1 Samuel 1:11

_AND SHE VOWED A VOW, AND SAID, O LORD OF HOSTS, IF THOU WILT INDEED LOOK ON THE AFFLICTION OF THINE HANDMAID, AND REMEMBER ME, AND NOT FORGET THINE HANDMAID, BUT WILT GIVE UNTO THINE HANDMAID A MAN CHILD, THEN I WILL GIVE HIM UNTO THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE, AND THERE SHALL NO RASOR COME UPON HIS HEAD._ And ... vowed a vow. Here is a specimen of the intense desire that reigned in the bosoms of the Hebrew women for children. This was the burden of Hannah's prayer; and the strong preference she expressed for a male child originated in her purpose of dedicating him to the tabernacle service. The circumstance of his birth bound him to this; but his residence within the precincts of the sanctuary would have to commence at an earlier age than usual, in consequence of the Nazarite vow. Sterile women in the East to this day perform pilgrimages to holy places, and often make a vow, that,...

9-18 Hannah mingled tears with her prayers; she considered the mercy of our God, who knows the troubled soul. God gives us leave, in prayer, not only to ask good things in general, but to mention that special good thing we most need and desire. She spoke softly, none could hear her. Hereby she testified her belief of God's knowledge of the heart and its desires. Eli was high priest, and judge in Israel. It ill becomes us to be rash and hasty in censures of others, and to think people guilty of bad things while the matter is doubtful and unproved. Hannah did not retort the charge, and upbraid Eli with the wicked conduct of his own sons. When we are at any time unjustly censured, we have need to set a double watch before the door of our lips, that we do not return censure for censure. Hannah thought it enough to clear herself, and so must we. Eli was willing to acknowledge his mistake. Ha...

Verse 1 Samuel 1:11. _I WILL GIVE HIM UNTO THE LORD_] Samuel, as a descendant of the house of _Levi_, was the Lord's property from _twenty-five_ years of age till _fifty_; but the vow here implies that he should be consecrated to the Lord from his infancy to his death, and that he should not only act as a _Levite_, but as a _Nazarite_, on whose head no razor should pass....

vows are characteristic of this particular age of the Judges. (Compare Judges 11:30; Jdg 21:5; 1 Samuel 14:24.) For the law of vows in the case of married women, see Numbers 30:6; and for the nature of the vow, see the marginal references....

AND SHE VOWED A VOW,.... Which might be confirmed by her husband; otherwise the vow of a woman, if disapproved of by her husband, was not valid, Numbers 30:8 and Elkanah might make the same vow his wife did, and so it stood; for as this was a vow of Nazariteship, it is a tradition of the Jews r, that a man may vow his son to be a Nazarite, but a woman may not; but as this instance contradicts the tradition, they endeavour to explain away this vow, as it may respect a Nazarite, as will be observed hereafter: AND SAID, O LORD OF HOSTS; this is properly the first time this title was used by any that we know of; for though it is expressed in 1 Samuel 1:3 there it is used as the words of the writer of this history, and so long after this prayer was put up;...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. SAMUEL THE PROPHET AND JUDGE 1. The Birth and Childhood of Samuel CHAPTER 1 _ 1. Elkanah and his wives (1 Samuel 1:1)_ 2. Hannah's prayer and vow (1 Samuel 1:9) 3. The prayer answered and Samuel born (1 Samuel 1:19) 4. The child weaned and presented unto the Lord (1 Samuel 1:21) The descent of Samuel opens the book. The names are of striking significance. Elkanah means “acquired of God.” He was the son of Jeroham (tenderly loved), the son of Elihu (my God is He), the son of Tohu (prostration), the son of Zuph (honeycomb). They were pious generations f

HANNAH PRAYS FOR A CHILD. In her distress Hannah betook herself to the sanctuary and prayed before Yahweh, _i.e._ before the Ark, for a son. She vowed that if a son were given her, she would devote him to Yahweh; the outward sign of his devotion being one of the peculiarities of the Nazirites (pp. 103, 105, Judges 13:5 *, Numbers 6*), viz. that his hair should be allowed to grow. The priest of the sanctuary, Eli, a local magnate, also spoken of as judge, (1 Samuel 4:18) occupied an official seat close by: he knew that the religious character of the occasion did not always prevent feasting from degenerating into excess (Isaiah 28:7; Amos 2:8), so that

VOWED. VOW. made. solemn vow. Figure of speech _Polyptoton._ App-6. See note on Genesis 26:28. REMEMBER ME, and not forget. Figure of speech _Pleonasm_ (App-6) for great emphasis. NO RAZOR. See Numbers 6:5.Judges 13:5; Judges 16:17....

Hannah's Prayer and its answer 9. _So Hannah rose up_ Simply AND. Hannah left the feast for which she had not heart, and went to pray. _Eli the priest_ Eli belonged to the house of Ithamar Aaron's fourth son, as is clear from a comparison of 1 Chronicles 24:3 with 2 Samuel 8:17 and 1 Kings 2:17, and from the omission of his name in the genealogy of Eleazar in 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. The last high-priest mentioned before him was Phinehas the son of Eleazar (Judges 20:28); but when or why the succession pass

_Hannah's prayer. 1 Samuel 1:9-18_ 9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. 10 And she _was_ in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 12 And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away