Hannah’s Hymn of Thanksgiving

Hannah’s hymn of thanksgiving for the birth of Samuel in Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities is based on its biblical antecedent (1 Samuel 2) but prophetically reveals more about the significance of the son to whom she has given birth. Where the biblical hymn is more generic in content, this one is replete with narrative specificity. Hannah’s female reproductive organs—womb and breasts—are exalted here by Eli as “providing advantage for the peoples and a fountain for the twelve tribes.” Her “womb has been justified through this boy”; she achieves renown through her childbearing function as the mother of Samuel. The hymn also retains the biblical motifs that God miraculously opens the womb of the barren and overturns conventional expectations of who is rich and who is poor.