1 Samuel 2:1-11 – Hannah's Song
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1 Samuel 2:1-11 – Hannah’s Song Background/Context Hannah wept bitterly, asking God for a son. Hannah vowed that if God would give her a son, she would give him to the LORD all the days of his life. God granted her request. Hannah kept her end of the bargain. After bringing the boy Samuel to the house of the LORD at Shiloh, Hannah breaks out in song/prayer. This time her prayer is one of joy instead of bitter tears. After Hannah left her three-year-old son with Eli, she could have gone off alone and had a good cry, but instead she burst into a song of praise to the Lord. The world doesn’t understand the relationship between sacrifice and song, how God’s people can sing their way into sacrifice and sacrifice their way into singing. The Bible is full of examples of godly men and women worshiping through tears (whether they be tears of joy or tears of sorrow). Before He went to the garden where He would be arrested, Jesus sang a hymn with His disciples (Matt. 26:30), and Paul and Silas sang hymns to the Lord after they had been humiliated and beaten (Acts 16:20-26). Frequently in the psalms (the songbook for Israel) you find David praising God in the midst of difficult circumstances. After being beaten by religious leaders in Jerusalem, the apostles “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41 NKVJ). Read 1 Samuel 2:1-11 Themes Presented The prominent idea in Hannah’s prayer song is that the Lord is a righteous Judge. He had brought down the proud (Peninnah) and exalted the humble (Hannah). The prayer song has four sections: 1) Hannah prays to the Lord for his salvation (2:1-2); 2) Hannah warned the proud of the Lord’s humbling (vv. 3-8d); 3) Hannah affirmed the Lord’s faithful care for his saints (vv. 8e-9b); 4) Hannah petitioned the Lord to judge the world and to prosper his anointed king (vv. 9c-10e). This prayer song has a lot of similarities to other prayer songs in Scripture, but most significantly, it resembles David’s prayer song in 2 Sam. 22:2-51 and Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55. Hannah’s prayer sets the theological tone for the books of Samuel. It speaks of God’s grace going to the underserving, God’s victory over the enemy, and the unexpected ways God turns things upside down in order to accomplish His purposes. Verse-by-verse Walkthrough Verse 1 – “And Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” After receiving the son of her deepest prayer, Hannah fulfills her promise and brings Samuel to the Lord via Eli the priest. Far from being despondent at the reality of giving up her son, Hannah assumes a heart-posture of worship. She prays a beautiful prayer that gives glory to God. Her heart exults in the LORD; her strength is exalted in the LORD. While she lifts high the LORD in her heart, the LORD lifts her up as well. The Hebrew word for “strength” here is “horn,” which is a symbol of strength and power (see Deut. 33:17). The song both starts and ends with the declaration that the Lord exalts. The verb translated as “exalt” or “raise up” appears also in vv. 7, 8, and 10 and expresses the theme of the song. To have your “horn exalted” meant to receive new strength from God and be especially helped by Him at a time of crisis. It is God who exalts the strength of the righteous but cuts off the strength of the wicked (Ps. 75:10). Who are the “enemies” Hannah mentions? Peninnah? Doubt? A cultural concept of shame and disfavor attributed to barrenness? The evil one? With the expression “my enemies,” Hannah is not making a personal attack on Peninnah (one person) but is speaking against God’s enemies. His enemies are also Hannah’s enemies, because his enemies attack her trust in God and his dealings with her (see Ps. 139:21-22). Hannah was praying and rejoicing in song at the same time! She was thinking of God’s blessing to the nation of Israel as well as to herself and her home. When prayer is selfish, it isn’t spiritual, and it does not honor the Lord. Hannah knew in her heart that God was going to do great things for His people and that her son would play an important part in accomplishing God’s plan. Her worship came from her heart and was saturated with joy of the Lord. “I rejoice in thy salvation” suggests more than Hannah’s being delivered from barrenness. Hannah sees this miracle as the beginning of new victory for Israel who time after time had been invaded, defeated, and abused by their enemies. But the word “salvation” is yeshua—Joshua—one of the names of the promised Messiah. King David would be God’s yeshua to deliver Israel from her enemies, and Jesus, the Son of David, would be God’s yeshua to deliver all people from the bondage of sin and death. Hannah knows where true salvation comes from. I rejoice in your salvation – God is the source of salvation, ultimately through the Person of Jesus Christ, God the Son (see Acts 4:12). Verse 2 – “There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” God is to be praised and worshiped, for He is holy. Hannah knew the character of God and exalted His glorious attributes. She began by affirming His holiness and uniqueness. The two go together because in both Hebrew and Greek the word “holy” means “wholly other, set apart, separated.” Hannah recognizes the holiness of God, part of true worship. We cannot worship God rightly unless we are gripped by His holiness and our unworthiness. He is completely other, unique, different than anything and everything in His creation, singular. Hannah recognizes the singularity of God. There is no other. There is no god but our God. His reign is absolute and unchallenged, He alone is God. He is one. He is God, and there is none else. Hannah says that there is no rock like our God. “Rock” is a metaphor for God that emphasized his strength and the security of those who trust in him (see Deut. 32:4; Ps. 18:1-2). He is “the rock that is higher than I;” He is the stronghold, firm foundation, solid ground. God is a rock in the sense that He is strong, sturdy, unmovable, impregnable, solid. Here the focus is on the uniqueness of the one true God as opposed to false sources of security. We would do well to make sure that our source and sense of security is in God, and not anything else. With “our God,” Hannah speaks as a member of the covenant community, whom she addresses in the next verse. Verse 3 – “Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.” Hannah recognizes that the pride of man is folly. Proud talk is foolish. God knows all things and weighs every action. She warns the proud, especially those who boast with their mouths. The majestic and powerful God humbles all those who vaunt themselves against him. Humility should follow naturally after contemplating the holiness of God. Humility is essential in our relationship to God, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). The warning is tied to the fact that God knows everything; He knows what you’ve said and done, and He know your motives. The Lord is also “a God of knowledge” (1 Sam. 2:3), so people had better be careful what they say and how they say it. There’s no place for pride and arrogance when you stand before a God who knows you through and through, everything you’ve thought, spoken, and done. God heard all of Peninnah’s haughty words spoken against Hannah, and He also heard Hannah’s prayer from her heart. God is omniscient and knows all things, and He is omnipresent and beholds all things. Hannah rejoiced because this holy God is a just judge of the actions of His people. Unlike the people involved in human judicial proceedings, the Lord knows everything and is able to weigh us and our actions accurately. Like Hannah, we may be misunderstood and maligned by people, but the Lord will always act justly. Verse 4 – “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.” Hannah begins a contrast between those who receive God’s favor and assistance and those who are punished. The mighty are brought low; that is, their bows are broken. The source of their “strength” is destroyed by the God of true strength. The mighty lose their strength, but the weak/feeble gain strength. This strength is not from themselves, but rather from God. The “mighty” are only given their might for a certain time and purpose, then they are broken, mighty no more. It is those who wait upon the LORD that have their strength renewed (Is. 40:31). Verse 5 – “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.