This is a minor detail in the life of Samuel, but it was important. Every year he got a new coat when his parents came to worship. His mother made it. She wanted to give him something he needed. Think of the” little coat” from your mother to you. What are you using it for?
I Samuel 2:18 “But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.”
This is one of the most tender passages in the Bible. It’s so personal. When Hannah took Samuel a coat year after year, she had no idea the whole world would know about it. It’s important to the truth and principles of God’s word. All she knew how to do was be a simply, a good mother to her little boy. This had a great impact and influence on the nation of Israel and the whole world. She loaned her son to the Lord for service in the temple. He became a judge and ruler over Israel. This speaks highly about his mother and father.
At the result of her prayer, the Lord allowed Hannah to become a mother. The best thing she could ever have done was give him to the Lord. The best choice of any mother is to give her children over to the Lord. Bring them up in the house of the Lord. Unless you lend them to the Lord, something else will get them. God takes care of what we lend. Hannah’s house was blessed. We need that same stability in our families today. She knew Samuel was in safekeeping. If we are to raise our children right, we must acquaint them with the special need of salvation. It is their soul’s only safe-keeper.
Hannah got to see her son once a year. This scripture is all about a mother making something her son could use. Year after year she brought him a coat, from childhood maybe even to adulthood. When Samuel served in the temple he wore a linen ephod. However, he needed an everyday coat. Church clothes are important; bringing children to Sunday school is important. Children will only be as attentive to church as the parents are. They will only pray as they see their parents. They will only be acquainted with and acknowledge God as they see their parents do. You have a great influence on your children.
The moral decay, the confusion in society, and the loss of common sense about life is due to the loss of significance of the home. Samuel needed the ephod, but he needed this everyday coat. It was practical for him. Hannah may have had trouble with money to buy the material, yet she made one every year. It kept him warm and clothed him. She couldn’t go downtown and buy it. There was no Belk or Penny’s. Church is important to children, but they also need protection Monday through Saturday. That’s what mothers can give. It’s not important what you buy for them but what you make them. The clothes bought will be forgotten, but breakfast, lunch, and supper will be remembered. Even when a child smarts off, he knows he needs his mother. You have such a direct influence on your child.
Think about this little coat. Hannah couldn’t do much for Samuel, but she could make him a coat. It was good enough for him and good enough for the Lord. Money and fashion won’t do it. What does your child’s soul look like? What mom and dad give in showing the principles of the Lord has no substitute. There is no other choice. Either God gets them or the devil will. Hannah made what Samuel needed, and he went to the top for the Lord. Consider what you give to your child. Ezekiel says as mother does so is the daughter and as the father does so is the son. Before Hannah presented Samuel to the Lord, she fell at the altar herself. Do you need to present yourself to the Lord and in turn present your child to him?
What about the coat? Fads come and go, but those that fear the Lord live forever.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 