1 Samuel 2:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 2:5
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
out
נִשְׂכָּ֔רוּnis.Ka.ru
H7936
to hire · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
bread
בַּלֶּ֙חֶם֙ba.Le.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hungry
וּרְעֵבִ֖יםu.re.'e.Vim
H7457
hungry (more or less intensely) · conjunction + adjective, masculine plural absolute
ceased
חָדֵ֑לּוּcha.De.lu
H2308
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
barren
עֲקָרָה֙'a.ka.Rah
H6135
sterile (as if extirpated in the generative organs) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
born
יָלְדָ֣הYal.dah
H3205
to bear young · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
seven
שִׁבְעָ֔הshiv.'Ah
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
many
וְרַבַּ֥תve.ra.Bat
H7227
abundant (in quantity · conjunction + adjective, feminine singular construct
children
בָּנִ֖יםba.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
feeble
אֻמְלָֽלָה'um.La.lah
H535
to droop · verb, pual perfect, 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
Psalms 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
Jeremiah 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and con…
Luke 1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Psalms 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
1 Samuel 1:6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.
Isaiah 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the…
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comfor…
1 Samuel 1:20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 2:1-10
We have here Hannah's thanksgiving, dictated, not only by the spirit of prayer, but by the spirit of prophecy. Her petition for the mercy she desired we had before (Sa1 1:11), and here we have her return of praise; in both out of the abundance of a heart deeply affected (in the former with her own wants, and in the latter with God's goodness) her mouth spoke. Observe in general, 1. When she had received mercy from God she owned it, with thankfulness to his praise. Not like the nine lepers, Luk 17:17. Praise is our rent, our tribute. We are unjust if we do not pay it. 2. The mercy she had received was an answer to prayer, and therefore she thought herself especially obliged to give thanks for…
they that were hungry ceased--that is, to hunger.
the barren hath born seven--that is, many children.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:5
They that were full - All the things mentioned in these verses frequently happen in the course of the Divine providence; and indeed it is the particular providence of God that Hannah seems more especially to celebrate through the whole of this simple yet sublime ode.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 2:5
They that are full have hired out themselves for bread,.... Such as have been full of the good things of this life have been stripped of all, and reduced to such circumstances as to be obliged to hire themselves out to persons to labour under them for their bread. Hannah has either respect to some instances she had known, or prophesies of what would be hereafter, and was fulfilled in the Israelites, when in the hands of the Egyptians and Assyrians, Lamentations 4:6 and may be exemplified in the case of the prodigal son, Luke 15:13 and is true of such who have larger gifts, but not grace, and which they exercise for lucre sake, and are mere hirelings; and of self-righteous persons who are ful…
Those who were filled have hired themselves out for bread, etc. The Jews, having previously been refreshed by the living bread of Scriptures, now, dissembling within themselves, lack amidst the spiritual feasts of the church at the feast of the good father, who gratefully received the returning younger son, and those who were once guests of the covenants, now taste and see that the Lord is good.
The barren has borne many, etc. Isaiah explains that the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband (Isaiah LIV). The translators of the Septuagint wrote, "For the barren has borne seven." Saba, a Hebrew word, indeed designates both seven and many. But even the sense of that version becomes clear to those recognizing the number seven, which signifies the complete perfection of the church. This is why the apostle John writes to the seven churches (Revelation I), showing himself thus writing to the fullness of one; and in the Proverbs of Solomon, prefiguring this before: Wisdom has built a house for herself, she has hewn seven pillars (Proverbs IX).
Who is the barren one, if not holy Church, as we have already said more fully above in the type of Anna? What then does it mean that the hungry are satisfied until the barren woman gives birth, if not to possess the bread of life until the end of the world? Which He Himself also promises, saying: "Behold, I am with you even until the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). For those whom holy Church brings forth are none other than the hungry. Therefore, as long as she gives birth, the hungry are satisfied, because until the end of the world she begets children for God, who, while they believe that the Redeemer has come in the flesh, eat the bread of life which they desire and are filled with fullness. But while the barren woman gives birth to very many, she who had many sons is weakened. For the Synagogue to be weakened is to be unable to bring forth by the institution of the old law. For she who lost the faith of her former husband now gives birth to the devil and no longer to God. And rightly it is said, "She who had many sons," because while in the truth of the Scriptures she anciently taught the people subject to her to desire the coming of the future Redeemer, she was bringing forth sons from the embrace of the heavenly Bridegroom. But now she who had sons is weakened and has no sons. She indeed presents the Scriptures to her hearers, but because she denies the Redeemer, she never begets children for God. Therefore she is said to be weakened, to whom spiritual fruitfulness is denied. And because both the rejection of the Synagogue and the election of the Gentiles were accomplished by the incomprehensible judgment of God.
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…
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…
Mary — Hebrew Miriam. (1.) The wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, called the “Virgin Mary,” though never so designated in Scripture (Matt. 2:11; Acts 1:14). Little is known of her personal history. Her…
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,…
Seven — This number occurs frequently in Scripture, and in such connections as lead to the supposition that it has some typical meaning. On the seventh day God rested, and hallowed it (Gen. 2:2, 3). The…
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
Hannah · Her hymn of praise — Her hymn of praise
Missionaries, All Christians Should Be As · Exemplified: Hannah — Exemplified: Hannah
Poetry · .Hannah’ s
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hannah's song of praise. - The prayer in which Hannah poured out the feelings of her heart, after the dedication of her son to the Lord, is a song of praise of a prophetic and Messianic character. After giving utterance in the introduction to the rejoicing and exulting of her soul at the salvation that had reached her (Sa1 2:1), she praises the Lord as the only holy One, the only rock of the righteous, who rules on earth with omniscience and righteousness, brings down the proud and lofty, kills and makes alive, maketh poor and maketh rich (Sa1 2:2-8). She then closes with the confident assurance that He will keep His saints, and cast down the rebellious, and will judge the ends of the earth,…
those who were starving are now full: Cp. 1:7, 18. • The phrase seven children poetically means that the childless woman would be blessed with a house full of children (cp. 2:21).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 2:5
The sated have hired themselves out for bread. [The sated] who do not need to hire themselves out for any work, He starves them and they must hire themselves out for bread,
And the hungry Who would toil and weary themselves for food.
Have ceased. From their toil.
Until the barren has born seven and she with many children…. While the barren woman has born seven,5 Others interpret that the seven children mentioned are not literally seven and with reference to Peninah, but rather it is an expression that means “many children.” See above 1:8.—Radak she that had many children has been bereaved and buries her children. Chana bore seven as it is stated, "For Adonoy remembered Chana and she conce…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— .Hannah’ s
Praise · Of Hannah — Of Hannah
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Psalms · Of Hannah, in thankfulness for a — Of Hannah, in thankfulness for a
Samuel · His mother’ s — His mother’ s
Satire · Hannah’ s — Hannah’ s
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).
