And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Do
עֲשִׂ֧י'a.Si
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
seemeth
בְּעֵינַ֗יִךְbe.'ei.Na.yikh
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
good
הַטּ֣וֹבha.Tov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
tarry
שְׁבִי֙she.Vi
H3427
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
weaned
גָּמְלֵ֣ךְga.me.Lekh
H1580
to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
establish
יָקֵ֥םya.Kem
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
word
דְּבָר֑וֹde.va.Ro
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
woman
הָֽאִשָּׁה֙ha.'i.Shah
H802
a woman · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
abode
וַתֵּ֤שֶׁבva.Te.shev
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
son
בְּנָ֔הּbe.Nah
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
suck
וַתֵּ֣ינֶקva.Tei.nek
H3243
to suck · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
weaned
גָּמְלָ֖הּga.me.Lah
H1580
to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
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
2 Samuel 7:25 And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou…
Genesis 21:7-8 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
Numbers 30:7-11 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she boun…
1 Samuel 1:17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
Psalms 22:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
Isaiah 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and…
Matthew 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Luke 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 1:19–end
Here is, I. The return of Elkanah and his family to their own habitation, when the days appointed for the feast were over, Sa1 1:19. Observe how they improved their time at the tabernacle. Every day they were there, even that which was fixed for their journey home, they worshipped God; and they rose up early to do it. It is good to begin the day with God. Let him that is the first have the first. They had a journey before them, and a family of children to take with them, and yet they would not stir till they had worshipped God together. Prayer and provender do not hinder a journey. They had spent several days now in religious worship, and yet they attended once more. We should not be weary o…
But Hannah went not up--Men only were obliged to attend the solemn feasts (Exo 23:17). But Hannah, like other pious women, was in the habit of going, only she deemed it more prudent and becoming to defer her next journey till her son's age would enable her to fulfill her vow.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 1:23
Until thou have weaned him - On the nature of this weaning, and the time in which it was usually done, the reader will be pleased to refer to the note on Gen 21:8.
The Lord establish his word - Or, may the Lord establish his word - preserve the child, cause him to grow up, and make him a blessing to Israel.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 1:23
And Elkanah her husband said unto her, do what seemeth thee good,.... He spake like a kind and indulgent husband, knowing that she would not thereby break any law of God; and it might be more for her own health, and the health of the child, to stay longer:
tarry till thou have weaned him; when he would be more fit for the journey, and to be left behind:
only the Lord establish his word; which some understand of the prophecy of Eli that God would grant her request, which being delivered under the direction of the Spirit of God, is called his word; but this was already fulfilled, and established by Hannah's bearing a son: or the word "his" refers not to the Lord, but to Samuel, and so may re…
The Church Fathers
43. Now when Elkanah's ascent is described, his whole house is said to have ascended with him, because those whose minds he elevates he holds as members of his household and intimates in the height of his contemplation. But what is the solemn sacrifice of Elkanah, that is, of our Redeemer, if not the love of that ineffable inner instruction in the hearts of his saints? For each of them finds ineffable delight in himself through that which the revealed sublimity of the Redeemer teaches so sublimely. Therefore Anna refuses to ascend with her husband until she weans her son, because the holy Church avoided touching lofty matters in her preaching as long as she knew that her unlearned hearers, like little children, were utterly unable to grasp lofty things. For this reason it happened in the very beginnings of the holy Church that, as if to Anna's still infant son, milk was offered through the writings of three evangelists, namely Matthew, Luke, and Mark, who in writing the history of the Lord's humanity treated little of his divinity; but when the infant people of the Church grew, and advanced to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13), for whom the drink of milk was no longer sufficient, they sought to be fed with solid food. And so mother Church was compelled to ascend, that she herself might also become a cherub, and might draw near to the Redeemer flying above her, might take up wings, might hold him walking upon them in the height of the sacraments, and might receive from his Majesty what she could give as nourishment to her demanding only child. Hence it came about that the evangelist John, when asked by the brethren, surpassing not only human but also angelic things, transcended all created things, and proclaimed the Only-begotten whom he was worthy to see in the bosom of the Father, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Therefore Anna ascended when the holy Church raised herself so sublimely to the height of divine preaching. Then also she offered the solemn sacrifice, because from the knowledge of divinity she kindled the flame of wondrous devotion in the hearts of her hearers. Indeed it was a solemn sacrifice, from incomparable eloquence, a singular offering of devotion. Then she brought her son into the presence of the Lord, when she instilled perfect knowledge…
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
Child — This word has considerable latitude of meaning in Scripture. Thus Joseph is called a child at the time when he was probably about sixteen years of age (Gen. 37:3); and Benjamin is so called when he…
Elkanah, Or Elkonah — (God-provided).
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…
Wean — Among the Hebrews children (whom it was customary for the mothers to nurse, Ex. 2:7-9; 1 Sam. 1:23; Cant. 8:1) were not generally weaned till they were three or four years old.
Elkanah · 2. Father of Samuel; a — 2. Father of Samuel; a
Hannah · Samuel born to, — Samuel born to,
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).
Elkanah expressed his approval of Hannah's decision, and added, "only the Lord establish His word," i.e., fulfil it. By "His word" we are not to understand some direct revelation from God respecting the birth and destination of Samuel, as the Rabbins suppose, but in all probability the word of Eli the high priest to Hannah, "The God of Israel grant thy petition" (Sa1 1:17), which might be regarded by the parents of Samuel after his birth as a promise from Jehovah himself, and therefore might naturally excite the wish and suggest the prayer that the Lord would graciously fulfil the further hopes, which the parents cherished in relation to the son whom they had dedicated to the Lord by a vow.…
Elkanah could have overridden Hannah’s promise (Num 30:12-14), but instead he affirmed and supported it.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 1:23
But may Adonoy fulfill His word. Because you requested of Him male offspring,39Above, verse 11. and Eili foretold you through Divine inspiration, "the God of Yisroel will grant your request,"40Above, verse 17. may 'ה fulfill His word. This is the simple interpretation. In Midrash Aggadah, however, Rabbi Nechemyah said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel, the son of Rabbi Yitzchok: Every day a Divine voice would resound throughout the world and say, "A righteous man is destined to arise, by the name of Shmuel." Thereupon, every woman who bore a son, would name him Shmuel. Once they saw his deeds, they would say, "This is not [the] Shmuel." But when this one [Shmuel] was born and people saw his deeds,…
