1 Samuel1chapter 1

1 Samuel 1:9

“After they had eaten ... - Rather, “after she had eaten and after she had drunk,” which is obviously right. Hannah, in the bitterness of her spirit, could not enjoy her feast, and so, after eating and drinking a little, she arose and went to the temple, leaving her husband and Peninnah and her children at table, where she still found them on her return 1Sa 1:18. Upon a seat ... - Rather, “upon the throne,” the pontifical chair of state 1Sa 4:13, which was probably set at the gate leading into the inner court of the tabernacle.”

1 Samuel 1:10

“Our blessed Saviour himself, being in an agony, prayed more earnestly, Luke xxii. (2.) She mingled tears with her prayers. It was not a dry prayer: she wept sore.”

1 Samuel 1:12

“This mistaken impression was immediately removed, and, in the words, "God grant," or rather, "will grant," was followed by an invocation which, as Hannah regarded it in the light of a prophecy pointing to the accomplishment of her earnest desire, dispelled her sadness, and filled her with confident hope [1Sa 1:18].”

1 Samuel 1:13

“This Hannah does in the first book of Kings [Samuel], portraying a type of the church, [she] prays to God not with a noisy petition but silently and modestly within the very recesses of her heart. She spoke with a hidden prayer but with manifest faith. She did not speak with the voice but with the heart, because she knew that so the Lord hears, and she effectually obtained what she sought, because she asked with faith.”

1 Samuel 1:13

“Spake in her heart; only her lips moved - She prayed; her whole heart was engaged: and though she spake not with an audible voice, yet her lips formed themselves according to the pronunciation of the words which her heart uttered.”

1 Samuel 1:14

“Hannah's humble vindication of herself from this crime with which she was charged. She bore it admirably well. She did not retort the charge and upbraid him with the debauchery of his own sons, did not bid him look at home and restrain them, did not tell him how ill it became one in his place thus to abuse a poor sorrowful worshipper at the throne of grace.”

1 Samuel 1:15

“I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink - Neither wine nor inebriating drink has been poured out unto me; but I have poured out my soul unto the Lord. There is a great deal of delicacy and point in this vindication.”

1 Samuel 1:15

“The special cause of Hannah's sorrow arose from the institution of polygamy, which, although it was tolerated under the old Law, is always exhibited to us in practical action as a most fruitful source of sorrow and sin. In no one recorded instance in Holy Scripture is it set forth as admirable. In most cases the proofs of its evil effects lie open to the sun.”

1 Samuel 1:16

“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 1Sa 25:17. Drunkenness in man is au abominable crime, but much more in a woman.”

1 Samuel 1:16

“Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial - אל תתן את אמתך לפני בת בליעל al titten eth amathecha liphney bath Beliyael; ‘Put not thy handmaiden before the faces of a daughter of Belial.” “If I am a drunkard, and strive by the most execrable hypocrisy (praying in the house of God) to cover my iniquity, then I am the chief of the daughters of Belial.” Or, “Give not thy handmaid (to reproach) before the faces of the daughters of Belial.” Several of these probably attended there for the purposes of prostitution and gain; for it is said, 1Sa 2:22, that Eli’s sons lay with the women at the door of the tabernacle, though this may refer to the women who kept the door.”

1 Samuel 1:17

“Grant thee thy petition - He was satisfied he had formed a wrong judgment, and by it had added to the distress of one already sufficiently distressed. The fact that Eli supposed her to be drunken, and the other of the conduct of Eli’s sons already mentioned, prove that religion was at this time at a very low ebb in Shiloh; for it seems drunken women did come to the place, and lewd women were to be found there.”

1 Samuel 1:18

“A beautiful example of the composing influence of prayer. Hannah had cast her burden upon the Lord, and so her own spirit was relieved of its load. She now returned to the family feast, and ate her portion with a cheerful heart. Act 2:46-47. The word “sad” is not in the Hebrew text, but it fairly supplies the meaning intended.”

1 Samuel 1:19

“For the peace-offerings typified Christ's mediation, as well as the sin-offerings: since by this not only atonement is made for sin, but an answer to our prayers obtained. Give him - That is, consecrate him to God's service in his temple. No razor - That is, he shall be a perpetual Nazarite.”

1 Samuel 1:20

“Called his name Samuel - As she gave this name to her son because she had asked him of the Lord, the word שמואל Shemuel must be here considerably contracted; if it express this sentiment, the component parts of it are the following: שאול מאל shaul meEl, “asked of God.” This name would put both the mother and the son in continual remembrance of the Divine interposition at his birth. See on 1Sa 1:28 (note).”

1 Samuel 1:21

“The man Elkanah and all his house - He and the whole of his family, Hannah and her child excepted, who purposed not to go up to Shiloh till her son was old enough to be employed in the Divine service. And his vow - Probably he had also made some vow to the Lord on the occasion of his wife’s prayer and vow; in which, from his love to her. he could not be less interested than herself.”

1 Samuel 1:21

“Note, Those who are stedfastly resolved to pay their vows may yet see good cause to defer the payment of them. Every thing is beautiful in its season. No animal was accepted in sacrifice till it had been for some time under the dam, Lev. xxii.”

1 Samuel 1:22

“Until the child be weaned - Hebrew mothers, as elsewhere in the East, usually suckled their children until the age of two complete years, sometimes until the age of three.”

1 Samuel 1:22

“But Hannah went not up--Men only were obliged to attend the solemn feasts (Ex 23:17). But Hannah, like other pious women, was in the habit of going, only she deemed it more prudent and becoming to defer her next journey till her son's age would enable her to fulfill her vow.”

1 Samuel 1:23

“The solemn entering of this child into the service of the sanctuary. We may take it for granted that he was presented to the Lord at forty days old, as all the first-born were ( Luke ii. 22, 23 ): but this is not mentioned, because there was nothing in it singular; but now that he was weaned he was presented, not to be redeemed.”

1 Samuel 1:23

“Others think it was not till he was weaned from childish things, at eight or ten years old. But I see no inconvenience in admitting such an extraordinary child as this into the tabernacle at three years old, to be educated among the children of the priests.”

1 Samuel 1:24

“With three bullocks - The Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic, read, a bullock of three years old; and this is probably correct, because we read, 1Sa 1:25, that they slew את הפר eth happar, The bullock. We hear of no more, and we know that a bullock or heifer of three years old was ordinarily used, see Gen 15:9. One ephah of flour - Seven gallons and a half. A bottle of wine - נבל יין nebel yayin, a skin full of wine.”

1 Samuel 1:24

“Flour - For the meal-offerings belonging to the principal sacrifices, which to each bullock were three tenth-deals, or three tenth parts of an ephah, and so nine parts of the ephah were spent, and the tenth part was given to the priest.”

1 Samuel 1:26

“As thy soul liveth - This oath is unique to the Books of Samuel, in which it occurs six times, and to the Books of Kings, in which however, it is found only once. See the note to 1Sa 1:11.”

1 Samuel 1:28

“Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord - There is here a continual reference to her vow, and to the words which she used in making that vow. The word Samuel, as we have already seen, is a contraction of the words שאול מאל Shaul meEl, that is, asked or lent of God; for his mother said, 1Sa 1:27, The Lord hath given me my petition, which שאלתי Shaalti, I Asked of him.”

1 Samuel 1:28

“Whatever we give to God, may upon this account be said to be lent to him, that tho' we may not recall it, yet he will certainly repay it, to our unspeakable advantage. He worshipped - Not Eli, but young Samuel, who is spoken of in this and the foregoing verse, and who was capable of worshipping God in some sort, at least with external adoration.”