1 Samuel 2:20

20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said, The Lord yield to thee seed of this woman, for the gift which thou hast given to the Lord. And they went into their place again. (And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said, May the Lord give thee children from this woman, for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord. And then they went home again.)

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 Forsooth Samuel, a child girded with a linen cloth (a boy wearing a linen cloak), ministered before the face of the Lord.

19 And his mother made to him a little coat, the which (s)he brought to him in the days ordained to offer, and she went up with her husband, that he would offer a solemn offering, and his avow. (And his mother made a little coat for him, which she brought to him in the days ordained for offering, when she went up each year with her husband, when he offered a solemn sacrifice, and renewed his vow.)

20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said, The Lord yield to thee seed of this woman, for the gift which thou hast given to the Lord. And they went into their place again. (And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said, May the Lord give thee children from this woman, for the loan which thou hast lent to the Lord. And then they went home again.)

21 Therefore the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived, and childed three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel was magnified at the Lord (But their boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord).

22 And Eli was full eld, and he heard all the things that his sons did in all Israel, and how they slept with women, that waited at the door of the tabernacle. (And Eli grew very old, and he heard of all the improper things that his sons did to all Israel, and how they slept with the women, who served at the entrance to the Tabernacle of the Witnessing.)