And it came to pass as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli marked her mouth.
Hannah prays at the sanctuary in Shiloh, and she prays so long that the priest Eli starts to watch her lips. The scene shows what real prayer is like from the inside — and how badly people can misread it from the outside.
The words "she continued praying" describe how she prayed. One writer follows that praying to where it ended:
This dear woman, after making this vow, continued praying before the Lord. She continued praying. This was not a prayer you can put in the files and draw out at some convenient moment. It was a continuing in prayer, the desire of the heart so active in this way. Prayer, prayer, prayer. I do not know how long she prayed, but she continued in prayer. She had made her request. She had expressed her vow. She had expressed her determination to do this. And she continued in it until the time came when she got peace and assurance. The bitterness passed away.
Her lips moved, but no sound came out. A comment on the woman who touched Jesus' garment puts Hannah beside her:
Faith in the heart may express itself in many ways. It may come as urgent earnestness, like Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah. Or it may come as patient endurance of suffering, as with Job and Joseph. Here the silent appeal of the woman's touch shows how eloquent before God the very silence of faith may be. In the same way, the wordless posture of Hannah did not escape the pitying eye of Jehovah (1 Sam. 1). For it is with the heart that man believes, whatever the way faith expresses itself before people.
Eli watched her mouth and read it wrong. One writer notes where he sat and what his office should have supplied:
Eli was a stranger to such exercise. He sat on a seat by a post of the temple, in effect sitting as a judge instead of standing as priest. He saw Hannah's lips move as she prayed silently, and made the sad blunder of judging that she was drunk. He knew how to rebuke her. But he did not give the help and compassion which was the very purpose of priesthood (Heb. 5:1-2).
His mistake also exposes the state of Israel at the time:
Here the account names Eli the priest for the first time. Her silent prayer astonished him, and he accused her of drunkenness. His astonishment and his accusation are a witness to the sad state of Israel. Clearly few ever sought the presence of the Lord. His rebuke also makes it clear that drunkenness during the feasts at Shiloh was not unusual.
Hannah came to Shiloh for relief and found a fresh wound there:
One resource remained to her: to bring her affliction before the Lord. Only God's heart could give her an answer in grace; so she presents herself before Him at Shiloh. A new trial awaits her there. She meets a spiritual leader of her people who does not understand her. He confuses the working of the Spirit of God with the working of the flesh. He believes she is drunk, when in fact she is in anguish. What suffering! She has no resource in herself. The world is hostile to her. Those who bear the Lord's name judge her and do not understand her!
Another writer sets Eli beside the risen Christ:
Of all people, this man should have been in close touch with God. Instead he was so far out of communion with Him that he could not tell a sorrowful woman from a drunken woman. God's priest should be both compassionate and sympathetic (Heb. 5:2). The risen Christ is all this and more; Eli, sadly, was only a poor foreshadowing of Him.
Her circumstances did not change that day. Something else did:
Hannah found this long ago. In her deep trial she could say, "I have poured out my soul before the Lord." As a result we read, "her face was no longer sad." Yet at that moment her circumstances were just the same. Afterwards the Lord did change her circumstances, but first He showed that He had the power to change Hannah. God brought her from grief of heart and bitterness of soul into great peace — the peace of God which surpasses all understanding — as she made her requests known to Him.
- Continued — Hannah did not pray once and move on. She stayed in prayer until peace and assurance came.
- Silent — Her lips moved and no one heard a voice. God's pitying eye still read that silence of faith.
- Misjudged — Eli sat as a judge instead of standing as a priest. He rebuked her where he should have helped her.
- Symptom — Silent prayer looked like drunkenness to him. Few in Israel ever sought God's presence.
- Changed — God changed Hannah before He changed her circumstances. Her grief lifted while her situation stayed the same.
Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; and Eli thought she was drunken.
Hannah prays at God's tent of worship in Shiloh, her lips moving without a sound, and Eli the old priest reads her completely wrong. So the verse raises two questions: does God hear a silent prayer, and how could a priest misjudge a godly woman?
The words "Hannah was speaking in her heart" describe a prayer with no audience but God. One writer notes what that hidden prayer received:
When she poured out her request in sorrow, "only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard." She prayed "in secret" to Him who "hears in secret," and He had rewarded her "openly."
