Peninnah · preposition + proper noun, a woman's name
children
יְלָדִ֔יםye.la.Dim
H3206
something born · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Hannah
וּלְחַנָּ֖הu.le.cha.Nah
H2584
Channah · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a woman's name
children
יְלָדִֽיםye.la.Dim
H3206
something born · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 4:23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wou…
Genesis 16:1-2 Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
Genesis 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Genesis 29:23-29 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
Genesis 29:31 And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstbo…
Judges 8:30 And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.
Judges 13:2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 1:1-8
We have here an account of the state of the family into which Samuel the prophet was born. His father's name was Elkanah, a Levite, and of the family of the Kohathites (the most honourable house of that tribe) as appears, Ch1 6:33, Ch1 6:34. His ancestor Zuph was an Ephrathite, that is, of Bethlehem-Judah, which was called Ephrathah, Ruth, Rut 1:2. There this family of the Levites was first seated, but one branch of it, in process of time, removed to Mount Ephraim, from which Elkanah descended. Micah's Levite came from Bethlehem to Mount Ephraim, Jdg 17:8. Perhaps notice is taken of their being originally Ephrathites to show their alliance to David. This Elkanah lived at Ramah, or Ramathaim,…
He had two wives - The custom of those times permitted polygamy; but wherever there was more than one wife, we find the peace of the family greatly disturbed by it.
The name of the one was Hannah - חנה Channah, which signifies fixed or settled, and the other פננה Peninnah, which signifies a jewel or pearl.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 1:2
And he had two wives,.... Which, though connived at in those times, was contrary to the original law of marriage; and for which, though a good man, he was chastised, and had a great deal of vexation and trouble, the two wives not agreeing with each other; perhaps not having children by the one so soon as he hoped and wished for, he took another:
the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; the first name signifies "grace" or "gracious", and she was a woman who had the grace of God, and very probably was also very comely, beautiful, and acceptable, as she was in the sight of her husband; the other signifies a cornered gem, a precious stone or jewel, as the pearl, ruby,…
Samuel's pedigree. - Sa1 1:1. His father was a man of Ramathaim-Zophim, on the mountains of Ephraim, and named Elkanah. Ramathaim-Zophim, which is only mentioned here, is the same place, according to Sa1 1:3 (comp. with Sa1 1:19 and Sa1 2:11), which is afterwards called briefly ha-Ramah, i.e., the height. For since Elkanah of Ramathaim-Zophim went year by year out of his city to Shiloh, to worship and sacrifice there, and after he had done this, returned to his house to Ramah (Sa1 1:19; Sa1 2:11), there can be no doubt that he was not only a native of Ramathaim-Zophim, but still had his home there; so that Ramah, where his house was situated, is only an abbreviated name for Ramathaim-Zophim.…
The Church Fathers
And Phenenna had children, etc. The synagogue, ever since she was betrothed to the Lord, has never ceased to generate spiritual children for him through teaching. Gentilitas, however, although it never ceased to be subject to his grace in some, albeit few, could not generate for him children who live spiritually through preaching; because she neither deserved to receive his testament openly, nor the prophecies, nor the oracles of angels.
And he had two wives, etc. Anna, whose name means 'grace,' represents the Church: Phenenna, whose name means 'conversion,' demonstrates the synagogue. And fittingly Anna is first, and Phenenna second; because the first times of the world had holy ones, who, living lives similar to ours without the ceremonies of legal sacrifices, sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, and various purifications, pleased God through the righteousness of faith alone, hoping to be saved by Christ's grace alone, from the time his incarnation was shown to the patriarchs. Thus finally, the conversion of the Synagogue from Egypt to the Lord is celebrated.
That the church which before had been barren should have more children from among the Gentiles than what the synagogue had had before. Isaiah said, "Rejoice, O barren one, that barest not; break forth and shout, who has not been in labor, for the deserted one will have more children than she who has a husband.…" So also, to Abraham, when his first son was born of a bondwoman, Sarah remained long barren, but later, in her old age, bore him her promised son Isaac, who was a type of the Christ. Jacob also took two wives: the elder, Leah, with weak eyes, was a type of the synagogue; the younger and beautiful Rachel, a type of the church, who also remained long barren and afterwards brought forth Joseph, who also was himself a type of Christ. And in 1 Kings [Samuel] it is said that Elkanah has two wives: Peninnah, with her sons; and Hannah, barren, from whom is born not according to the order of generation but according to the mercy and promise of God, when she had prayed in the temple; and Samuel, being born, was a type of Christ. Again in 1 Kings [Samuel]: "The barren has born seven; and she who had many children has grown weak."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Hannah — Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. 1; 2). Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim, whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle…
Peninnah — (coral or pearl), one of the two wives of Elkanah. (1 Samuel 1:2) (B.C. 1125.)
Hannah · Her trials and prayer, and promise — Her trials and prayer, and promise
Peninnah · One of the wives of Elkanah — One of the wives of Elkanah
Polygamy · Tolerate — Tolerate
Waiting Upon God · Exemplified: Hannah — Exemplified: Hannah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hardly an instance exists in Scripture where a man’s simultaneous marriage to two wives did not produce serious friction (1:6-7; Gen 16; 21; 29).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 1:1
And there was a man. It all follows the order: Moshe gave over the Torah to Yehoshua and Yehoshua to the Elders and each Judge to his successor until it reached Eili who gave it over to Shmuel1I.e., the “ו” of וְאֵלֶה links the Book of Shmuel with the preceeding Book of Shoftim and serves as a link between the oral tradition as stated in the Mishnah, “…and the Elders…” as we learned (in the Mishnah), "… and the Elders [gave it over] to the Prophets…"2Maseches Avos 1:1.
From Ramasayim Tsofim. There were two hills each visible to the other.3Elkonoh lived in Romoh, see below verse 19; and he prophesied in Tsofim—Da’as Sofrim.4Maseches Megillah 14a. Targum Yonoson renders צוֹפִים: "of the disci…
