Elkanah

Elkanah ( ’Ĕlqānā "El has purchased") was, according to the First Book of Samuel, the husband of Hannah, and the father of her children including her first, Samuel. Elkanah practiced polygamy; his other wife, less favoured but bearing more children, was named Peninnah. The names of Elkanah's other children apart from Samuel are not given. Elkanah plays only a minor role in the narrative, and is mostly a supporting character to Eli, Hannah, and Samuel.

==Lineage== thumb|Elkanah with wives at sacrifice; page from the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible, 1560s|left According to 1 Samuel 1, Elkanah was the son of Jeroham, who was the son of Elihu, who was the son of Tohu, who was the son of Zuph. He is described as having originated from Zuph, specifically Ramathaim-Zophim, which was part of the tribal lands of Ephraim. While he is called an Ephraimite in 1 Samuel, the Books of Chronicles state that he was a Levite.