Silence took nothing away from that prayer. It also shows how anyone can pray while sitting among other worshippers:
This godly woman prayed in the house of the Lord, when the worshippers had gathered. Notice it says of her: "Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard" (v. 13). To have prayed out loud in that mixed company would not have been proper. Yet she could pray in her heart, and God heard and answered.
The verse shows two things at once: what Hannah was doing, and what Eli saw. The gap between them is the whole problem.
"Hannah was speaking in her heart," but Eli only marked her mouth. He judged by the "outward appearance," and decided she was drunk!
His posture matched his mistake. He sat by the doorpost, and gave her correction, not help:
Eli was a stranger to that kind of praying. He sat on a seat by a post of the temple. He was sitting as a judge rather than standing as priest. He saw Hannah's lips move as she prayed silently, and made the sad blunder of judging that she was drunk. He knew how to correct her, but did not provide the help and compassion which was the very purpose of priesthood.
Eli's assumption says as much about Shiloh as it does about him. That silent prayer struck him as strange, and drink did not:
This is the first time Eli the priest appears. He was amazed to see her praying in silence, and he accused her of being drunk. His astonishment and accusation are a witness to the sad state of Israel. Clearly few ever sought the presence of the Lord. And his rebuke makes it plain that drunkenness was not uncommon during the feasts at Shiloh.
Hannah was not the last person to look drunk while praying. Her reply to the false charge teaches as much as her prayer did:
This was not the only time people moved by the Spirit were judged to be drunk with wine. It happened again at Pentecost, twelve hundred years later. The "spiritual man" is always thought "mad" by those who know nothing of the power of God moving the soul... She addresses him with all the respect due to his age and office. She does not hit back. She does not remind him of his sons' failings, or tell him to look to his own house before he rushes to accuse and condemn others.
Hannah's mouth moved while her voice stayed silent. One writer applies that to how we handle trouble among God's people:
We read of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, that in a crisis her mouth moved but her voice was not heard. It would perhaps be a good thing if in a crisis our feelings were more active than our voices. We would feel the difficulties that come in as our own, and weep over the dishonour brought to the name of Christ.
She walked away from that unheard prayer a different woman, long before she held a son:
So Hannah found, long ago, when in her deep trial she could say, "I... have poured out my soul before the Lord." As a result, we read, "Her countenance was no more sad." Yet at that moment her circumstances were just the same. Later the Lord did change her circumstances. But first He showed that He had the power to change Hannah.
- Heard — no one at Shiloh heard her voice. She prayed in secret to a God who hears in secret and rewards openly.
- Misheard — Eli watched her mouth and judged by outward appearance. He sat as a judge instead of standing as a priest.
- Unheard-of — silent prayer looked strange to him, and drunkenness looked normal. His wrong guess exposes the state of Israel's worship.
- Overheard — the same charge came again at Pentecost. Earnestness before God has always looked like madness to those who have never felt it.
- Answered — she left with a changed face before her situation changed. God showed His power to change Hannah first.
And Eli said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.
Hannah stood at the entrance of the tabernacle at Shiloh and prayed without a sound. The priest who watched her lips decided she was drunk. How could the man who stood between God and Israel misread a woman at prayer in the place he served?
The words Eli used were not gentle or figurative. One writer traces the Hebrew word for wine through every place it appears:
By "wine" we mean an intoxicating drink made from the grape, unless the context changes that sense. That this is the force of yayin will be clear from looking at all the texts where it occurs... The word was even used to denote the effect of wine.
So Eli was not hinting at something mild. "Put your wine away from you" told a grieving woman to sober up.
This was no small slip. One writer sees in it the state of a whole priesthood, not of one man only:
In himself he had a heart for the Lord, but not enough to stand for Him. With him the whole order he belonged to is wearing out. His spiritual sense is blunt, as is his nature. He cannot see what kind of woman stands sorrowing in front of him. He sees only the moving of lips, and he misreads it. He passes a judgment that he very soon has to take back. Yet this stirs no self-judgment in him, and no sight of his own shallowness. We find this in Eli all the way through.
Eli also aimed his correction at the wrong person:
Eli himself should have understood this shameful state of things more than anyone. He should have been low in the dust before God over it. Instead he seemed hardly troubled. Like a "good and easy man," he sat at ease at the temple entrance. He was not there to watch and correct his corrupt sons. He was there to watch a godly woman at prayer, misread her, and rebuke her! ... "She was speaking in her heart," but Eli only watched her mouth; he judged by the "outward appearance," and decided she was drunk!
