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I. SAMUEL.

apprehension any longer for the fate of the chosen people, knowing that David was ready to step into the breach, conscious that to such a hero-king-strong in the devoted love of the nation-a splendid future indeed lay before Israel. That future is painted in the Second Book of Samuel, which describes at length the splendour and glory of the reign of David, the man after God's own heart.

In this inspired chronicle of our book the youth of Israel, in the days of the kings, would find an answer to the question, "What changed their nation from the loose aggregate of Bedouin tribes' of the days of Eli into the mighty, world-famed Israel of the magnificent Solomon ? It was a noble story, and one well fitted to inspire a new, bright confidence in the mighty arm of Jehovah.

II. The Original Sources of the Book.-Two well-known passages in the Book of Chroniclesreferred to below-inform us of certain original writings which issued most probably from the prophetic schools founded by Samuel. These writings, or memoirs, without doubt, form the basis of the two Books of Samuel.

To these written records we must add a mass of wellauthenticated oral traditions, which assuming the Books of Samuel were written, as we suppose, in the reign of King Rehoboam, or even a little later, in the reign of Jehoshaphat-must have been well known to the prophetic scribes. We read also in 1 Chron. xxvii. 24 of an historical work relating to the government of David, entitled, "The Chronicles of King David" (Diaries or Annals of King David). We may safely infer that all the principal events of his reign were included in these chronicles. These annals-probably of a statistical, historical character, since the reference to them occurs in the midst of lists of state and military officials-were, no doubt, also in the possession of the writer of the Books of Samuel.

In 1 Chron. xxix. 29 the following statement concerning contemporary literature occurs: "Now the acts of David the king, behold they are written in the acts of Samuel the seer (the Roëh), and in the acts of Nathan the prophet (the Nabi), and in the acts of Gad the seer (the Chozeh)." We conclude then that for the narrative of Eli's times, for the details respecting himself, for much of Saul's story, for many of the events related (in the First Book of Samuel) of David's early careerthe principal written authority was the Books of the Acts of Samuel the Seer (Roëh). The acts of Gad the seer (Chozeh) were, there is little doubt, the foundation of a large portion of the narrative of the desert wanderings of David. Nathan the prophet (Nabi) supplies

materials for the life and work of David in the socalled Second Book of Samuel. Each of the prophets, it is evident, recorded the events of his own times. But besides these written contemporary memoirs, and the well-authenticated oral traditions which were current in his time, the prophet-writer has incorporated in his history certain songs and verses of songs from poems, such as the " Song of Hannah," the folk-song respecting the victories of Saul," and the still more glorious deeds of David; and notably, in the second book, "the elegy of David on Saul and Jonathan," taken directly from the Book of the Upright (Yashar); he has also made use of certain psalms and songs composed by David.

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Guided by the" Spirit of the Lord," the unknown

Keil, Introduction to the Books of Samuel.

son of the prophets in his college home-possibly in the Naioth of Ramah-out of these materials made his selection, and wrote down, for the teaching of the Israel of his own time and unconsciously, no doubt, as far as he was concerned-for the instruction of a long series of generations yet unborn, the strange story of the rise of his people to grandeur and to power.

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1. DATE OF WRITING.-In the first section of this Introduction the probable date has been assumed to be the reign of King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon (see too the Note on p. 1). There are a few notes of time in the two Books of Samuel, which were most probably written or compiled by one hand-for instance, the statement, Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day" (I Sam. xxvii. 6), plainly tells us the separation of Israel had already taken place; in the six stories respecting some of the principal heroes of David's army, at the end of the Second Book (chap. xxiii. 8-39), the compiler is evidently uncertain as to their proper place in the life of David: thus a considerable time must have elapsed before the tradition of the exact period when these events happened could have died out. The chronology, too, of Saul's reign is also indefinite. All this points to a date for the composition some time after David's death. But, on the other hand, the language is pure, and virtually free from Chaldaisms and later forms of Hebrew, being in this respect different from the Books of Kings, where the Hebrew used belonged evidently to a later date. There are absolutely no hints as to the subsequent disasters of the people and the exile. Thenius, Keil, and Erdmann place the composition in the times of Rehoboam; Dean Payne Smith, a little later, probably in the days of King Jehoshaphat. On the whole, it seems most probable that in the latter days of King Rehoboam our book was compiled in its present form.

