Samuel was one of those children born rather late in the life of a woman who dearly wanted a child. To have a child was Hannah’s most earnest prayer. Indeed the writers of the scriptures regarded a child born late in life as an indication of God’s special favor. Hannah, Samuel’s mother, must have thought so too, and while he was still an infant, as soon as he was weaned, he was offered into the service of the Lord in thanks to God for his birth. That’s how it happened that this young boy named Samuel came to live with and serve as a kind of apprentice under a priest named Eli. Samuel lived and slept right there in what was called the Tent of Meeting, which served as a center of worship years before a permanent temple was built. So he grew up there under the influence of the old priest who …