1 Samuel 1:28 Komentář

The history of Samuel here begins as early as that of Samson did, even before he was born, as afterwards the history of John the Baptist and our blessed Saviour. Some of the scripture-worthies drop out of the clouds, as it were, and their first appearance is in their full growth and lustre. But others are accounted for from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. What God says of the prophet Jeremiah is true of all: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee," Jer 1:5. But some great men were brought into the world with more observation than others, and were more early distinguished from common persons, as Samuel for one. God, in this matter, acts as a free agent. The story of Samson introduces him as a child of promise, Jdg. 13. But the story of Samuel introduces him as a child of prayer. Samson's birth was foretold by an angel to his mother; Samuel was asked of God by his mother. Both together intimate what wonders are produced by the word and prayer. Samuel's mother was Hannah, the principal person concerned in the story of this chapter. I. Here is her affliction - she was childless, and this affliction aggravated by her rival's insolence, but in some measure balanced by her husband's kindness (Sa1 1:1-8). II. The prayer and vow she made to God under this affliction, in which Eli the high priest at first censured her, but afterwards encouraged her (Sa1 1:9-18). III. The birth and nursing of Samuel (Sa1 1:19-23) IV. The presenting of him to the Lord (Sa1 1:24-28).

This chapter gives an account of the parents of Samuel, of the trouble his mother met with from her rival, and comfort from her husband, Sa1 1:1, of her prayer to God for a son, and of her vow to him, should one be given her, Sa1 1:9 of the notice Eli took of her, and of his censure on her, which he afterwards retracted, and comforted her, Sa1 1:12 of her conception and the birth of her son, the nursing and weaning of him, Sa1 1:19 and of the presentation of him to the Lord, with a sacrifice, Sa1 1:24.

Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord,.... To be employed in his service, not for a few days, months, or years, but for his whole life. The Targum is,"I have delivered him, that he may minister before the Lord;''as she had received him front him as an answer of prayer, she gave him up to him again according to her vow: as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord, or as the Targum,"all the days that he lives he shall be ministering before the Lord;'' or "all the days he shall be asked" (or "required") by or for the Lord (e); that is, he shall be lent unto him, and serve him as long as it is desired: and he worshipped the Lord there; in the tabernacle at the same time; either Elkanah, who with Hannah brought the child to Eli, and now gave thanks to God for giving them the child, and prayed unto him that he might be received into the service of the sanctuary; or else Eli, to whom the child was brought for admittance, who when he heard that Hannah's request was granted, which he had entreated also might be or had declared it would be, bowed his head, and gave thanks to God for it; or rather the child Samuel, as he was taught and trained up, bowed himself before the Lord, and worshipped him in the tabernacle as soon as he was brought into it, though a child; for he only is spoken of in this and the preceding verse; and by some interpreters (f) the name Samuel is supplied; the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read in the plural number, "and they worshipped the Lord there": that is, Elkanah and his wife; so Mr. Weemse (g) translates and interprets it. (e) "Quamdiu" h. e. "expetitus aut requisitur", Peter Martyr; "quoties a Jehova postulatur", Piscator. (f) Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) Observat. Nat. c. 18. p. 77. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 2

(Verse 28.) "And they worshipped the Lord there." We also, members of the holy Church, when through the scriptures of the Old Testament we are submitted to the veneration and precept of the Creator, there indeed we worship the Lord, because we hold the faith of the ancient Fathers, and we exercise that same faith through love in good work.

(Moral Exposition) In the house of the Lord they adore the Lord, who both raise themselves with lofty mind to the contemplation of the heavenly homeland, yet through humility prostrate themselves before almighty God, and with all their heart are so sublimely elevated in the power of the Spirit. We have touched upon these things not in order, but summarily in expounding the historical or moral sense, so that we might investigate somewhat more extensively the words of the spiritual canticle which follows according to the moral and typological explanation.

And they worshipped the Lord there. The Lord commands to pray without remission and not to faint (I Thess. V) under the figure of Anna, which the Church performs, which in the beginning of its vows, in its progress, and even in its embrace does not cease to supplicate the Lord.

Some account of Elkanah and his two wives, Peninnah and Hannah, Sa1 1:1, Sa1 1:2. His annual worship at Shiloh and the portions he gave at such times to his wives, Sa1 1:3-5. Hannah, being barren, is reproached by Peninnah, especially in their going up to Shiloh; at which she is sorely grieved, Sa1 1:6, Sa1 1:7. Elkanah comforts her, Sa1 1:8. Her prayer and vow in the temple, that if God would give her a son, she would consecrate him to His service, Sa1 1:9-11. Eli, the high priest, indistinctly hearing her pray, charges her with being drunk, Sa1 1:12-14. Her defense of her conduct, Sa1 1:15, Sa1 1:16. Eli, undeceived, blesses her; on which she takes courage, Sa1 1:17, Sa1 1:18. Hannah and Elkanah return home; she conceives, bears a son, and calls him Samuel, Sa1 1:19, Sa1 1:20. Elkanah and his family go again to Shiloh to worship; but Hannah stays at home to nurse her child, purposing, as soon as he is weaned, to go and offer him to the Lord, according to her vow, Sa1 1:21-23. When weaned, she takes him to Shiloh, presents hear child to Eli to be consecrated to the Lord, and offers three bullocks, an ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, for his consecration, Sa1 1:24-28.

Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord - There is here a continual reference to her vow, and to the words which she used in making that vow. The word Samuel, as we have already seen, is a contraction of the words שאול מאל Shaul meEl, that is, asked or lent of God; for his mother said, Sa1 1:27, The Lord hath given me my petition, which שאלתי Shaalti, I Asked of him. In Sa1 1:28 she says: הוא ששול ליהוה hu Shaul layhouah, he shall be Lent unto the Lord: here we find the verb is the same; and it is remarked by grammarians that שאל shaal, he asked, making in the participle pahul שאול shaul, Asked, in the conjugation hiphil signifies to lend; therefore, says his mother, Sa1 1:28, השאלתיהו ליהוה Hishiltihu layhovah, I have Lent him to the Lord. This twofold meaning of the Hebrew root is not only followed by our translators, but also by the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Syriac. And he worshipped the Lord there - Instead of וישתחו vaiyishtachu, He worshipped, וישתחוו vaiyishtachavu, and They worshipped, is the reading of six of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., of some copies of the Septuagint, and of the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic. This and the following chapter are connected in most copies of the Septuagint and Vulgate thus: And Anna worshipped, and said, My soul is strengthened in the Lord, etc. It is very likely that the whole passage, from the beginning of Sa1 1:26 to the end of Sa1 2:10 of the ensuing chapter, contains the words of Hannah alone; and that even the clause, He worshipped the Lord there, should be, And she worshipped the Lord there, and prayed, and said, etc. Indeed this latter clause is wanting in the Polyglot Septuagint, as I have stated above.

OF ELKANAH AND HIS TWO WIVES. (Sa1 1:1-8) a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim--The first word being in the dual number, signifies the double city--the old and new town of Ramah (Sa1 1:19). There were five cities of this name, all on high ground. This city had the addition of Zophim attached to it, because it was founded by Zuph, "an Ephrathite," that is a native of Ephratha. Beth-lehem, and the expression "of Ramathaim-zophim" must, therefore, be understood as Ramah in the land of Zuph in the hill country of Ephratha. Others, considering "mount Ephraim" as pointing to the locality in Joseph's territory, regard "Zophim" not as a proper but a common noun, signifying watchtowers, or watchmen, with reference either to the height of its situation, or its being the residence of prophets who were watchmen (Eze 3:17). Though a native of Ephratha or Beth-lehem-judah (Rut 1:2), Elkanah was a Levite (Ch1 6:33-34). Though of this order, and a good man, he practised polygamy. This was contrary to the original law, but it seems to have been prevalent among the Hebrews in those days, when there was no king in Israel, and every man did what seemed right in his own eyes [Jdg 21:25].

I. History of the People of Israel Under the Prophet Samuel - 1 Samuel 1-7 The call of Samuel to be the prophet and judge of Israel formed a turning-point in the history of the Old Testament kingdom of God. As the prophet of Jehovah, Samuel was to lead the people of Israel out of the times of the judges into those of the kings, and lay the foundation for a prosperous development of the monarchy. Consecrated like Samson as a Nazarite from his mother's womb, Samuel accomplished the deliverance of Israel out of the power of the Philistines, which had been only commenced by Samson; and that not by the physical might of his arm, but by the spiritual power of his word and prayer, with which he led Israel back from the worship of dead idols to the Lord its God. And whilst as one of the judges, among whom he classes himself in Sa1 12:11, he brought the office of judge to a close, and introduced the monarchy; as a prophet, he laid the foundation of the prophetic office, inasmuch as he was the fist to naturalize it, so to speak, in Israel, and develope it into a power that continued henceforth to exert the strongest influence, side by side with the priesthood and monarchy, upon the development of the covenant nation and kingdom of God. For even if there were prophets before the time of Samuel, who revealed the will of the Lord at times to the nation, they only appeared sporadically, without exerting any lasting influence upon the national life; whereas, from the time of Samuel onwards, the prophets sustained and fostered the spiritual life of the congregation, and were the instruments through whom the Lord made known His purposes to the nation and its rulers. To exhibit in its origin and growth the new order of things which Samuel introduced, or rather the deliverance which the Lord sent to His people through this servant of His, the prophetic historian goes back to the time of Samuel's birth, and makes us acquainted not only with the religious condition of the nation, but also with the political oppression under which it was suffering at the close of the period of the judges, and during the high-priesthood of Eli. At the time when the pious parents of Samuel were going year by year to the house of God at Shiloh to worship and offer sacrifice before the Lord, the house of God was being profaned by the abominable conduct of Eli's sons (1 Samuel 1-2). When Samuel was called to be the prophet of Jehovah, Israel lost the ark of the covenant, the soul of its sanctuary, in the war with the Philistines (1 Samuel 3-4). And it was not till after the nation had been rendered willing to put away its strange gods and worship Jehovah alone, through the influence of Samuel's exertions as prophet, that the faithful covenant God gave it, in answer to Samuel's intercession, a complete victory over the Philistines (1 Samuel 7). In accordance with these three prominent features, the history of the judicial life of Samuel may be divided into three sections, viz.: 1 Samuel 1-2; 3-6; 7.