CHAPTER 2

(1165 B.C.)

THE SONG OF HANNAH

¹And Hannah prayed (the Chaldee reads, And Hannah prayed in the Spirit of Prophecy), and said, My heart rejoices in the LORD, my horn (a part of a womans headdress, at least in that culture, at that time) is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I rejoice in Your Salvation (that Salvation is Christ, which Hannah will acknowledge in Verse 10).

²There is none holy as the LORD (the reason for her holy joy is first Gods absolute Holiness): for there is none beside You (the second reason is His absolute existence, in which she finds the proof of His Holiness): neither is there any rock like our God (in referring to the Lord as a Rock, she assigns to Him strength, calm, immovable, enduring, but a strength which avails for the safety of His People).

³Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. (God judges all things in the light of His Omniscience, which signifies every type of knowledge, past, present, and future. Knowing this, man had best be careful as to what he says.)

⁴The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they who stumbled are girded with strength (the working of this attribute of Deity tells us that human events are not the result of chance, but of Gods direction).

⁵They who were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they who were hungry ceased: so that the barren has born seven; and she who has many children is waxed feeble (this Verse typifies the Gentile Church, which is now abundant, by contrast with Israel, who is now barren, even though Hannah would not have understood this [Gal. 4:27]).

⁶The LORD kills, and makes alive: He brings down to the grave, and brings up (oftentimes, the Lord brings a man to the very brink of the grave, and then, when all hope seems past, raises him up again).

⁷The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up (therefore, promotion comes from the Lord [Ps. 75:6-7]).

⁸He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the Throne of Glory: for the pillars of the Earth are the LORDs, and He has set the world upon them. (This speaks of Salvation, when man is raised out of dust to the Glory of God. The pillars refer to everything hanging upon God and God Alone. This is a fact of Divine Government, which is distasteful to man.)

⁹He will keep the feet of His Saints (the Lord does such by the Believer placing his Faith and trust exclusively in Christ and the Cross, which then gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work in ones life, Who Alone can bring about the needed change and strength [Rom. 6:3-14; 8:1-2, 11]), and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail (the flesh, ones own personal strength [Rom. 8:1, 8]).

¹⁰The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces (whoever it be who contends with Him); out of Heaven shall He thunder upon them (the Lord is the Supreme Judge): the LORD shall judge the ends of the Earth (the whole Earth up to its remotest quarters); and He shall give strength unto His king (is a distinct prophecy of Davids kingdom), and exalt the horn of His Anointed. (Looks onward to the Messiah, Davids greater Son. This is the first time that the term His Anointed is used, as it refers to the Messiah. It is even more special in that Hannah used it. From this point on, others take up the theme of Gods Anointed One the Messiah [Ps. 2:2; 45:7; Isa. 61:1; Dan. 9:25-26]. And so the song of Hannah ends here, but actually continues on in the hearts and lives of untold millions.)

¹¹And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child (Samuel) did minister unto the LORD before Eli the Priest (certain duties, which he, as a child, could perform, were assigned to him).

ELIS SONS

¹²Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial (worthless, even though they were priests); they knew not the LORD (how many modern Preachers fall into the same category?).

¹³And the priests custom with the people was, that, when any man offered Sacrifice, the priests servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;

¹⁴And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites who came thither.

¹⁵Also before they burnt the fat, the priests servant came and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of you, but raw.

¹⁶And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would answer him, No; but you shall give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.

¹⁷Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the Offering of the LORD. (The legal due of the priests was for the right shoulder and the wave breast; but, before he took them, they were to be consecrated to God by the burning of the fat upon the Altar [Lev. 3:5; 7:31, 34]. But, beside the due and legal portion, which, nevertheless, they took in an illegal way, they demanded a part of the flesh reserved for the feast of the offerer, and to which they had absolutely no right [Lev. 8:31; II Chron. 35:13]. Considering the situation, the people of Israel were loathe to bring Sacrifices to the Lord, because of these evil priests.)

