“And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Samuel 1:6 Mean?
Hannah's suffering is compounded by a human adversary: Peninnah, the other wife, "provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb." The provocation is deliberate and targeted—Peninnah exploits Hannah's deepest wound. The barrenness wasn't painful enough on its own. A human being made it worse. Deliberately. Repeatedly. Specifically aimed at the most vulnerable point.
The phrase "the LORD had shut up her womb" places the source of Hannah's barrenness with God—the same attribution Naomi gave for her bitterness. The text doesn't shy away from connecting Hannah's closed womb to God's direct action. The barrenness isn't random biology. It's divine decision. God shut the womb. The reason isn't given. The fact is stated.
The combination of divine withholding and human cruelty creates the specific suffering Hannah endures: God hasn't given her a child, and Peninnah won't let her forget it. The wound from heaven is salted by the wound from the woman across the table. The suffering has two sources—divine sovereignty and human meanness—and Hannah lives at the intersection of both.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Are you carrying a compound suffering—a wound from God made worse by cruelty from people?
- 2.Peninnah's provocation was deliberate. Who in your life is targeting your deepest vulnerability?
- 3.God shut Hannah's womb. Do you hold that kind of honesty—attributing the hard thing to God—while still trusting Him?
- 4.The barrenness produced the prophet. What might your worst suffering be producing that you can't yet see?
Devotional
God shut her womb. And Peninnah made sure she felt it. The barrenness was God's doing. The cruelty about the barrenness was Peninnah's. Two sources of suffering converging on one woman: the divine withholding she couldn't understand and the human provocation she couldn't escape.
Peninnah's provocation was deliberate: "for to make her fret." Not accidental insensitivity. Targeted cruelty. The intention was to wound—to take the most painful reality in Hannah's life and press on it until it produced the maximum distress. Peninnah knew exactly where the wound was and exactly how to aggravate it.
The combination is the specific kind of suffering many women know: a pain from God (the unanswered prayer, the closed door, the thing you desperately want but can't have) compounded by a pain from people (the person who makes sure you feel the absence, who flaunts what you lack, who turns your vulnerability into their advantage). The divine wound and the human wound occupy the same location. And the human wound makes the divine wound infinitely harder to bear.
If you're carrying a wound from God—something He's withheld, a prayer He hasn't answered, a womb He's shut—and someone in your life is making it worse on purpose, Hannah's suffering is your exact address. The barrenness and the bully. The closed womb and the cruel co-wife. Both are real. Both hurt. And the God who shut the womb also sees the provocation—and the story doesn't end with either. Hannah's prayer produces Samuel. The barrenness produces the prophet. The worst chapter produces the best son. But first: the compound suffering has to be endured.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And her adversary also provoked her sore,.... That is, Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah; for when a man had more…
And her adversary - That is, Peninnah.
Provoked her sore - Was constantly striving to irritate and vex her, to make her…
We have here an account of the state of the family into which Samuel the prophet was born. His father's name was…
her adversary Peninnah. The cognate verb is used in Lev 18:18, "Thou shalt not take a wife to her sister to vex her."