Hannah’s prayer for a male child: Interpreting 1 Samuel 1:11 in the Nigerian context

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon O. Ademiluka
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Male Child ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Samuel 1 ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
Christian Couples ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Women Abuse ◽  
1 Samuel ◽  
Land Inheritance

Studies have shown that a preference for male children is prevalent in many parts of the world, including Africa. In Nigeria, with its patriarchal family structure, a preference for sons has become an institutionalised way of life. Hence, the Hannah narrative in 1 Samuel 1 is of high relevance in Nigeria. The story of Hannah’s barrenness has often been employed to encourage childless Christians to have faith in God for children, but not many have paid attention to her request specifically for a male child in verse 11. To this end, Hannah’s prayer for a male child is examined in this article against the context of the strong desire for male children in Nigeria. The article employed the historical-critical and descriptive methods. Apart from the exegesis of 1 Samuel 1:11, using the descriptive approach, the author interacted with and utilised relevant material on preference for male children in Nigeria. The research found that Hannah’s request for a son is consistent with the pattern of the narratives of barren mothers in the Old Testament in which all asked for male children. Hannah’s specific request for a male child is therefore a reflection of the preference for sons in ancient Israel, which derived principally from the fact that, in that society, male children were greatly desired for the purpose of the perpetuation of the husband’s lineage, as well as for land inheritance. Understanding Hannah’s prayer for a son in this way, makes 1 Samuel 1:11 relevant in Nigeria where people prefer male children for similar reasons. In view of the fact that the preference for sons has a fatal effect on female children, as well as their mothers, it amounts to women abuse, which makes it an issue of pastoral significance in Nigeria. 1 Samuel 1:11 is thus relevant in the context of marital conflicts among Nigerian Christian couples arising from male child preference. To this end, teaching to illuminate this preference for sons should form an integral part of the marriage theology of the church in Nigeria.Contribution: The article is a contribution in the field of marriage theology, in that it identifies the preference for male children as a possible factor for marital disharmony among Nigerian Christian couples.

Reading Hebrew Bible Narratives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Andrew Dearman
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Multiple Methods ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Samuel 1 ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
Historical Dramas

The narrative traditions in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible are classical and canonical accounts in Western society and can be interpreted as historical dramas, using multiple methods of literary and historical analysis. Chapters in the book include introductory discussions of literary approaches to historical narratives such as plot, theme, characterization, and semantics, as well as historical and cultural analysis of their ancient contexts. Each chapter emphasizes interaction with specific biblical texts, interpreting them in the context of ancient Israel’s national storyline, and encourages readers to approach them dialogically. Narratives for examination are drawn from the books of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, Ruth, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Texts from the books of Genesis and Ruth receive repeated attention, as does the topic of marriage and family in ancient Israel. This attention allows readers to see the same topic in various literary/historical settings and to engage similar texts with multiple methods.

1 Samuel 1:24: Typological Reflections

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven C. SALARIS
Keyword(s):  
Samuel 1 ◽  
1 Samuel

Witches and Forgers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Mandelbrote
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
1 Samuel ◽  
The Witch

Scepticism and loyalty represent the poles of van Dale’s career. Two contexts have been mentioned as relevant here: the seventeenth-century attack on magic and superstition, and the circles of friendship that created a contemporary Republic of Letters. This chapter evaluates both contexts, as well as others that may throw light on his relatively neglected attitude to the text of the Bible. It brings into focus two important intellectual episodes: his treatment of the account of the Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:3–25), and his engagement with Hellenistic sources relating to the text of the Old Testament, especially to the miraculous composition of the Septuagint. These issues brought van Dale to ask questions about God’s Word. The chapter explores the limits of his scepticism, the extent of his scholarship, and the role of friendship and isolation in his development. Finally, it draws attention to his place in contemporary Mennonite debates.

Peter Abelard, Heloise and Jewish Biblical Exegesis in the Twelfth Century

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
CONSTANT J. MEWS ◽  
MICHA J. PERRY
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Peter Abelard ◽  
Jewish Scholar ◽  
1 Samuel

This paper revisits the question of the influence of Jewish biblical exegesis on Christian scholars in twelfth-century France, by focusing in particular on Abelard's response to a question of Heloise in herProblemataabout questions raised by1 Samuel ii.35–6 (=1 Regum ii.35–6)concerning ‘the faithful priest’ prophesied as Eli's successor, the meaning of ‘will walk before my anointed’ and the nature of the offering his household should make. Abelard's discussion of the views of an unnamed Jewish scholar illustrates a consistent movement evident in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries for certain Christian exegetes to approach Jewish scholars to resolve problems posed by the text of the Old Testament. While the passage in1 Samuelwas traditionally interpreted in a Christocentric fashion, Heloise implicitly supports a more historical reading of the text in the question she puts to Abelard. The Jewish scholar's interpretation reported by Abelard is very close to that of Rashi's twelfth-century disciples.

The Use of the Word as a Title in the Old Testament

1969 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
J.R. Bartlett
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
General Sense ◽  
Ancient Israel

AbstractMany societies have used the word "head" metaphorically to describe the position of the leading figure in a society or in some smaller group, and this title usually has a vague and imprecise meaning. To be intelligible it needs to be given some known context or some further definition. For example, if we are schoolmasters, we may among ourselves refer to "the Head", but outside school, unless we are speaking to people who know the context of our work, we have to refer to "the Headmaster" to be fully understood. And even when the context of the headship is known, the title "head" by itself tells us nothing definite about the position of the person so described. We know nothing, for example, about the means of his appointment, the tenure of his office, or the scope of his powers. Thus the word "head" can often be used in a general sense of some position or office for which there is in fact an official or more descriptive title. In the Old Testament, however, the title is not always so vaguely used. Although the word "head" in Hebrew as in English has a natural ambiguity on many occasions, we can at least show that in the Old Testament the word is used of a person's position only in certain well defined spheres. And because the title "head" in the Old Testament has a fairly limited reference, the details of appointment, tenure of office or position, and scope of powers, though sometimes unknown to us, may not have been so generally unknown in ancient Israel.

scholarly journals Humans created God in their image? An anthropomorphic projectionism in the Old Testament

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ndikho Mtshiselwa ◽  
Lerato Mokoena
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
History Of ◽  
Old Testament Studies

The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.

Hannah at Pentecost

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-258
Author(s):  
Reed Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Samuel 1 ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Biblical Allusion ◽  
1 Samuel ◽  
Book Of Acts ◽  
Old Greek

This essay argues that Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel 1–2 is an example of a ‘spirit phenomenon’ in the Hebrew Bible. The story displays an uncanny sensitivity to Hannah’s psychological state, which is consistent with how spirit language is used as self-language in biblical literature. Hannah describes herself as a ‘woman of hard spirit’ (1 Sam. 1.15) and engages in a kind of trance, which is disruptive enough to draw the attention of Eli. Through inner-biblical allusion and intentional alterations in the Old Greek and Dead Sea Scroll versions of 1 Samuel, Hannah comes to be associated with other prophetic women in biblical literature. Several Second Temple Jewish interpreters read Hannah as a prophetess and as a practitioner of spirit ecstasy, culminating in Philo’s association of Hannah with Bacchic possession and in Hannah’s experience at Shiloh serving as a model for Pentecost in the book of Acts.

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