Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

The use of the root  $)L  is a play on verse 20, in which Hannah names her 
son $emu)el "because I have asked (for) him of the Lord". Verses 27-28 
emphasize this theme by using the same root four times.

An interesting point here, of course, is that the name $emu)el (Samuel) has 
nothing to do with the verb $)L. $emu)el means "his name is God", or "God 
has named", or, if the shin is originally a sin, perhaps "God has placed". A 
name meaning "asked of God" would be "Shealtiel". On the other hand, 
"because I have asked (for) him of the Lord" would have been a perfect 
explanation for the name Shaul (Saul), who of course appears later on in the 
book, without a birth narrative.

I suspect, although of course I have no proof, that there was an original 
Saul birth story here that the author of I Samuel, not really a fan of 
Saul's, took over and attributed to Samuel's birth (or combined with an 
existing Samuel birth story). But that's mainly conjecture.

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 8:50 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 1 Sam 1:28 -- Asked - Lent??


> Chris:
>
> Look again at the context. Especially verse 11. "Lent" is an incorrect
> translation. A more correct yet not too rigidly Hebraic translation,
> "I ask that he be for the Lord all his days, he was asked to be for
> the Lord." In other words, she was asking Eli to take her son to be
> with him in God's service.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> On 10/27/06, Chris and Nel <wattswestmaas AT eircom.net> wrote:
> > 1 Samuel 1:28 -- "I have lent him to the Lord ....  He is lent to the 
> > Lord"
> >
> > The first verb Perfect-Hiphil and the second verb Qal-Participle;  I sat 
> > and
> > I read and I thought and I looked up and I thought and I read again!  I 
> > even
> > read a complex synopsis of Hiphil and was left entirely in the dark about
> > this. It beats me how we arrive at Lent from Asked/begged.  What more can 
> > I
> > say?  The REAL issue for me is why not 'NaTaN'.  A simple 'give' and be 
> > done
> > with it.
> >
> > And besides all this how can Gesenius and others say 'Lent'. This would
> > imply that Hannah, at some stage, expects him back, but this was NOT the 
> > vow
> > she prayed.
> >
> > Am I not learning things correctly or what?  I have just began an
> > intermediate Hebrew book by Ehud Ben Zvi and he does not even mention 
> > this
> > anomaly.
> >
> > Regards
> > Chris.
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