1 Samuel 1-2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 1

The history of Samuel here begins as early as that of Samson did, even before he was born, as afterwards the history of John the Baptist and our blessed Saviour. Some of the scripture-worthies drop out of the clouds, as it were, and their first appearance is in their full growth and lustre. But others are accounted for from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. What God says of the prophet Jeremiah is true of all: ?Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee,? Jer. 1:5. But... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 1

This book, and that which follows it, bear the name of Samuel in the title, not because he was the penman of them (except of so much of them as fell within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter of the first book, in which we have an account of his death), but because the first book begins with a large account of him, his birth and childhood, his life and government; and the rest of these two volumes that are denominated from him contains the history of the reigns of Saul and David,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:1-8

We have here an account of the state of the family into which Samuel the prophet was born. His father's name was Elkanah, a Levite, and of the family of the Kohathites (the most honourable house of that tribe) as appears, 1 Chron. 6:33, 34. His ancestor Zuph was an Ephrathite, that is, of Bethlehem-Judah, which was called Ephrathah, Ruth 1:2. There this family of the Levites was first seated, but one branch of it, in process of time, removed to Mount Ephraim, from which Elkanah descended.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:9-18

Elkanah had gently reproved Hannah for her inordinate grief, and here we find the good effect of the reproof. I. It brought her to her meat. She ate and drank, 1 Sam. 1:9. She did not harden herself in sorrow, nor grow sullen when she was reproved for it; but, when she perceived her husband uneasy that she did not come and eat with them, she cheered up her own spirits as well as she could, and came to table. It is as great a piece of self-denial to control our passions as it is to control our... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:19-28

Here is, I. The return of Elkanah and his family to their own habitation, when the days appointed for the feast were over, 1 Sam. 1:19. Observe how they improved their time at the tabernacle. Every day they were there, even that which was fixed for their journey home, they worshipped God; and they rose up early to do it. It is good to begin the day with God. Let him that is the first have the first. They had a journey before them, and a family of children to take with them, and yet they would... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 1

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 1 This chapter gives an account of the parents of Samuel, of the trouble his mother met with from her rival, and comfort from her husband, 1 Samuel 1:1 , of her prayer to God for a son, and of her vow to him, should one be given her, 1 Samuel 1:9 of the notice Eli took of her, and of his censure on her, which he afterwards retracted, and comforted her, 1 Samuel 1:12 of her conception and the birth of her son, the nursing and weaning of him, 1 Samuel 1:19... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:1

Now there was a man of Ramathaimzophim, of Mount Ephraim ,.... Ramathaim is a word of the dual number, and signifies two Ramahs; the city consisted of two parts, being built perhaps on two hills, and were called Zophim; because, as the Rabbins say, they looked one to another; or rather, because situated on eminences, there were watchtowers in them, where watchmen were placed; or because they were inhabited by prophets, who were sometimes called watchmen, Ezekiel 3:17 and here is thought to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:2

And he had two wives ,.... Which, though connived at in those times, was contrary to the original law of marriage; and for which, though a good man, he was chastised, and had a great deal of vexation and trouble, the two wives not agreeing with each other; perhaps not having children by the one so soon as he hoped and wished for, he took another: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah ; the first name signifies "grace" or "gracious", and she was a woman who... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:3

This man went up out of his city yearly ,.... From year to year; or, as the Targum, from the time of the solemn appointed feast to the solemn appointed feast, from one to another; there were three of them in the year, at which all the males in Israel were to appear at the tabernacle; and being a Levite, this man was the more careful to observe this rule. He is said to "go up" out of his city, which was Ramathaim or Ramah; for though it was built on an eminence, from whence it had its name,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 1:4

And when the time was that Elkanah offered ,.... That is, brought his offering to the priest, to offer it for him, which was at one of the three festivals. According to R. Joshua Ben Levi F6 Apud Kimchium in loc. , this was at the time of Pentecost; but Abarbinel thinks it was at the time of the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, which was a time of rejoicing, even the feast of tabernacles, and which is most likely: he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her... read more

Group of Brands