Hannah: Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother
of Samuel
(1 Samuel 1:1-2:1)ff Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim,
whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle
had been pitched by Joshua, to attend the offering of sacrifices
there according to the law
(Exodus 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:16) probably at the
feast of the Passover (comp.)
(Exodus 13:10) On occasion of one of these
"yearly" visits, being grieved by reason of Peninnah's conduct toward
her, she went forth alone, and kneeling before the Lord at the
sanctuary she prayed inaudibly. Eli the high priest, who sat at the
entrance to the holy place, observed her, and misunderstanding her
character he harshly condemned her conduct
(1 Samuel 1:14-16) After hearing
her explanation he retracted his injurious charge and said to her,
"Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition." Perhaps
the story of the wife of Manoah was not unknown to her. Thereafter
Elkanah and his family retired to their quiet home, and there, before
another Passover, Hannah gave birth to a son, whom, in grateful
memory of the Lord's goodness, she called Samuel, i.e., "heard of
God." After the child was weaned (probably in his third year) she
brought him to Shiloh into the house of the Lord, and said to Eli the
aged priest, "Oh my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here,
praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath
given me my petition which I asked of him: therefore I also have
granted him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he is granted to the
Lord"
(1 Samuel 1:27,28) R.V. Her gladness of heart then found vent in that
remarkable prophetic song
(1 Samuel 2:1-10) comp.
(Luke 1:46-55) which
contains the first designation of the Messiah under that name
(1 Samuel 2:10) "Annointed" = "Messiah"). And so Samuel and his parents
parted. He was left at Shiloh to minister "before the Lord." And each
year, when they came up to Shiloh, Hannah brought to her absent child
"a little coat" (Heb. meil, a term used to denote the "robe" of the
ephod worn by the high priest,)
(Exodus 28:31) a priestly robe, a long
upper tunic
(1 Chronicles 15:27) in which to minister in the tabernacle
(1 Samuel 2:19; 15:27; Job 2:12) "And the child Samuel grew before the
Lord." After Samuel, Hannah had three sons and two daughters.
