I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 1-3.

    The beginning of this passage gives us an insight into how important having children was to women in biblical times. I could spend time discussing some of the reasons for this, but the important thing is to recognize that it was extremely important to most of them. Hannah desperately wanted children. A feeling which was exacerbated by her husband’s other wife (another reason for monogamy). In her desperation, Hannah poured out her heart to God. In this she serves as an example for all of us. She prayed and asked God for the desire of her heart, but she also offered to dedicate the desire of her heart to serving God’s will. The most important part of this is that she followed through on that promise.

    I find it difficult to know what to make of Eli. On the one hand, the sons of his body had grown into evil men who brought disgrace on the name of the Lord. On the other hand, he raised Samuel and taught him to serve God faithfully. Eli rebuked his sons for their sins, but he did nothing further (of course, we have no reason to believe that he could have done anything further). He also accepted the Lord’s judgment on his family without complaint.
    Perhaps the most important thing which Eli did in his life was teach Samuel to respond to God by saying, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” I am going to do something here that I generally avoid. I am going to expand on this phrase.

• “Speak,” acknowledging that God has something to say to us.
• “your servant,” expressing a willingness to do as God commands.
• “listening,” recognizing that we need to pay heed to what God has to say to us.