2. CHARACTER OF THE BOOK.-It is more than a mere historic record of the fortunes of Israel during the momentous period of their rapid rise from semibarbarism to a state of comparatively high civilisationmore than a brilliant and vivid biography of certain of the most gifted and famous of the children of Israel: Eli, Samuel, David, and Saul. Careful students of the book have particularly noticed its deep religious spirit, in which respect it is said to take the highest rank among the historical books of the Old Testament. Samuel-by far the most prominent figure-is throughout the instrument of the Divine working; Saul the king is anointed by Divine command, and prospers with his doings only so long as "the Spirit of the Lord" remains with him; the instant that "Spirit," whose blessed influence was quenched by Saul's self-will and reliance, departs, success departs too from Saul's armies, and peace and prosperity from his house. From the sad moment of the separation from the king of the Spirit of the Lord, the course of the royal life is downwards. No gallantry or determination can avert the catastrophe, and the life of the disobedient "anointed of the Lord" closes in clouds and thick darkness.

His divinely appointed successor, in his first great deed of arms, and in his subsequent military successes, is ever assisted to victory by the "glorious arm" of the Lord; by the same protection he is preserved through numberless persecutions and deadly perils, and is led higher and higher by the same Almighty Hand, till,

* Dr. Erdmann, in Lange, Comm.: Introduction, Section IV.

I. SAMUEL.

without crime or plotting, he mounts his fallen predeeessor's throne.

Throughout the book, the work and power of a new order or class in Israel is dwelt on with peculiar insistence. The first notice of this "order of prophets" -which was the name by which those enrolled in its ranks were known-is made in the compilation now under our consideration. And that great servant of the Lord, Samuel, who was the mainspring of all the mighty changes wrought at this period among the people, was undoubtedly the founder of the famous "order." From the period of the death of Eli, related in the early chapters of this book, for more than 800 years, during all the changing fortunes of the people, the prophetic order continued an enduring public power. It acted as the mediating agency between God and His people, and was the organ of the Spirit of the Lord to the children of Israel during the whole period of the monarchy and the captivity. After the sorrowful return from Babylon, the priesthood-which from the days of Eli onward had continued to exist, though shorn of its old splendour and influence-seems to have recovered some of its ancient power and consideration, and during the last melancholy age of the existence of Israel as a people once more filled the chief position in the nation.

Throughout the Book of Samuel the influence of the new order of prophets is depicted as ever growing. Samuel, the prophet and seer, chooses the first king, and during Saul's period of loyalty to God stands by him as friend and counsellor. The successor to the faithless Saul is selected and anointed again by the prophet Samuel, and the young "anointed of the Lord," David, receives his training and education evidently in Samuel's prophetic school. All the days of Samuel's life, the seer remained David's counsellor and friend. When Samuel had passed away, another of the order, Gad the seer, trained by Samuel, took his place by David's side; and later we see the prophet Nathan occupying the same position when David had become a mighty monarch. Here and there, too, in our book, we come upon casual references to the growing influence of the prophetic order; and it was, be it remembered, the spirit of the first chief of the prophets that King Saul, in his dire necessity, invoked as the only Being who could give him real help or true advice. The documents referred to above (Section II.) as the main sources of the writing were mostly, if not entirely, the work of distinguished and well-known members of the great prophetic schools; and we may, therefore, with some certainty conclude that this Book of Samuel-at least, the greater part-was taken from a tradition of which the centre and starting-point was in the mighty and influential prophetic order.

Erdmann, Introduction to Samuel, Section IV.

