1 Samuel 1:9-18

1 Samuel 1:9-Job : . Hannah Prays for a Child.— In her distress Hannah betook herself to the sanctuary and prayed before Yahweh, i.e. before the Ark, for a son. She vowed that if a son were given her, she would devote him to Yahweh; the outward sign of his devotion being one of the peculiarities of the Nazirites (pp. 103, 105, Judges 13:5 *, Numbers 6*), viz. that his hair should be allowed to grow. The priest of the sanctuary, Eli, a local magnate, also spoken of as “ judge,” ( 1 Samuel 4:18) occupied an official seat close by: he knew that the religious character of the occasion did not always prevent feasting from degenerating into excess ( Isaiah 28:7, Amos 2:8), so that when he saw Hannah moving her lips without making any audible sound, he thought she was drunk and rebuked her; but she told him she was in trouble and he dismissed her with his blessing.

9. The LXX seems to show that in the original the first sentence read, “ So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and stood before the Lord,” i.e. presented herself at the Temple.— Eli: perhaps a contraction of “ Eliel,” “ God is exalted,” a name found in Semitic languages outside Israel. The names of Eli’ s sons, Hophni and Phinheas, were also apparently not Israelite. Eli is ignored in the genealogy of high priests ( 1 Chronicles 6:1-Ezra :), and there is nothing to show that our document connected Eli with Aaron.

1 Samuel 1:16 . The phrase “ sons of Behal” ( Deuteronomy 13:13 *, Proverbs 6:12 *), “ bad characters,” is common, but daughter of Belial occurs only here. Under the conditions of Eastern life, women had fewer opportunities for getting into mischief publicly.

1 Samuel 1:18 . See p. 105.