John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 1

Now there was a man of Ramathaimzophim, of Mount Ephraim. Ramathaim is a word of the dual number, and signifies two Ramahs; the city consisted of two parts, being built perhaps on two hills, and were called Zophim; because, as the Rabbins say, they looked one to another; or rather, because situated on eminences, there were watchtowers in them, where watchmen were placed; or because they were inhabited by prophets, who were sometimes called watchmen, (Ezekiel 3:17) and here is thought to be a school of the prophets, see (1 Samuel 19:19–24) and which seems to be countenanced by the Targum, in which the words are paraphrased thus, "and there was one" man of Ramatha, of the disciples of the prophets; or, as others think, the sense is this, this man was one of the Ramathites, the inhabitants of Ramah, and of the family of Zuph, or the Zuphites, which gave the name to the land of Zuph, and the grand ancestor of Elkanah is in this verse called Zuph, see (1 Samuel 9:5) .

According to Jerom ^F5 , this is the same with Arimathaea, of which Joseph was, (Matthew 27:57) for thus he writes, ``Armatha Sophim, the city of Helcanah and Samuel, in the Thamnitic region near Diospolis (or Lydda), from whence was Joseph, who in the Gospels is said to be of Arimathaea;'' but Reland ^F6 thinks it cannot be the same that was about Lydda, which was all a champaign country; whereas this was in the mountains of Ephraim, which must be sought to the north of Jerusalem, and not the west, and so it follows:

of Mount Ephraim: which is added to distinguish it from other Ramahs in several tribes, as in Benjamin, Naphtali though this may refer not to the situation of Ramathaim, but to the country of this man, who was originally of Mount Ephraim, as was the Levite in (Judges 19:1) who was the cause of much evil to Israel, as this was of great good, as Kimchi observes:

and his name was Elkanah: which signifies "God has possessed"; that is, possessed him, or he was in possession of God; he had an ancestor of the same name, (1 Chronicles 6:23) . This man was a Levite, one of the Kohathites, and a descendant of Korah; so that the famous prophet Samuel was of the sons of Korah:

the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph: the three last of these names are somewhat differently read in (1 Chronicles 6:26 1 Chronicles 6:27) , where they are Eliab, Nahath, Zophai; and in (1 Chronicles 6:34 1 Chronicles 6:35) . Eliel, Toah, Zuph:

an Ephrathite: which appellation is to be connected, according to Kimchi, not with Elkanah, but with Zuph; though neither of them were so called from Bethlehemjudah, the inhabitants of which were indeed called Ephrathites from Ephratah, another name of it; so Elimelech, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion, being of that city, were so called, (Ruth 1:2) not from their being of the tribe of Ephraim, as Jeroboam of that tribe is called an Ephrathite, (1 Kings 11:26) , see (Judges 12:5) for these were Levites, the descendants of Kohath, in the line of Korah; but because they sojourned in Mount Ephraim, or dwelt there, as Elkanah did; and it is well known that the Kohathites had cities given them in the tribe of Ephraim, (Joshua 21:5Joshua 21:21) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: De loc. Heb. fol. 88. K.
• F6: Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 581.

And he had two wives
Which, though connived at in those times, was contrary to the original law of marriage; and for which, though a good man, he was chastised, and had a great deal of vexation and trouble, the two wives not agreeing with each other.

Perhaps not having children by the one so soon as he hoped and wished for, he took another.

the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah ;
the first name signifies "grace" or "gracious", and she was a woman who had the grace of God, and very probably was also very comely, beautiful, and acceptable, as she was in the sight of her husband; the other signifies a cornered gem, a precious stone or jewel, as the pearl, ruby, amethyst.

Very likely Hannah was his first wife, and having no children by her, he took Peninnah, who proved to be a rough diamond: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children; how many Peninnah had is not said, perhaps ten; see (1 Samuel 1:8).

And that Hannah had none was not because she was naturally barren, but because the Lord had shut up her womb, or restrained her from bearing children, to put her upon praying for one, and that the birth of Samuel might be the more remarkable: see (1 Samuel 1:5).

