I Samuel

I Samuel 1:1-18 Hannah.

Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, had two wives. This bit of information shows that the covenant LORD does in fact work in situations which are not perfectly patterned after his ideal, which from creation was one man and one woman (Gen. 1-2). As the example of the priests, Eli and his sons, shows that there were many far more in rebellion against the LORD. Elkanah was a man who regularly went to worship the LORD as he prescribed, along with his family. Elkanah loved Hannah, but for whatever reason, “the LORD had closed her womb” (v. 6).

Rather than having sympathy for Hannah’s childless condition, Peninnah, his other wife, provoked Hannah constantly, therefore Hannah “wept and did not eat” (v. 7). Elkanah pleaded with Hannah to turn from her grief, but she continued to pray in anguish before the LORD (vv. 8-10). In the midst of this anguish she vowed to dedicate her firstborn son to the LORD to serve him all his life, and this little man was Samuel. As the high priest, Eli added his blessing (v. 17). Then Hannah