The 1st Book of Samuel opens with a story about a man named Elkanah and his two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children but Hannah didn't.

Every year the family went to worship the Lord at the tabernacle in Shiloh. Elkanah gave his wives something to offer to the Lord. He gave Hannah a double amount to offer because he specially loved her and wanted her to be blessed.

One year during their worship at the tabernacle, Hannah was very sad because she didn’t have any children. She cried and begged the Lord for a son as she prayed. She promised the Lord that if He gave her a son, she would give her son back to serve the Lord all his life.

Eli, the high priest, saw her mouth move as she prayed but didn’t hear any words. So, he thought that she was drunk. She explained that she wasn’t drunk but very sad and was praying to the Lord. Then Eli understood and sent her on her way with his blessing.

The Lord heard Hannah’s prayer and soon she had a son. She named her son Samuel, which means “God heard.”

Each year the family went to worship the Lord, but Hannah stayed home taking care of Samuel. Then, when Samuel was weaned and could live away from her, she took Samuel back to Shiloh, so he could spend his life there, learning from Eli, and serving the Lord. 

Sometimes, we are like Hannah. We may be sad because of something we don’t have or can’t do. We may feel that we will never be happy without this. When we ask the Lord to help us, he can show us the way to be truly happy now and forever.

The name “Hannah” means favor or grace. Hannah is like any of us, as we ask for the Lord’s grace to give us true happiness.

Hannah’s grief-filled prayer took place at the tabernacle in Shiloh. “Shiloh” means peace. In fact, Shiloh represents the kind of peace that only the Lord Himself can give. (See Arcana Coelestia 6373.) And what is the thing that is missing in someone’s life? Often, that missing thing is the truth. The more truth we have and the more we understand the Lord, and ourselves, and the path that our life should take, the more of that true happiness we can find. (See Apocalypse Explained 375:2, 3.)

2803. As regards Divine Truth being meant by 'son' and Divine Good by 'father', this becomes clear from the meaning of 'son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and of 'father' as good, and also from the conception and birth of truth as taking place from good. As has been shown many times, truth cannot have being or manifest itself except from good. The reason 'son' here means Divine Truth, and 'father' Divine Good, is that the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, is the Divine Marriage of Divine Good to Truth, and of Truth to Good; and from that marriage comes the heavenly marriage. For within Jehovah or the Lord there is nothing but that which is infinite, and this being so, no other idea can be conceived of Him than that He is the Being and Manifestation (Esse et Existere) of all good and truth, that is, He is Good itself and Truth itself. Good itself is the Father, and Truth itself the Son. Now because the Divine Marriage, as has been stated, is a marriage of Good and Truth, and of Truth and Good, the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches in John,

Jesus said to Philip, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:10-11.

And elsewhere in the same evangelist,

Jesus said to the Jews, Even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father. John 10:36, 38.

And elsewhere,

I pray for them - for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine - that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You John 17:9-10, 21.

And elsewhere,

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself. Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. John 13:31-32; 17:1.

[2] From these places one may see the nature of the union of the Divine and of the Human within the Lord - that each is linked mutually to the other and responds to the other - that is, it is a reciprocal union. This is the Union which is called the Divine Marriage, from which the heavenly marriage comes down, which is the Lord's kingdom itself in heaven and is referred to in John as follows,

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20.

And elsewhere,

I pray for these, that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, I in them and You in Me, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:21-23, 26.

[3] As regards this heavenly marriage being a marriage of good and truth, and of truth and good, see 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729 and following paragraphs. And since Divine Good cannot possibly have being or manifest itself without Divine Truth, and Divine Truth cannot possibly do so without Divine Good, but one is always reaching out to and responding to the other, it is therefore plain that the Divine Marriage has existed from eternity, that is, the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches in John,

Now, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5, 24.

But the Divine Human that had been born from eternity was also born in time, and what was born in time is the same as that which was glorified. This is what accounts for the Lord's saying many times that He was going to the Father who sent Him, that is, He was returning to the Father. And in John,

In the beginning was the Word (the Word being Divine Truth itself), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Furthermore the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3, 14.

See also John 3:13; 6:62.