III. Messianic Teaching. In the Book of Samuel there is little which directly touches upon Messianic hopes, although the history is frequently quoted in the New Testament, especially in the writings of St. Paul and St. Luke.

Two fine passages, written by contemporary theologians of our own Church of England, sum up the Messianic teaching of our book.

"It is the first book in Holy Scripture which declares the incarnation of Christ as King in a particular family -the family of David. It is the first book in Scripture which announced that the kingdom founded in Him, raised up from the seed of David, would be universal and everlasting. Here also the prophetic song of Hannah gives the clue to the interpretation of this history. The Lord,' she says, 'shall judge the ends of the earth,' that is, His kingdom shall be established in all nations. 'He shall give strength unto His King, and exalt the horn of His Anointed'—the Messiah, or Christ, who was come of David-and sit on His throne for ever."-Bishop Wordsworth.

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It was thus Samuel's lot to sketch out two of the main lines of thought which converge in Christ. The idea of the prophet and the idea of the king gain under him their shape and proportion. This is especially true as regards the latter. The king is ever in Samuel's eyes the Messiah,' Jehovah's Anointed One. Again and again the word occurs with marked prominence. It was the pregnant germ of a great future with the Jew. He never lost the idea, but carried it onward and onward, with David's portrait for its centre, as of one in whom Messiah's lineaments were marked in outline-feebly indeed, and imperfectly, but with the certainty that a Messiah would come who would fill up with glorious beauty that faint, blurred sketch."Dean Payne Smith.

IV. The Name.-Abarbanel writes-"All the contents of both books may, in a certain sense, be referred to Samuel: even the deeds of Saul and David, because both, having been anointed by Samuel, were, so to speak, the works of his hands." In other words, the writing is called after Samuel not because he wrote it all, but on account of it describing his great work for the chosen people. The two Books of Samuel really form one book. In Hebrew MSS. they form one undivided work, and are called "the Book of Samuel." The present division in the Hebrew Bible into two books under the same name dates only from the sixteenth century, and was introduced by Daniel Bomberg, after the example of the LXX. and Vulg. Versions.

In the LXX. and Vulg., however, these books are reckoned as belonging to the Book of the Kings. In the LXX. they are called "the Book of the Kingdoms."

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(1-8) The Home Life of the Family of the future Prophet-judge of Israel. (9-28) Interview of Hannah with Eli-Birth and Dedication of Samuel.

Somewhere about the year 1140 B.C. (or, as some suppose, thirty years earlier), the Levitical family of Elkanah, of the house of Kohath, lived in Ramathaimzophim, a little city of Benjamin, built on the slopes of Mount Ephraim. The supposed date of the Trojan War coincides with this period of Jewish history. We may then fairly assume that the events related in the Homeric epic took place during the time treated of in these Books of Samuel.

(1) Now there was a certain man.-Literally, And there was, &c. These introductory words do not signify that this history is the continuation of the Book of Judges or of any preceding writing. It is a common historical introductory formula. We find it at the commencement of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Kings, Esther, Ezra, Ezekiel, &c. The circumstances under which this record was probably compiled are discussed elsewhere.

Of Ramathaim-zophim. The name Ramathaim -literally, The Two Ramahs-is the dual of the wellknown Ramah, the appellation by which this city is usually known. The old city was, no doubt, built on two hills, which looked one on the other: hence perhaps the name Zophim, the watchers. Possibly at an early date watch-towers or outlooks, to enable the citizens to guard against surprise, were built on the summit of these hills. Either of these suppositions would account for the suggestive name by which Ramah was once known, the Ramahs of the Watchers."

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Others would connect the appellation 'Zophim with the family of Zuph, from whom Elkanah descended. (See 1 Chron. xxvi. 35, and 1 Sam. ix. 5, where the land of Zuph is mentioned.) An interesting, though fanciful, derivation refers Zophim, watchers, to the "prophet-watchmen" of the house of Israel, as Ramah in after years was a school of the prophets.

