Consciousness of her irremediable condition, brokenness, and humiliation had prepared Hannah to receive the grace that God was granting her in giving her Samuel. But hardly was she holding him in her motherly arms, than she must part with him in order to consecrate him to God. Her life was to be more solitary than ever, and this at a time when the people’s condition was increasing the ruin all around her. Nevertheless Hannah is full of a joy which overflows in a song of triumph: “My heart exulteth in Jehovah... for I rejoice in Thy salvation” (1 Sam. 2:1). This is because God had revealed Himself to her in grace; because He had revealed Himself again to his faithful servant who, having received everything from Him, had kept back nothing for herself and had returned everything to Him. Having deprived herself of her son, she better understands all that God is in Himself; she appreciates all the more all that He is for her. Abraham, having sacrificed Isaac at the Lord’s command, had made a similar experience. It was then that God had revealed to him the full extent of the promises that he had received and that God was confirming to his seed (Gen. 22:15-18; Gal. 3:15-16).
Along with joy, Hannah found strength: “My horn is lifted up in Jehovah” (1 Sam. 2:1). This power “is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9); after she has repudiated all that is elevated, everything of renown in Israel, God shares this strength with a weak woman, humiliated and despised. Hannah’s beautiful song therefore begins with her painful personal experiences, although it goes much further. In the course of this book we shall see the same thing produced in David. The inspired psalms are the fruit of his experiences, but the bearing that the Spirit gives them goes far beyond that, concentrating prophetically on the sufferings and the glories of Christ, on the person of Him who is the fulfillment of all the promises, of all the ways, and of all the counsels of God.
This is how we must interpret Hannah’s song. Her personal circumstances serve as an introduction to things still unrevealed, reserved till then in God’s counsels.
The main theme of Hannah’s song, the great principle presented in it, is the sovereign grace and power of God, who abases the proud and the one who puts his confidence in the flesh, and who lifts up the weak and powerless, “for the pillars of the earth are Jehovah’s, and He hath set the world upon them.” On His grace and power He has established the entire order of created things. Israel, miserable and fallen, and a faithful remnant that was poor and weak, needed to know these things and to learn that everything depended on Him alone, that He alone could keep the feet of His saints, silence the wicked, bring all man’s strength to nothing, break all His adversaries and, lastly, give strength to His King and raise up the horn of His Anointed, for He intervenes in Israel’s favor by giving strength to His Christ. He does not give strength to His people, but to His Anointed. He raises up the King on whom everything depends, the pivot of all things, the only means of sustaining a relationship between Himself and His people.
Let us take up again one or two details of this song. 1 Samuel 2:1 celebrates the salvation of the Lord. All is pure grace on His part, for it is “grace... which carries with it salvation.” 1 Samuel 2:2 celebrates
Jehovah’s holiness. The believer cannot separate these two traits one from the other; one who has found God as Savior understands that He is “holy... for there is none beside [Him].” But it is necessary to be holy in order to belong to Him; this is why He has sanctified us for Himself. All our conduct should henceforth display this characteristic.
This great truth was brought to light at the Passover. The Israelites had been sheltered by the blood of the Lamb, which had been delivered up to judgment instead of themselves. The people appropriated this sacrifice by eating the lamb together with unleavened bread which typically represents Christ’s holy humanity. From this moment on, they were enjoined to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. As He who had called them was holy, they also were to he holy in all their manner of behavior (1 Peter 1:15-16).
1 Samuel 2:3 is a warning to the wicked, typified by Penninah. They are placed in the presence of God who knows all and who weighs men’s actions.
In 1 Samuel 2:4-8, we find the reason for the discipline which had come upon the faithful. This was so that the character of grace might be brought to light by lifting them up to glory, and so that the character of righteousness might be brought to light in granting them vengeance on the wicked. This grace goes so far as to give seven children to the barren woman—the perfect number, which Hannah never reached (1 Sam. 2:21), for she had only six children. The promised blessings will not reach their fullness until the glory that is in store for the restored remnant of Israel.
1 Samuel 2:10 predicts, as we have seen, the coming of Messiah, the true King. God will exalt the horn of His Anointed. Direct association with Him is the power granted to Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1: “My horn is lifted up in Jehovah.”