Hannah (biblical figure)

Hannah (Hebrew חַנָּה Ḥannāh; pronounced in English as /ˈhænə/) is the wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Books of Samuel. According to the Hebrew Bible she was the mother of Samuel.

The narrative about Hannah can be found in 1 Samuel 1:2-2:21. Outside of the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, she is never mentioned in the Bible.

In the biblical narrative, Hannah is one of two wives of Elkanah. The other, Peninnah, had children by Elkanah, but Hannah remained childless. Nevertheless, Elkanah preferred Hannah. The use of 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.

Every year Elkanah would offer a sacrifice at the Shiloh sanctuary, and give Penninah 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 temple, 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 the Shiloh priests. 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.

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