I Samuel 2:1-10 elaborates upon the specific act of the kindness of God with a general celebration of sovereignty and grace. The occasion is an elevation in condition, possibly the birth of a child, understood as a divine gift to posterity. The biblical context involves Hannah offering the psalm with the birth of her child. Yet, if we read it simply as a Psalm, it sounds much like celebration of a military victory. One might compare the Song of Miriam in Exodus 15:20-21, a celebration of the Lord’s defeat of the Egyptians who had been pursuing the Israelites at the sea. Many scholars place it in the 900’s or 800’s.
1Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults (rum, “lifts up,” pronounced “room”) in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God. The psalm has a parallel in Luke 1:46-55. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory (salvation, deliverance, or help). In the canonical context, this would refer to the constant vexation that Peninnah had directed her way (see 1:2-7). An imprecation is a curse or malediction (the “opposite” of a benediction or blessing). Psalm 109 (attributed to David) is a good example of the imprecations that appear in Psalms 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 83, 109, 137 and 140. Such sentiments are far closer to the notion of victory over military enemies. Lest we think such sentiments are only Old Testament, even Paul could say that he prayed a curse upon anyone who has no love for the Lord (I Corinthians 16:22).[1] The writer affirms the Lord. 2 “There is no Holy One (Hebrew qadosh, as in Isaiah 6:3’s “Holy, holy, holy”) like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock (Boulder) like our God. The author addresses the nature of the enemy. 3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and the Lord will weigh your actions. The connotation of “weigh” in Hebrew is wicked actions. Daniel 5:27 (though the Hebrew uses a different word for weigh), suggests a similar thought, where the Lord has weighed the actions on the scales of divine justice and found him lacking. 4 The Lord breaks the bows of the mighty, but the feeble gird on strength. We find the reversal of values. The enemies should have some alarm that the Lord is acting against them. The sentiment here is like the notion that the meek shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11 and Matthew 5:5). 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.[2] Thus, the occasion of the psalm could be the elevation the Lord has given the psalmist through children. The psalmist expresses the sovereignty of the Lord. 6 The Lord kills and brings to life. In Deuteronomy 32:39, we read that the Lord kills and makes alive, wounds and heals. The Lord brings down to Sheol and raises up. Sheol is the grave, the world of the dead. God brings one from the dust/dunghill/trash heap to the throne, or vice versa. 7 TheLord makes poor and makes rich; the Lord brings low, the Lord also exalts (rum, “lifts up”). The Lord has a special concern for lifting the poor and needy. 8 The Lord raises up (rum) the poor from the dust; the Lord lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. Thus, what begins as merriment over Yahweh’s victory for the psalmist quickly becomes a celebration of Yahweh’s gracious acts of deliverance more broadly for Israelites. For those who have formerly been the weaker, the poorer and the less highly regarded, God brings a reversal. Thus, another psalmist can ponder whether any god is like the Lord, who is transcends the finite world, but also raises the poor and needy to the position of princes and gives barren women children (Psalm 113:5-9). The psalmist turns to a vision of creation. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them the Lord has set the world. The writer refers to the great rivers of the underworld. The psalm concludes on a military note. 9 “The Lord will guard the feet of faithful ones, but the Lord will cut off the wicked in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. The prophet told Zerubbabel that success will come, not be might or power, but the Spirit of the Lord (Zechariah 4:6). 10 The Lord! The Lord shall shatter the adversaries of the Lord; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; the Lordwill give strength to the king, and exalt (rum) the power (“horn,” metaphorically, of course, with the imagery of the powerful horns of certain animals, such as rams and wild oxen) of the one the Lord anointed.” These final verses confirm for most scholars that the psalm is from the early monarchy. It hints that the occasion was the birth of a child who would become heir to the throne. More importantly, the psalm celebrates the intervention by God in the history of Israel in what it says about the king.[3]
I Samuel 2:1-10 acknowledges that we cannot estimate what is really happening in the present. All we do know is that evil labors with vast power and perpetual success. Yet, the confidence this psalm has is that the present is always only preparing the soil for unexpected good to sprout in it.[4] Granted, when filtered through our notions of generosity and tolerance, the words of this song are not gracious. One would have to believe that evil and wickedness exist in order to offer imprecations, curses, and hexes. Are you squeamish about asking to confound and vanquish militants, whether of the Islamic or Communist variety? Could you have been involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, as was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
[1] In the biblical context, Hannah’s gloating is understandable, in the context of her own life, particularly after the constant vexation that Peninnah had directed her way (see 1 Samuel 1:2-7).
[2] According to the text of I Samuel 2:21, Hannah had six children, Samuel plus three more sons, and two daughters. The reference to the birth of seven children to the barren woman is most likely merely an image of perfect divine intervention rather than an intentional reference to Hannah. The reversal of fortune between the previously barren woman and the woman with children, however, also reminds one of Hannah and Peninnah.
In addition to celebrating God’s intervention in the life of Hannah, however, this passage also sets the stage for God’s most earth-shattering intervention in the life of Israel, namely God’s institution of the monarchy. It is Hannah’s child who will anoint the first kings of Israel and set in motion the events that lead to the existence of the anointed whose power God will exalt (1 Samuel 2:10). As with all miraculous births, the child Samuel fulfills more than his mother’s desire for a child. He fulfills the divinely designed destiny set out for him in God’s plan for the universe.
Hannah is dejected over her state of barrenness; when the Lord finally gives her a child, Samuel, she gives him back to the Lord to assist the priest Eli at the sanctuary at Shiloh. Samuel, as priest, judge and prophet, will be the most significant biblical figure between the time of the delivering judges of the loose Israelite tribal confederacy and the unifying Israelite monarchs.
[3] Its biblical context, however, is quite appropriate, since the child of Hannah, Samuel, will anoint Saul as king.
[4] In a letter, J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote: “No man can estimate what is really happening at the present. All we do know, and that to a large extent by direct experience, is that evil labors with vast power and perpetual success — in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in.”
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