What Does 1 Samuel 1:22 Mean?
But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child is weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may be seen before the LORD and settle there for ages.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “weaned” also carries the sense of being dealt with fully, making the end of nursing a completed season rather than a severed bond.
THE MEANING
A season of close dependence can reach completion and change form without becoming abandonment. Hannah’s care holds the child’s weaning alongside his lasting place before the LORD, so growth changes the bond’s shape without erasing belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief this verse unsettles is that a bond ends when one form of dependence ends. Hannah’s promise holds weaning and lasting belonging together.
THE ROOT
יִגָּמֵל
yiggamel
GROWS FROM
גמל
To deal fully with or requite; in this form, to bring a child to the end of nursing.
“weaned” in this verse is yiggamel. The root spans weaning and dealing fully, meanings English keeps apart. Here, weaning marks a season reaching its measure before Hannah brings the child into the LORD’s presence.
ALSO GROWS
gāmal: Deal bountifully with; treat fully.
גָּמַל
Psalm 13:6 uses this same root for the LORD’s having dealt bountifully with the speaker, echoing the sense of a full measure.
gemul: Recompense; what is dealt out.
גְּמוּל
This branch keeps the root’s sense of a full response visible beside the child’s completed nursing.
וְנִרְאָה
wə-nir'eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look at, or perceive.
“be seen” in this verse is wə-nir'eh. The Hebrew form carries the sense of being seen before the face of the LORD. The phrase holds visibility alongside arrival: the child is brought into a presence where he is seen.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: See; perceive.
רָאָה
The root’s ordinary sense of seeing deepens the phrase “appear before”: the child is present to the LORD’s sight.
mar'eh: Appearance; vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch shows the root extending from the act of seeing to what is seen.
וְיָשַׁב
wə-yashav
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, settle, or dwell.
“settle” in this verse is wə-yashav. English “abide” can sound abstract, while yashav carries the grounded sense of sitting, settling, and dwelling. Samuel’s lasting presence is pictured as settled residence.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit; dwell; remain.
יָשַׁב
The verb gathers physical sitting and continued dwelling into one word, giving “abide” a sense of settled presence.
moshav: Seat; dwelling place.
מוֹשָׁב
This related noun turns the act of settling into a place to dwell.
THE PATTERN
A completed season of dependence can open into a more settled form of life.
And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.Surely I level and hush my living soul, like a weaned child upon his mother; like one weaned upon me, my living soul.But firm food is for the complete, for those who through practice have their senses exercised to sift good from evil.THE THREAD
I will sing to the LORD, for he has dealt fully with me.Psalm 13:6 uses the same גמל root for the LORD’s having dealt bountifully with the speaker. Weaning and full dealing echo one another: a season reaches its measure, and the next movement unfolds within care.
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