1 Samuel 1:9

_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._ Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord, х_ `AL_ (H5921) _ HAKICEE'_ (H3678), upon the throne, the cathedra, or elevated seat of the high priest; _ `AL_ (H5921) _ MªZUWZAT_ (H4201), by a door-post of the sanctuary]. The seats of high functionaries were commonly placed close to posts or pillars (cf. 2 Kings 11:14; Ezekiel 44:8)....

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 1:9. _ELI - SAT UPON A SEAT_] על הכסא al hakkisse, upon the throne, i.e., of judgment; for he was then _judge_ of Israel. _BY A POST OF THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD._] I think this is the first place where היכל יהוה _heychal Yehovah_, "temple of Jehovah," is mentioned. This gives room for a strong suspicion that the books of Samuel were not compiled _till the first temple was built_, or _after the days of Solomon_. After this the word _temple_ is frequent in the books of Kings, Chronicles, and in the prophets. Perhaps those _Psalms_ in which this word occurs were, like many others in the Psalms, not of David's composition; some of them were evidently made long after his time....

AFTER THEY HAD EATEN ... - Rather, “after she had eaten and after she had drunk,” which is obviously right. Hannah, in the bitterness of her spirit, could not enjoy her feast, and so, after eating and drinking a little, she arose and went to the temple, leaving her husband and Peninnah and her children at table, where she still found them on her return 1 Samuel 1:18. UPON A SEAT ... - Rather, “upon the throne,” the pontifical chair of state 1 Samuel 4:13, which was probably set at the gate leading into the inner court of the tabernacle. THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD - The application of the word temple to the tabernacle is found only here,...

SO HANNAH ROSE UP AFTER THEY HAD EATEN IN SHILOH, AND AFTER THEY HAD DRANK,.... After dinner, after Elkanah and Peninnah, and their children, had eaten heartily, and drank freely, and made a comfortable meal, and even a feast of it, at the place where the tabernacle and altar were, and their peace offerings were offered up, part of which they had been regaling themselves with. The Targum is, "after she had eaten in Shiloh, and after she had drank;'' for upon the entreaty of her husband, and to make him easy, she might be prevailed upon to eat somewhat, though it might be but little; and to drink, though it was but water; for as for wine and strong drink, she declares afterwards she had not drank, 1 Samuel 1:15 NOW ELI THE PRIEST SAT UPON A SEAT BY A POST OF THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD; for so the tabernacle was called, and sometimes the temple is call

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

A SEAT. the seat. First occurrence. Compare Zechariah 6:13. A POST. door post, or side post. THE TEMPLE. palace. Hebrew. _heykal._ Seven mentioned in Scripture: (1) The Tabernacle, 1 Samuel 1:9. (2) Solomon's, 1 Kings 6:5; 1 Kings 6:17. (3) Zerubbabel's, Ezra 4:1; Ezra 4:2. (4) Herod's, John 2:20. (5) The future one of...

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

NOW ELI THE PRIEST SAT UPON A SEAT, &C.— Eli, who was of the family of Ithamar, was both high-priest and judge at this time. He was born in the end of Gideon's judicature, and died in the middle of the Philistines' tyranny over the Israelites, according to Sir John Marsham, who observes, that his judicature consisted only in hearing and judging causes by his pontifical authority. He did not signalize himself by any victories: he was such a judge as Samuel's sons were, chap. 1 Samuel 8:1 and Samuel himself, after Saul began to reign. See chap. 1 Samuel 7:15; 1 Samuel 7:17. _Of the temple of the Lord,_ in this verse, would be better rendered, _Of the tabernacle of the Lord._ It appears from the first words of this