1 Samuel 1:7

_AND AS HE DID SO YEAR BY YEAR, WHEN SHE WENT UP TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, SO SHE PROVOKED HER; THEREFORE SHE WEPT, AND DID NOT EAT._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-8 Elkanah kept up his attendance at God's altar, notwithstanding the unhappy differences in his family. If the devotions of a family prevail not to put an end to its divisions, yet let not the divisions put a stop to the devotions. To abate our just love to any relation for the sake of any infirmity which they cannot help, and which is their affliction, is to make God's providence quarrel with his precept, and very unkindly to add affliction to the afflicted. It is evidence of a base disposition, to delight in grieving those who are of a sorrowful spirit, and in putting those out of humour who are apt to fret and be uneasy. We ought to bear one another's burdens, not add to them. Hannah could not bear the provocation. Those who are of a fretful spirit, and are apt to lay provocations too much to heart, are enemies to themselves, and strip themselves of many comforts both of life and g...

Verse 1 Samuel 1:7. _AND AS HE DID SO YEAR BY YEAR_] As the whole family went up to Shiloh to the annual festivals, Peninnah had both _sons_ and _daughters_ to accompany her, 1 Samuel 1:4, but Hannah had none; and Peninnah took this opportunity particularly to twit Hannah with her barrenness, by making an ostentatious exhibition of her children. _THEREFORE SHE WEPT_] She was greatly distressed, because it was a great reproach to a woman among the Jews to be barren; because, say some, every one hoped that the _Messiah_ should spring from her line....

AND AS HE DID SO ... - It should rather be “And so she did year by year, as often as she went up to the House of the Lord, so she provoked her.” Though the verb is masculine, Peninnah must be the subject, because as often as SHE went up follows. The Vulgate has “they went up.”...

THE EARLY LIFE OF SAMUEL. EXPOSITION THE GENEALOGY AND BIRTHPLACE OF SAMUEL (1 Samuel 1:1) 1 SAMUEL 1:1 THERE WAS A CERTAIN MAN OF RAMATHAIM-ZOPHIM. Though Samuel belonged to the tribe of Levi, yet no special mention is made of the fact, because he owed his importance and rank as a judge not to his Levitical origin, but to the gift of prophecy, which was independent of the accidents of birth and station. In the First Book of Chronicles, 1 Samuel 6:1; his parentage is twice give

AND AS HE DID SO YEAR BY YEAR,.... Elkanah went up every year to Shiloh, and offered sacrifices, taking his family with him, and gave to Peninnah and her children their portion, and to Hannah a double portion, or if but one yet the best: WHEN SHE WENT UP TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD; that is, Peninnah, along with her husband, with whom she went every year to the tabernacle at Shiloh: SO SHE PROVOKED HER; her rival Hannah, upbraiding her with her barrenness; to which she was stirred up by seeing her husband on these festivals take so much notice of her, and show so much love and respect for her, as always to give her the best portion. Abarbinel thinks that Peninnah and Hannah lived at two separate places, the one at Ramah and the other at Ramatha, which both together are called Ramathaim; and that they only met with and saw one another at these festivals, and then it was that the one was so...

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

ELKANAH AND HIS RIVAL WIVES. The book opens with a domestic scene which throws light on the practical working of polygamy in ancient Israel. The husband is an Ephraimite, Elkanah of Ramah, _i.e._ the Height perhaps Rimo, twelve miles west of Shiloh. Elkanah had two wives (a very common arrangement, _cf._ Rachel and Leah) whose names were Hannah (Grace) and Peninnah (Coral or Pearl). Peninnah had children, Hannah had none. The hero of the story, Samuel, was born as an answer to prayer to a mother hitherto barren so Sarah and Isaac; Rebekah, Jacob and Esau; Rachel and Joseph. Elkanah and his family went yearly to a festival at Shiloh, probably the Vintage Festival, which was called later on the Feast of Tabernacles, a sort of Christmas away from home. What corresponded roughly to the Christmas dinner was the meal to which the sacrifice served as a somewhat elaborate grace. An ox or sheep w...

_as he did so_ Peninnah's spitefulness was evoked by the display of Elkanah's affection. Exultation at another's misfortune is one of the most detestable forms of malice. _did not eat_ Refused to take any part in the rejoicings of the sacrificial feast....

I. THE JUDGESHIP OF SAMUEL 1 Samuel 1:1 to 1 Samuel 12:25 1. The Birth and Infancy of Samuel, 1 Samuel 1:1 to 1 Samuel 2:11. _Samuel's Simple Surroundings._ 1 Samuel 1:1-8 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name _was_ Elkanah, 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 the one _was_ Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 And this man went