What does 1 Samuel 1:28 mean?
Hannah has explained to Eli, the priest of Israel, why she has brought her son Samuel, maybe three or four years old (1 Samuel 1:24), to dedicate him to lifelong service to the Lord at the temple in Shiloh. She has reminded Eli of the night he found her overwhelmed with emotion while praying the Lord. Though the priest at first thought Hannah was drunk, he discovered she was praying; he had blessed her and affirmed her prayer (1 Samuel 1:9–18, 26–27).Hannah told the priest that this boy was the answer to that prayer, and now she is fulfilling her vow by giving him over to the Lord. The ESV uses the word "lent." Other versions use "dedicated" (NASB) or "give" (CSB). The Hebrew word can mean to inquire or to request or to lend or to borrow. Hannah saying that Samuel is "lent" to the Lord for as long as he lives is probably meant to capture the idea of "entrusting" something to another. She had asked for the boy from the Lord and now entrusts him to the Lord. Hannah remained Samuel's mother. She was trusting the boy to the care and purposes of God without any expiration date other than Samuel's eventual death. To do such a thing would require deep faith in the goodness and strength of the Lord.
The chapter ends by saying that "he" worshiped the Lord there in Shiloh. Some commentators suggest that it should be read that "they worshiped." If "he" is correct, it may mean that Elkanah, Hannah's husband, finished the dedication by completing the sacrifice and offering they had brought for the Lord for this special occasion. It could also be a reference to Samuel worshipping the Lord.
First Samuel 1:21–28 tells of how Hannah and her husband Elkanah kept their vow to give a son back to the Lord if she could conceive and give birth to one. Hannah suggests they wait to take the child to Shiloh and give him to the priest until Samuel is weaned. Once he is, they take a large offering to the temple. Hannah tells Eli the priest that this is the boy she was praying for on the night they met. The Lord granted her request. She gives the boy over to the Lord for as long as he lives.
Elkanah lives in Ephraim with two wives. Hannah is barren, while his other wife has many children. At the annual family sacrifice and feast in Shiloh, Hannah weeps and pours out her grief before the Lord. She vows to give a son to Him for lifelong service if the Lord gives her a boy. After confronting Hannah for drunkenness and then seeing that she was praying from her depth of emotion, Eli the priest blesses Hannah and affirms her prayer. Elkanah and Hannah conceive, and she gives birth to a son that she names Samuel. Once he is weaned, she presents him to Eli at the temple and gives him over to the Lord as long as he lives.
