1 Samuel 1:16
Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
Eli rebuked Hannah while she was praying in deep distress, having misjudged her sorrowful manner as drunkenness. She answered him gently and calmly, calling herself the Lord's handmaid and asking him not to regard her as a daughter of Belial. That expression denotes a wicked, worthless, ungodly woman. Her troubled appearance and words came not from drunkenness or wickedness but from abundance of complaint, sorrow and grief poured out in prayer before God.
Her faithfulness and self-denial in this account stand in contrast with Eli's indulgent failure as a father. Her patient, prayerful and persevering fidelity remains an example of the faithfulness needed in the church, in the Sabbath school, and in society.