Ramah · definite article + proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
house
בֵּית֑וֹbei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
child
וְהַנַּ֗עַרve.ha.Na.'ar
H5288
(concretely) a boy (as active) · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
did
הָיָ֤הha.Yah
H1961
to exist · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
minister
מְשָׁרֵת֙me.sha.Ret
H8334
to attend as a menial or worshipper · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
before
פְּנֵ֖יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Eli
עֵלִ֥י'e.Li
H5941
Eli · proper noun, a man's name
priest
הַכֹּהֵֽןha.ko.Hen
H3548
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine singular 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
1 Samuel 2:18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
1 Samuel 3:1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
1 Samuel 1:28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
1 Samuel 1:19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hann…
1 Samuel 3:15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 2:11-26
In these verses we have the good character and posture of Elkanah's family, and the bad character and posture of Eli's family. The account of these two is observably interwoven throughout this whole paragraph, as if the historian intended to set the one over against the other, that they might set off one another. The devotion and good order of Elkanah's family aggravated the iniquity of Eli's house; while the wickedness of Eli's sons made Samuel's early piety appear the more bright and illustrious.
I. Let us see how well things went in Elkanah's family and how much better than formerly. 1. Eli dismissed them from the house of the Lord, when they had entered their little son there, with a ble…
the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest--He must have been engaged in some occupation suited to his tender age, as in playing upon the cymbals, or other instruments of music; in lighting the lamps, or similar easy and interesting services.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:11
And Elkanah went to Ramah - Immediately after the 10th verse, the Septuagint add, Και κατελιπεν αυτον εκει ενωπιον Κυριου· και απηλθεν εις Αραματαια, And she left him there before the Lord, and went unto Arimathea. Thus the Septuagint suppose that the song of Hannah was composed when she brought Samuel to present him to the Lord; and as soon as she had completed this fine ode, she delivered him into the hands of Eli the high priest, and the child entered immediately on his ministration, under the direction and instructions of Eli.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 2:11
And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house,.... Of which see 1 Samuel 1:19. This was after he had offered the sacrifices at the feast, worshipped the Lord, and Hannah had delivered her prayer or song of praise, and both had committed Samuel to the care of Eli, and left him with him:
and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest; he not only read in the book of the law, but learned to sing the praises of God vocally, and to play upon an instrument of music used in the service of God in those times, and to light the lamps in the tabernacle, and open and shut the doors of it, and the like; which were suitable to his age, and which might not be quite so tender as some have thought;…
The Church Fathers
Thus Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house, etc. The Church of the Gentiles, recently called to faith, which we said signified the birth of the blessed Samuel, God's possession, which is His co-eternal wisdom, Christ, went to enlighten, as always, the lofty hearts of His saints, faithful and angels and humans, which are His house, strongly built upon the rock of faith against the gates of hell. But the people called to faith, even seen by and wondered at by the Jewish priesthood, humbly served Christ's commands as if they were always observing themselves.
We have run through these matters from sacred history by way of typological explanation, so that we might seek out something of moral understanding in the same words of sacred history. And so the boy Samuel is declared a minister in the sight of the Lord; yet this ministry is recorded as being rendered to the Lord not absolutely, but before the face of Eli. By these words, therefore, what is shown is not the perfection of ministry, but of humility. For the face of Eli represents the judgment of each one's instructor. For he ministers to the Lord before the face of his teacher who does not follow the reasoning of his own judgment in the performance of his ministry, who walks along that path of work which is foreseen for him by the knowledge of his master. For all perfect men, and those taught by God (John 6:45; Isaiah 54:13), are indeed ministers in the sight of the Lord, but are not His ministers before the face of man, because the divinity itself teaches them inwardly how they should be ordered outwardly also in life, conduct, and teaching; whence also it is promised to the forerunner of the Redeemer with the praise of a paternal oracle: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways" (Luke 1:76). He is described as going before the face of the Lord who in his ministry was not going to follow the judgment of a superior man, but the inspiration of the divinity. Therefore Samuel is said to minister to the Lord before the face of Eli, so that all who are subject may be taught by his example, that they should strive to please their Creator in their ministry in such a way that they do not presume to do anything contrary to the judgment of their superiors. For he who is declared a minister of the Lord before the face of his instructor, if through pride he disdains to go before his face, does not exist as a minister in the sight of the Lord, because he is proved to be ignorant of the Almighty, whom he disdains to please through his instructor's judgment—the Almighty who subjected him to that authority so that he might please Him. Whence the sons of Eli are said both to be sons of Belial and not to know the Lord, and not to know the office of the priests toward the people. For sons are those who are subjected to spiritual fathers for instruction. Who indeed, when through pride they…
Dictionary and topics
Elkanah, Or Elkonah — (God-provided).
