1 Samuel 2:21

21 ¹The LORD visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And ²the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.

1 Samuel 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:21

And the Lord visited Hannah
In a way of mercy, approving and confirming the blessing of Eli; or rather granting the blessing he prayed for, by giving her power to conceive, bear, and bring forth children, as the following words explain it:

so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters;
whereby the prophecy of Hannah was fulfilled, ( 1 Samuel 2:5 ) , and was no doubt matter of great joy to her, though of these children we nowhere else read, nor even of their names. Josephus ^F19 says, Elkanah had other sons by Hannah, and three daughters; which agrees not with the text:

and the child Samuel grew before the Lord:
in age and stature, in grace and goodness, and improved much in the worship and service of God, both in the theory and practice of it; or became great with him, high in his esteem and favour, and was blessed with much of his presence, and with large gifts of his grace.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 10. sect. 3.

1 Samuel 2:21 In-Context

19 And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the LORD give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD ." And they went to their own home.

21 The LORD visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the LORD .

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

23 He said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 21:1
• 2. Judges 13:24; 1 Samuel 2:26; 1 Samuel 3:19-21; Luke 1:80; Luke 2:40