The Bible chronicles a number of miraculous births, beginning with that of Isaac in the book of Genesis and continuing on to those of John the Baptist and Jesus in Luke 1-2.
In between falls the birth of Samuel, which has connections with both Genesis and Luke.
The parallel family situations of Abraham/Sarah and Elkanah/Hannah constitute one connection between Genesis and Samuel. Abraham and Sarah are unable to have children, but Abraham has a son with a second wife, Hagar. Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah are unable to have children, but Elkanah has children with a second wife, Peninnah (1 Sam 1).
After the miraculous birth of his son Isaac, Abraham shows willingness to give up Isaac at God's command (Gen 22). Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah willingly give up Samuel to God's service (1 Sam 1:21-28).
After Samuel's birth Hannah's prayer concludes with a prophecy of a coming Messiah: "The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed" (1 Sam 2:10). Her prayer has much in common with Mary's prayer of thanksgiving in Luke 1:46-55. Both prayers praise God for exalting the humble and humbling the proud.
There are also a number of parallels between Samuel and Jesus and their families. Like Mary and Joseph, Hannah and Elkanah made regular pilgrimages to worship God (1 Sam 1:3; Luke 2:41). Samuel as a young boy served under Eli the priest (1 Sam 2:11), while Jesus discussed aspects of the Torah with teachers at the Temple in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old (Luke 2:46-47). Luke seems to emphasize the connection between Samuel and Jesus when he writes in Luke 2:52 that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men," an apparent reference to 1 Sam 2:26.
According to David Daube (The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism, pp 13-14), there is also a rabbinic legend that the boy Samuel once corrected Eli on a technical point involving sacrificial regulations. If this story was extant in the first century, it could further explain why Luke saw Samuel's boyhood as typical of Jesus' boyhood.
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