Reading for February 13th

Read 1 Samuel 1.19-28
In 1.19-28: Samuel's birth.
The gift of a son to Hannah shows God's favor toward the disadvantaged and indicates that Samuel is chosen for a special purpose.
In verse 19: Elkanah knew his wife: An idiom for sexual relations.
In verse 20: Samuel's name ostensibly means "God has heard," so the reader expects Hannah to say that she named her son Samuel because "God heard" her prayer her statement that she asked him of the Lord is a pun on the name of Saul instead.
In verse 28: Given is another pun on Saul's name.
This is exactly the same as Saul's name in Hebrew ("sha'ul").
It might even be translated, "He is Saul to the Lord."
These puns indicate that this story was originally about Saul's birth rather than Samuel's, or they may simply be the author's way of alluding to Saul as Israel's first king.
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