Here's a story of gynecological, psychological, and marital issues that, at first glance, doesn't seem especially appropriate for young children. Hannah is one of two wives (the favored one) of Elkanah. She's barren, and the fertile other wife, Peninnah, teases her mercilessly. Yet it's a story beloved by and appropriate for children because they understand disappointment, teasing, and jealousy all too well.

Elkanah's family was a godly one. He took them up to the tabernacle at Shiloh each year as a kind of spiritual pilgrimage. But one year it turned into a nightmare for Hannah. Because Elkanah loved her more, he gave her more food and gifts. This, of course, provokes Peninnah to a fit of jealousy. Elkanah, who seems clueless about the trouble in his own tent, wonders why Hannah can't be happy with his love alone. (The whole chapter is a good argument against polygamy!)

The drama takes a new turn when, in tears and bitterness, Hannah goes to the house of the Lord to pray. You get the impression that it was not Hannah's regular practice to go to the house of the Lord, or maybe that it was more for the men of Israel. At any rate, she's there praying silently, pouring out her anguish before the Lord. It's a kind of prayer we see rather frequently in the Old Testament, a lament that's on the edge of accusation---"O Lord, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me. . . . " We don't hear this kind of powerful and honest prayer much in the church, but it's standard in the Bible.

Hannah, as many desperate sufferers do, makes a promise to God. If she has a son, he will be a Nazirite, a special order of men dedicated to the Lord (see Num. 6). It's important to remember that there's no indication that the Lord answered her prayer because of her promise, as though God's favor rested on something we do for God. Still, that was her commitment, and she kept it.

In stumbles old Eli, the priest at Shiloh. He sees Hannah's lips moving, and jumps to a rather harsh conclusion: she must be drunk. And he upbraids her for it.

Hannah denies it, telling Eli that she's been praying. Eli blesses her, commends her prayer to God, and sends her away.

With the lovely description of religious commitment and marital love, the Bible tells what happens next. "Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her" (v. 19). Hannah becomes pregnant, and nine months later has a son. She names the child Samuel, which sounds like the Hebrew word for heard by God.

Hannah does not return to Shiloh until after Samuel is weaned. Then she goes back and presents Samuel to Eli, reminding him of the day she prayed in the house of God for a child. Then, just as she promised, she gives Samuel over to the Lord in an act of what seems to us almost reckless faith and commitment.

Samuel grows up to become one of the great prophets of Israel, and Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving becomes the model for the prayer called the Magnificat, prayed by the mother of our Lord.