Hannah at Shiloh

Elkanah of Ramathaim-zophim, in the hill country of Ephraim, goes up yearly "to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh," where Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas are priests. "Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children." Her rival "provoked her sore, for to make her fret." Elkanah: "Hannah, why weepest thou?… am not I better to thee than ten sons?"

Hannah rises, "in bitterness of soul," and prays and weeps. "O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid… but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." Eli watches her lips move without sound and says, "How long wilt thou be drunken?" "No, my lord… I have poured out my soul before the LORD." "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition."

Hannah bears a son, Samuel, "because I have asked him of the LORD." When he is weaned she brings him to Shiloh with an offering, and says to Eli: "For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition… therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD."

Shiloh

Shiloh (Khirbet Seilun) was Israel's main sanctuary in the period of the judges (Joshua 18:1; Judges 21:19). Danish excavations (1926–1932) and Israel Finkelstein's (1981–1984) found an Iron I settlement with rows of storage jars, destroyed by fire around the 11th century BC; the date and cause are debated. Recent excavations have proposed specific locations for the sanctuary; no structure has been securely identified as the "house of the LORD" or the place where Hannah prayed.

Barren mothers

Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother and Hannah: Scripture repeatedly opens a new chapter of Israel's story with a woman who could not bear children. Hannah, like Rachel, also suffers a rival wife.

Samuel's name

Hannah explains the name by "asked" (sha'al), which fits the name Saul (Sha'ul) better than Samuel (Shemu'el, perhaps "name of God" or "heard of God"). Some scholars think a story about Saul's birth was adapted; others see a wordplay foreshadowing Saul. The explanation is debated.

One bull or three? (1:24)

The Masoretic Text says Hannah brought "three bulls"; 4QSam-a and the Greek read "a three-year-old bull," which fits 1:25, "they slew a bullock." The difference can come from dividing the same Hebrew letters differently. See the passage page.