Birth of Samuel

[1 Sam. 1:27] For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:
[28] Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
Samuel doubtless with her husband's consent, the names of children were given sometimes by the fathers, and sometimes by the mothers (see Genesis 4:1, 26, 5:29, 19:37, 21:3); and among the early Hebrews, they were commonly compound names, one part including the name of G-d.
The word sumu means son, translated Samuel as ‘son or offspring of G-d.
Hannah, in the depth and sincerity of her surrender, gave up her first-born son to G-d utterly.
He was ‘G-d’s son’ from the moment of his birth.
She wanted every one to know that he was altogether the L-rd’s own, and she must have chosen a word that every one could understand.
The name ‘G-d’s son’ takes us a step further.
The resemblance between Hannah’s Song and that of Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua, has always been marked.
Miriam’s Song is not a repetition of Hannah’s, yet both see the same vision.
It is a vision of the earth’s full salvation, and of the Messiah.
“The adversaries of the L-rd,” sings Hannah, “shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them: the L-rd shall judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His King, and exalt the horn of His anointed” – that is His Messiah in 1 Sam. 2:10.
“He hath showed strength with His arm,” responds Miriam: “He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts…He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed for ever”
in Lk. 1:51-55.
Hannah’s Song, and the name she gave her child, are alike a prophecy of the Messiah. She has the honor of being the first to use the name ‘Messiah.’
Hannah, in view of her vow to bring Samuel to the Temple after weaning him, excused herself from joining the pilgrimage on this occasion.
(Children in the Orient are fed by their mother’s milk up to the age of two or three years. Weaning was celebrated in ancient times as an important feast.
Hannah, having been granted her wish and having followed through with her difficult end of the bargain which was declared privately to the Father.
She would see her beloved son only once a year, during the annual pilgrimage.
While there, “Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say: May the L-rd grant you offspring by this woman in place of the loan she made to the L-rd.”
Child Samuel, in his early services in the outer courts of the Tabernacle was made to pave the way for the remarkable prophecy regarding the high priest's family.
Girded with a linen ephod which was a small shoulder-garment or apron, used in the sacred service by the inferior priests and Levites; sometimes also by judges or well-known persons, and hence allowed to Samuel, who, though not a Levite, was devoted to G-d from his birth.
Hanna brought Samuel a linen ephod each year. Aware that he could not yet render any useful service to the Tabernacle, she undertook the expense of supplying him with wearing apparel. All weaving stuffs, manufacture of cloth, and making of suits were anciently the employment of women.
Eli’s assurance to Elkanah that the L-rd would give him children through Hannah in return for the loan which she lent to the L-rd is typical of popular holiness in all religions. This blessing, like that which he had formerly pronounced, had a prophetic virtue; which, before long, appeared in the increase of Hannah's family (2:21), and the growing qualifications of Samuel for the service of the sanctuary.
The once-barren woman bears five more children, three sons and two daughters. “Young Samuel, meanwhile, grew up in the service of the L-rd.”