Hannah

Hannah (meaning gracious, merciful, or favor) was one of the two wives of Elkanah, a Levite of Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. She was barren while Elkanah's other wife Peninnah had children, and Peninnah's taunting provoked Hannah to deep grief. At the sanctuary in Shiloh, Hannah poured out her distress in a prayer so fervent that the priest Eli mistook her for drunk; when he learned she was praying, he blessed her. She vowed that if God gave her a son she would dedicate him to the LORD as a Nazirite all his life (1 Sam. 1:1–28).

God answered Hannah's prayer, and she bore Samuel—arguably the most pivotal figure in Israel's transition from the judges to the monarchy. She kept her vow by bringing the weaned child to Shiloh to serve under Eli. Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving (1 Sam. 2:1–10) is a remarkable theological poem anticipating the reversal of human fortunes under God's sovereign hand; it served as the direct model for Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55), making Hannah a type of the mother of the Lord.