On the whole, the simplest and least strained explanation is the one given above, which refers the name to the hills so placed that they watched one another, or better still, to the watch-towers built at an early date on the two summits.

Ramah lay among the mountains of Ephraim, which

the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

(3) And this man went up out of his city al yearly to worship and to sacrifice

extended into the territory of Benjamin, in which tribe the city of Ramah lay.

His name was Elkanah.-Elkanah, the father of the future prophet-judge, was a Levite of the family of Kohath (compare the genealogy given here with 1 Chron. vi. 22). He is here termed an Ephrathite: that is, an Ephraimite, because, as far as his civil standing was concerned, he belonged to the tribe of Ephraim.

Some have found a difficulty in reconciling the Levitical descent of Samuel with his dedication to the Lord by his mother, supposing that in the case of a Levite this would be unnecessary; but the dedication of Samuel, it should be remembered, was a life-long one, whereas the Levitical service only began when the Levite was twenty-five years old; and even then the service was not continuous.

(2) And he had two wives.-The primeval Divine ordination, we know, gave its sanction alone to monogamy. The first who seems to have violated God's original ordinance appears to have been Lamech, of the family of Cain (Gen. iv. 19). The practice apparently had become general throughout the East when the Mosaic Law was formulated. In this Divine code it is noticeable that while polygamy is accepted as a custom everywhere prevailing, it is never approved. The laws of Moses-as in the case of another universally accepted practice, slavery-simply seek to restrict and limit it by wise and humane regulations. The inspired writer in this narrative of the home life of Elkanah of " Ramah of the Watchers" quietly shows up the curse which almost invariably attended this miserable violation of the relations of the home life to which in the old Eden days the eternal law had given its sanction and blessing. The Old Testament Book contains many of these gentlyworded but fire-tipped rebukes of sin and frailty-sins condoned and even approved by the voice of mankind. Peninnah.-Hannah signifies grace or favour, and has ever been a favourite name among the women of the East. It was the name of the Punic Queen Dido's sister, Anna. The traditional mother of the Virgin Mary was named Anna. (See Luke ii. 36.) Peninnah is translated by some scholars "coral;" according to others it signifies "pearl." We have adopted the same name under the modern Margaret."

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(3) Went up out of his city yearly.-The Hebrew expression rendered yearly, is found in Exodus

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xiii. 10, and there refers to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover. There is little doubt but that this great national festival is here referred to. It was the Passover that the whole family were accustomed to keep at the sanctuary of the Eternal. The writer places in strong contrast the piety and devotion which evidently still existed in the family life of many in Israel with the fearful disorders and crime which disfigured the priestly life in those days. There were not a few, doubtless, in Israel who, like Elkanah and his house, honoured the name of the Lord, while the recognised rulers and religious guides of the people, like the sons of Eli the high priest, too often lived in open and notorious sin.

Unto the Lord of hosts.-This is the first time in the Old Testament Book that we find the well-known appellation of the Eternal" Jehovah Sabaoth,” Lord of hosts.

It is computed that this title of God occurs 260 times in the Old Testament, but it is not found in any of the books written or compiled before this time. In the New Testament it is only once used (see Jas. v. 4).

The glorious title, with which Isaiah, who uses it some sixty times, and Jeremiah some eighty times, have especially made us familiar, represented Jehovah, the Eternal One, as ruler over the heavenly hosts: that is, over the angels and the stars; the stars being conceived to be the dwelling-places of these deathless beings.

The idea of their invisible God-Friend being the sovereign Master of a host of those innumerable glorious beings usually known as angels, or messengers, was no strange one to Hebrew thought. For instance, already in the story of Jacob we find the patriarch calling the angels who appeared to him the "camp of God" (Gen. xxxii. 1, 2).

