Elkanah and His Wives// Psalm 113:1–9
1Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to Yahweh of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to Yahweh. 4And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though Yahweh had closed her womb.
- 1SA 1:3[NOTE]YAHWEH OF HOSTS means Yahweh of the armies of heaven. This verse is the first time the Bible uses this name. It is used more than 200 times in the Bible.
- 1SA 1:3[FIELD NOTES]Shiloh was a real town where the tabernacle stood. See the Shiloh Field Notes page in Judges.
6Because Yahweh had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her viciously to taunt her. 7And this went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of Yahweh, her rival taunted her until she wept and would not eat.
8“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
Hannah Prays for a Son
9So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.
10In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to Yahweh and wept with many tears. 11And she made a vow, saying, “O Yahweh of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”
- 1SA 1:11[NOTE]NO RAZOR. Hannah promises a son who never cuts his hair, like a Nazirite, Numbers 6:5, and like Samson, Judges 13:5.
12As Hannah kept on praying before Yahweh, Eli watched her mouth. 13Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard.
So Eli thought she was drunk 14and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!”
- 1SA 1:13[HEART]Hannah prayed in her heart. Her lips moved but no sound came out. God heard what Eli could not.
15“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before Yahweh. 16Do not take your servant for a wicked woman, for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.”
17“Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.”
18“May your maidservant find favor with you,” said Hannah. Then she went on her way, and she began to eat, and her face was no longer downcast.
The Birth of Samuel
19The next morning they got up early to bow in worship before Yahweh, and then they returned home to Ramah.
And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and Yahweh remembered her. 20So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from Yahweh.”
- 1SA 1:20[NOTE]Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God, or asked of God. His mother asked, and God heard.
21Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to Yahweh and to fulfill his vow, 22but Hannah did not go. “After the boy is weaned,” she said to her husband, “I will take him to appear before Yahweh and to stay there permanently.”
23“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah replied, “and stay here until you have weaned him. Only may Yahweh confirm His word.”
So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
24Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh. 25And when they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli.
26“Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to Yahweh. 27I prayed for this boy, and since Yahweh has granted me what I asked of Him, 28I now dedicate the boy to Yahweh. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to Yahweh.”
So they worshiped Yahweh there.