Hannah, Samuel’s mother
1
📚Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim 📖 Zophim in the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 📚And he had two wives 📖. The name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 📚And yearly this man went up out of his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts 📖 in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests 📖 of the LORD, were there.
1:3 Ex 34:23; Deut 12:5-7; Josh 18:1. The tabernacle and the ark of the covenant were at Shiloh (1 Sam 4:3).⚜
4 📚And when the time came that Elkanah made an offering, he gave portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and her daughters, 5 📚but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah. But the LORD had shut up her womb.
6 📚And also her rival provoked her severely to irritate her, because the LORD had shut up her womb. 7 📚And it happened year by year when she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her. Therefore she wept, and did not eat.
1:6-7 Verse 2; Gen 2:23-24.⚜
8 📚Then her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? And why aren’t you eating? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 📚So Hannah got up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a seat by a post of the temple 📖 of the LORD. 10 📚And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept much. 11 📚And she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant, and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but give to your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD 📖 for all the days of his life, and no razor 📖 will come on his head”.
12 📚And as she continued praying before the LORD, it so happened that Eli noticed her mouth. 13 📚Now Hannah had spoken in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. 14 📚And Eli said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Put your wine away from you”.
1:13-14 Acts 2:4, 13. How easily the best actions may be misunderstood by others. Note on Josh 22:10-34.⚜
15 📚And Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not drunk either wine or strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16 📚Do not regard your maidservant as a wicked woman, for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and grief”.
17 📚Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you your petition that you have asked of him”.
18 📚And she said, “Let your maidservant find favour in your sight”. So the woman went her way, and ate, and her appearance was no longer sad.
1:18 Answered prayer will brighten up the face (Ps 34:4-5).⚜
19 📚And they rose up early in the morning and worshipped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew 📖 his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered 📖 her.
Samuel’s birth and childhood
20 📚Therefore it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she bore a son. And she called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him”.
1:10-20 Hannah’s sorrow drove her to prayer (sorrow can result in much good if it causes a person to do that). And here she prayed to the one true God who knows our sorrows, has compassion on us, and can hear our prayers (Ex 2:23-25; Ps 6:6-9; 38:9; 102:19-20). Her example shows how to pray effectively – she was in a right relationship with God; she had a deep burden (vs 10,13,15); her petition was specific (v 11); she wanted to use what God gave her for His glory, not for her own selfish satisfaction (v 11); she had faith (vs 17-19); and she acknowledged God’s answer when it came (v 20).⚜
1:20 Samuel probably means “Heard of God”.⚜
21 📚And the man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow 📖. 22 📚But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned, and then I will take him, so that he may appear before the LORD and stay there permanently”.
1:22 Verses 11,29; 1 Sam 2:11.⚜
23 📚And her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD confirm his word”. So the woman stayed at home, and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 📚And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls 📖 and one ephah 📖 of flour and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh; and the child was young. 25 📚And they killed a bull, and brought the child to Eli.
1:24-25 Num 15:8-10. On the meanings of the various sacrifices see notes on the first chapter of Leviticus.⚜
26 📚And she said, “Oh my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD. 27 📚I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me my request which I asked from him. 28 📚Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he will be given to the LORD”. And he worshipped the LORD there.
1:27-28 She was obviously a godly woman, and she was faithful to her promises to God, unlike many who make vows and do not perform them. Unlike so many, Hannah was concerned with what her son could do for God, not what he might eventually do for her. This gift of Hannah to God had a profound effect for good on the life of the whole nation. When believers give gifts to God He accepts and uses them.⚜