1 Samuel 1:16

16 Do not regard your servant as ¹a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. ”

1 Samuel 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 1:16

Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial
A yokeless, a lawless, impudent, and abandoned creature; one of the most wicked, vilest, and most profligate wretches; as she must be to come drunk into the sanctuary of God; see ( 1 Samuel 25:17 1 Samuel 25:25 ) . Drunkenness in man is au abominable crime, but much more in a woman. The Romans ^F1 forbad wine to women, and drunkenness in them was a capital crime, as adultery, or any other; and indeed a drunken woman is liable to all manner of sin:

for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken
hitherto;
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, whether it is matter of trouble or of joy; the heart of Hannah was full of grief, and her mouth full of complaints, on which she long dwelt, in order to give vent thereunto, and ease herself.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 14. c. 13.

1 Samuel 1:16 In-Context

14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. ”

15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.

16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. ”

17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. ”

18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes. ” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Cross References

• 1. 1:16 ch. 2:12; Judg. 19:22