She said, Let your handmaid find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn't sad any more.
Elkanah was a Levite who lived in the tribal territory of Ephraim (1:1; 1 Chronicles 6:33-38). Each year he took his family to the town of Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the Lord. (Since the time of Joshua, Shiloh had been the central place of worship in Israel; Joshua 18:1,Joshua 18:10; Judges 18:31.) According to the regulations for certain sacrifices, the offerer, after offering his sacrifice, received back some of the sacrificial food, which he then shared with the members of his household in a joyous fellowship meal (see Leviticus 7:11-16,Leviticus 7:20). For Elkanah’s household the happiness of the occasion was always spoiled when one of Elkanah’s wives, Peninnah, mocked the other wife, Hannah, because Hannah was unable to have children (2-8).