In the blessing of Moses in the magnificent description of the giving of the law on Sinai (Deut. xxxiii. 2), we read of "ten thousands of saints " (Kodesh). The glorious Angel who allowed Joshua to worship him under the towers of Jericho (Josh. v. 14) speaks of himself as "captain or prince of the host of the Lord." It is especially noteworthy that here in these Books of Samuel, which tell of the establishment of an earthly sovereignty over the tribes, this stately title of the real King in Israel, which afterwards became so general, first appears. It was the solemn protest of Samuel and his school against any eclipsing of the mighty but invisible sovereignty of the Eternal by the passing splendours and the outward pomp of an earthly monarchy set up over the people.

It told also the strange and the alien peoples that the God who loved Israel was, too, the star ruler, the Lord of the whole universe, visible and invisible.

In Shiloh.-That is, rest. This sacred city was situated in Ephraim. It became the sanctuary of Israel in the time of Joshua, who pitched the tent of the Tabernacle there. Shiloh, as the permanent seat of the Ark and the Tabernacle, was the religious centre of Israel during the whole period of the judges. On rare

Hannah and Peninnal.

a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. (6) And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. (7) And as he did so year by year, when she went to the house of the LORD, so up

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occasions the sacred tent, and all or part of the holy furniture, seems to have been temporarily moved to such places as Mizpah and Bethel, but its regular home was Shiloh. At the time of the birth of Samuel, and during his younger days, the high priest resided there, and the religious families of the people were in the habit of making an annual pilgrimage to this, the central sanctuary of the worship of Jehovah.

The priests of the Lord.-The mention of these two priests of the Lord by no means suggests that the ritual of the Tabernacle had become so meagre and deficient as only to require the services of two or three ministers indeed, the contrary is signified by the description of one portion only of the ceremonies given in the next chapter. These two, Hophni and Phinehas, are here alluded to specially by name. First, on account of their rank and connection with the high priest Eli, to whose high dignity one of the brothers would probably succeed. Secondly, because these unhappy men figured in one of the great historical disasters of the people. Thirdly, the writer, out of many servants of the sanctuary, chose two prominent figures to illustrate the terrible state of corruption into which the priesthood had fallen. Bishop Wordsworth here draws a curious but suggestive lesson. "Although Hophni and Phinehas were among the priests, yet Elkanah and Hannah did not separate themselves from the service of the sanctuary when they ministered—a lesson against schism.'

(5) A worthy portion.-Literally, one portion for two persons: i.e., a double portion. It was an expression of his deep love for her. As Von Gerlach puts it, "Thou art as dear to me as if thou hadst borne me a child." Some scholars would translate the difficult Hebrew expression here by, "But to Hannah he gave a portion of anger or sadness," thus intensifying the natural sorrow of Hannah by representing her husband as unkind. The Vulgate, Luther, and Abarbanel favour this singular interpretation; but the one adopted by the English Version, and explained above, is in all respects grammatically and exegetically to be preferred.

(6) And her adversary also provoked her sore.-Jealousy, grief, anger, malice, the many bitter fruits of this way of living, so different to God's original appointment, here show themselves. The one sin of polygamy poisons the whole home life of the family, in all other respects apparently a quiet, Godfearing, orderly household.

(7) And as he did so year by year. That is, Elkanah, on the occasion of every yearly visit to the national sanctuary, was in the habit of publicly giving the childless Hannah the double gift, to show his undiminished love; while the happier mother of his children, jealous of her rival, every year chose this solemn occasion of offering thank-offerings before the Tabernacle, especially to taunt the childless wife, no doubt referring the absence of children, which among the mothers of Israel was considered so deep a calamity, to the special anger of God.

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Hannah's Frayer.

she provoked her; therefore she wept, Heb, bitter of handmaid 'a man child, then I will give and did not eat. (8) Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not?

and why is thy heart grieved? am not 2 Heb., serd of men. I better to thee than ten sons?

Num. 6. 5; Judg.
13. 5.

him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and "there shall no razor come upon his head.

(12) And it came to pass, as she 3continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. (13) Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. (14) And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put (15) And away thy wine from thee. Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong

(9) So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. (10) And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. (11) And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine hard of drink, but have poured out my soul be

3 Heb., multiplied
to pray.

spirit.

