1 Samuel 1:16

16 Do not regard your female servant as {worthless},^[a] but because of the extent of my worries and my provocation I have spoken all of this."

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 Then Eli said to her, "How long will you behave like someone [who is] drunk? Put away your wine!"

15 But Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord. I am a woman {deeply distressed}, but I have not drunk wine [or] strong drink. [Rather], I have poured out my soul before Yahweh.

16 Do not regard your female servant as {worthless}, but because of the extent of my worries and my provocation I have spoken all of this."

17 Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your request that you have asked of him."

18 And she said, "May your female slave find favor in your sight." Then the woman went on her way and ate [something], and {her face did not look sad any longer}.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "as a daughter of Belial/daughter of worthlessness"