1 Samuel 1:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

NIV: This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

NASB: And it happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, that she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.

CSB: Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat.

NLT: Year after year it was the same — Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.

KJV: And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

NKJV: So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.

Family holiday traditions have deep roots. We may look forward to those familiar gatherings or dread them if they evoke unresolved pain and heartache. The text suggests that part of the annual tradition of this sacrifice and feast at Shiloh was for Elkanah to honor his barren first wife Hannah, whom he loved, with a double portion of the meat from the offering (1 Samuel 1:1–5).

That tradition was connected to another: Elkanah's second wife, likely in a jealous rage, would persecute Hannah for being unable to have children (1 Samuel 1:6). Though Hannah was being honored by her husband each year, she was also being cruelly tormented by his other wife. This magnified Hannah's grief so deeply that she lost her appetite. She simply wept.

First Samuel 1:1–20 describes how Samuel the prophet came to be born. His mother Hannah was barren and mocked by her husband's other wife, who had many children. During a family feast at Shiloh, Hannah prayed out of her deep despair. She vowed to give her son back to God if He would allow her to conceive. Once Eli, the priest, understood that Hannah was not drunk, he told her the Lord would grant her request. Satisfied, she returned home and soon gave birth to a boy. She named him Samuel.

Elkanah lives in Ephraim with two wives. Hannah is barren, while his other wife has many children. At the annual family sacrifice and feast in Shiloh, Hannah weeps and pours out her grief before the Lord. She vows to give a son to Him for lifelong service if the Lord gives her a boy. After confronting Hannah for drunkenness and then seeing that she was praying from her depth of emotion, Eli the priest blesses Hannah and affirms her prayer. Elkanah and Hannah conceive, and she gives birth to a son that she names Samuel. Once he is weaned, she presents him to Eli at the temple and gives him over to the Lord as long as he lives.

First Samuel 1 begins the story of Samuel with the account of his unlikely-seeming birth. Samuel's mother Hannah is barren. During a family trip to temple of the Lord in Shiloh, she weeps bitterly before the Lord and pours out her grief. She vows to give a son back to the Lord if He will allow her to bear one. Eli the priest blesses her and affirms her prayer. Before long, Samuel is conceived and born. Once he is weaned, Hannah brings the boy and a large sacrifice to the temple. She gives Samuel over to the Lord.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.

Accessed 12/4/2024 3:48:39 AM