1 Samuel 2:20

20 'Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May ADONAI give you children from this woman because of the boy you have loaned to ADONAI"; then they would go home.

1 Samuel 2:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:20

And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife
Not only the first time they brought Samuel to him, and left him with him; but every year they came to worship, as the Jewish commentators mostly interpret it:

and said, the Lord give thee seed of this woman;
children by her, year after year:

for the loan which is lent to the Lord;
instead of Samuel, who was asked of the Lord and given to him again; and as they were thereby in some measure deprived of him, and could not always enjoy him, and be delighted with him, Eli prayed for them, and gave them his benediction as a priest, that they might be favoured with other children, who might be of delight and service to them when in old age:

and they went unto their own home;
at Ramah, as in ( 1 Samuel 2:11 ) or to his place ^F18, Elkanah's; hence Kimchi concludes that Hannah was of another city originally; but the Targum is,

``to their place;''

and indeed, what was now the place or home of the one, was of the other.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (wmwqml) "in locum suum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius

1 Samuel 2:20 In-Context

18 But Sh'mu'el ministered in the presence of ADONAI, wearing a linen ritual vest even though he was only a child.

19 Each year his mother would make him a little coat and bring it when she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

20 'Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May ADONAI give you children from this woman because of the boy you have loaned to ADONAI"; then they would go home.

21 So ADONAI took notice of Hannah, and she conceived and bore three more sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Sh'mu'el grew in the presence of ADONAI.

22 When 'Eli was very old, he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Isra'el, and that they were having sex with the women doing service at the door of the tent of meeting.