Hannah Asks Whether She Belongs to the Host Above or Below

Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon said: Hannah said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, there is a host above and there is a host below. The host above does not eat, nor drink, nor be fruitful and multiply, nor die, but lives for the world to come. The host below eats and drinks and is fruitful and multiplies and dies, and does not live forever. And I do not know to which host I belong. If I am of the host above, then let me not eat, nor drink, nor bear children, nor die, but live forever. And if I am of the host below, then let me bear children and eat and drink. Another interpretation: Hannah used to go up for the festival and saw all Israel, and she said before Him: Master of the universe, all these hosts You have, and I do not have a single one among them. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Hannah, you have multiplied My hosts; I too will multiply your hosts — as it is written, "All these were sons of Heman, the king's seer in the matters of God, to lift up the horn" (1 Chronicles 25:5), and it is written, "And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters" (1 Chronicles 25:5).