Hannah

Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, was the mother of the prophet Samuel, whom she dedicated to the Lord's service at a young age.

Hannah was the wife of Elkanah, an Ephraimite, and the mother of the prophet Samuel (1Sa 1:1-2). She was one of Elkanah's two wives, the other being Peninnah. While Peninnah had children, Hannah was barren, which caused her great distress (1Sa.1.2, 6-7). During an annual visit to the tabernacle at Shiloh, Hannah prayed fervently to the Lord, asking for a son and vowing to dedicate him to the Lord's service (1Sa 1:9-11). Eli, the high priest, initially mistook her intense prayer for drunkenness but later blessed her when he understood her situation (1Sa 1:12-18). In due time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel, meaning "heard by God" (1Sa 1:19-20). After weaning him, Hannah fulfilled her vow and brought Samuel to the tabernacle to serve under Eli (1Sa 1:24-28). Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving (1Sa 2:1-10) expresses her joy and gratitude for God's answer to her prayers and her recognition of God's sovereignty. The Bible also records that Hannah had three more sons and two daughters after dedicating Samuel to the Lord (1Sa 2:21). Hannah's story illustrates the power of prayer, faith, and dedication to God.

Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. 1; 2). Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim, whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle had been pitched by Joshua, to attend the offering of sacrifices there according to the law (Ex. 23:15; 34:18; Deut. 16:16), probably at the feast of the Passover (comp. Ex. 13:10). On occasion of one of these “yearly” visits, being grieved by reason of Peninnah’s conduct toward her, she went forth alone, and kneeling before the Lord at the sanctuary she prayed inaudibly. Eli the high priest, who sat at the entrance to the holy place, observed her, and misunderstanding her character he harshly condemned her conduct (1 Sam. 1:14-16). After hearing her explanation he retracted his injurious charge and said to her, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition.” Perhaps the story of the wife of Manoah was not unknown to her. Thereafter Elkanah and his family retired to their quiet home, and there, before another Passover, Hannah gave birth to a son, whom, in grateful memory of the Lord’s goodness, she called Samuel, i.e., “heard of God.” After the child was weaned (probably in his third year) she brought him to Shiloh into the house of the Lord, and said to Eli the aged priest, “Oh my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: therefore I also have granted him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he is granted to the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:27, 28, R.V.). Her gladness of heart then found vent in that remarkable prophetic song (2:1-10; comp. Luke 1:46-55) which contains the first designation of the Messiah under that name (1 Sam. 2:10, “Annointed” = “Messiah”). And so Samuel and his parents parted. He was left at Shiloh to minister “before the Lord.” And each year, when they came up to Shiloh, Hannah brought to her absent child “a little coat” (Heb. meil, a term used to denote the “robe” of the ephod worn by the high priest, Ex. 28:31), a priestly robe, a long upper tunic (1 Chr. 15:27), in which to minister in the tabernacle (1 Sam. 2:19; 15:27; Job 2:12). “And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.” After Samuel, Hannah had three sons and two daughters.