撒母耳記上1:21-28

 

1:21 以利加拿和他全家都上示羅去，要向耶和華獻年祭，並還所許的願。
1:22 哈拿卻沒有上去，對丈夫說：「等孩子斷了奶，我便帶他上去朝見耶和華，使他永遠住在那裡。」
1:23 她丈夫以利加拿說：「就隨你的意行吧！可以等兒子斷了奶。但願耶和華應驗他的話。」於是婦人在家裡乳養兒子，直到斷了奶；
1:24 既斷了奶，就把孩子帶上示羅，到了耶和華的殿；又帶了三隻公牛，一伊法細麵，一皮袋酒。（那時，孩子還小。）
1:25 宰了一隻公牛，就領孩子到以利面前。
1:26 婦人說：「主啊，我敢在你面前起誓，從前在你這裡站著祈求耶和華的那婦人，就是我。
1:27 我祈求為要得這孩子；耶和華已將我所求的賜給我了。
1:28 所以，我將這孩子歸與耶和華，使他終身歸與耶和華。」於是在那裡敬拜耶和華。

 

²¹ When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, ²² 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.”^[c]

²³ “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his^[d] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

²⁴ After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,^[e] an ephah^[f] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. ²⁵ When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, ²⁶ and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

 

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    撒母耳的媽媽在撒母耳斷奶之後，就讓撒母耳在會幕當拿細耳人，因為她曾向上帝許願：「萬軍之耶和華啊，你若垂顧婢女的苦情，眷念不忘婢女，賜我一個兒子，我必使他終身歸與耶和華，不用剃頭刀剃他的頭。」(1:11)

 

    時間到了，撒母耳的母親哈拿，就把孩子帶到會幕那裏來服事上帝，該有的禮儀她都沒有省略：「既斷了奶，就把孩子帶上示羅，到了耶和華的殿；又帶了三隻公牛，一伊法細麵，一皮袋酒。（那時，孩子還小。）宰了一隻公牛，就領孩子到以利面前。」

 

    撒母耳雖然不是自願奉獻，但是上帝因為媽媽的心願也就悅納這小孩！這也讓我們想到現今教會的小兒洗禮和奉獻禮，雖然不是自己的認信，但是上帝的恩典先於人的認信，正如保羅在羅馬書所說：「惟有基督在我們還作罪人的時候為我們死，上帝的愛就在此向我們顯明了。現在我們既靠著他的血稱義，就更要藉著他免去上帝的忿怒。因為我們作仇敵的時候，且藉著上帝兒子的死，得與上帝和好；既已和好，就更要因他的生得救了。不但如此，我們既藉著我主耶穌基督得與上帝和好，也就藉著他以上帝為樂。」(5:8-11)