1S1-21: ‘Wives, Submit Yourselves To Your Own Husbands As You Do To The Lord’

“The husband, Elkanah, went up with all his household to offer the yearly sacrifice to Adonai and fulfill his vow.  But Hannah did not go up, explaining to her husband, ‘Not till the child has been weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before Adonai and live there forever.‘“-1 Samuel 1:21-22

So the time arrived yet again for the yearly festival at Shiloh.

But this time Hannah told Elkanah she didn’t wish to go until Samuel was weaned.

Now I don’t know if you realize this but this is evidence the festival at Shiloh was NOT a God-ordained HAG or pilgrimage festival.

Why can I say that with such confidence?

Because if it was a God-ordained Biblical festival Hannah would be required to go OR she’d be sinning.

So attendance was optional and we’re told Hannah wasn’t ready to dedicate Samuel to the Priesthood just yet until she had weaned him some more.

In those days, weaning occurred no earlier than 3 years or in some cases even up to 5 years depending on a family’s financial situation.

Note that Elkanah accepted Hannah’s decision and said to her…“Only may Adonai bring about what he said”.

That’s a bad translation.

In this case, I think the King James Version much more accurately reflects the original Hebrew.

The King James says:

“only the Lord establish his word“.

Saying God will “establish His word” means God’s Will will be done.

However, what’s really going on here is that Elkanah is validating the vow Hannah had made…

Which was his right and obligation as a husband to do.

Here is the Torah ruling for this:

“But if her husband makes them
null and void on the day he hears them,
then whatever she said,
vows or binding obligation,
will not stand;
her husband has voided them;
and ADONAI will forgive her.”
-Numbers 30:13

We can see right here how the Torah validates the divine hierarchy that God has established in the family.

Unfortunately, the world we live in a world today has rebelled against the traditional family structure of ONE man marrying ONE woman with the man being the HEAD of the household…

I’m telling you NOTHING good has come from this rebellion.

The simple truth is children do much better when raised in a traditional family environment with the man at the top.

That’s right.

Make no bones about it.

A man who grows up in a broken family, dominated by the mother, never acquires any stable relationship to male authority, never acquires any set of rational expectations about the future – that man’s life inevitably falls into chaos.

I know…

Because I was that man…

Until the Lord rescued and adopted me…