1 Samuel 1

The history of Samuel begins with the presentation of his father Elkanah. Elkanah lives in Ramah, here called “Ramathaim-zophim” which means ‘the two heights (of the) Zophites’. It seems that the city is so named in order to distinguish it from other cities called Ramah; the addition may have been derived from the Levitical family of Zophai or Zuph (1Chr 6:26,35). In the rest of this book only Ramah is mentioned. This is the place where Samuel not only is born (1Sam 1:19), but where he also lives, works, dies and is buried (1Sam 7:17; 15:34; 16:13; 19:18-19; 19:22-23; 25:1a; 28:3a).

Elkanah’s family is given back up to four generations. This corresponds to the two times that the ancestors of Elkanah are mentioned in 1 Chronicles. First, the family of Elkanah is mentioned in the genealogy of Kohath (1Chr 6:26) and then in that of Heman, the leader of the singers, a grandson of Samuel (1Chr 6:33). Elkanah is a Levite of the rebellious Korah family (1Chr 6:27,34,37; Num 16:1-3). Korah perished, but his children were spared by grace (Num 26:11). Samuel, the son of Elkanah, is a Levite. Therefore, he can serve in the tabernacle.

Elkanah is called an “Ephraimite” because, as far as his civil place is concerned, he belongs to the tribe of Ephraim. The Levites are counted among the tribes amid which they live, so that they are also named after that tribe (cf. Jdg 17:7).

Elkanah’s wife, Hannah, is barren. This is also the case with Sarah (Gen 16:1), Rebekah (Gen 25:21) and Rachel (Gen 29:31), the women of the patriarchs. Elizabeth, the mother of John the baptist, is also barren (Lk 1:7). God uses this fact to make His work visible and that its results may be to His credit. In these cases of barrenness God works great things. If nothing is to be expected from man, God is given the opportunity to fulfill His plans to bestow grace. He does not do this without exercising His instruments.

Elkanah is a believer, but he is not a ‘man of God’. He gives the impression of being a man who faithfully fulfills his religious obligations, as many do today. Even though his spiritual exercise is not perceptible, he has it. But Hannah still stands out above him spiritually. The fact that he has two wives does not plead for him either, although he could point to men like Abraham and Jacob who also had two or even more wives.

Of his two wives Hannah is mentioned first, which makes it likely that he married her first. Later in this chapter his love for her is shown. Yet he took a second wife, Peninnah. Elkanah probably did so because Hannah was barren. He will have thought up a good reason for himself, but it is against God’s will (Mt 19:4-8). For family life, it always means misery.

Hannah means ‘grace’, with which she is clothed. Peninnah means ‘shiny’ or ‘pearl’, but she only radiates herself. Peninnah lives in the same environment, but there is no spiritual life to be seen in her. She mocks Hannah and reveals herself as her opponent. Peninnah can point to ‘success’, she has children, perhaps even ten (verse 8). In this way we too can easily measure spiritual blessing by the supporters of a movement. If you compare Hannah with that, what does she represent, without ‘success’ and miserable? But God does not judge that way. He brings her into exercise, that she may produce fruit for Him.

From a prophetic point of view, the feelings of a God-fearing remnant are not primarily to be found with Samuel, but with Hannah. Her soul exercises should be those of the whole people. We are here with the few faithful. This is just as in the beginning of the Gospel according to Luke, where we meet an unknown and insignificant number of people in the midst of an apostate people, with whom the longing for blessing for the whole people is present (Luke 1-2). Among them is Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, who sings a hymn of praise (Lk 1:46-55) much like the hymn of Hannah that we will hear in the next chapter.

In Shiloh is the tent with the ark in it. The tent is the visible sign of God’s presence. Elkanah goes there. He does not only sacrifice, but he also worships. The faithful performance of his religious obligations does not make him a formalist, who without thinking performs a meaningless ceremony. He is aware of the grace, of which he is the object as a descendant of Korah. This makes him a worshiper. For us it is the same. Although he does not understand the deep exercises of Hannah, he is upright in what he believes.

For the first time the expression “the LORD of hosts” is used here. This points to the kingship of the LORD over the universe, over the angels, over the stars, and over His people. He reigns over all powers, both visible and invisible and good and evil, wherever they may be in heaven and on earth. This name, mentioned here by the Spirit of God, is mentioned by Hannah in verse 11. She speaks to Him in His royal dignity.

At the place where Elkanah goes to worship, Eli’s sons work as priests. Here only their names are mentioned. The way they exercise their priesthood is described later.

