When anyone teaches the story of Hannah, they tend to focus on the interaction between Hannah, Eli and God. After a discussion of Hannah’s fervent prayer, the teacher will usually fast forward to a few years later when Hannah fulfills her promise to God and leaves little Samuel with Eli. Hannah’s actions have a lot to teach us, but we are missing out on someone else who is just as pivotal in this story in his own way – Elkanah.
Elkanah was Samuel’s father and Hannah’s husband. The scripture actually tells us more about the kind of man Elkanah was than we think. You see Hannah was able to “parent like Hannah” because Elkanah was the husband and father Hannah and Samuel needed him to be. So what can Elkanah teach fathers who want to dedicate their children to God?
Most children seem to collect something or several somethings during their years at home. Many adults continue these collections or add new ones. There must be something about human nature that enjoys collecting things. I don’t think it is necessarily motivated by greed, because there are some rather strange collections out there. My guess is that it has more to do with the “thrill of the chase” or the excitement of accomplishing a goal.