Having handed her only son to the priest and turned for home, Hannah does not weep — she sings. The song is not really about the baby; it is about the God who overturns everything: who breaks the strong and strengthens the stumbling, empties the full and fills the hungry, and lifts a beggar out of the ash-heap to sit among princes. Mary would borrow its shape a thousand years later. And it ends looking further ahead than Hannah could see: to a king, and to the LORD’s Anointed.
A study in 1 Samuel 2 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
My Heart Rejoiceth In The LORD
“My heart rejoiceth in the LORD… because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.”
1 Samuel 2:1-2
The song’s first word is joy, and its object is not the child but the Giver: “I rejoice in thy salvation.” Hannah has just done the hardest thing a mother could do, and what comes out of her is worship. A gift held too tightly makes an idol; a gift given back makes a psalm. She grounds it in who God is — holy, alone, a rock — before she says a word about what He has done.
He Bringeth Low, And Lifteth Up
“The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength… The LORD killeth, and maketh alive… The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.”
1 Samuel 2:4-8
The whole middle of the song is reversal: the armed man disarmed, the weak made strong, the well-fed hiring themselves out for bread, the barren bearing seven. This is how God runs His world — not by leaving the powerful on top. Mary’s song in Luke 1 is built on this frame almost line for line: “he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree” (Luke 1:52). The book that follows is a demonstration of it: a rejected shepherd raised to a throne, a crowned king brought down to a suicide on a hill.
He Shall Give Strength Unto His King
“The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces… the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
1 Samuel 2:10
Israel has no king yet — that fight is two chapters away — and Hannah is singing about “his king… his anointed.” The word for “anointed” is mashiach, Messiah. A private thanksgiving in the courtyard at Shiloh has turned into prophecy: past David, whom the book will crown, to the Anointed One David only points toward.
“Hannah’s words were prophetic, both of David, who should reign as king of Israel, and of the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed. Referring first to the boasting of an insolent and contentious woman, the song points to the destruction of the enemies of God and the final triumph of His redeemed people.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 572
The Sons Of Eli Were Sons Of Belial
“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD… Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD… for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
1 Samuel 2:12, 17, 30
The chapter sets Hannah’s song against its exact opposite. Eli’s sons are priests who “knew not the LORD” — they strong-arm the worshippers for the best cuts of meat, so that people come to despise the sacrifices altogether. Eli protests weakly and is ignored. Into that house God sends a message with a hinge in it: “them that honour me I will honour.” The men holding the office despise God; the boy sweeping the floor honours Him. The book is about to swap them.
“The sons of Eli, instead of realizing the solemnity of this symbolic service, only thought how they could make it a means of self-indulgence… This irreverence on the part of the priests soon robbed the service of its holy and solemn significance, and the people ‘abhorred the offering of the Lord.’”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 576
