"Song of Hannah, Part I"
1Samuel 2:1-3

July 15, 2007
by C.W. Powell

“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Talk 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. 4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth 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 LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them. 9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (1Sa 2:1-10 AV)

Last week, we considered the marvelous story of this man Elkanah, this man from Bethlehem, for he is called an Ephrathite. We must not think of him, however, as a man of Judah, although Bethlehem was in Judah. Elkanah was a Levite, and you remember that the Levites did not have their inheritance as a territory in Israel. Instead, they were dispersed throughout the land of Israel, for they were to be teachers and priests.

This man lived in Mt. Ephraim and he had two wives. One wife Peninnah had a number of children and she never lost an opportunity to vex the other wife Hannah, who had no children. It was an especially vexious time when they journeyed to Shiloh to offer the yearly sacrifice, and they was no way that Hannah could escape from the tormenting activity of Peninnah. Although Elkanah loved Hannah best, this was small comfort for her as she endured the persecution of her rival.

On the occasion described in chapter one, she went into the tabernacle to pray and silently made her petition to the Lord. She spoke in her heart and only her lips moved. The high priest Eli thought she was drunk and reproved her, but she protested that she was making her prayer to the Lord, and Eli blessed her. The request that she had made was a vow that if God would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord, to serve the Lord and be brought up under the guidance of the high priest, Eli.

We looked at two difficulties that arise in our minds at this vow of Hannah.

A. The vow itself: how she had the right to give away Elkanah’s son, and we saw that a woman could exercise great authority under the authority of her husband. Elkanah did not nullify the vow when he heard of it, and therefore it stood before the Lord, as we read in Numbers 30.

B. The rearing of the child by Eli and his corrupt house. Character is by predestination, not by nurture. The character of the godly is formed by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we testify in the baptism of our children. God would preserve Samuel even in the presence of those two reprobate sons of Eli: Hophni and Phinehas.

It due process of time, Hannah was delivered of a child whom she named Samuel, which means “asked of the Lord.” After the child was weaned, in accordance with her promise, she took him to Shiloh to serve the Lord in the tabernacle there and to be brought up by the high priest Eli who was already an old man.

On the occasion of her offering Samuel to the Lord as a living sacrifice, a Nazarite who would serve the Lord all his days, Hannah composed the song which we read a moment ago. It is a most remarkable and prophetic song, and Hannah, by it, joins a very elite group of women who were chosen of God to contribute these great hymns to the glory of God and to the edification of the church. The other three are Miriam, the sister of Moses; Deborah the great judge of Israel; and the Virgin Mary. The soul of a woman can be made fit by the Spirit of God to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit to sings the praises of God.

By the Lord’s will, I expect to preach two sermons on this great song of Hannah. It is so exalted that unbelievers have had a difficult time being reconciled to the fact that it was composed by a women at this early time in the history of Israel. Not the least of the remarkable thing about it is the fact that Hannah is the first one in the Bible to give the Lord Jesus the title of Messiah, or Christ, or Anointed [verse 10], and ascribe to Him the kingdom. But let us look at the words. I have used material from Delitzsch and Kyle, and Matthew Henry, several other commentaries, as well as mining my own memory and other parts of Scripture to prepare these sermons.

A. Hannah's Exaltation of Spirit. 1Samuel 2:1: “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.

1. Would you like to have your words written down for all the people for hundreds or thousands of years to read and know? I realize that this is Hannah’s finest hour, and we do not know some of the things she might have said to her husband or to Peninnah, but these are recorded and the others are mercifully covered by the Lord. The only thing in Scripture that comes close to this is the Magnificant by the Virgin Mary in Luke 1: 46 You keep you bibles open in 1Samuel 2 and compare as I read Mary’s song: It also might be the Hannah was familiar with the Song of Deborah for there are some echoes from that. But the greatest resemblances is from Mary’s song:

