Hannah was barren. As such she considered herself as a failure and this was exacerbated by the fact that her husband Elkanah had another wife Peninnah who had children. The family was God-fearing and faithful and went annually to the tabernacle that was at Shiloh to present their sacrifices. Like many servants of God, Hannah approached God in prayer. She vowed to dedicate her firstborn son to the Lord and the High Priest Eli, promised her that God had heard her prayers. So Hannah received her child of promise and called him Samuel, which means ‘asked of God.’
As a Levite, Samuel would have been eligible to serve in the temple and to be redeemed as a firstborn child by gifts to the temple in the normal way. However, Hannah had promised to bring him up as a Nazarite and to dedicate him completely as soon as he was weaned. This wonderful act of self-sacrifice was eventually rewarded by Samuel becoming not only a Nazarite but also a Judge over Israel, a Prophet and although not in the line of Aaron, the High Priest of Israel.
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