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
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…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Ramah — (a hill). This is the name of several places in the holy land.
Ramathaim-zophim — The two heights of the Zophites or of the watchers (only in 1 Sam. 1:1), “in the land of Zuph” (9:5). Ramathaim is another name for Ramah (4). One of the Levitical families descended from Kohath,…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Barrenness · A reproach — A reproach
Eli · High priest — High priest
Elkanah · 2. Father of Samuel; a — 2. Father of Samuel; a
Ramah · .Home of Elkanah — .Home of Elkanah
Samuel · Ministered in the house of God — Ministered in the house of God
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).
Samuel the servant of the Lord under Eli. Ungodliness of the sons of Eli. - Sa1 2:11 forms the transition to what follows. After Hannah's psalm of thanksgiving, Elkanah went back with his family to his home at Ramah, and the boy (Samuel) was serving, i.e., ministered to the Lord, in the presence of Eli the priest. The fact that nothing is said about Elkanah's wives going with him, does not warrant the interpretation given by Thenius, that Elkanah went home alone. It was taken for granted that his wives went with him, according to Sa1 1:21 ("all his house"). את־יחוה שׁרת, which signifies literally, both here and in Sa1 3:1, to serve the Lord, and which is used interchangeably with יי את־פּני…
The king was to fulfill the descriptions of 2:4-9 by using his God-given power to care for the oppressed, the hungry, and the barren (see Ps 72:1-4, 12-14; Prov 31:8-9). • he increases the strength: See study note on 1 Sam 2:1. • anointed one (Hebrew mashiakh): This climax to Hannah’s prayer is prophetic both of Israel’s anointed kings and of God’s supreme Anointed King—the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see 12:3-5; 24:6, 10; Ps 132:17; Dan 9:25-26).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 2:11
Served Adonoy in the presence of Eili the kohein. From here [our Sages conclude] that "whoever serves before a Torah scholar is considered as though he had served before the Divine Presence."8Talmud Yerushalmi Eruvin 5:1. The reason being that a Torah scholar cleaves to ‘ה in his thoughts at all times so that even his physical activities are holy.
1. We have shown that this man indeed designates the Redeemer of the human race; Anna his wife, His Church; the boy Samuel, the people of believers from the nations; and Ramatha the city, the heavenly homeland. What then does it mean that after his wife's canticle Elkanah is said to have gone away to Ramatha his city, since Anna sang her canticle to God after the boy was born, and the Redeemer ascended to heaven before the holy Church had begotten the gentile people in faith? This question is raised only by those who are known to understand only the bodily presence of our Lord. For did not Paul, who had ascended to the Father, have Him with him when he said: "Do you seek proof of Christ who dwells in me" (2 Cor. 13:3)? He likewise declares, saying: "As from God, before God and Christ we speak" (2 Cor. 2:17). What does it mean, then, that He was sometimes present to the holy Church through the grace of His gift, and sometimes withdrew Himself from her through the dispensation of trial? For He was present so that in the acquisition of the Gentiles He might abundantly pour forth the words of life; but sometimes, as though absent, He hid Himself, so that, with the gift of the word taken away, she might recognize what she was without His presence. Therefore, after the end of the canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church preaches lofty things from His presence, and He who withdraws Himself from mortals through dispensation continually presents Himself to the eternal citizens. For His house is that eternal fellowship of the heavenly citizens, which the Lord inhabits by loving, filling, and uniting Himself to them. He goes to it, therefore, when He leaves Anna, because He who beneficially withdraws Himself from us who are still making progress, unceasingly joins and shows Himself to the perfected and consummated citizens of the eternal homeland, for whom it is no longer necessary to be tested by His absence, since they have already been proven. Fittingly, therefore, after Anna's canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church, which teaches the elect such sublime things, just as she is always left by the Lord's loving dispensation, so also she does not always have those lofty things to teach. But many hear the words, detest their past wickedness, and resolve upon works of amendment of life; yet when they…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
