1 Samuel 1:8

_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 1:8. _AM NOT I BETTER TO THEE THAN TEN SONS?_] TEN, a certain for an uncertain number. Is not my especial affection to thee better than all the comfort thou couldst gain, even from a numerous family?...

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

THEN SAID ELKANAH HER HUSBAND TO HER, HANNAH, WHY WEEPEST THOU?.... Since it was a time of rejoicing, as every festival was, especially at the ingathering of the fruits of the earth: AND WHY EATEST THOU NOT? since they were at a feast, and she had the best part and portion of the provision: AND WHY IS THY HEART GRIEVED? to such a degree that she could neither eat nor drink: AM NOT I BETTER TO THEE THAN TEN SONS? which, as Jarchi says, Peninnah had borne to him; his meaning is, that the share she had in his love and affections ought to have been esteemed by her more than if she had ten or many children by him; and it suggests that Peninnah would have been glad to have such a share in his affections as Hannah had; and it would have been more eligible to her, than to have borne him so many children as she had....

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...

WHY... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. Compare John 20:13; John 20:15.... than ten sons. Probably _a Parcemia_ (App-6). It is so to-day among the Arabs: such. woman being called _moonejeba =_ ennobled....

_better to thee than ten sons_ Cp. Ruth 4:15....

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