1 Samuel 1
1 Samuel 1 is the first chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter focuses on the birth of Samuel, in a section concerning the life of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1–7:17). Text. This chapter  was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 28 verses. Textual witnesses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 6Q4 (6QpapKgs; 150–75 BCE) with extant verses 28–31. Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; formula_1; 4th century ) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; formula_1; 5th century). Elkanah's family (1:1–8). Elkanah came from a prestigious Levite family in Ramah (verse 1) in the land of Zuph (cf. ). Elkanah's first wife, Hannah, was barren so he had decided to take a second wife, Peninnah (cf. ). When Peninnah had children, tension and rivalry arose between the two women, with Hannah being constantly provoked and distressed. The inability of Elkanah to control the situation of his wives pushes Hannah to take the initiative, especially when her plight was made more obvious by receiving only one portion of the sacrifice (verse 5 ). The opportunity cames when Elkanah and his family attended annual worship feast in Shiloh (Judges 21:19–24), one of the most important sanctuaries and the home of the ark (1 Samuel 3:3), which was regulated by the high priest Eli and his two sons. The birth of Samuel (1:9–28). Hannah took the initiative to make a vow that the son she requested would be dedicated as a nazirite (verse 11). The Masoretic Text only mentions "a razor will not go up upon his head" (meaning "leaving the hair uncut") as one feature of the nazirite vow, but the longer text in  the Greek version of Septuagint (supported in some parts by 4QSam among the Dead Sea Scrolls) mentions "wine and strong drink he will not drink" (cf. Numbers 6:1–21; Judges 13:5, 7) as another feature of a nazirite. Hannah delayed her visit until Samuel had been weaned, then she brought the child to Shiloh to 'abide there forever' (4QSam clarifies that Hannah was dedicating Samuel as a nazirite), with the bull offerings as well as flour and wine (cf. Numbers 15:8–10) A repeated wordplay on the Hebrew root word "sha'al"—(to ask, request)— has been found in this passage: 'that thou hast  asked of him' (verse 17), 'I have asked him of the Lord' (verse 20), 'which I asked of him' (verse 27), 'I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord' (verse 28). The Greek Septuagint has an addition "and all the tithes of his land" to this verse.