46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

2. Hannah’s rejoicing was in the LORD. Is the Lord your joy and your rejoicing; or his gifts? Sometimes God withholds his gifts to cure us of idolatry. He is our exceeding great reward and He would have us know that it is good for us to know that and rejoice in that. His gifts do not feed the soul; the soul is fed of Him alone.
3. There are four things in verse one:

i) My heart: true religion is from the heart. The heart rejoices in the Lord: the inner man. There can be no true religion when the heart is bitter and angry: God had heard the prayer of Hannah, and her heart rejoiced in the Lord. The Lord does answer prayer and gives us gifts so that we might rejoice in HIM.
ii) My horn: power or strength. The horn was the strength of the ox. What is the power of a woman? It is the Lord. The power of a woman is to be godly, just as it is for a man. Her power is to seek and obey the Lord. Not to seek some other’s place, but to seek her own place. Not to rebel against her lot in life, but to seek the Lord and trust Him for all things.
iii) My mouth: she is not thanking the Lord because she has a big mouth; no, she is thanking the Lord because her mouth has been opened to praise the Lord and she can exult over her enemies: I do not think that she means Peninnah, but the barrenness of her womb, the bitterness of her heart, the resentment she had in her soul: she has overcome them and is announcing the salvation of the Lord.
iv) The salvation that had come to her. To know that God heard her prayers; to know that God was leading her and showing mercy to her. How full her heart was! How fruitful were the praises on her lips!

B. Hannah's Knowledge of the Living God. 1Samuel 2:2: There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

1. Only God is holy: wholly apart from creation and all that it is; nothing defiled or corrupt in him; no changes, no unrest, no agitation of mind. Only God is holy, not of the earth. All the idols of man are men written large, with all the faults and failures and imperfections of men, but on a large scale.

2. There is no rock like our God.

i) “Rock” to Israel was a source of water, for they had received water from the rock at the time of Moses.

ii) I Cor. 10: the rock that followed them was Christ. The rock that sustained and provided for Israel was the Lord Jesus Christ. He provided them with spiritual sustenance and refreshment, and Paul so understood it in I Cor. 1):

“1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” (1Co 10:1-4 AV)

2. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (De 32:4 AV)

3. “Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.” (De 32:18 AV)

4. “How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?” (De 32:30 AV)

5. DAVID: “And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;” (2Sa 22:2 AV)

6. “The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.” (2Sa 22:3 AV)

7. “For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?” (2Sa 22:32 AV)

8. “The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.” (2Sa 22:47 AV)

9. “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” (2Sa 23:3 AV)

10. “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.” (Ps 62:2 AV)

3. He only is our rock: our defense; our source of life; our safety; our refuge where He hides our soul. 1Samuel 2:3: Talk 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.

i) God resists the proud. “exceedingly proud” Don’t push it! Pride is such a part of our fallen nature that the complete eradication of pride is impossible, but don’t go over the edge!! The forward look; the “superfluity of naughtiness” as the King James puts it so sweetly! This might be addressed to Peninnah, but I doubt it; I think that Hannah is not indulging in petty revenge in this exalted song: she is speaking to herself and to all who may be tempted to glory in themselves and in their own virtues.

2) Arrogancy: this has to do with an old writing: a license and permit; a deed perhaps. Don’t give yourself a license to pour fourth rotten things. The water of life comes from the rock; arrogance and pollution come from men when they are exceedingly proud.

3) “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Ro 13:14 AV) “make” to make a list; forsight; look ahead. Provide for. Take thought for.

4) The Lord is a God of knowledge: He knows what your have so cleverly concealed. He will weigh the actions.

Application:

1. God is our Rock: let us make Him our rock in our hearts.

a. Believe His promises
b. Believe His power and good will
c. Trust in Him at all times.
d. Don’t take matters into your own hands.

2. Put away the proud talk and the arrogant mouth. God knows the heart and what is really going on.

Amen and Amen.