And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.
Eli watched Hannah as she prayed without sound, her lips moving while her heart was full of deep grief and distress, and he took her anguished, silent pleading for drunkenness. He sternly and unjustly rebuked her, telling her to put away her wine. His suspicion shows how common drunkenness and irreverent behavior had become, even at religious festivals, so that he could suppose a worshipper at prayer was drunk. It likewise shows how widespread intemperance had grown among the people, even among women.
In the larger account Hannah stands as the faithful one while Eli fails in his duties as both father and priest, a contrast set forth without explaining his accusation that she was drunk. His readiness to censure her earnest prayer stands in contrast to his excuses for the sins of his own sons. Her part in the account exemplifies patient, prayerful, persevering faithfulness of the kind needed in the church, in the Sabbath school, and in society.
Eli watched Hannah as she prayed without sound, her lips moving while her heart was full of deep grief and distress, and he took her anguished, silent pleading for drunkenness. He sternly and unjustly rebuked her, telling her to put away her wine. His suspicion shows how common drunkenness and irreverent behavior had become, even at religious festivals, so that he could suppose a worshipper at prayer was drunk. It likewise shows how widespread intemperance had grown among the people, even among women.
In the larger account Hannah stands as the faithful one while Eli fails in his duties as both father and priest, a contrast set forth without explaining his accusation that she was drunk. His readiness to censure her earnest prayer stands in contrast to his excuses for the sins of his own sons. Her part in the account exemplifies patient, prayerful, persevering faithfulness of the kind needed in the church, in the Sabbath school, and in society.