In her childless misery she had gone to the tabernacle to pray; and this is the prayer that Hannah offered: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head” (I Samuel 1:11). The “no wine” and “no razor” stipulations are two of the three marks of someone dedicated to God’s service as a Nazirite (Numbers 6:1-21); this vow of special dedication to the Lord might be undertaken by both men and women, and usually was for a set limited period of time. But before her child was even conceived, Hannah had dedicated him to life-long service to God as a Nazirite.

People often make serious promises as to what they will do if God grants their prayer, and then somehow forget to fulfill their word after they receive the hoped-for answer. But Hannah made sure she would not forget: she named the baby Samuel – which means “God heard” – so that every moment of holding and nursing that baby would be a constant reminder that God heard her prayer (I Samuel 1:20).

Hannah explained to her husband Elkanah her intentions once the baby had been weaned: “I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a Nazirite for all time” (1:22). And when she brought the toddler to Eli the high priest, she said, “For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord” (1:27-28).

Can someone really do that? It is hard enough for us to imagine people dedicating their whole life to God’s service: our culture generally accords higher value to the right to change your mind and do something different from what you decided earlier. Still, as young adults people do make life decisions of this magnitude, to serve as monks or nuns or missionaries. Yet Hannah vowed, on behalf of her son, that he would live his entire life in service to Yahweh.

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You have had your hand on all of us, O Lord, from early times: you set your claim on our allegiance long before we responded, indeed before we had understood anything about it, and yes, before we were even conceived. We are yours: we belong to you forever, and we dedicate ourselves anew to live as your servants.