There are several characteristics that made Samuel a special child, one who was to have a strong influence and leadership role over the nation of Israel.
First, Samuel was a child of miraculous conception. I Samuel 1 explains that Hannah was barren; Elkanah had children with his other wife Peninnah, but he had none with Hannah. God was active in the conception of Samuel, "Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her" (vs. 19).
Second, Samuel was a child of prayer. Distraught at her inability to have children, Hannah poured out her soul to the Lord at the tabernacle at Shiloh, praying for a son. Seeing her silently praying, the priest Eli assumed she was drunk (vs. 13). When he found out that she wasn't, he added his prayers to hers (vs. 17). When he was born, Hannah named him Samuel, saying, "I have asked him of the Lord" (vs. 20).
Third, Samuel was a nazirite. As part of her prayer, Hannah had vowed to raise her son to never drink alcohol or cut his hair (vs. 11). Samuel was to be unique and set apart from all the other children in Israel by these nazirite restrictions.
Fourth, Samuel was given to God. Once he was weaned, Hannah planned to bring him with her to Shiloh - and leave him there as a perpetual offering to the Lord. As she told Eli, "For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord" (vs. 27-28). So Samuel was raised among the priests at the tabernacle in Shiloh.
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