CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:1. The site of RAMATH-ZOPHIM is declared by Dean Stanley to be “the most disputed problem of sacred topography.” It is universally allowed, and it is implied by Josephus to be the Ramah in which Samuel lived, died, and was buried; but next to nothing of its... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:2. “TWO WIVES.” “Perhaps he took the second on account of Hannah’s barrenness” (_Wordsworth_). 1 Samuel 1:3. “YEARLY.” Probably to the Passover, as that was the only feast which the whole family were accustomed to attend (Luke 2:41). “TO WORSHIP AND SACRIF... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:9. “POST,” or _portal_. “Probably a porch which had been placed before the curtain that formed the entrance into the Holy Place” _(Keil)_. “TEMPLE,” “or palace, so called not on account of the magnificence of the building, but as the dwelling place of the... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:13. “SHE SPAKE IN HER HEART.” Prayer is almost always oral in the East, even in public (_Kitto_). 1 Samuel 1:14. “PUT AWAY THY WINE FROM THEE,” _i.e._, sleep off the effects of intoxication. 1 Samuel 1:15. “Neither wine nor strong drink has been _poured... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:20. “SAMUEL.” “From _Shama_ to hear, and _El_, God _(Wordsworth)_. “The words of Hannah are not an etymological explanation of the name, but an exposition founded upon the facts” (_Keil_). _MAIN HOMILETICS OF 1 Samuel 1:19_ THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL I. THE VA... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:21. “YEARLY SACRIFICE” literally, the “offering of the days,”—the Israelites’ customary and obligatory annual sacrifice. The “offering of the days “is, as it were, the yearly reckoning with the Lord, the presentation of those portions of the property which... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.— 1 Samuel 1:24. Hebrew mothers were accustomed to suckle their children for three years (2Ma. 7:27). “A child three years old is not troublesome in the East, and his nurture and education could be committed to the women that served at the door of the Tabernacle. By the... [ Continue Reading ]