1 Samuel 2:1-10

HANNAH’S SONG, 1 Samuel 2:1-10.

“This prayer and song of Hannah,” says Wordsworth, “is one of the golden links which connect the song of Sarah on the birth of Isaac (Genesis 21:6-7) with the Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin. Luke 1:46-55. Another link is the triumphal song of Miriam, after the passage of the Red Sea. Exodus 15:20-21. Another is the song of Deborah, praising the Lord for delivering his people by the hand of a woman. Judges 5:0. All these poetic hymns of thanksgiving, uttered by women, are celebrations of joyful events, which are prophetic foreshadowings of the universal deliverance and victory achieved by the Promised Seed of the woman.”

The subject-matter of this song seems not, at first sight, fully to accord with the occasion that called it forth. It is professedly a psalm of thanksgiving by which Hannah glorifies God for having given her a child, but, with the exception of a part of 1 Samuel 2:5, it reads more like a war song of triumph than the rejoicing of a barren woman over the birth of a child. Hence certain modern critics have not hesitated to declare that it was composed for some other occasion, such as the victory of David over Goliath, or some other instance of Israelitish triumph, and that the compiler of the books of Samuel inserted it here in a wrong place. The mention of a king as the anointed of Jehovah, in 1 Samuel 2:10, has also been used as an argument to prove that this song must be the production of an age at least as late as that of the Kings. But if we view this song as a prophetic utterance, spoken by inspiration from the Almighty, these difficulties vanish; and if, by comparing the similar songs of Mary and Zacharias, (Luke 1:0,) we learn to appreciate the spiritual side of the prophecy, we shall see that, while this context acquaints us with the immediate occasion of this song, the song itself rises above the mere occasion, and, in the true spirit of prophecy, grasps a wider range of circumstances. And it was, doubtless, the high prophetic character of these songs that entitled them to a record in the sacred canon. The prophetic songs of Zacharias and Mary were occasioned by the birth of John Baptist and Jesus Christ, but their subject-matter has far more to do with the glorious results of John and Jesus’ coming into the world. “The true characteristic of sacred poetry,” says Wordsworth, “is that it is not egotistical. It merges the individual in the nation and in the church universal. Like a pebble cast into a clear and calm lake, it sends forth concentric rings of waves, ever enlarging towards the margin, so that the particular mercy to the individual produces ever-expanding undulations of praise.” So with this prophetic song of Hannah. Samuel is the great historic character during whose ministry the government of Israel took the form of a monarchy, and it is fitting that this inspired song should rise above the immediate occasion of its first utterance, and in its prophetic vision celebrate the triumphs of the coming kingdom. The Targum goes so far in its explanation of this passage as to regard each separate verse as a distinct prophecy against some enemy of Israel. Thus the first verse indicates a triumph over the Philistines; the second alludes to the Assyrian army under Sennacherib; the third is against the Chaldeans under king Nebuchadnezzar; the fourth against the Greeks, etc. It is possible, indeed, that this may have been used as a triumphal song on great occasions of victory, such as occurred in the later history of Israel, and possibly a later hand may have added somewhat to it; but no less comprehensive a composition than this, which celebrates throughout the signal providences of God, could satisfy the demands of the spirit of prophecy over the birth of Samuel. When, therefore, we view it as an inspired psalm, whose prophetic range takes in the triumphs of that monarchy which was inaugurated by the ministry of Samuel, and found its culmination in the personal Messiah, the difficulties suggested above disappear. As a part of the interpretation of this magnificent ode, we give, in connexion with the text, perhaps as literal a version of the Hebrew as our language will permit.