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1 Samuel 1 Bible study: Asked of the LORD

The chapter says twice that the LORD had shut up Hannah's womb (1:5-6), and her face was no longer sad before she conceived (1:18). And in Hebrew the given of "Therefore I have also given him to the LORD" (1:28) is the same verb as asked in "Because I have asked him of the LORD" (1:20).

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“I prayed for this child, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him.”
1 Samuel 1:27 · World English Bible

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“1 Samuel 1 says it was the LORD who had shut up Hannah's womb.”

Is that in 1 Samuel 1, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

The LORD had shut up her womb

In the text

"Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children" (1:2). The chapter says twice who had done it: "the LORD had shut up her womb" (1:5, 1:6) (tap shut up). It gives no reason, and it names no wrong of Hannah's. Genesis told of wives in the promised family who were barren: Sarai (Genesis 11:30), Rebekah (Genesis 25:21) and Rachel (Genesis 29:31). Judges told of Manoah's wife, who "was barren, and childless" (Judges 13:2). This chapter doesn't use the word barren; Hannah's prayer in the next chapter does: "Yes, the barren has borne seven" (2:5). Rachel's story turned with "God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb" (Genesis 30:22). Hannah's turns with the same Hebrew verb: "the LORD remembered her" (1:19) (tap remembered). No angel comes in this chapter. Hannah prays (1:10).

Where it leads to Jesus

Named among the faithful

In the text

1 Samuel 1:20leads toHebrews 12:2

"Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel" (1:20). Hebrews names him: "the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32). It gives only his name, not an act. Of everyone in its list it says, "These all, having been commended for their faith, didn’t receive the promise" (Hebrews 11:39), and it calls its readers to run "looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

Honest questions

Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 1

That was a taste

The rest of 1 Samuel 1 is waiting in Favor

  • Year by year
  • Eli saw her mouth
  • Asked, and given
  • "The LORD of Armies"
  • "No razor"
  • The LORD's house in Shiloh
  • 13 questions as you read
  • 12 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

שָׁאַלsha'alsay sha-AL

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "ask, inquire", and for the form in "I have also given him" (1:28), "grant, make over to". Strong's: "to inquire; by implication, to request". It is the chapter's word. Eli: "may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him" (1:17). Hannah names her son "Because I have asked him of the LORD" (1:20). "The LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him" (1:27). Then, "Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD" (1:28): in Hebrew both givens are this verb. Petition (1:17, 1:27) is its noun, she'elah (Strong's H7596, "a petition"). The second given in 1:28, sha'ul, is spelled the same as the name Saul (9:2), which Strong's gives as "passive participle of 7592; asked". 1 Samuel uses the verb 32 times.

For your group

1 Samuel 1 Bible study questions

  1. 1Hannah told Eli, "I poured out my soul before the LORD" (1:15). What would it look like for you to pour out to God what you're carrying right now?
  2. 2Elkanah asked, "Am I not better to you than ten sons?" (1:8), and Eli took Hannah's prayer for drunkenness (1:13-14). When someone near you is hurting, what helps them more than quick answers or guesses?
  3. 3"Therefore I have also given him to the LORD" (1:28). What has God given you that you could give back to him?

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Questions

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home