It seems that when they go to Shiloh, they always have a common sacrificial meal. On that occasion, Elkanah gives each of his family members a part of the peace offering. Elkanah’s love goes particularly to Hannah, which he shows by giving her a double part of the sacrifice of the peace offering (cf. Gen 43:34). It seems that this is also the reason for Peninnah’s hateful behavior. Every time Elkanah Hannah shows his love, Peninnah repeats her vicious, agonizing remarks.

Because of Peninnah’s hateful behavior, going up to Shiloh is always a torment for Hannah. Peninnah behaves like this year after year. Peninnah provokes Hannah mainly by mocking her because of her childlessness, as the end of verse 6 seems to indicate. She may suggest that Hannah is childless because of a judgment of the LORD and that her piety will therefore not be sincere. Her behavior is reminiscent of Hagar looking at Sara with contempt from that moment on (Gen 16:4), while Sarah, like Hannah, later has a son.

From Hannah we do not read that she scolds Peninnah for her nagging. She endures the libel. She is able to do so because she has the mind of the Lord Jesus, “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting [Himself] to Him who judges righteously” (1Pet 2:23). Yet her grief is that great that she cannot participate in the meal (cf. Deu 26:14a).

Elkanah means well, but his reaction shows that he has no insight into Hannah’s grief. He does not understand the cause. Hannah is alone and misunderstood with her exercises. She does not react like Rachel did, who also wanted children, but blames Jacob for not giving them (Gen 30:1). Hannah does not want anything for herself, she wants something for God. She is prepared to give directly to the LORD what she gets. Hannah does not want to prove herself against Peninnah but seeks the welfare of the people. She feels what it must mean to God that His people have deviated so far from Him.

Elkanah finds it sufficient that they have each other. Hannah looks further. The satisfaction of Elkanah only concerns himself and brings us nothing further. He does not think so much about Hannah’s well-being as of the value he should have for her anyway. What he says could be felt as a reproach by a woman. He does not realize that Hannah’s feelings should be feelings of the whole people. The Lord finds such feelings more often in women than in men.

In these verses we hear the prayer of Hannah in the temple. She does not go to Elkanah with her need, because she knows he does not understand her. She cannot go to Eli either. But she can go to the LORD. While others come with sacrificial animals, Hannah comes with a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart. God does not despise that (Psa 51:17).

She cannot go to Eli because he represents a priesthood that is not directed toward God, but toward himself. Priests are expected to stand up to serve, but Eli sits on a chair. He put it there himself, because in the description of the tabernacle we do not read about a chair. He can no longer see well (1Sam 3:2) and he is old and fat (1Sam 4:18). These physical characteristics also indicate his spiritual state. He represents the priesthood as it is frequently found today.

The praying Hannah forms a great contrast with him. Hannah is the woman of whom it can be said: “Her worth is far above jewels” (Pro 31:10b). She is a praying mother. That marks the life of the child she asks for. In the book 1 Kings and 2 Kings we often read in addition to the name of a king that “the name of his mother was …”. Timothy also owes a lot to his mother and grandmother (2Tim 1:5).

Hannah asks not just for a child, but for “a son”. The masculinity takes precedence. This man must stand before the LORD, to look after the interests of His people. Faith is clear and simple. Hannah prays specifically, targeted, with a purpose. Our prayers are often general, aimless, and therefore cannot be answered. That they are not heard should not surprise us.

As a Levite, Samuel only must serve from the age of twenty-five, a service that ends when he turns fifty (Num 8:23-26). This is not in the mind of Hannah. She gives him to the LORD for all his life. We see the development of the whole life of Samuel. It is followed closely from its earliest years and is described for us with his further formation, after his initial formation in the family, taking place in a wicked environment.

When we pray for a blessing, we can learn here from Hannah that in our prayers we also say that what we desire we want to use for the Lord’s honor. Of course, this is only valuable if it is the real desire of our heart. Then we will dedicate what we receive through faithful prayer to Him and joyfully use it in His service. It makes the enjoyment of what we have asked and received all the greater. The true joy in everything we have lies in the fellowship we have in it with the Father and the Son (1Jn 1:3-4).

Even as a Nazarite Samuel does not necessarily have to dedicate his whole life to God. The Nazarite vow is taken for a certain period (Num 6:1-8). This can be a short time. Hannah however dedicates her son for his whole life. As a trademark of this he will not cut his hair. Long hair is a picture of dedication and dependence, of being submissive. For Samuel this is toward God.

