1. 1 Samuel 1:13 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why would Eli think that Hannah was drunk?

1 Samuel 1:13 (ESV)

13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.

Hannah was praying silently. It was common at the time for people to pray aloud rather than in silence.1 Possibly the moral decay in Israel had reached such an extent that it was not unusual to find drunk people at the tabernacle.2