1 Sam 1:1-18 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
The last verse of Judges reads: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg 21:25). The book of 1 Samuel begins in those days.
It does not begin with a judge or a battle, but with a household: a man of 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).
1Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to the LORD, were there.
4When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters;
5but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had shut up her womb.
6Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had shut up her womb.
7So year by year, when she went up to the LORD’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat.
8Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple.
10She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly.
11She vowed a vow, and said, “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, and no razor shall come on his head.”
12As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli saw her mouth.
13Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.
14Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
15Hannah answered, “No, my lord, 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.
16Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”
17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”
18She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more.
Every year to Shiloh. Elkanah “went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies in Shiloh” (v. 3). When he gave out the portions of the sacrifice, he gave Hannah a double portion, “for he loved Hannah” (v. 5). The same verse goes on: “but the LORD had shut up her womb” (v. 5). The passage records this plainly and does not say why.
Year by year. “Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her” (v. 6). This was not once or twice: “So year by year, when she went up to the LORD’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat” (v. 7). Every year she went up to worship, and every year she wept there.
Am I not better to you than ten sons? Elkanah asks her one question after another: “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” (v. 8). The passage does not record how Hannah answered. The next verse says, “So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh” (v. 9).
In bitterness of soul. “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly” (v. 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” (v. 11). She asks for more than a son. She asks God to see her affliction and not to forget her.
Only her lips moved. “Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk” (v. 13). Eli was the priest, sitting by the doorpost of the temple (v. 9). The first thing he said to her was: “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” (v. 14).
I poured out my soul. Hannah answered him plainly: “No, my lord, 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” (v. 15). And: “Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation” (v. 16). Hearing this, Eli blessed her: “may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him” (v. 17).
Not sad any more. “So the woman went her way and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more” (v. 18). She was not yet pregnant, and the passage has not yet said that God answered her; that answer comes in the next lesson. The passage does not explain why her face changed. It only records the order: she poured out her soul before the LORD, and then she got up and went to eat.
What was Shiloh? In Joshua’s day, “The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there” (Josh 18:1). So when Elkanah “went up out of his city from year to year” (v. 3), he was going to the LORD’s house to worship.
Readers can see this: the place where Hannah was provoked and wept year after year was the very place where the LORD was worshiped. And it was there, before the LORD, that she poured out her soul.
Perhaps you, too, have something that stays in your heart year after year. Other people’s words wound you again and again; even those who love you may not understand what you are grieving. Perhaps you have even been misunderstood while you were praying.
This lesson does not promise that you will receive everything you ask for. What it shows you is this: Hannah brought her affliction before the LORD just as it was; she was misunderstood by the priest, and she answered him plainly. A psalm says the same: “Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us” (Ps 62:8).
This week: Find a quiet time, and take the thing that has weighed on you for a long time — write it down or say it aloud — and bring it to God. You don’t need to work out the words first. Just say it the way it is in your heart.
Scripture: World English Bible.