1 Samuel 1:9 - Meaning and Application

Elkanah had gently rebuked Hannah for her excessive grief, and we now see the good effect of that rebuke. First, it brought her back to the meal. She ate and drank (1 Samuel 1:9). She did not harden herself in sorrow or grow sullen when she was corrected. Instead, when she saw that her husband was troubled because she did not join them, she steadied herself and came to the table.

It is just as much an act of self-control to govern our emotions as it is to govern our appetites. Second, it brought her to prayer. It led her to ask herself, “Am I doing right to stay angry? Am I doing any good by fretting? Instead of carrying this burden alone, should I not cast it on the Lord in prayer?” Elkanah had said, “Am I not better to you than ten sons?” That may have led her to think, “Whether he is or not, God is. So I will go to him and pour out my complaint, and see what relief that brings.”

If she ever meant to make a more earnest appeal to God’s grace, now was the time. They were at Shiloh, at the entrance of the tabernacle, where God had promised to meet his people. It was the house of prayer. They had just offered their peace offerings, which asked for God’s favor and showed their fellowship with him. After taking comfort in being accepted by God, it was right for her to pray on the strength of that sacrifice.

The peace offering pointed ahead to more than fellowship. It also showed that atonement for sin was made, and that our prayers could be heard and answered in peace. In all our prayers, we must keep that sacrifice in view. As for Hannah’s prayer, we can notice the warm and living devotion in it, and it gives us guidance in prayer.

She used her present sorrow to stir up her heart toward God. “Being in bitterness of soul, she prayed” (1 Samuel 1:10). We should use our troubles in the same way. They should make us more earnest when we come before God. Our blessed Savior himself, in agony, prayed more earnestly (Luke 22:44).

She also mixed tears with her prayers. It was not a dry prayer. “She wept much.” Like a true Israelite, she “wept and sought the Lord” (Hosea 12:4), looking to the tender mercy of God, who knows the troubled heart. Her prayer came from her heart, just as the tears came from her eyes.

She was very specific, yet very humble, in what she asked. She asked for a child, a son, so that he would be fit to serve in the tabernacle. God allows us in prayer to ask for good things in general, and also to name the special mercy we most need and desire. Still, she did not say, as Rachel did, “Give me children” (Genesis 30:1). She would be thankful for one son.

She also made a solemn vow, promising that if God gave her a son, she would give him back to God (1 Samuel 1:11). By birth he would be a Levite, a man set apart for God’s service. But by her vow he would also be a Nazarite, set apart in a special way, and even his childhood would be holy. It is likely that she had already told Elkanah her plan and had his approval.

Parents have the right to dedicate their children to God as living sacrifices and spiritual servants. That brings an obligation too, to raise them to serve God faithfully all their days. It is also wise, when we seek any mercy, to bind our own souls with a promise: if God gives it, we will use it for his honor and gladly serve him with it. This does not mean we earn the gift. It means we are made ready for it, and ready to enjoy it rightly. In hope of mercy, let us promise duty.

She spoke so quietly that no one else could hear her. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard (1 Samuel 1:13). This showed that she believed God knows the heart and its desires. Thoughts are words to him. He is not like false gods, who must be shouted at to get their attention (1 Kings 18:27). Her quiet prayer also showed humility and holy modesty in coming before God. She was not one of those who try to make their voice heard everywhere (Isaiah 58:4). It was a secret prayer, even though it was offered in a public place. It was not like the prayers of the Pharisees, who prayed to be seen by people. Prayer is nothing to be ashamed of, but we must avoid every sign of showing off. What passes between God and our souls should stay with us.

Hannah also came under a harsh judgment for this prayer. Eli, the high priest and judge in Israel, was sitting on a seat by the door of the temple to watch over what was done there (1 Samuel 1:9). The tabernacle is called the temple here because it was now fixed in one place and served the same purpose as a temple. From his seat, likely in a private corner, he noticed Hannah praying and, because her manner was unusual, assumed she was drunk. So he said to her, “How long will you be drunk?” This was the same kind of accusation Peter and the apostles later faced when the Holy Spirit gave them words to speak (Acts 2:13).

