1 Samuel 1:1,2 - He had two wives

1:1

The first book of Samuel is focussed on the inauguration of the kingship in Israel, but the book starts in what we might think of a strange place for such an important change in the nation. We start with the family of Elkanah, an ordinary family, with typical family problems, and it is the faith of a woman experiencing difficult circumstances that kicks things off. You might think that this in some ways describes your circumstances, not in the details, but in the ordinariness of life, and life having problems. If we respond to difficulties with faith, with looking to the Lord there is no telling where things might end up.  Elkanah is described as “an Ephraimite”. Thus may just indicate that that is the region he came from, and he was actually a Levite, as indicated by 1 Chron 6.

1:2

Elkanah had two wives. Now the Biblical principle is one wife! Yet in the Old Testament we find a lot of instances of men having two wives. This may have happened because men tended to die in battle, so there were fewer men than women. While the Biblical ideal is one man one wife, the practice does not receive outright condemnation. However, having multiple wives rarely worked out well, and this was the case here. So maybe having multiple wives was endured as a necessary evil, but the message of the Bible is very clear that it is not a good idea!