Concept
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. Chapters 1 to 7 of 1 Samuel depict Samuel's life: this chapter focuses on his birth. This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 28 verses. 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; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century). (annual pilgrimage) (Nazirite vow) (husband's approval of wife's vow) (offerings of bull, flour and wine) The event in this chapter happened at the end of judges period in Israel, about 1100 BC. 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.