In the time of the church the woman may show this to the man (1Cor 11:1-16). For every Christian, since his conversion, he has been spiritually committed and submissive to the Lord Jesus, completely dependent on Him. It is a life based on the question: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10a).

The high priest Eli has no knowledge of God’s thoughts. He who, as a high priest, should intercede most of all for the greatest difficulties of the people, understands the least of a sorrowful woman. He treats Hannah mercilessly, while he should be merciful just as high priest. He brutally breaks off her fellowship with the LORD. She prays intensely and long because her grief and need are great.

Eli proves his incompetence as high priest by not recognizing a praying woman as such. Apparently, he is more used to drunk women. But he should see the difference between a drunk woman, who behaves uncontrollably, and the praying Hannah. He has no insight into what occupies the heart of Hannah. He is incapable of sympathizing with the best spirit and mind of his time.

When the church is born and the believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, the unbelieving people also think that the first Christians are drunk (Acts 2:13-15). The spiritual man is always fooled by those who have no knowledge of the power of God in the inner man. If the highest priest already has such a misjudgment, how should the condition of the people be?

Hannah is here the true priest who prays for the people. She is in the true priestly mind, for her desire is that the people return to God. Therefore, she prays for a male child. To bring the people back to God, she asks if God wants to raise up a man for this.

She pours out her heart, but Eli only pays attention to her mouth. He judges by appearance, the outside, and thereby comes to the wrong verdict that she is drunk. Hannah’s reaction to the accusation is gentle and lovely. She addresses him with all the respect he deserves for his age and position. She does not blame him for the behavior of his sons and his failure to punish them. She does not throw at him that he should put his own house in order first, before he accuses and condemns others in a hard way. Instead of rebelling against him, she bows down before him. All she does is explain her behavior and asking for understanding.

She has been more than just fervent in her prayer to God, and that, she tells him, is the true reason for the disorder in which she seemed to be. If we are unjustly reprimanded, we may try to declare our conduct is pure before the Lord. At the same time, by explaining our conduct, we may try to convince our brothers to what they have misunderstood.

Eli does not ask what is going on. His spiritual feeling is too numb to invite Hannah to tell him what concerns her so much, what great care and grief torments her. Yet God uses Eli to make Hannah the requested promise. As a compensation for his hasty, unfriendly reprimand, Eli blesses her kindly and fatherly.

He did not regard Hannah’s statement as an insult, as many are all too inclined to do if they are shown to be mistaken. He was convinced by Hannah and now encouraged her as strongly to believe in her prayer as he had previously hindered her in her prayer. By the words “go in peace”, he not only indicates that he is convinced of her innocence, but he blesses her as authoritative, because he is high priest, in the Name of the LORD.

In a short time, he has received a totally different and this time correct opinion from her wisdom and Godliness. He promises her that the God of Israel will give her the prayer – whatever it may be – which she has prayed from Him. Hannah accepts in confidence what Eli gives her and does not despise it. She takes his blessing as the voice of God for her soul.

Hannah is an example that we can win those who have reproached us because they did not know us by showing a gentle and humble attitude toward them. We may even be able to make them our friends and turn their reprimands to us into prayers for us.

Hannah has left her burden with the LORD and returns home enlightened. The prayer has changed her. Peninnah must have wondered in amazement what happened to Hannah, how that great change came about.

Hannah’s exercises are a great encouragement to all who are in great spiritual need. For years there can be felt a deep, sharp pain, a hunger of the heart that just does not get satisfied, a disappointed hope. There is nothing but a quiet waiting. If it has the effect it has with Hannah, then it is through these circumstances that we learn how to pray. We will then discover the secret of childlike faith. We will also discover that we are being made fit to become the recipient of some invaluable gift to the world.

When Elkanah and his family have finished sacrificing, they go home. They have a long journey ahead of them, but they do not want to leave before they have worshiped as a family. It is an example for us personally and as a family. The strength of the spiritual life of the family lies in praying and worshiping together. There is no better start of the day than to worship the Lord, to tell Him that we admire Him for Who He is, what He has done and will do. To Him, Who is first in all things and takes the first place, should also be dedicated our first time and attention.

The birth of Samuel does not happen by supernatural means, but by the way God has given for it. He does, however, give this pregnancy because He remembers Hannah, that He remembers Hannah’s prayer and that He will now hear it. For God, remembrance is not suddenly remembering something that He has forgotten, but to act on the basis of a previous request because the time to hear has now come. What happens is connected to something in the past.

