ." 21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow . 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband , "I will not go up until the child is weaned ; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever e ." 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best [3]to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the Lord confirm His word ." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine , and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh , although the child was young . 25 Then they slaughtered the bull , and brought the boy to Eli . 26 She said , "Oh , my lord ! As your soul lives , my lord , I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord . 27 " For this boy I prayed , and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. 28 " So I have also [4]dedicated him to the Lord ; as long e as he lives he is [4]dedicated to the Lord ." And he worshiped the Lord there .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 1:19-28
Commentary on 1 Samuel 1:19-28
(Read 1 Samuel 1:19-28)
Elkanah and his family had a journey before them, and a family of children to take with them, yet they would not move till they had worshipped God together. Prayer and provender do not hinder a journey. When men are in such haste to set out upon journeys, or to engage in business, that they have not time to worship God, they are likely to proceed without his presence and blessing. Hannah, though she felt a warm regard for the courts of God's house, begged to stay at home. God will have mercy, and not sacrifice. Those who are detained from public ordinances, by the nursing and tending of little children, may take comfort from this instance, and believe, that if they do that duty in a right spirit, God will graciously accept them therein. Hannah presented her child to the Lord with a grateful acknowledgment of his goodness in answer to prayer. Whatever we give to God, it is what we have first asked and received from him. All our gifts to him were first his gifts to us. The child Samuel early showed true piety. Little children should be taught to worship God when very young. Their parents should teach them in it, bring them to it, and put them on doing it as well as they can; God will graciously accept them, and will teach them to do better.