One writer sets her prayer beside the place where Eli sat:
Eli was a stranger to such exercise of soul. He sat on a seat by a post of the temple, in effect sitting as a judge rather than standing as priest. He saw Hannah's lips move as she prayed in silence, and made the sad blunder of judging her drunk. He knew how to reprove her, but did not provide the help and compassion which was the very purpose of priesthood.
Another writer turns the failure into a question for the reader:
Poor Eli made a serious blunder in his dealings with Hannah. He supposed her to be drunk. In reality she was a sorrowful woman pouring out her heart to her God. Nearness to God was meant to give the priests good judgment about holy and unholy, clean and unclean. That way they could instruct the people... How is it with us? Grace has put every believer into the priestly place, but are we in the power of it? Are we spiritually discerning?
Hannah came looking for help, and met this instead:
She meets a lack of understanding in the spiritual leader of her people. He confuses the work of the Spirit of God with the work of the flesh. He believes she is drunk, when in fact she is in anguish. What suffering! She has no resource within herself. The world is against her. Those who bear the Lord's name judge her and do not understand her!
Yet a wrong verdict from a priest could not block God's answer:
The ordered way of blessing is closing up, and God is finding new channels to pour His grace into. His grace must not lack expression while the need is there that demands it. The cry of distress may be misinterpreted, even by His people; but His own ear cannot be stopped.
- Silence. Hannah spoke in her heart, and only her lips moved — prayer God could hear but a watching man could not.
- Misread. Eli's charge meant plain drunkenness. His spiritual sense was blunt, and he had to take his verdict back at once.
- Misaimed. He rebuked a praying woman at the door and left his own corrupt sons alone. He judged by the outward appearance.
- Misplaced. He sat as a judge instead of standing as a priest. He was quick to reprove, but gave none of the help and compassion a priest exists to give.
- Still heard. God's own representative misread her cry. But God's ear cannot be stopped, and His grace found a new channel.
And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before Jehovah.
Hannah has been praying at the tabernacle in Shiloh. Eli the priest saw only her lips move and accused her of being drunk, and her answer became one of the clearest pictures of prayer in the Bible.
The phrase Hannah uses became a standard Bible expression for prayer that is not merely said but meant. It describes intensity, not volume.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:16). Cold prayers, like cold suitors, never get anywhere. Prayer without fervency is like a sacrifice without a fire. Prayer is called a "pouring out of the soul" to show its intensity (1 Sam. 1:15). Formality starves prayer.
What she empties out is her grief. She holds nothing back and tidies nothing up first.
How often we carry our sorrows instead of pouring them out before the One who came into this world of weeping, to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. Have we a secret sorrow? Have we an adversary who provokes us bitterly (verse 6)? Is there anything or anyone that makes our spirits fret (verse 6)? Anything that grieves our hearts (verse 8)? Anything that fills the soul with bitterness and the eyes with tears (verse 10)? Then let us pour out our souls before the Lord and He will pour in His peace.
Hannah's denial about wine is not the main thing she wants Eli to grasp. She wants him to know what kind of person he is looking at — and the contrast with his accusation is total.
Hannah's reply to Eli was most beautiful and precious. Completely unlike the effects of liquor, she was a woman of sorrowful spirit who had poured out her soul before the Lord. She pleads with him not to consider her a daughter of Belial, a virtual enemy of the Lord, for the facts were quite the opposite.
The term she pleads against is not a family name but a label for a certain kind of person:
The Hebrew word means "worthless, lawless." It is not a proper name. It stands as a personification of evil, so we have "son of Belial," "daughter of Belial," and so on. Deut. 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Sam. 1:16; 1 Sam. 25:17, 25; and others.
Commentators point out where God places the failure in this scene: with the high priest himself.
Others went to worship there with their thank-offerings. She drew near with her tears, and there too she felt the provocation of her adversary just as keenly. But here is the remarkable feature of the story: God calls our attention to the high priest himself, who did not share His mind. The one who should above all have entered into the greatest difficulties of God's people was in this case among the last to understand her.
Others note this is a repeated pattern, not a one-off blunder.
This is not the only time people have judged those moved by the Spirit to be drunk with wine. It happened again at Pentecost twelve hundred years later. The "spiritual man" is always thought "mad" by those who know nothing of the power of God moving the soul.
