Bede : And he gave to his wife Peninnah, etc. The Lord, suffering in the human flesh, and provoking to divine matters, gave to the Synagogue and all who believed and feared Him in it, both small and great, various operations of virtues and divisions of graces. To the Church of the Gentiles, however, which was still in a few believers, for instance, the Centurion and the Syrophoenician woman, and also to those who, going up to worship in the temple on the feast day, said to Philip: "Sir, we wish to see Jesus" (John 12:21); and to others like them, He bestowed only the gifts of faith. The grace of the charismata, however, He deferred to give for the time being. And this one was acting sorrowfully, because she knew what kind of church it would be and praised it in the faith of the Centurion or the aforementioned woman; she loved it, although it was still delayed by the supreme counsel of goodness from receiving the sacraments of the same faith. Therefore, as the hour of passion was approaching, He said, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death" (Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34); He did not say, sorrowful because of death, but unto death; because, by His very death, He knew that He would destroy him who had the power of death, and after death, He rejoiced that He would reach the salvation of the Gentiles. — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : 15. What does it mean that when he gave portions to Peninnah, and to her sons and daughters, he was by no means sad: but when he gave one portion to Hannah, he is said to have been sad? But what is the one portion of Hannah, except the temporal affliction of holy Church? For he was giving her this portion when he said: Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and you shall be sorrowful (John 16:20). He was giving her this portion when he commended Paul to Ananias, saying: Go, for this man is a vessel of election to me, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name (Acts 9:15-16). Wherefore in receiving this, the same teacher of the Gentiles glories, saying: I fill up what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in my body (Col. 1:24). Hence he says again: I bear the marks of Jesus in my body (Gal. 6:17). Hence he says: But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). For he had received one portion from the bridegroom, who was disposed to glory in the cross alone. Therefore when he gave portions to Peninnah, Elkanah was not sad; because our Redeemer, after the triumph of death, now joyfully restored the elect of the synagogue to the joys of paradise. But he gave Hannah's portion sadly, because he could not but suffer with her whom he was leaving as the spouse of death and the heir of the cross. Wherefore also when Stephen was suffering, with the heavens opened, Jesus is said to stand (Acts 7:55). For to stand is to suffer with him. 16. But what is added, that he loved Anna, can properly be understood as the cause of both things. For whether one accepts that he was sad because he loved Anna, or that he gave her one portion for that reason, it does not lack a good interpretation. For if he did not love her, he would by no means wish to sympathize with her sufferings. For why is she led out of Egypt, unless because she is called to suffering? But places flowing with milk and honey are promised to her. Rightly therefore when he is said to give her one portion, he is declared to love her: because indeed our Redeemer, although he entrusted to the holy Church the labor of his cross, established for her far more excellent gifts of reward in heaven. Expounding indeed the increase of her suffering, he adds and says: (Verses 6 and 7.) But the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival also afflicted her, and vehemently distressed her to such an extent that she reproached her because the Lord had closed her womb. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 1 Gregory the Dialogist : (Moral Exposition) The sons of Peninnah are the counsels of the holy mind, which grow through the pursuit of piety in the active life. These sons receive portions with their mother when the counsels of piety grow rich in devotion to good works unto the splendor of heavenly grace. For the pious mind, the more sublimely it is raised in divine contemplation, the more devoutly it extends itself in holy action. For the portions of this mother and her sons are the preparations for holy works. But he gives one portion to the sorrowful Hannah, because through contemplation, by which she desires heavenly things, as long as she is hindered in this misery of time and does not obtain the heavenly things she loves, she has the food of refreshment only in weeping. Indeed, she holds herself fasting whenever, remembering that she is cast out from eternal joys, she cannot weep. Therefore she receives one portion from the sorrowful one, because she is never refreshed according to her desire unless she is satisfied by weeping. The Ephrathite husband gives it to her sorrowfully, who when he gave a portion to Peninnah was not sorrowful, because indeed he rejoices in the preparation of good works, but does not rejoice in joys as long as he is delayed from the heavenly things he loves. Certainly he had given this portion to Hannah, who, seeing himself excluded from eternal goods, spoke saying: "My tears have been my bread day and night, while it is said to me daily: Where is your God?" (Psalms 41:4). But the imperfection of one still beginning is indicated when one wife of the Ephrathite is said to afflict and vehemently distress the other. For in the perfect person, the battle of wives is by no means engaged, since firm experience already knows how to arrange discretely the need for work and the intention for contemplation. For he possesses both wives as if in peace, who neither assigns the times of work to contemplation nor disturbs the leisure of contemplation through the intention of work. (Verse 6) Her rival also afflicted her and vehemently distressed her, to such an extent that she reproached her because the Lord had closed her womb. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 2 John Chrysostom : Let us not take this with a grain of salt; instead let us learn also from this the highest values, and when we fall foul of some disaster, even if we are suffering grief and pain, even if the trouble seems insupportable to us, let us not be anxious or beside ourselves but wait on God's providence. He is well aware, after all, when is the time for what is causing us depression to be removed—which is what happened in her case as well. It was not out of hatred, in fact, or of revulsion that he closed her womb, but to open to us the doors on the values the woman possessed and for us to espy the riches of her faith and realize that he rendered her more conspicuous on that account.… Extreme the pain, great the length of grief—not two or three days, not twenty or a hundred, not a thousand or twice as much; instead, "for a long time," it says, for many years the woman was grieving and distressed, the meaning of "for a long time." Yet she showed no impatience, nor did the length of time undermine her values, nor the reproaches and abuse of her rival; instead, she was unremitting in prayer and supplication, and what was most remarkable of all, showing in particular her love for God, was the fact that she was not simply anxious to have this very child for herself but to dedicate the fruit of her womb to God, offer the first fruits of her own womb and receive the reward for this fine promise. — HOMILIES ON HANNAH 1