The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 8

EXPOSITION. is a common one among the Kohathites, to CHAPTER I. which division of the sons of Levi Samuel THE GENEALOGY AND BIRTHPLACE OF belonged. SAMUEL (vcrs. 1-8). Ver. 1.-There was a The prophet's birthplace was Ramathaim· certain man of Ramathaim-Zophim. Though Zophim, no doubt the Ramah which was Samuel belonged to the tribe of Levi, yet no Samuel's own head-quarters (1 Sam. viL Ii; special mention is made of the fact, because xv. 34; xvi. 13; xL,c_ 18-23; xxv. 1); the he owed his importance and rank as a judg~ place where he d,velt, wrought, died, and not to his Levitical origin, but to the gift was buried, and the Arimathrea of the of :prophecy, which was independent of the Gospels. The Septuagint generally gives accidents of birth and station. In the First the name in full, but this is the only place Book of Chronicles, eh. vi., his parentage where it is so written in the Hebrew. Ramah is twice given, that in vers. 22-28 being signifies a height, and the dual Ramathaim apparently the family genealogy, while that the double height, the town being situated in vers. 33-38 was probably taken from the on a hill ending in two peaks. But which records of the temple singers, sprung from it was of the many Ramahs, or hill towns, Heman, Samuel's grandson (1 Chron. vi. in the Holy Land, is hotly contested ; pro- 33). His name there appears as Shemuel, bably it was the Ramah in Benjamin, about our translators not having perceived that two hours' journey north-west of Jerusalem. it is the same as that for which elsewhere Its second name, Zophim, is taken from they give the familiar rendering, Samuel. Zuph, Samuel's remote ancestor, with whom The variations Elkanah, Jeroham, Elihu, the genealogy here begins. Zuph had appar- Tobu, Zuph (1 Sam. i. 1); Elkanah, Jero- ently emigrated from Ephraim, one of the ham, Eliab, Nahath, Zophai (1 Chron. vi. three tribes (Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan) tet 26, 27) ; Elkanah, Jeroham, Eliel, Toah, which the Koha~hites were attached, and Znph (ibid. vers. 34, 35), are interesting as was a person of sufficient power and energy 1;howing that the genealogies in Chronicles to give his name to the whole district ; were compiled from family documents, in called the land of Zuph in 1 Sam. ix. 5. which, as was usual in the case of proper His descendants, the Zophim, had Ramah as names, there w11s much diversity of spelling, their centre, and Elkanah, as thei.r bead, or possibly of interpreting the cumbrous would be a man of wealth aml influence. signs used for letters in those early days. Though actually belonging to the tribe of The variations, however, in Elihu (God is :1e), Benjamin, Ramah is said to be upon Mount Eliab (God is Father), and Eliel (God is Ephraim, because this limestone range ex- God) were probably intentional, us were tended to and kept its name almost up to certainly other changes in names, such as Jerusalem (see Judges iv. 5, and 2 Chron. that of Ishbaal into Ishbosheth. The name xiii. 4 ; xv. 8, compared with xiii. 19). of Samuel's father, Elkanah (God is owner), Elkan11.h too is called an Ephrathite, i. ,_ 1 B.lll B  THE FIRST DOOK OF SAMUEL. [CR. I. 1-8,