Hannah could have answered by pointing at Eli's own sons. She does not.
She addresses him with all the respect due to his age and office. She does not answer back by reminding him of the failures of his sons. She does not tell him to look to his own house before he rushes to accuse and condemn others. No, nothing of this; true to her name, she bends again, and tells the aged priest the story of her grief, if not its cause.
Between verse 7 and verse 18 nothing outward moves. Hannah is still childless when she leaves. Yet she leaves a different woman.
How did this difference come about? Was it a change of circumstances, or the removal of what caused the sorrow? Not at all. The circumstances had not altered; she was still the barren woman. The secret of the change is this: she had poured out her soul before the Lord... Her sorrow is poured out and God's peace is poured in.
- Poured out — prayer with real force behind it. Formality starves prayer; Hannah empties her grief out instead of tidying it up.
- Misjudged — the one man who should have known prayer when he saw it called it drunkenness. Others made the same mistake at Pentecost.
- Answered meekly — she could have shamed Eli about his own sons. Instead she told him her grief.
- Not a daughter of Belial — the word means worthless and lawless. Hannah asks Eli not to count her among the Lord's enemies; the facts were the opposite.
- Peace poured in — her circumstances did not change, but she did. The sorrow went out and God's peace came in.
Take not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial for out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto.
Hannah has been praying silently at Shiloh, and the priest Eli has read her moving lips as the sign of a drunk woman. Her reply here is a strange kind of defence. She denies the charge, names her real condition, and never attacks the man who accused her.
Where the ESV says "worthless woman," older translations read "daughter of Belial." The phrase Hannah rejects is a description of character, not a name:
The Hebrew word means "worthless, lawless." It is not a proper name. It is used as a picture of evil itself, so we have "son of Belial, daughter of Belial," and the like. Deut. 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Sam. 1:16; 1 Sam. 25:17, 25; and others. In the New Testament it stands in contrast to Christ, as if it meant Satan, 2 Cor. 6:15.
One writer shows how far that verdict was from the truth:
Hannah's reply to Eli was most beautiful and precious. Her state was the very opposite of the effects of drink. She was a woman of sorrowful spirit who had poured out her soul before the Lord. She pleads with him not to think of her as a daughter of Belial, a virtual enemy of the Lord. The facts were quite the opposite.
Eli's mistake went deeper than the facts. His office called for something he never gave:
Eli was a stranger to such exercise of soul. He sat on a seat by a post of the temple, in effect sitting as a judge rather than standing as priest. He saw Hannah's lips move as she prayed silently, and made the sad blunder of judging that she was drunk. He knew how to reprove her. He did not give the help and compassion which was the very purpose of priesthood (Heb. 5:1-2).
Hannah was not the last person misread this way, and her reply kept its respect:
She spoke in her heart, but Eli only watched her mouth. He judged by what he saw, and decided she had been drinking. This is not the only time that people moved by the Spirit were judged to be drunk with wine. It happened again at Pentecost twelve hundred years later. Those who know nothing of the power of God moving the soul always think the "spiritual man" is "mad." "How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you," the old man harshly calls to her. Notice her meek reply... She speaks to him with all the respect due to his age and office. She does not answer back by reminding him of the failures of his sons. She does not tell him to look to his own house before he rushes to accuse and condemn others.
Years later she brought the child back to Eli at the tabernacle, the tent where Israel worshipped. She still made nothing of the insult:
She does not say, "I am the woman you misjudged so rashly at the door of the tabernacle. This is the child I was praying for when you charged me with drunkenness." No, there is nothing of this. Her triumph is in God, as one who knows Him as the generous Giver of all good.
Hannah calls herself Eli's servant instead of using her own name. The word has a settled use across Scripture:
These words often refer in Scripture to a female slave, as applied to Hagar the Egyptian, Gen. 25:12; but they were also used by women themselves as a term of humility, as when Hannah spoke to Jehovah and to Eli, 1 Sam. 1:11, 16, 18; as Abigail spoke to David, 1 Sam. 25:24-41; and by Mary and Elizabeth as handmaids of the Lord. Luke 1:38, 48.
