1 Samuel 1:12

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SHE CONTINUED PRAYING BEFORE THE LORD, THAT ELI MARKED HER MOUTH._ Eli marked her mouth. The suspicion of the aged priest seems to indicate that the vice of intemperance was neither uncommon nor confined to one sex in those times of disorder. This mistaken impression was immediately removed; and in the words, "God grant," or rather, 'will grant,' was followed by an invocation which, as Hannah regarded it in the light of a prophecy pointing to the accomplishment of her earnest desire, dispelled her sadness, and filled her with confident hope. The character and services of the expected child were sufficiently important to make his birth a fit subject for prophecy....

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...

AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SHE CONTINUED PRAYING BEFORE THE LORD,.... Being very earnest and importunate with him to grant her request, and therefore repeated her petition, and prolonged her prayer, being unwilling to let the Lord go, until she had a promise, or some satisfaction, that she should have the thing she liked; some think she continued an hour in prayer: THAT ELI MARKED HER MOUTH; observed the motion of her lips, and no doubt her distorted countenance, and uplifted eyes and hands, but chiefly the former; not knowing what the woman was at, and what could be the meaning of such motions....

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

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

THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL Hannah, the childless wife of Elkanah, is. grieved by her childlessness, and prays for a son. Her prayer is heard, and in gratitude she consecrates her child to the service of Jehovah. 1. RAMATHAIM-ZOPHIM] Ramathaim ('double height') probably denotes the district in which Ramah ('height') was the chief town. It was at Ramah that Samuel was born, lived, laboured, died, and was buried. As Ramah was a common name in a hilly country like Palestine, Zophim is here added to denote that this Ramah was in the land of Zuph (1 Samuel 9:5). But even so, the exact position of Ramah has not been determined with certainty. Mount Ephraim] RV 'the hill country of Ephraim.' Ephrathite] RV 'Ephraimite.'...

ISRAEL’S FIRST KING 1 SAMUEL _HELEN POCOCK_ INTRODUCTION TO 1 AND 2 SAMUEL The books of 1 and 2 Samuel used to be one book. The writer wrote the book in the *Hebrew language. Many years later, men translated the Bible into the Greek language (the language of the *New Testament). These men divided this book into two parts. The name of the book comes from the first important person in this book. He was Samuel the *prophet. But Samuel did not write the book. He died before the end of it. We do not know who wrote the book. The author lived after King Solomon had died in about 930 BC (930 years Before Christ). After Solomon died, the country of *Israel divided into two countries, *Israel and *Judah. The country of *Judah included the *tribes of *Judah and Benjamin (see 1 Kings 12:1-24). In 1 and 2 Samue

וְ הָיָה֙ כִּ֣י הִרְבְּתָ֔ה לְ הִתְפַּלֵּ֖ל לִ פְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה וְ עֵלִ֖י שֹׁמֵ֥ר אֶת ־פִּֽיהָ׃...