1 Samuel 1:1–2:21 · Women of Scripture · An Iconic Story
Hannah
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, The Infant Samuel Brought by Hannah to Eli (c. 1660-1663), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
THE ARTWORKEeckhout, a favored pupil of Rembrandt, paints the exact hinge of the story: Hannah, still in the posture of a woman handing something over, stands the small boy before Eli at the door of the tabernacle. Her face is not grief anymore, and it is not triumph either: it is the look of a vow being kept. The painting holds the moment Scripture spends a whole chapter building toward and then states in one sentence: “Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD.”
A Wife Without a Son, and a Rival Who Made Sure She Knew It
1 Samuel 1:1–8, told plainly
Elkanah had two wives. Peninnah had children. Hannah had none, because the LORD had shut up her womb. Every year the family went up to Shiloh to worship, and every year Peninnah, Hannah's rival wife, provoked her sorely to make her fret.
But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb. Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously.Barrenness is not framed as guilt here: it is stated as a fact of providence, the same wording pattern used of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel.
Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah tried to comfort her the only way he knew how, and it did not land the way he meant it to.
“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?”Real love, imperfectly landed. The next verse still shows Hannah rising in bitterness of soul to pray: his affection does not erase her grief, and the text does not pretend it does.
Six Places the Retellings Drift
what 1 Samuel actually says, against what the story has become
BARRENNESS IS NOT GUILT
"The LORD had shut up her womb" is the same wording used of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel: a fact of providence, never a moral verdict on Hannah. She joins the wider pattern of the barren wife made fruitful by God's own act.
REAL LOVE, IMPERFECTLY LANDED
"Am I not better to thee than ten sons?" reads as dismissive to modern ears, but the old commentators read it as Elkanah asking her to value his own love above what she lacks. The text still shows the comfort did not work.
A MISREADING, NOT A SLANDER
Eli's suspicion of drunkenness was apparently a reasonable first guess at a feast where such excess was not uncommon. Once Hannah answers him directly, he does not dig in: he blesses her and sends her in peace.
A NAME GENUINELY DISPUTED
"Samuel" is usually glossed "heard of God," but Hannah's own reason, "asked of the LORD," points to the root behind the name Saul instead. The old commentators name this puzzle honestly rather than settling it.
"LENT" IS A TRANSLATION CHOICE
The Hebrew word behind "I have lent him" is the same root used for "asked" and "petition," used four times across two verses. The gift was not a loan with an expiration: it was a permanent surrender.
A NATIONAL, PROPHETIC HYMN
Hannah's song is not a private thank-you note. It moves from her own deliverance to God's justice across all creation, and names "his anointed" while Israel had no king at all.
The conduct of Peninnah was most unbecoming. But domestic broils in the houses of polygamists are of frequent occurrence, and the most fruitful cause of them has always been jealousy of the husband's superior affection.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 1 Samuel 1:6
Jealousy, grief, anger, malice, the many bitter fruits of this way of living, so different to God's original appointment, here show themselves.
Charles Ellicott· Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Samuel 1:6
Let this comfort you, that I love you no less than if you had many children.
The Geneva Bible translators· Geneva Study Bible, on 1 Samuel 1:8
Silent Prayer, and a Vow That Bound
1 Samuel 1:9–18, at the tabernacle in Shiloh
At Shiloh, Hannah rose and prayed before the LORD, weeping bitterly. She vowed: if the LORD would give her a son, she would give him back to the LORD all his days, and no razor would touch his head, the language of a lifelong Nazirite dedication.
And she made a vow, pleading, “O LORD 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 the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.”The razor clause echoes the Nazirite law of Numbers 6:5 directly, though the text never uses the word "Nazirite" of Samuel outright.
She prayed silently, only her lips moving, no sound coming out. Eli the priest, watching her, concluded she was drunk and told her to put away her wine.
Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunkSilent prayer was apparently unusual enough at Shiloh that Eli's mind went first to drunkenness: a misunderstanding, not a slander of her character.
Hannah answered plainly: she was a woman of a sorrowful spirit, and had poured out her soul before the LORD. Eli did not dig in. He blessed her and sent her in peace, and she went her way, ate, and was sad no more.
“Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.”The scene is a misunderstanding corrected, not a pattern of contempt for a grieving woman: Eli is teachable, and the blessing is genuine.
Silent prayer was not usual at the time. Eli's ready suspicion makes it probable that such excesses were not uncommon at the sacrificial feasts.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges· on 1 Samuel 1:13
A vow at the sanctuary was a binding legal-religious act, not a passing bargain (compare Numbers 30 on the force of a woman's vow and a husband's right to confirm or annul it). Elkanah's later words, “the LORD establish his word” (1:23), read as his ratification of what Hannah had sworn.
The Boy, and the Giving
1 Samuel 1:20–2:21
The LORD remembered her. She conceived, bore a son, and named him Samuel: “Because I have asked him of the LORD.”
So 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 the LORD.”The straightforward gloss is "heard of God." But the reason Hannah herself gives points to a different root: the puzzle is real, and worth holding open rather than flattening.
Samuel: i.e. heard of God, because given in answer to prayer.
Albert Barnes· Barnes' Notes on the Bible, on 1 Samuel 1:20
One would think rather his name should have been Saul, for the reason given; but... givers of names are not always grammatically strict and critical in them.
John Gill· Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 1 Samuel 1:20
Gill names the puzzle honestly rather than resolving it past what the sources allow: the reason Hannah gives points toward the name Saul, not toward “Samuel” as commonly parsed, and he cites the older proposal of Hillerus that the name is a compound, “asked before God.” Barnes, Ellicott, and Keil and Delitzsch read “heard of God.” Both readings have real commentary support.
“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah replied, “and stay here until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD confirm His word.” So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.Elkanah's ratification of Hannah's vow: a husband's right to confirm a wife's vow, under the law of Numbers 30.
She stayed home until he was weaned, then brought him to Shiloh and gave him to Eli. The Hebrew wordplay running through her words is lost in the familiar English: she uses the same root, for “asked,” “petition,” and “lent,” four times in two verses.
I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the LORD. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the LORD.” So they worshiped the LORD there."Lent to the LORD" is a translation choice, not a perfect one: the underlying word also means "ask," and the gift was never a loan with an expiration.
The rendering of the Hebrew here, "I have lent," and in Exodus 12:36, is false.
Charles Ellicott· Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Samuel 1:28
Jehovah had not lent the son to Hannah, but had given him; still less could a man lend his son to the Lord.
Keil and Delitzsch· Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, on 1 Samuel 1:28
The Pulpit Commentary notes Hannah “uses the same verb four times, though in different conjugations” across these two verses: the wordplay is the more accurate frame than any single English word can carry.
Every year after, Hannah made Samuel a little coat and brought it up to him. Eli blessed Elkanah and Hannah, and the LORD visited her: she bore three more sons and two daughters, five children beyond Samuel.
Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.The little coat, made new each year: the one domestic, tender detail in a chapter otherwise given to the sanctuary and the song.
So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.Five children beyond Samuel: the LORD's visitation of Hannah did not stop at the one she had vowed away.
The Song That Reaches Mary
1 Samuel 2:1–10, and Luke 1:46–55
Then Hannah prayed, and the prayer fills nine verses moving from her own personal deliverance to God's justice across all creation: the mighty broken, the poor raised from the dust, and finally a king anointed, while Israel had no king at all.
At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD in whom my horn is exalted. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation."My heart rejoiceth in the LORD": the song opens on personal deliverance, before it widens to the whole earth.
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength: the reversal theology at the center of the song.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.
Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth and will give power to His king. He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”"His king... his anointed": multiple commentators independently identify this as the first occurrence of Messiah-language anywhere in Scripture, spoken before Israel had a king.
This is the first place in Scripture where the word "anointed," or Messiah, occurs; and as there was no king in Israel at the time, it seems the best interpretation to refer it to Christ.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 1 Samuel 2:10
The first time that we meet with the name MESSIAH, or his Anointed.
Matthew Henry· Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, on 1 Samuel 2:10
Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Gill, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, and Keil and Delitzsch all independently make the same identification on this verse.
