1 Samuel 1:8

8 Her husband Elkanah would ask her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why haven't you eaten? Why are you so downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

1 Samuel 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 1:8

Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest
thou?
&c.] Since it was a time of rejoicing, as every festival was, especially at the ingathering of the fruits of the earth:

and why eatest thou not?
since they were at a feast, and she had the best part and portion of the provision:

and why is thy heart grieved?
to such a degree that she could neither eat nor drink:

am not I better to thee than ten sons?
which, as Jarchi says, Peninnah had borne to him; his meaning is, that the share she had in his love and affections ought to have been esteemed by her more than if she had ten or many children by him; and it suggests that Peninnah would have been glad to have such a share in his affections as Hannah had; and it would have been more eligible to her, than to have borne him so many children as she had.

1 Samuel 1:8 In-Context

6 Because the LORD had made her unable to have children, her rival [Peninnah] tormented her endlessly in order to make her miserable.

7 This happened year after year. Whenever Hannah went to the LORD's house, Peninnah would make her miserable, and Hannah would cry and not eat.

8 Her husband Elkanah would ask her, "Hannah, why are you crying? Why haven't you eaten? Why are you so downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"

9 One day, after Hannah had something to eat and drink in Shiloh, she got up. (The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the door of the Lord's temple.)

10 Though she was resentful, she prayed to the LORD while she cried.