Hannah's Baby Boy

So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying "Because I asked the Lord for him." I Samuel 1:20, NIV

Is there a more touching and thrilling story in the Bible? Surely the story of Samuel ranks way up there. His mother's prayer in I Sam. chapter two is so great and deserves to be read and heard much more than it is.

Her husband is presented to us as a very loving and understanding man, also. A barren woman prays so fervently that the priest believes she is drunk. After she states her case, she is told that her heart's desire will be granted.

In some parts of the world a child is weaned at a later age than in the US or Europe, but Hannah's boy was still a baby when, as she had vowed, she parts company with him. How wrenching that must have been, for both mother and child. God then granted children to Hannah. She became mother to five more children.

At a tender age God reveals himself to Samuel. He is to become one of the great men of the Old Testament--so instrumental that he anoints David to be king. The transition from Saul to David comes from the hand of Samuel. One of the greatest men of God was born because of the prayer of a childless woman.