The Same Song, Twice
1 SAMUEL 2:1–10 · HANNAH
At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD in whom my horn is exalted. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.LUKE 1:46 · MARY
Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,1 SAMUEL 2:4, 8 · HANNAH
The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.LUKE 1:52 · MARY
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.Hannah's song is the acknowledged literary ancestor of Mary's Magnificat, a connection widely made in New Testament scholarship, not a MannaFest invention. Both women conceive in a way that overturns ordinary expectation, both dedicate their sons to God's purpose, and both sing of the same reversal: the proud brought down and the lowly lifted.
The strongest literary parallel to the hymn is Hannah's word of praise in 1 Sam. 2:1-10.
Darrell L. Bock· Luke, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (1994), on Luke 1:46-55
The line runs further than literary echo. Hannah's prayer names “his anointed” before Israel had a king to anoint: the first messianic language of the historical books, spoken through the mouth of a woman the culture around her had counted small. Centuries later, the actual Anointed One comes into the world through another woman the world counted small, and she sings the same song Hannah sang. The pattern is not invented for this page: it is where the two texts, read in the order they were written, already meet.
What the Text Doesn't Say
the silences are not gaps to be filled
The chapter is generous with detail and precise about what it withholds. What Scripture leaves unsaid, this page leaves unsaid: but the silences are worth naming, because each one has had something invented to fill it.
How old was Hannah, and how long was she married?
No age is given for Hannah, and no count of the years between her marriage and Samuel's birth. In an honor-and-inheritance culture barrenness was not merely private sorrow, an heir secured a woman's standing, which sharpens why Peninnah's provocation cut so deep and why Hannah's vow reached for a permanent, costly answer. But the text supplies no number, and none is invented here.
How old was Samuel when he was weaned?
Ancient Near Eastern weaning commonly fell between age two and three, but that is general background, not this family's stated practice. Scripture says Hannah stayed home until he was weaned and does not say how long that was.
What became of Peninnah?
Once Samuel is born and given to the LORD, Peninnah disappears from the narrative entirely. Whether the provocation continued, whether her standing in the household changed, none of it is recorded. The text is not interested in her afterward, and this page will not guess on its behalf.
Was Samuel formally a Nazirite?
Hannah's vow that no razor would touch his head matches the language of the Nazirite law in Numbers 6:5 closely. But 1 Samuel never applies the word “Nazirite” to Samuel outright. The echo is strong; the label is not in the text, and the page presents it as an echo, not an explicit fact.
How the Voices Read Hannah
the roster's relevance gate: a voice earns its place with a real, citable, on-subject work
Chuck Missler, on 1 and 2 Samuel
Missler taught a full 16-session verse-by-verse commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel (Koinonia House, 1&2 Samuel Commentary), with the first session covering Hannah's vow, her prayer answered, and Samuel's call, alongside a companion set of supplemental notes on the books. His integrated-design approach reads the barren-woman-made-fruitful pattern, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, as a line that culminates in the virgin birth: the applicable emphasis here, cite-only, work named.
No other roster entry surfaced a confirmed, citable, Hannah-specific treatment this session: the site does not add a voice to a page on the strength of a topic-tier score alone. The public-domain floor below is quoted verbatim throughout this page.
Read the Great Books
the works that have carried this teaching: go further than this page
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. II: Joshua to Esther
Matthew Henry · 1710
Henry walks 1 Samuel verse by verse and names the “first time we meet with the name MESSIAH” in Hannah's own song.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · 1871
The clearest single line on Hannah's song: the first Messiah-language in Scripture, spoken while Israel had no king at all.
READ IT FREE AT CCEL →Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
John Gill · 1746–1763
Gill is the one commentator honest enough to name the Samuel/Saul wordplay as a real puzzle rather than settle it past what the Hebrew allows.
In print: find it wherever books are sold.
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
Keil and Delitzsch · 1861–1875
The sharpest theological note on “lent to the LORD”: Hannah's gift was never a loan with an expiration.
In print: find it wherever books are sold.
A Woman the Culture Counted Small
The story starts with a rival's cruelty and a husband's well-meant, badly landed comfort, and it ends with a song that names the coming Christ before Israel had a throne to put Him on. Hannah asked the LORD for a son and gave him back whole. Centuries later another woman, counted just as small, sang the same song over a Son who was never given back, because He was the gift Himself.
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