Mother of Samuel; barren wife whose prayer was answered
c. 1100 BC · Old Testament
The barren wife of Elkanah whose tears at the tabernacle and prayer for a son were answered with Samuel — and whose song of praise (1 Samuel 2) became the template for Mary's Magnificat.
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah, a Levite of Ephraim. Her co-wife Peninnah had children; Hannah had none. 'The LORD had shut up her womb' (1 Samuel 1:5). Peninnah provoked her — 'her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret' (1 Samuel 1:6). At the annual sacrifice in Shiloh, Hannah wept bitterly and prayed at the tabernacle door. Her vow: 'If thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me... and wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life' (1 Samuel 1:11). She prayed silently, only her lips moving. Eli the priest mistook her for drunk and rebuked her. Hannah explained: 'I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit... I have poured out my soul before the LORD' (1 Samuel 1:15). Eli blessed her: 'Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition.' Hannah conceived and bore Samuel — the name means 'asked of God.' After he was weaned, she took him to Shiloh and dedicated him: 'For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him' (1 Samuel 1:27). She left her young son with Eli to serve the LORD all his days. Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10) is one of the great prayers in Scripture — celebrating God's reversals: he lifts the poor, brings down the proud, satisfies the hungry. Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) echoes Hannah's song. After Samuel, Hannah bore three sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21). Samuel grew to be Israel's last judge and first major prophet — anointing Saul and David.
"The LORD had shut up her womb"
Eli thinks she's drunk
If God gives her a child
"For this child I prayed"
Lent to the LORD
Template for the Magnificat
God's additional blessing
Hannah's significance: (1) Her prayer model — silent, heartfelt, vowing — is one of the great prayer examples in Scripture. (2) Her song (1 Samuel 2) is one of the OT's greatest hymns of God's reversals, echoed by Mary's Magnificat. (3) Her son Samuel became Israel's transition figure between judges and monarchy. (4) She models the faithfulness that gives back to God what God gives. (5) Her grief-to-praise arc inspires women (and all believers) in seasons of pain and prayer.
“For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him.”— 1 Samuel 1:27
“My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD... There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee.”— 1 Samuel 2:1-2
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah, a Levite of Ephraim. She was barren and grievously mocked by her co-wife Peninnah (1 Samuel 1). She prayed at the tabernacle for a son, vowing to dedicate him to the LORD. God gave her Samuel. After weaning him, she left him at the tabernacle to serve God. She wrote one of the OT's great songs of praise (1 Samuel 2). She later bore three more sons and two daughters.
Hannah's prayer (1 Samuel 1:10-13) was silent, anguished, vow-making: 'If thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid... and wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD.' Eli mistook her silent prayer for drunkenness. Her song after Samuel's birth (1 Samuel 2:1-10) is among the OT's greatest hymns, echoed in Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).
1 Samuel 1:5 — 'the LORD had shut up her womb.' The Bible attributes her barrenness to God's sovereign timing, not to sin. Like Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel before her — and Elisabeth after — Hannah's long barrenness made her son's birth clearly a gift of God. Her story belongs to the Bible's pattern of God doing remarkable things through delayed pregnancy.
Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) echoes Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10) at many points — God's reversal of proud and humble, his lifting up of the lowly, his faithfulness to his promises. Both are sung by women who have received a miraculous son. Hannah's song shaped Israel's praise for centuries; Mary picked it up at the dawn of the gospel.