1 Samuel 1:10

1Sa 1:10 And she [was] in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

Ver. 10. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed.] Herein she took a right course to get comfort. So did David, {Psa 109:4} and Paul, {1Co 4:13} "being defamed we pray." If she should have rendered to Peninnah railing for railing, there would have been somewhat to do. Prayer and patience are the best antidotes against contempt and contumelies; the one hot, the other cold; the one quickening, the other quenching.

And wept sore.] Prayers and tears are the saints’ best weapons; Bombardae et instrumenta bellica Christianorum, saith Luther, their great guns, and their scaling ladders.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa_1:10-11

And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord.

The success of Hannahs prayer, and the reasons for it

1.Both Jacobs prayer and Hannahs prayer are very short. Hannahs consists of a single verse. It is quite clear that the much speaking has nothing to do with being heard.

2. Both Hannahs prayer and Jacobs were offered when the offerer was in trouble. Jacob was flying from the face of Esau. Now observe the wonderful graciousness and tenderness of God, that He makes a special promise to prayer offered up in distress, whether of mind, body, or estate. Call upon me, says He, in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. Hannah mixed tears with her prayers, for she prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. Christ mixed tears with His prayers in the garden, Who in the days of His flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death.

3. Again, Hannahs prayer was secret. It was not spoken in articulate language. Now, Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.

4. Hannah fully looked for and expected a result from her prayer. I gather this from the fact of her making a vow. When you are vexed, anxious, thwarted, troubled about anything, try to tell the story in the simplest words to God, asking deliverance from the trouble, if it be His good pleasure to grant it; if not, asking patience under it, and to be kept from going wrong, and acting in any way contrary to His will. Seek to be perfectly open, and to tell everything that is upon your mind,--your temptations, the difficulties you find in keeping your temper and conduct right, and what your special wishes are under the circumstances. Our Heavenly Father, our Divine Friend, is pleased and honoured by the confidence we repose in Him. He would have our prayer to be not only an act of homage, but an act of confidence; not only an abasemeant of the heart before His majesty, but a pouring forth of the heart before His fatherly goodness. (Dean Goulburn.)

Prayer at the point of agony

Understand what prayer is; prayer is the utterance of agony. There is a flippant way of praying, which means nothing, which God never hears. We cannot always pray at the point of agony. There are indeed some whole days upon which I cannot pray at all. I can say my prayers, I can put myself into a certain reverent attitude; but all power of prayer has gone away from me; and then upon other days I could pray from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, and have conscious influence with God. Hast thou ever an hour in thy poor, blank, barren life, when thou seemest to have influence in heaven? Employ every golden moment of that hour, and in the strength of Gods answer thou shalt go many days. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

God sought in trouble

You know, when you have been walking out with your father or mother, if you come to a pretty meadow, you can leave their side, run about, pick flowers, and hardly care whether your father and mother are near you or not. But if you should run a thorn into your finger, or hurt yourself in any way, how eagerly would you run to tell them all your trouble, and to seek their help! Now God has just such children: when all is smooth and easy around them, they care not much for their Fathers company; but let pain or trouble come, they are glad to run to him, and to pour out their hearts before him. If it had not been for Hannahs trouble, Hannah would never have known so much of prayer and praise. (Helen Plumptre.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 1:10. She was in bitterness of soul — Oppressed with grief, which returned when she was alone, and thought of her barrenness, which made her pray, with many tears, for a child. They had newly offered their peace- offerings, to obtain the favour of God; and in token of their communion with him, they had feasted upon the sacrifice: and now it was proper to put up her prayer, in virtue of the sacrifice. For the peace-offerings typified Christ’s mediation, as well as the sin-offerings: since by this not only atonement is made for sin, but an answer to our prayers obtained.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And she was in bitterness of soul,.... Because of her barrenness, and the taunts and reflections she had met with on that account; her life was bitter to her, she could take no pleasure in any of the comforts of it:

and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore; her prayer was with strong crying and tears; it was very fervent and affectionate; she prayed most vehemently, and wept bitterly. This perhaps was about the time of the evening sacrifice, about three or four o'clock in the afternoon; seeing it was after dinner that she arose up and went to prayer in the house of God, at the door of the tabernacle, or near it, as it should seem by the notice Eli took of her, who sat there.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

She was in bitterness of soul, i.e. oppressed with grief, as that phrase is used, Job 7:11; 10:1; Rth 1:20.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 10, 11. She prayed unto the LORD. Kneeling down in the inner court, but within sight of Eli, whose throne in the porch probably overlooked the whole inner space, Hannah prays unto "Jehovah of Sabaoth" for a male child. Her humility appears in her thrice calling herself Jehovah"s handmaid; her earnestness in the threefold repetition of the entreaty that Jehovah would look on her, and remember her, and not forget her. With her prayer she also makes a twofold vow in case her request is granted. The son given her is, first, to serve not for a stipulated number of years, as was the law with the Levites, (Num_4:3) but for life; and, secondly, he is to be a Nazarite. We gather from Num_6:2 that Moses found this singular institution in existence, and only regulated it, and admitted it into the circle of established and legalised ordinances. Essentially it was a consecration to God, a holy priesthood, but not a sacrificing priesthood nor one by right of birth, as the Aaronic, but personal, and either for a limited period, or for life. During the continuance of the vow, a Nazarite might

(1) partake of no produce of the vine, signifying thereby abstinence from self-indulgence and carnal pleasure. He might

(2) take no part in mourning for the dead, even though they were his nearest relatives, because his holier duties raised him above the ordinary joys and sorrows, the cares and occupations of every day life. Lastly, no razor might come upon his head, the free growing hair being at once the distinctive mark by which all men would recognise his sacred calling, and also a sign that he was not bound by the usual customs of life. By Hannah"s first vow Samuel was devoted to service in the sanctuary, by the second to a holy consecrated life. This institution remained in existence unto our Lord"s days; for John the Baptist was also consecrated to God as a Nazarite by his mother, though not as Samuel, also given to minister in the temple.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bitterness - That is, oppressed with grief. Prayed unto the Lord - They had newly offered their peace-offerings, to obtain the favour of God, and in token of their communion with him, they had feasted upon the sacrifice: and now it was proper to put up her prayer, in virtue of the sacrifice. For the peace-offerings typified Christ's mediation, as well as the sin-offerings: since by this not only atonement is made for sin, but an answer to our prayers obtained.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

So she prayed upon (al) the Lord: It is like, to (el) the Lord. Likewise (Isaiah 29:11-12), "And he gave the book upon someone who [...] knows books," is like, to someone; (II Kings 22:8) "upon Shafan," is like to Shafan.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.