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“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans
8:2)
Hannah
– Biblical Figure – Wikipedia
Hannah (biblical figure)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about Hannah in the Book of Samuel. For the
figure in the Gospel of Luke, see Anna the Prophetess. For the Jewish martyr in
the Books of the Maccabees, see Woman with seven sons.
Hannah
Prophetess
Venerated in Judaism
Christianity
Major shrine Tomb of
Samuel, State of Palestine
Feast December 9 (Eastern
Orthodox Church)
Attributes Often
depicted as an infertile woman asking God for a child.
Patronage Childless
wives, infertile women
Major works Song of
Hannah
Hannah (/ˈhænə/;[1] Biblical Hebrew: חַנָּה,
romanized: Ḥannā, lit. 'favor' or 'grace') is one of the wives
of Elkanah mentioned in the First Book of Samuel. According to the Hebrew
Bible, she was the mother of Samuel.
Biblical narrative
The narrative about Hannah can be found in 1 Samuel
1:2–2:21.[2] Outside of the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, she is not
otherwise mentioned in the Bible.
In the biblical narrative, Hannah is one of two wives of
Elkanah. The other, Peninnah, had given birth to Elkanah's children, but Hannah
remained childless. Nevertheless, Elkanah preferred Hannah. According to
Lillian Klein, the use of this chiasmus underscores the standing of the women:
Hannah is the primary wife, yet Peninnah has succeeded in bearing children.
Hannah's status as primary wife and her barrenness recall Sarah and Rebecca in
Genesis 17 and Genesis 25 respectively. Klein suggests that Elkanah took
Peninnah as a second wife because of Hannah's barrenness.[3]
Every year, Elkanah would offer a sacrifice at the Shiloh
sanctuary, and give Peninnah and her children a portion but he gave Hannah a double
portion "because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb" (1
Samuel 1:5, NIV). One day Hannah went up to the Tabernacle and prayed with
great weeping (I Samuel 1:10), while Eli the High Priest was sitting on a chair
near the doorpost. In her prayer, she asked God for a son and in return she
vowed to give the son back to God for the service of God. She promised he would
remain a Nazarite all the days of his life. According to Lillian Klein, the
value of women is demonstrably enhanced by their child-bearing capacities. The
narrative takes her pain and places it in her personal failure and then draws
it out in a communal context. The desperation of Hannah's vow indicates that
merely bearing a male child would establish her in the community.[3]
Eli thought she was drunk and questioned her. When she
explained herself, he blessed her and sent her home. Hannah conceived and bore
a son, and named him Samuel, literally, Shmuel (Hebrew transliteration) Heard
by God,[4] "since she had asked the Lord for him" (1 Samuel 1:20
NAB). She raised him until he was weaned and brought him to the temple along
with a sacrifice.
Hannah is also considered to be a prophetess: in her song
of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1–10) she is inspired “to discern in her own
individual experience the universal laws of the divine economy, and to
recognise its significance for the whole course of the Kingdom of God".[5]
This song may be compared to the Magnificat, Mary's song of thanksgiving in the
New Testament (Luke 1:46–55), but biblical commentator A. F. Kirkpatrick notes
that "the Magnificat should be carefully compared with Hannah's song, of
which it is an echo rather than an imitation. The resemblance lies in thought
and tone more than in actual language, and supplies a most delicate and
valuable testimony to the appropriateness of this hymn to Hannah's
circumstances".[5]
Eli announced another blessing on Hannah, and she conceived
3 more sons and 2 daughters, making six in total.[6]
In contemporary biblical criticism
Hannah's conflict with her rival, her barrenness, and her
longing for a son are stereotypical motifs. According to Michelle Osherow,
Hannah represents the character of the earnest petitioner and grateful
celebrant of divine glory. Hannah was an important figure for early English
Protestantism, which emphasized the importance of private prayer.[7] The
Jerusalem Talmud took Hannah as an exemplar of prayer. The story of Hannah is
the Haftarah reading for Rosh Hashanah.[8]
Samuel or Saul
The Hebrew form of the name "Saul" is shaul, and
the story of Samuel's birth contains repeated uses the related verbal root
sh-'-l in various forms, including in the verse in which Hannah explains her
son's name (1:20). In verse 28, the form shaul ("lent") itself is
found, identical to the Hebrew name of Saul. As a result, it has been suggested
by critical commentators the story was originally about the birth of Saul, but
that the name "Samuel" was substituted for Saul at a later
date.[9][10] Alternatively, Nadav Na'aman argues that the verbal root sh-'-l is
actually related to the name "Shiloh", the place where Samuel was
born.[11][12]
Vows
Numbers 30:11-13 allows a husband to nullify a vow made by
his wife, if he registers his objection when he learns of it. However, if he
says nothing, the vow is allowed as valid. The next time Elkanah goes to
Shiloh, Hannah remains home to care for her child, but tells him that she will
present the boy to the Lord when he is weaned. Elkanah responds, "Do what
you think best." By the time "the child was weaned"—there is
some debate as to what age Samuel was dedicated to the Temple—Hannah serves the
soundness of her promise by bringing a viable child to serve in the sanctuary,
already educated in the ways of the Lord. The quality of one's sacrifice reflected
the quality of one's faith.
In Leviticus, provisions were made for redeeming vows or
pledges in money that would go to the support of the priests and the
sanctuary.[13] So Hannah could have chosen that option to fulfill her vow, if
on calm reflection, once she had her son, she felt unable to part with him.
In art
William Wailes created a stained-glass window depicting
Hannah, Samuel and Eli for the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Ambleside,
Great Britain.[14]
In fiction
Smith, Eileen, Jill, "A Passionate Hope: Hannah's
Story, Daughters of the Promised Land" (2018)
Moore, H.B., "Hannah: Mother of a Prophet" (2022)
Etzioni-Halevy, Eve "The Song of Hannah" (2005)