(8) Than ten sons.-Merely a round number to express many. The simple narration evidently came from Hannah, who, no doubt, in after years loved to dwell on her past sorrowful life, contrasted with her present strange blessedness as mother of the Restorer of the people.

(9) After they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk.-This was the solemn sacrificial meal, at which the whole family were present.

Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat.-Eli, the high priest of Israel at this time, was a descendant of Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron (see 1 Chron. xxiv. 3, where it is stated that his great-grandson, Ahimelech, was of the sons of Ithamar). The circumstances which led to the transfer of the dignity from the line of Eleazar, who succeeded his father Aaron in the office, are unknown. It has been suggested that at the death of the last high priest of the line of Eleazar, Ozi, there was no son of sufficient age and experience to succeed, and so the office passed to the next of kin, Eli, a son of the house of Ithamar. (See Josephus, Antt. v., 2, § 5.)

The seat upon which Eli is represented as usually sitting (see chap. iv. 18) was evidently a chair or throne of state, where the high-priestly judge sat at certain times to administer justice and to transact business. The Hebrew word rendered here "post," and the expression "doors of the house" (chap. iii. 15), seem to suggest that now a permanent home had been erected for the sanctuary: something of a building, possibly of stone, surrounding the Tabernacle had been built.

The "temple of the Lord," rather, palace of the Lord, so called not from any external magnificence but as being the earthly place where at times the visible glory of the Eternal King of Israel, the Shekinah, was pleased to manifest itself.

(11) And she vowed a vow.-The vow of Hannah contained two solemn promises-the one pledged the son she prayed for to the service of the Eternal all the days of his life. The mother looked on to a life-long service in the ritual of the Tabernacle for him, but the Being who heard her prayer destined her son for higher work; in his case the priestly duties were soon merged in the far more responsible ones of the prophet-the great reformer of the people. The second promise undertook that he should be a Nazarite. Now the Nazariteship included three things-the refraining

from intoxicating drinks, the letting the hair grow, and the avoiding all ceremonial defilement by corpses even of the nearest kin. Samuel was what the Talmud calls a perpetual Nazarite.

These strange restrictions and customs had an inner signification. The abstinence from wine and strong drink typified that the Nazarite determined to avoid all sensual indulgence which might cloud the mind and render the man unfit for prayer to, and work for, the Lord; the avoiding contact with the dead was a perpetual outward protest that the vower of the solemn vow renounced all moral defilement, that he gave up every thing which could stain and soil the life consecrated to the Eternal's service; the untouched hair, which here is especially mentioned, was a public protest that the consecrated one had determined to refrain from intercourse with the world, and to devote the whole strength and fulness of life to the Lord's work. The LXX. (Greek) Version here inserts the words, "and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink." wishing to bring the passage into stricter accordance with Numbers vi. The original Hebrew text, however, contents itself with specifying merely the outward sign of the untouched hair, by which these solemnly consecrated ones were publicly known.

(13) Now Hannah, she spake in her heart. -Eli was watching the worshippers, and, as Bunsen well remarks, was struck with dismay at her silent earnestness, such heartfelt prayer being apparently not usual at that time, and remembering the condition of the moral life in the precincts of the sanctuary over which he ruled with so weak and vacillating a rule, and how sadly frequent were disorders at the sacrificial meal, at once suspected that the weeping, praying one was a drunken woman. He, however, quickly atoned for his unworthy suspicion.

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(14) And Eli said unto her.-The LXX. or Septuagint attempts to soften the harshness of the high priest to Hannah by inserting before Eli the word servant," or young man," thus suggesting that the hard, unjust words were spoken by an attendant. But it is clear that the English Version represents the true text here, for in the next verse Hannah replies directly to Eli with the simple words "No, my lord."

(15) No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit -Calvin, quoted by Erdmann, well remarks here:-" Consider the modesty of Hannah, who,

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