What Does 1 Samuel 1:24 Mean?
And when she had weaned him, she brought him up with her, with three young bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh, and the boy was young.
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
And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young.THE KEY
The word for “weaned” shares a root with “dealt bountifully,” linking Samuel’s release from nursing with care carried through its full course.
THE MEANING
This verse holds care and dedication together: Hannah brings Samuel to the LORD’s house after he is weaned, with provisions for the journey. His move to a new place follows a season of nurture; it does not erase that care.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the assumption that release means neglect: Hannah brings Samuel only after weaning, and brings provisions with him.
THE ROOT
גְּמָלַתּוּ
gemalattu
GROWS FROM
גמל
To deal with or requite; in this form, to wean.
“weaned” in this verse is gemalattu. The Hebrew word for weaning comes from the same root used for dealing bountifully and recompensing. English separates the child’s completed nursing from the idea of generous dealing; the root places them in one word family.
ALSO GROWS
gāmal: To deal bountifully or requite
גָּמַל
In Psalm 13:6, this root describes the LORD’s bountiful dealing, echoing the care carried through in weaning Samuel.
gemul: Recompense; a person’s due dealing
גְּמוּל
This related noun shows the root’s wider reach: it can name what is rendered in response to someone, as well as the act of weaning.
THE PATTERN
A child’s transition into a new place follows a season of growth and care.
And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, the one drawn out, and she said, Because from the waters I drew him out.And when the days of her cleansing according to the instruction of Moses were filled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to stand him beside the Lord.THE THREAD
I will sing to the LORD, for he has dealt fully with me.The root גמל (gāmal), meaning to deal with or requite, appears in both “weaned” here and “dealt bountifully” in the psalm. It connects a completed stage of care with generous dealing.
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