Perhaps in that careless age it was not unusual to see drunken women at the door of the tabernacle. If it had not been so common, it would be hard to explain how the wicked lust of Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s corrupt sons, could have found such easy victims there (1 Samuel 2:22). Eli took Hannah for one of those women. One sad effect of rising sin is that it makes innocent people look guilty. When disease spreads widely, everyone starts to suspect they have it.

This was Eli’s fault, and a serious one. He judged too quickly, without careful checking or better information. If his own eyes were becoming dim, he should have asked others to look into it. Drunk people are usually loud and disorderly, but this poor woman was quiet and composed. His fault was worse because he was the priest of the Lord, and should have had compassion on the ignorant and the mistaken (Hebrews 5:2). We should be slow to condemn others, especially when the facts are uncertain or can be understood in a better way. Love teaches us to hope the best about people and keeps us from harsh judgment.

We should be especially careful not to condemn the prayers of others. We may easily call something hypocrisy, emotional excess, or superstition when it is really honest zeal and is accepted by God. Hannah also suffered from this harsh mistake, and it was a heavy burden. She had already been rebuked by Elkanah because she would not eat and drink. Now she was being reproached by Eli as if she had been eating and drinking too much, which was very painful.

It is no new thing for people who do well to be wrongly judged, and we should not think it strange when that happens to us.

Hannah’s humble defense of herself from the charge against her is beautiful. She did not answer back or scold Eli, the priest, by pointing to the drunkenness of his own sons. She did not tell him to look to his own house and restrain them. She did not say how unfit it was for someone in his position to accuse a sorrowful worshipper at the throne of grace. When we are unfairly criticized, we need to guard our lips carefully so we do not answer accusation with accusation.

Hannah thought it was enough to defend herself, and we should do the same (1 Samuel 1:15-16). In fairness to herself, she clearly denied the charge and spoke to Eli with full respect. She called him “my lord” and showed how much she wanted to be thought well of by him and how unwilling she was to remain under his disapproval. “No, my lord, it is not as you suppose. I have had no wine or strong drink at all,” though wine can be fitting for someone of a sorrowful heart (Proverbs 31:6), “much less have I drunk to excess. So do not count your servant as a worthless woman.” Drunkards are children of Belial, meaning people who belong to wickedness and refuse godly restraint, especially when they are actually drunk.

Hannah admits that the charge would have been very serious if true, and Eli would have been right to keep her from God’s house. But the very way she spoke in her own defense showed that she was not drunk. In fairness to Eli, she also explained why she had seemed so disturbed. “I am a woman of sorrowful spirit,” she said. “I am crushed and troubled, and that is why I do not look as other people do. My eyes are red, not from wine, but from weeping.”

She also told him that she had not been speaking to herself, as drunk people and fools do. Instead, she had been pouring out her soul before the Lord, who understands the language of the heart, out of her deep grief and complaint. She had been especially earnest in prayer, and that was the real reason for her unusual emotion and disorder. When we are wrongly judged, we should do more than clear ourselves. We should also try to help others understand the truth of what they misunderstood.

Eli then made up for his hasty and unfriendly judgment by giving Hannah a kind, fatherly blessing (1 Samuel 1:17). He did not react as many people do when their mistake is corrected. He was not offended or irritated. Instead, he encouraged her prayers again, after having first discouraged them. By saying, “Go in peace,” he showed that he was satisfied of her innocence. Then, as the high priest, he blessed her in the name of the Lord. Though he did not know the exact thing she had been praying for, he added his “amen” to it. He had now formed such a good opinion of her wisdom and devotion that he said, “May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

By our gentle and humble behavior toward those who speak against us because they do not know us, we may sometimes win their friendship and turn their criticism into prayer for us.

Hannah then went away with great peace of mind (1 Samuel 1:18). She asked Eli to keep his good opinion of her and to keep praying for her, and then she ate some of the peace-offering meal that remained. None of it was to be left until morning, and now her face was no longer sad. It no longer showed the distress and unrest it had shown before. She looked cheerful and content, and all was well.

What had changed? Why this sudden peace? She had brought her case to God in prayer and left it with him, so she was no longer troubled about it. She had prayed for herself, and Eli had prayed for her too. She believed God would either give her the mercy she asked for or make up for its lack in another way. Prayer brings rest to a gracious soul, and the people of Jacob have often found it so, because God will never say to them, “Seek me in vain” (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer should calm the face, and it does when it is true prayer.