"My heart rejoiceth in the LORD… There is none holy as the LORD." "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased… the barren hath born seven." "The LORD killeth, and maketh alive… He raiseth up the poor out of the dust… to set them among princes." "The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed."
"Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD." When someone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant thrust a three-pronged fork into the pot and took whatever it brought up; before the fat was burned he demanded raw meat, by force if need be. "The sin of the young men was very great."
Samuel ministers before the LORD in a linen ephod; each year his mother brings him a little robe. Eli hears what his sons are doing "and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle." He rebukes them weakly; they do not listen. A man of God comes: "Them that honour me I will honour… there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever"; both sons will die in one day.
A song about a king before there is a king
Hannah's song ends with "his king" and "his anointed" (mashiaḥ), though Israel has no king yet. Readers explain this as prophecy, or as a psalm later placed on Hannah's lips by the book's compiler. It frames 1–2 Samuel together with David's song in 2 Samuel 22.
Then and later
Then and Later
Hannah's song, then and later
- Exodus 15Miriam's song A song of the mighty overthrown.
- 1 Samuel 2Hannah's song The poor raised, the anointed exalted.
- Psalm 113The barren made a joyful mother "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust."
- Luke 1Mary's Magnificat "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree."
The women at the tent (2:22)
The second half of 2:22, about Eli's sons lying with women serving at the tent door, is in the Masoretic Text and the Vulgate but not in the library's Greek; 4QSam-a is also reported to lack it. The phrase echoes Exodus 38:8. It may be an addition, or may have been omitted. It is shown here as a textual question, not as a settled fact either way.
The Case for the Biblical Account
Scripture's account
Hannah's song; the corruption of Eli's house (1 Samuel 2).
What evidence would we expect?
Priestly portions in law; ancient hymns of divine reversal.
The discoveries
Leviticus 7 on priestly portions; three-pronged forks among Iron Age cult objects; hymnic parallels in the Psalms.
Testing the discoveries
The cultic setting fits; the events are known only from Samuel.
The strongest reconstruction
An old sanctuary story framed by a royal psalm.
What remains possible
The original wording of 2:22.
What the evidence shows
- 2:22b is absent from the library's Greek. Giguet checked; 4QSam-a reported, not checked.
- Hannah's song was composed by Hannah.
- "The LORD killeth, and maketh alive."
Continue the journey
Journey of a Passage1 Samuel 2:22: The women at the tent doorThe Masoretic Text adds that Eli's sons "lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle." The library's Greek ends the verse after "what his sons did to all Israel"; 4QSam-a is reported to lack the clause too.More from this lesson
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The Magnificat.
- The poor raised from the dust.
- The priests' portion.
- Abiathar removed, "that he might fulfil the word… concerning the house of Eli."
- David's song.