You’ve likely read the names of Elkanah and Hannah as you’ve moved through the first few chapters of 1 Samuel. If you’re like many people, though, you may have raced on to all of the other amazing things that take place in this incredible book, and not stopped to think about the huge role that these two unsung heroes of the Bible played in the spiritual fabric of Israel.

More than anything, Hannah desperately wanted a son. However, the Bible says that God closed her womb so she was unable to conceive.

Chapter one of 1 Samuel drips with the pain that Hannah endured due to her situation. Not only was she barren, but Elkanah’s other wife mocked and tormented her because of her inability to have a child.

Further, as she was crying out to God in the temple, the chief priest Eli verbally attacked Hannah, accusing her of being drunk and a daughter of Satan.

Hannah was in a rough place. Her heart yearned so desperately for a son. As she prayed in the temple, she promised that if only God would grant her a boy, she would “give him to the LORD all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11).

God heard her prayer, and—when the time was right for both Hannah and Israel—God allowed Hannah to become pregnant and give birth to a boy that she named Samuel.

This was as good as it gets! Hannah had the son that she’d always wanted, and Elkanah was excited that his wife—whom he loved dearly—was happy.

Of course, amid the joy hung the oath that Hannah had made to God. She had the baby boy in her arms, but she knew he was not hers to keep. She had already promised that he would serve God all the days of his life. That meant that he would grow up in the temple.

Now, Elkanah, who wasn’t there when Hannah made the oath to God, could have stopped this. Per the customs of the day, as the man and the husband, he could have either passively or actively rejected Hannah’s oath and kept the boy.

Likewise, Hannah could have hypothetically changed her mind. After all, how many of us have made a promise to God while in a dire situation which we conveniently forgot at a later time?

Hannah and Elkanah, however, did not forget or deny the oath. Instead, when the baby boy had been weaned, they gave him to God as a living sacrifice. They willingly brought their child to the temple to serve God.

It’s easy to gloss over this, but as a parent it’s hard to comprehend. First of all, this boy was their son, and the emotional turmoil of giving up your own child must be excruciatingly difficult as it is.

Second, not only was Samuel their only son, but also their whole world. He was all Hannah ever wanted, and now she must give him up.

Finally, they were bringing him to the chief priest Eli, the same man who accused Hannah of being drunk in the temple. In fact, Eli already had two sons who were wicked men. He was not “Father of the Year” material, and, in a worldly view of things, Hannah and Elkanah had every right to be concerned about their child’s well-being.

Regardless, Hannah had made her oath, Elkanah supported her oath, and so once he was weaned the boy Samuel went to the temple.

What was the result of this incredible living sacrifice by Hannah and Elkanah?

We’re told that “Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:19-20, ESV).

Israel, which had been spiritually parched and had not heard from God in years (1 Samuel 3:1), suddenly came alive to the reality of the Lord as the young boy Samuel grew into a prophet who spoke the words of God to the entire nation!

What about you and me? We see Elkanah and Hannah make the greatest of living sacrifices so Israel may hear the word of the Lord, but often we’re too busy or too comfortable to make the simplest of gestures to share Christ with our friends or neighbors.

God’s not calling you to give up your child, but He is calling you to cross the street and share the hope that can only be found in a relationship with Jesus. Heed that call, be a living sacrifice, and watch Him work in and through you!