SAMUEL

¹⁸But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child (in his early teens), girded with a linen Ephod (a linen robe; there seemed to have been many irregularities in the Tabernacle program at that time; first of all, no child was supposed to minister to the Lord in the Tabernacle; even though the Lord would not hold this against Samuel, He would hold it against Eli, who was responsible).

¹⁹Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice (this was the garment worn under the Ephod).

HANNAH

²⁰And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give you seed of this woman for the loan which is lent (given) to the LORD. And they went unto their own home (Hannah had not asked simply for a son, but for a son whom she might dedicate to God; and now Eli prays that Jehovah will give her children to be her own).

²¹And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD (the prayer of Eli was answered).

JUDGMENT

²²Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation (their sin was the greater because the women whom they corrupted were those dedicated to Tabernacle service [Ex. 38:8]).

²³And he said unto them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. (The two sons of Eli who were priests were Hophni and Phinehas. We may ask as to why the Lord didnt kill these two priests as He killed Nadab and Abihu? [Lev. 10:1-2]. The answer is: the Lord, at that time, was dwelling in power in the camp; but during Elis time, He had withdrawn Himself because of Israels apostasy. There is a great difference in an electric wire when charged and not charged.)

²⁴No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: you make the LORDs people to transgress (you make Jehovahs people cease to worship Him).

²⁵If one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. (They had passed the point of no return, and judgment would soon come. I wonder how many modern Preachers fall into the same category?)

²⁶And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men. (The Holy Spirit keeps mentioning this, signifying its importance [Vs. 21].)

²⁷And there came a man of God unto Eli (the Holy Spirit did not tell us who he was), and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaohs house?

²⁸And did I choose him (Aaron) out of all the Tribes of Israel to be My Priest, to offer upon My Altar, to burn incense, to wear an Ephod before Me? and did I give unto the house of your father all the Offerings made by fire of the Children of Israel?

²⁹Wherefore kick you at My Sacrifice and at My Offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honour your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the Offerings of Israel My people? (Elis sons treated the Ordinances, which had raised them to rank, and given them wealth and power, as if they were mundane and insignificant things. And Eli, instead of removing them from the office which they disgraced, preferred the ties of relationship to his duty to God and the moral welfare of the people.)

³⁰Wherefore the LORD God of Israel said, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before Me for ever: but now the LORD says, Be it far from Me; for them who honour Me, I will honour, and they who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. (Smith says, By thus acting, Eli became an accomplice in the abomination of his sons, and God, therefore, revoked his grant of a perpetual priesthood. The promise had been made to Aarons family as a whole [Ex. 29:9], and had then been renewed to the house of Eleazar [Num. 25:13]. Under Eli, the line of Ithamar, another son of Aaron, had ascended, but now it will diminish. This means that Gods Promises are conditional. He honors those who honor Him, etc.)

³¹Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your fathers house (the arm is the usual metaphor for strength), that there shall not be an old man in your house (the prophecy was amply fulfilled in the slaughter of Elis house, which took place a little later).

³²And you shall see an enemy in My habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in your house for ever (while Israel will be blessed, his house will diminish).

³³And the man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from My Altar, shall be to consume your eyes, and to grieve your heart: and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age (cut down as young men, which they were).

³⁴And this shall be a sign unto you, that shall come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them (they died in battle, as the following account will proclaim).

³⁵And I will raise Me up a faithful Priest, who shall do according to that which is in My heart and in My mind: and I will build Him a sure house; and He shall walk before My anointed for ever (this speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, Who will rule in the Millennial Reign; the Priests who will serve under Him will also be anointed, and will be so forever).

³⁶And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left in your house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray you, into one of the Priests offices, that I may eat a piece of bread. (In the near future, this did happen to the descendants of Eli. After a period of time, it seems that Samuel did much to raise from their misery the descendants of Eli, and there is no reason for imagining that the family ever again fell into distress, nor do the terms of the prophecy warrant such a supposition.)