The leader of her nation misread her. That was a fresh sorrow on top of the old one, and it left her asking for one thing:
Poor Hannah was full of bitterness and wept a great deal. One resource remained: to lay her affliction before the Lord. Only God's heart could answer her in grace, so she presents herself before Him at Shiloh. A new trial awaits her there. She meets the lack of understanding in the spiritual leader of her people. He confuses the work of the Spirit of God with the work of the flesh, and believes she is drunk when she is in fact in anguish. What suffering! She has no resource within herself; the world is hostile to her; those who bear the Lord's name judge her and do not understand her!... but what she needs is a sign of God's favour; what she needs is "grace!"
- Misjudged. Eli watched her lips and reached the worst possible verdict. He sat as a judge where he should have stood as priest, reproving without compassion.
- Named. The "worthless woman" of this verse is a "daughter of Belial" — lawless, an enemy of the Lord. Hannah was the exact opposite.
- Answered. She replies with respect, denies the charge, and never throws Eli's own sons back in his face.
- Lowered. She calls herself his servant, the same word of humility used by Abigail, Mary and Elizabeth.
- Sustained. When God's own people misread her grief, one request was left worth making: grace.
And Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of him.
Israel's high priest has just accused Hannah of being drunk while she prayed. Her quiet answer turns the rebuke into a blessing — so what is a blessing worth when the man who speaks it is failing?
Eli had misread Hannah. Her honest reply reaches something in him, and he speaks for God, not for himself.
Eli has enough conscience — he is, after all, a true servant of God — for the language of truth to carry weight with him. It makes him reverse his first impression. He blesses Hannah on God's behalf (v. 17).
Commentators differ on how to read Eli here. Rossier sees a true servant recovering himself. Fereday sees a man who could not tell sorrow from drunkenness, and whose blessing came out thin.
Of all people, this man should have been in close touch with God. Yet he was so far out of communion with Him that he could not tell a sorrowful woman from a drunken one. God's priest should be both compassionate and sympathetic (Heb. 5:2). The risen Christ is all this and more; Eli, sadly, was only a poor shadow of Him. When Hannah corrected him, all he could vaguely say was, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to Him."
This misjudgement did not end with Hannah.
This was not the only time that people moved by the Spirit have been judged to be drunk with wine. It happened again at Pentecost, twelve hundred years later. Those who know nothing of the power of God moving the soul always think the spiritual man is mad.
She could have thrown the charge back at him and pointed to his sons. She did neither.
She addresses him with all the respect due to his age and office. She does not answer back by reminding him of his sons' failures. She does not tell him to look to his own house before rushing to accuse and condemn others. No, nothing of this... Her deserved reward is an answer of peace. She does not despise the blessing of a man who a moment before had charged her falsely. At that time he was God's highest representative on earth. She took his blessing as the voice of God to her soul, little as he may have understood it himself, and she went on her way rejoicing.
Nothing in Hannah's situation had changed when she left. No child, no sign, only a sentence spoken over her — and that was enough.
Hannah's faith lays hold of grace at once, even before receiving its effects. "And the woman went her way, and ate, and her face was no longer as before" (v. 18). This assurance of faith is enough to strengthen her heart and fill her with a joy that everyone can see.
God worked on the woman before He worked on her circumstances.
Hannah found this long ago. In her deep trial she could say, "I have poured out my soul before the Lord." As a result, we read, "Her face was no longer sad." Yet at that moment her circumstances were exactly the same. Later the Lord did change her circumstances. But first He showed that He had the power to change Hannah. By making her requests known to God, she passed from grief of heart and bitterness of soul into great peace — the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (1 Samuel 1:6-18).
Assurance is not the same as delivery. The answer was certain; the timing was not.
I believe there are times when we pray and know that our prayer has been heard and will be answered. I can humbly say I have known this in my own experience. All we have to do is wait patiently until the Lord's time comes. I often say there are three answers to our prayers: yes, no, and wait. It is the waiting that is the testing time.
The blessing stayed with Hannah long after the day it was spoken.
We can judge how deep the comfort and consolation of these words went into that wounded heart. Several years later she herself uses almost these very words.
- Poured out — Hannah took her grief to God, and that is where the change began.
- Spoken over — a failing priest still spoke a true blessing. She took it as God's voice, not as one man's opinion.
- Peace first — nothing around her had changed, yet her face had. God changed Hannah before He changed her situation.
- Then waiting — the assurance came first, the child came later. Yes, no and wait are all real answers, and waiting is the testing one.
- Given back — years later Hannah was still speaking almost the same words herself.