1 Samuel 1:19 Commentary and Bible Study

Then they worshipped and returned to the house in Ramah. They have made their sacrifices, but they are still going to carry out daily worship. ‘And and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her’ and she ‘conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.’ Because of these words it was long, long thought that the name Samuel meant ‘asked of God’ or ‘asked for’, but it doesn't actually mean that. She named him ‘Samuel’, which means something like ‘the name of God’, and really mean something along these lines: the name of God of all strength and power. The name of God stands for his attributes and his power and his goodness, and she gave her child a name which reminded her of the attributes and power of God, and she did it for this reason: because I have asked him of the Lord.