Samuel is born. In the name she gives him, she expresses God’s great kindness to her in the answer to her prayer. “Samuel” means ’prayed of God’ or ’answered by God’ – because she has prayed for him to the LORD. This name also indicates the character of Samuel. He will be a man of prayer, his service will be marked by prayer (1Sam 7:5; 8:6; 12:19,23; 15:11).

A woman of prayer brings forth a son of prayer. Hannah has begged, Samuel does intercession. Bringing the people back under the authority of God is only possible through prayer and the Word of God. For Hannah, the word applies: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting” (Psa 126:5).

Whenever she calls the name “Samuel”, she honors God for His kindness and grace. In the same way, we should always express our gratitude for the blessings we have received (Psa 116:1-2). How many situations can we call ‘Samuel’? Whenever we are saved from a need or when there is provided in a need based on prayer, we can write ‘Samuel’ on it. We will then particularly consecrate these situations to God, honoring Him for them.

Samuel will appear before the LORD as a priest according to Hannah’s purpose. In practice, he performs the priestly service. Hannah has high thoughts of her son in connection with God. She is not satisfied with an ordinary life for her son. This is not a natural pride. It stems from her desire that only the LORD will be central in his life.

First, he must be nourished by her. Under her influence and through her nutrition and education he will receive the basic formation necessary for his stay with the LORD in an ungodly environment. Therefore, she stays at home when Elkanah goes on his way to make the annual sacrifice. Elkanah shows his faith by agreeing with Hannah’s desire to wait until Samuel can join them and stay there.

Elkanah has confirmed the vow of Hannah (Num 30:13-14), and makes a vow himself. He is encouraged by the faith of Hannah. He trusts that the LORD will do what He has said. This seems to indicate that he has come to share the expectation of the blessing that will come to Israel through this child because of Hannah’s prayer.

Hannah stays at home because the child needs milk. The time will come when the child no longer needs the milk. Our children need our help in their spiritual growth, but there must come a time when they themselves take spiritual food. We teach them to read and pray and we read and pray with them, but there comes a time when they must do this themselves. They must learn to stand before the Lord independently.

When the time has come – Samuel is then about three years old – Hannah gives him to the LORD. She entrusts him to Eli’s care, from whom he would receive his further formation and training for the tabernacle service. She has received him from the LORD and gives him back to the LORD (1Chr 29:14b).

She brings the son of her vow to the house of the LORD, together with a sacrifice. Her sacrifice consisted of “a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine”. The bull serves as a peace offering or votive offering, the flour as a grain offering and the wine as a drink offering. The purpose of her vow is Christ, for that is what the whole sacrifice speaks of.

The bull can be used as a sin offering and as a peace offering. This speaks of the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross through which He has put sin away (sin offering) and made fellowship with God possible (peace offering). Hannah realizes – in picture – that it is only on this basis that she can offer her son to God. The number three is the number of the resurrection (Mt 16:21; Lk 24:46; 1Cor 15:3-4; 1Pet 1:21). The fine flour of the grain offering speaks of the Lord Jesus as true Man Who lived in humility on earth in full dedication to God until death. Wine speaks of the joy that God finds in His Son. He also finds this joy in all those in whom the Son becomes visible on earth, as with Paul (Phil 2:17) and as it will also happen in Samuel’s life.

With the words “as your soul lives”, Hannah wants to say, ‘as true as it is that your soul lives so true it is that I stood here with you then to pray to the LORD’. She tells Eli about their first meeting and the hearing by the LORD. That will be more than three years ago. She still remembers exactly where she stood. This is often the case with special events in someone’s (spiritual) life, whether it is about suffering or a special word from the Lord or a special meeting. Hannah rejoices in the same place where she has spoken to the LORD in her sadness.

Even now, there is no blame in the direction of Eli. She does not come triumphantly to tell her right. It seems as if she has forgotten all. At this place she only thinks of her prayer. Her triumph is in God. She knows Him as the abundant Giver of all good. She comes to fulfill her vow. Hannah teaches us how to overcome and forget the injustice done to us by people.

The first act we read of Samuel is that he worships the LORD. This is the result of the milk Hannah gave him. He learned this from his mother. She is a woman of prayer. We will see this in the next chapter. Her hymn of praise is a prayer. Her prayer is worship or prophecy. Often, she will have prayed with Samuel, often he will have heard and seen her pray. The impressions he gained in his first years have formed him.