1 Samuel 1 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Sam 1:1-8

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 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. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?’

A. Find Out:

1. What was the difference between the 2 wives? v.2
2. Where did Elkanah go each year? v.3
3. What did he feel about Hannah? v.5a
4. Why hadn’t she had children? v.5b
5. What did Peninnah continually do? v.6
6. What effect did this have on Hannah? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. What sort of man is Hannah’s husband?
2. How did Hannah feel, do you think, apart from Peninnah’s comments?
3. Who is attributed with being behind all this?

C. Comment:

     In these introductory verses we are introduced to the three main characters. First of all, Elkanah who had (unwisely) taken two wives (which wasn’t so unusual in those days). We learn two things about him: first he was devout and annually made the pilgrimage to worship the Lord at Shiloh, and second, he was kind and concerned and tried to care for Hannah despite her being unable to have children.

     Next, we see Peninnah, one of Elkanah’s wives, an unpleasant woman! She had the joy of bearing children (which should have been enough) be she also takes joy in “lording it” over Hannah because she couldn’t have children. When there are two wives there is bound to be competition between them for the husband’s affection and, perhaps because Peninnah realizes Elkanah’s love for Hannah, she goes out of her way to be unkind to her.

      Lastly, Hannah herself, who we have already noted, has no children. God is blamed for this and so we will have to watch in later studies to see if we can see some reason why this might be so. As time goes by, no children come, and the provocations continue and Hannah comes to the end of her tether and breaks down.  Those who are unable to have children will readily identify with Hannah in all this.

D. Application?

1. Being a child of God doesn’t mean that life will always be easy.
2. We need to rest in God’s love for us and if things aren’t working out as we might hope, we need to seek Him to see the reason why.

Passage: 1 Sam 1:9-18

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.’

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, ‘How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.’

15 ‘Not so, my lord,’ Hannah replied, ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’

17 Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’

18 She said, ‘May your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

A. Find Out:    

1. Out of what feeling did Hannah pray? v.10
2. What did she promise if God would answer her? v.11
3. What did Eli observe? v.12,13
4. What did he wrongly conclude? v.13
5. How did Hannah describe her reason for praying? v.15,16
6. How and why did she leave? v.18,17

B. Think:

1. How would you summarize Hannah’s state and the reason for it?
2. How would you describe Eli as a religious leader?
3. What might have been the reason for Hannah not having any children?

C. Comment:

     Hannah is a picture of someone in desperation who prays urgently and desperately. She comes to the place where she is willing to lose her child to the Lord as long as she can at least have a child. That is significant. Could it be that the Lord foresaw Samuel (consider Jeremiah 1:5 and Ephesians 1:4) and knew that he would have to leave his mother if he was to achieve his destiny, and therefore prevented Hannah from conceiving until she came to the point when she was willing for that to happen? Her praying was deep and heartfelt. Those are the prayers the Lord especially looks for.

     Eli is old and not a very good representative of the Lord (as we will see later on). He sees Hannah’s mouth moving and is completely insensitive to her state. He accuses her of drunkenness, that being the only reason that comes to mind to explain what he sees. Only after she graciously responds does he bless her. Whether he realizes it or not, his blessing is the Lord’s affirmation that He has heard and will answer her prayer. The scene is now set for Samuel’s arrival.

D. Application?

1. Desperate circumstances are sometimes needed to bring us to the point of complete surrender to God.
2. God looks for heart prayers, not prayers of habit or of religious ritual.

Passage: 1 Sam 1:19-28

19 Early the next morning they arose and worshipped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’

21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, ‘After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.’

23 ‘Do what seems best to you,’ her husband Elkanah told her. ‘Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.’ So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, ‘Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he shall be given over to the Lord.’ And he worshipped the Lord there.

A. Find Out:

1. How does Hannah see the arrival of Samuel? v.20
2. What does she confirm she will do? v.22
3. How long would it be before it happened? v.23,24
4. Where did she take Samuel? v.24,25
5. How had she and God worked together? v.27
6. So what is to be Samuel’s future? v.28

B. Think:

1. Unbelief says, “I expect it was a coincidence that she had Samuel after praying”. How is Hannah different from this?
2. Look up Ecclesiastes 5:4    How does Hannah do this?
3. What warning should we heed?

C. Comment:

     Hannah has prayed with deep urgency and God has answered. It is as simple as that! That which was impossible has now happened. It is a trait of man to make rash promises to God in crisis moments, but as soon as the crisis is past, to forget the promise. That is not so with Hannah who is a godly woman. That which is most precious to her she releases to the Lord, for she recognizes that he had come from the Lord to start with anyway, as a clear answer to her praying.

    Our worldly temptation might be to think “How hard for Samuel, a young boy separated from his parents” (far less bad than what is happening to many children in our godless society when so many parents split up and one leaves the child), but his future makes it worthwhile. This is going to be God’s man, the top man in the nation who will bring order and God’s word to this still infant nation. Godly parents can be a secure foundation for godly children, but it starts with the recognition that the children belong to God. If we are parents who do that, it means that we can leave Him room to move in their young lives.

D. Application?

1. Beware making rash promises! Honour your promises to God.
2. Recognize that answers to deep prayers come because the prayer originated in God’s heart.