INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 1 This chapter gives an account of the parents of Samuel, of the trouble his mother met with from her rival, and comfort from her husband, 1 Samuel 1:1, of her prayer to God for a son, and of her vow to him, should one be given her, 1 Samuel 1:9 of the notice Eli took o... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THERE WAS A MAN OF RAMATHAIMZOPHIM, OF MOUNT EPHRAIM,.... Ramathaim is a word of the dual number, and signifies two Ramahs; the city consisted of two parts, being built perhaps on two hills, and were called Zophim; because, as the Rabbins say, they looked one to another; or rather, because situa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE HAD TWO WIVES,.... Which, though connived at in those times, was contrary to the original law of marriage; and for which, though a good man, he was chastised, and had a great deal of vexation and trouble, the two wives not agreeing with each other; perhaps not having children by the one so so... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN WENT UP OUT OF HIS CITY YEARLY,.... From year to year; or, as the Targum, from the time of the solemn appointed feast to the solemn appointed feast, from one to another; there were three of them in the year, at which all the males in Israel were to appear at the tabernacle; and being a Levi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE TIME WAS THAT ELKANAH OFFERED,.... That is, brought his offering to the priest, to offer it for him, which was at one of the three festivals. According to R. Joshua Ben Levi f, this was at the time of Pentecost; but Abarbinel thinks it was at the time of the ingathering of the fruits of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT UNTO HANNAH HE GAVE A WORTHY PORTION,.... Or, one choice portion, as the Targum; the best part or portion in the peace offering, of what the priest had not; he had the breast and the right shoulder, the next best piece he gave to Hannah; and the word being of the dual number, some render it a do... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HER ADVERSARY ALSO PROVOKED HER SORE,.... That is, Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah; for when a man had more wives, two or more, they were usually at enmity to one another, as the two wives of Socrates were, being always jealous lest one should have more love and respect than the other from t... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
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 WH... [ Continue Reading ]
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 o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE WAS IN BITTERNESS OF SOUL,.... Because of her barrenness, and the taunts and reflections she had met with on that account; her life was bitter to her, she could take no pleasure in any of the comforts of it: AND PRAYED UNTO THE LORD, AND WEPT SORE; her prayer was with strong crying and tear... [ Continue Reading ]
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, tha... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW HANNAH, SHE SPAKE IN HER HEART,.... It was mental prayer she used, some ejaculations of her mind she sent up to God, which she was sensible were well known to him, and she needed not to express vocally: ONLY HER LIPS MOVED; as her heart spoke, and sent up her petitions, as if she had used words... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELI SAID UNTO HER, HOW LONG WILT THOU BE DRUNKEN?.... What, every day drunk? what, continually in this wicked practice? when will it be stopped? for Eli might have observed on other days, and at other times, odd looks, and a strange behaviour in her, which he took for the effects of drinking too... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HANNAH ANSWERED AND SAID, NO, MY LORD,.... That is not my case, you have greatly mistaken it; she answered with great mildness and meekness, without falling into a passion at such a scandalous imputation upon her, and with great respect and reverence to Eli, suitable to his office; so in later t... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNT NOT THINE HANDMAID FOR A DAUGHTER OF BELIAL,.... A yokeless, a lawless, impudent, and abandoned creature; one of the most wicked, vilest, and most profligate wretches; as she must be to come drunk into the sanctuary of God; see 1 Samuel 25:17. Drunkenness in man is au abominable crime, but muc... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ELI ANSWERED AND SAID, GO IN PEACE,.... He found he was mistaken in her, and that her discourse was not only sober and rational, but religious and spiritual; and therefore dismisses her in peace, and bids her not distress herself with what he had said to her, nor with anything she had met with... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE SAID, LET THINE HANDMAID FIND GRACE IN THY SIGHT,.... She had found favour in his sight she perceives, and she desires it might be continued and increased; and that as he had prayed for her, he would still use his interest at the throne of grace for her: SO THE WOMAN WENT HER WAY; took her... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ROSE UP IN THE MORNING EARLY,.... Partly for devotion, and partly for the sake of their journey: AND WORSHIPPED BEFORE THE LORD; went up to the tabernacle, and prayed with their faces towards that part of it, the western part, where stood the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Prese... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE TIME WAS COME ABOUT, AFTER HANNAH HAD CONCEIVED,.... Or, "at the revolutions of days" b; at the end of a year, of a complete year, as Ben Melech, from their return from Shiloh; for it might be some time after their return that she conceived; or rather the sense is... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MAN ELKANAH, AND ALL HIS HOUSE,.... All his family, excepting Hannah, and her son Samuel; or all the men of his house, as the Targum; for only the males were obliged to appear at the three festivals: WENT UP TO SHILOH; to the house of God there: TO OFFER UNTO THE LORD THE YEARLY SACRIFICE;... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HANNAH WENT NOT UP,.... For women, though they might go if they pleased to the yearly feasts, yet they were not obliged to it; whether she went up at the time for her purification, and for the presenting and redemption of the firstborn, is not certain; some say the Levites were not obliged by th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELKANAH HER HUSBAND SAID UNTO HER, DO WHAT SEEMETH THEE GOOD,.... He spake like a kind and indulgent husband, knowing that she would not thereby break any law of God; and it might be more for her own health, and the health of the child, to stay longer: TARRY TILL THOU HAVE WEANED HIM; when he w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN SHE HAD WEANED HIM,.... At the usual time of weaning children; 1 Samuel 1:23 some refer this not only to the milk of the breast, from which he was weaned, but to such food as was common to children, and so supposes him grown up to nine or ten years of age: SHE TOOK HIM UP WITH HER; to the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SLEW A BULLOCK,.... One of the three Hannah brought, unless the singular is put for the plural, and so all three were slain, some for sacrifice, and some for food perhaps; or if only one was slain, it might be offered as a sacrifice previous to the presentation of Samuel; or else was made a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE SAID, O MY LORD,.... According to the Targum, it is a supplication or request, I beseech thee, my lord; that is, to look upon her son, and take him under his care as his disciple or scholar, to instruct him in the law of God, and enter him into his service; to which Eli might be very backwar... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS CHILD I PRAYED,.... Which she now had in her hand, and was presenting to Eli: AND THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME MY PETITION WHICH I ASKED OF HIM; and which he also desired might be granted her, or foretold that it would be, 1 Samuel 1:17 though perhaps he knew not then particularly what it was sh... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE ALSO I HAVE LENT HIM TO THE LORD,.... To be employed in his service, not for a few days, months, or years, but for his whole life. The Targum is, "I have delivered him, that he may minister before the Lord;'' as she had received him front him as an answer of prayer, she gave him up to hi... [ Continue Reading ]