Faith
Samuel the Prophet - Why Is He Called by This Name?
Question
Why is Samuel called that? After all, the derivation of his name does not fit his name. They explain that his mother asked him from Hashem, but if so, they should have called him by a different name... What is the explanation for his name, why was he called that even though the explanation is different...?
Answer
Greetings and blessings
I Samuel 1:20) And it came to pass, at the turn of the days, that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for from Hashem I have asked him. So wrote the Malbim on I Samuel, chapter 1, verse 20 - part of the explanation of the matter (20) And she called his name Samuel - that there are in it two words, Shaul from God.
And in Ibn Ezra, Genesis, chapter 5, verse 29, the general principle is that the people of our language do not preserve, in names, the rules of verb grammar. And likewise Samuel is not derived from for from Hashem I have asked him.
With blessings - Binyamin Shmueli