This man went up out of his city yearly From year to year; or, as the Targum, from the time of the solemn appointed feast to the solemn appointed feast, from one to another; there were three of them in the year, at which all the males in Israel were to appear at the tabernacle; and being a Levite, this man was the more careful to observe this rule. He is said to "go up" out of his city, which was Ramathaim or Ramah; for though it was built on an eminence, from which it had its name, yet Shiloh, where he went, was higher; that being, as Adrichomius says ^F1 , on the highest mountain of all round about Jerusalem, and the highest of all the mountains of the holy land. So that as he first went down the hill from Ramah, he went up an high ascent to Shiloh, which is the place he went up to as follows:

to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh ; where the tabernacle was, the place of worship, and the altar of burnt offerings, on which sacrifices were offered. This place, according to Bunting ^F2 , was twelve miles from Ramah, though others say it was not more than seven miles from it; here he went to worship, or bow before the Lord; to pray unto him, as it is commonly interpreted; and being put before sacrifice, is said to be preferable to it, and more acceptable to God, and more eligible to be done in the tabernacle or temple than at home; see (Luke 18:10).

Though he is said to go up to sacrifice, it is not to be understood of his performing it himself, but by others, by the priest; for he himself was a Levite and could not offer sacrifices.

This is the first time that mention is made of this title of Jehovah, Lord of hosts, of all the hosts and armies in heaven and in earth, the Lord of Sabaoth, as in (James 5:4) from (abu) , an "host", or army; and from hence the Heathens called some of their deities by the name of Sabazius, as Jupiter Sabazius ^F3 ; and the Phrygians and Thracians used to call Bacchus Sabazius, and other Grecians following them did the same ^F4 :

and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas the priests of the Lord , were there; Eli was the next judge of Israel after Samson, and who also was the high priest, as is generally supposed. But when and how the high priesthood came into his family is nowhere said. He was a descendant of Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron, in whose line it continued to the time of Solomon;

and Josephus ^F5 places three between Phinehas and Eli, who were all of the line of Eleazar, whom he calls Abiezer, Bouci, and Ozis; but their Scripture names are Abishua, Bukki, and Uzzi, (1 Chronicles 6:50 1 Chronicles 6:51). And according to him, after Uzzi came Eli to be high priest, and therefore must be the first of the line of Ithamar that was in that office.

His two sons are mentioned as officiating as priests in Shiloh, at the time Elkanah used to go yearly thither to worship and sacrifice. They were very wicked men, as appears by an after account of them; and it is generally thought that this is observed here, to show that the wickedness of these priests did not hinder this good man from doing his duty; nor did he make use of it as an excuse for not attending the worship of the sanctuary.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 30. So Sandys's Travels, l. 3. p. 157.
• F2: Travels of the Patriarchs p. 122.
• F3: Valer. Maxim. l. 1. c. 3. Vid. D. Herbert de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 3. p. 22.
• F4: Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 212. Harpocration in voce (saboi) , Lucian. Concil. deor. sect. 4. Cicero de legibus. l. 2. Aristophan vespae, v. 9, 10. Aves, 582. & Scholia in ib. Lysistrate, p. 860. & Scholia in ib.
• F5: Antiqu. l. 5. c. 11. sect. 5.

And when the time was that Elkanah offered
That is, brought his offering to the priest, to offer it for him, which was at one of the three festivals. According to R. Joshua Ben Levi ^F6 , this was at the time of Pentecost; but Abarbinel thinks it was at the time of the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, which was a time of rejoicing, even the feast of tabernacles, and which is most likely:

he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters,
portions ;
parts of the offering, everyone a part, or portion; by which it appears, that this was a peace offering he offered, the greater part of which belonged to the owner, and which he made a feast of for his family and friends; see (Deuteronomy 12:5–7) (16:10-15) . Jerom ^F7 interprets these portions of garments.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Apud Kimchium in loc.
• F7: Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 74. H.

But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion
Or, one choice portion, as the Targum; the best part or portion in the peace offering, of what the priest has not; he had the breast and the right shoulder, the next best piece he gave to Hannah; and the word being of the dual number, some render it a double portion; others, "one part of two faces" ^F8 ; which Jerom interprets, which might be received with a cheerful countenance, it was so good and excellent in its kind; others interpret it that he gave it with a sorrowful ^F9 and displeased countenance, because of the reason following, that she had no children; but Ben Gersom understands it of a part or portion of meat that had two faces or appearances; that he gave her one of the pieces, one part of which was very fat, and the other had no fat on it, so that she might choose what she liked best:

for he loved Hannah ;
loved her best, and therefore did everything to please her, and make her comfortable under her affliction for want of children, and to express his tender affection for her:

but the Lord had shut up her womb ;
restrained her from conception, and bearing children; see (Genesis 20:18) or "though the Lord had shut up her womb" ^F11 ; this did not abate his love to her.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: (Mypa txa hnm) "unam portionem duarum facicrum", Sanctius Belgae.
• F9: Sic Stockins, p. 79.
• F11: (hwhyw) "quanquam Jehovah", Piscator.