Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: A barren woman named Hannah asks the Lord for a son and vows to consecrate him to the Lord, he grows up in the house of the Lord and is a priest and prophet to Israel, and the Lord vows to kill Eli's corrupt sons.
A certain man of the mountains of Ephraim had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Yearly, he goes to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli are there. He gives portions of offering to Peninnah and her sons, but to Hannah he gives a double potion because he loves her, even though the Lord closed her womb.. And Peninnah acts as her rival to provoke Hannah miserably. Year by year, when she goes to the Lord's house, she provokes her. So Hannah weeps and does not eat. Her husbands asks why her heart is weeping and asks her, "Am I not better to you than ten sons?' She arises, and Eli the priest is sitting by the doorpost of the tabernacle, and Hannah is in "bitterness of soul" and prays to the Lord, weeps in anguish, and makes a vow. She tells the Lord if He will remember her and l"ook upon her affliction" and give her a son, then she will give him to the Lord as a Nazirite. As she is praying, Eli is watching her mouth, and only her lips are moving, so he thinks she is drunk, and he chastises her. But she says she is a woman "of sorrowful spirit," and that she is not drunk but has poured out her soul before the Lord. She says she has spoken "out of the abundance of [her] complaint and grief." Eli tells her to go in peace and says may the God of Israel grant her petition. So she goes her way and eats, and "her face [is] no longer sad." They wake up the next day and worship and then return home. And the Lord remembers Hannah, and she conceives and bears a son and names him Samuel (meaning "God has heard.") He husband goes up to bing the yearly sacrifice and to make vows, but she says she will wait until the boy is weaned and then bring him to the house of the Lord to stay forever. He agrees, saying "only let the Lord establish His word." After she has weaned her son, she takes him along with offerings to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. They bring him to Eli, and she reminds Eli who she is. She says she has "lent him to the Lord" for "as long as he lives," and they worship.
Hannah prays and says, "My heart rejoices in the Lord." Her praise is written down. She says she smiles at her enemies and rejoices in her salvation, and that no one is holy like the Lord, nor is "there any rock like our God." She speaks of God's justice to the oppressed and of His power. He sets beggars among princes, and the Earth is His. The child Samuel "[ministers] to the Lord before Eli the priest." However, Eli's sons are corrupt. Whenever anyone offers a sacrifice, the priest must take some of the offering to eat for himself. But the sons take the offering before it is burnt, and they "abhor the offering of the Lord." Samuel ministers to the Lord wearing a linen ephod, and his mother makes him a little robe every year to wear when she visits. Eli blesses the couple, and Hannah has more children, three sons and two daughters. Eli is very old, and he hears what his sons have done to Israel and how they lay with the women who assemble at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. He asks them why they have done these things and tells them they are causing Israel to transgress. He warns them and says if a man sins against another, God will judge him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? But they still do not listen, because "the Lord [desires] to kill them." And Samuel "[grows] in stature and favor both with the Lord and men." A man of God comes to Eli with a word, saying he has honored his sons more than the Lord. Therefore, God says "those who honor Me, I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed." He says He will cut off Eli's father's house, even though He had planned to make them priests, and he will see "an enemy in the Lord's dwelling place," and his descendants will not live to old age, which will start with his two sons, who will die in one day. Then, God will raise up a faithful priest who will do what is in God's heart and mind. And those in Eli's house will beg this priest for bread.
Samuel ministers to the Lord before Eli. It says the word of the Lord is rare in those days and there is no widespread revelation. While Eli is lying down, and his eyes had grown dim, and while Samuel is lying down, the Lord calls to Samuel, and he answers and says "Here I am!" So he runs to Eli, but Eli says he did call him. It happens a second time, and again Eli says he did not call. It says Samuel does not yet know the Lord nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. And the Lord calls Samuel the third time, and this time, Eli understands it is the Lord, so he tells him to lie down and to answer to the Lord, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." The Lord comes and stands and calls him, "Samuel, Samuel!" and Samuel answers as Eli instructed. The Lord says He will do something that will cause people's ears to tingle. He will fulfill everything He has spoken of concerning Eli's house, just as he told Eli he will judge his house forever because of the iniquity "he [knows,] because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them." And this iniquity will not be atoned for by sacrifice and offering forever. In the morning, Samuel opens the doors of the house of the Lord, and he is afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli calls him and asks and warns him not to hide it. So Samuel tells him everything, and Eli says the Lord must do what seems good to Him. And it says that Samuel "[grows], and the Lord is with him and lets none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel... [knows] that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord." And the Lord appears again in Shiloh, and it says that He reveals himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Sin should never be taken lightly and has lasting, unforeseen consequences.
God's heart is for the oppressed and the "have-nots." He hears your heart's cry when you cry out to Him in earnest.