J.R. Miller
(1840-1912)
(1840-1912)
"So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying: Because I asked the LORD for him." 1 Samuel 1:20
It was a long while ago that Hannah lived, and the fashions have changed so greatly, and there has been such advancement in all the arts of life since she brought up her boy, that it may seem idle to study the story in these wise, modern days; yet the little time necessary to look at the old picturemay not be altogether wasted.
For one thing, Hannah, as a mother, was enthusiastic. She was not one of those women who think children undesirable encumbrances. She did not consider herself, in her earlier married years, particularly fortunate in being free from the cares and responsibilities of motherhood. She believed that children were blessings from the Lord, that motherhood was the highest honor possible to a woman, and she sought, reverently and very earnestly, from God, the privilege of pressing a little child to her bosom and calling it her own.
This line in the ancient picture, we must not overlook in these days, when children are not always looked upon as blessings from the Lord, nor even always welcomed.
For another thing, when Hannah's child came she considered it a part of her religious duty to take care of it. Instead, therefore, of going up to Shiloh to attend all the great feasts, as she had done before, she stayed at home for some time to give personal attention to the little one that God had given her, and that was still too young to be taken with safety and comfort on such long journeys. "When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband: After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always." 1 Samuel 1:21-22
No doubt she supposed that she was worshiping God just as acceptably in doing this, as if she had gone up to all the great meetings. And who will say that she was not right? A mother's first obligations are to her children. She can have no holier or more sacred duties than those which relate to them. No amount of public religious service will atone for neglect of these. She may run to church and missionary meetings and abound in all kinds of charitable activities, and may do very much good among the poor, carrying blessings to many other homes and being a blessing to other people's children, through the Sunday school or mission school; but if she fails meanwhile to care for her own children properly, she can scarcely be commended as a faithful Christian mother. She has overlooked her first and most sacred duties, to give her hand and heart to those that are but secondary to her.
Hannah's way evidently was the true one. A mother had better be missed in the church and at the public meetings — than be missed in her own household. Some things must be crowded out of every earnest life — but the last thing to be crowded out of a mother's life, should be the faithful and loving care of her children.
The preacher may urge that everyone should do something in the general work of the church, and the superintendent may appeal for teachers for the Sunday school — but the mother herself must decide whether the Master really needs her to take up any religious work outside her own home. For the work there, she surely is responsible; for work outside her home, she is not responsible until the other is well done.
Another thing about Hannah, was that she looked after her own baby. She brought up the child herself. She did not hire a woman at so much a week, and then commit her tender child to her care, that she herself might have "a free foot" for parties and calls and operas, and social and religious duties. She was old-fashioned enough to prefer to bring up her own child.
She does not seem to have felt it any great personal deprivation to be kept at home rather closely for a year or two on this account. She even appears to have thought it a high honor and a distinguished privilege to be a mother, and to do with her own hands a mother's duties.
