Hannah

Elkanah’s Household

There was a man of Ramathaim Zophim, in the hill country of Ephraim, named Elkanah. “He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children” (1 Sam 1:2).

Elkanah “went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies in Shiloh” (1 Sam 1:3). The priests there were Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas (1 Sam 1:3); later the passage says, “Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know the LORD” (1 Sam 2:12).

When the portions of the sacrifice were given out, Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion, “for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her womb” (1 Sam 1:5). Her rival was Peninnah, and the passage says, “Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her” (1 Sam 1:6); so it went every year: “Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat” (1 Sam 1:7).

The Prayer at Shiloh

One year at Shiloh, “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly” (1 Sam 1:10). She vowed: “LORD of Armies, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life” (1 Sam 1:11).

She prayed in her heart, and only her lips moved; Eli the priest “thought she was drunk” (1 Sam 1:13). She answered: “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Sam 1:15). Eli said, “may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him” (1 Sam 1:17). So she went and ate, “and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more” (1 Sam 1:18).

Samuel

Back home in Ramah, “the LORD remembered her” (1 Sam 1:19). She bore a son, “and she named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked him of the LORD’” (1 Sam 1:20).

She said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever” (1 Sam 1:22). When the child was weaned, she brought him to Shiloh and said to Eli: “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD” (1 Sam 1:27–28).

The Little Robe and the Children After

Next, the passage records a prayer of Hannah’s. It begins, “My heart exults in the LORD!” (1 Sam 2:1); its last line is, “He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Sam 2:10).

Samuel stayed at Shiloh: “The child served the LORD before Eli the priest” (1 Sam 2:11). “Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice” (1 Sam 2:19). Eli blessed Elkanah and Hannah (1 Sam 2:20). “The LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters” (1 Sam 2:21).

This is where 1 Samuel’s account of Hannah ends.