Eli (Bible)

Eli (Hebrew: עלי, Modern ʻEli, Tiberian ʻĒlî, meaning "Ascent" or "above"; Ancient Greek: Ἠλί Ēli; Latin: Heli) was, according to the Books of Samuel, a High Priest of Shiloh.

Hannah is the wife of Elkanah. Elkanah also has another wife (Peninnah) who bore him children. Peninnah, at every chance, teases and criticises Hannah about her barrenness to the point of Hannah's deep despair. Her husband sees her distress and tries to uncover her deep despair with these questions. "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?" The story indicates that Hannah gave no answer to the questions and rose and presented herself before God weeping bitterly in the temple.

When she is found in the temple by the priest she is praying silently, but her lips are moving. A priest called Eli witnesses this odd posture and concludes she is drunk. In her despair she prays to God for a child and if her prayer is granted she will give the son back to God. After Hannah's explanation of her sobriety, Eli blesses her with peace and a guarantee that God of Israel will grant her request. She went home, ate and drank with her husband, and was filled with hope. Subsequently, Hannah becomes pregnant; her child is named Samuel. The time had come to offer the yearly sacrifice at the temple but Hannah stayed home. She promises to go with him to the temple when Samuel is weaned and planned to leave him with Eli to be trained as a Nazirite.

The book of Samuel records Hannah's prayer to God. She rejoices and exalts the Holy One there is no father like God, therefore, the nation should rejoice also in this Holy One. This story of Hannah intertwines itself with the culture of the nation of Israel. Eli is the high priest (kohen gadol) of Shiloh, the second-to-last Israelite judge (succeeded only by Samuel - see 1 Samuel 7:15) before the rule of the kings, therefore, the Shiloh tradition will become an old and lost tradition that when the prophet Jeremiah comes on the scene in the history of God's people, he will seek to renew and to bring back the way of the Shiloh tradition to the people of Israel because the kings have become wicked and defiled the temple and tradition of God.

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