Hello, and welcome back. This is the second video in our study of 1 Samuel. Today we are covering Hannah’s incredible prayer in chapter 2, verses 1 through 10. These are the longest and the last recorded words of Hannah, and probably one of the earliest Israelite hymns or poems, kind of like a psalm. She is so excited about getting a son, of course, but the thing God gave her, this answer to her prayer, the son that she prayed for, “For this child I prayed,” was not even the object of her delight and joy. So we will read the first couple of verses in the text, and then we will dissect it verse by verse, go through it in light of the context, and see what we can take from it. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2:1–2: “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. There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.”
A Miniature French Café
Now, for Christmas, our family used to give everybody a gift, and you know there is a ballpark price we give to each person, and that adds up over time. So all the men got together, and we wanted to do a gift exchange instead. The men of the family, my dad, my brother-in-law, and my two brothers, instead of buying five small gifts, drew names and bought one big gift for each other. The rest of the family still had to buy for each other, but the gift exchange for the men was the best thing. My dad drew my name, and I did not have many things on my list, so he just ventured out and found whatever he wanted, and he found the most beautiful little brick set. For you LEGO enthusiasts out there, it is not LEGO brand, so you might hate this, but it is this adorable little French café. I mean, just look at this thing. It is this incredible little coffee shop, and the best part is, look at this, we have got lights. Inside here it has this espresso machine, and this little countertop with all these amazing goodies, and you can see the shelves have all kinds of stuff. Then in this upper layer we can see the wall art and the little steps. When you close the back and you are walking up to this wonderful little bistro, it is almost like you are there. It just puts you right there on the sidewalk. You want to sit down on these little chairs, have a little coffee, and read the little newspapers there. It is just this adorable little miniature, and to me it feels like the real thing, just scaled down. When we are talking about miniatures in movies or something like that, instead of building a big spaceship or a fast race-car scene or whatever, they will take a miniature and scale it down, and that represents the main thing. It is a representation of the bigger picture. Well, we talked in the last video about chapter 1 being like a miniature version of the care of God, the grace of God that God wants to bring to all people. He cared for Hannah, but in caring for Hannah, in answering her prayer for this child, that became a bigger picture: He was not just caring for her, but caring for His own covenant promises to His people, to keep them.
Why Is This Passage in the Bible?
Now, I think the most exciting part of the Bible is when you actually get into why the passage is even in the Bible. We can read the Scriptures at face value: here is a story of a barren woman receiving a child. “For this child I prayed.” God is the Giver of life, and that is true. I believe that is one of the reasons the Scriptures are there. We are thankful for our children, and that is not a bad application of this text. I am the first to say it is not an unbiblical or wrong way to view that text. In fact, in our own home, before we did some remodeling of a particular wall, we used to have a section on our wall with our three kids’ baby photos, and above the photos was one of those wall decals that said, “For this child I prayed.” That is absolutely true. We had a baby dedication at our church with that very thing in mind. But I do not believe that is all that is happening in this passage about Hannah. When we are looking at a narrative, a story in the Old Testament, we need to ask: Why did God intend for this to be in the Bible? What does it say about God? Not necessarily what it says about child rearing, but what does it say about the flow of history? Where does God fit into this? What are the timeless truths connected to this passage of Scripture? If it meant something for Hannah and for the people of Israel, then it must still mean something for us today too, and that is what I want to look at today. We read the first two verses, where God gave her a son. That was Hannah rejoicing, thanking the Lord for the blessing of a child. That is the micro view. Then the following verses in 1 Samuel chapter 2, up to about verse 8, are the macro view, stepping back and looking at the bigger picture.
None Holy as the LORD
Now, you would expect Hannah to be very, very excited about this answer to prayer, but it becomes less about Samuel and more about God as the prayer goes on. Verse 1 says, “My heart rejoiceth in the LORD,” and the end of it says, “because I rejoice in thy salvation.” That is an indication, by the wording there, that there is more going on here than just freedom from barrenness. She is recognizing, “No, this is the hand of God in my life.” So there is the micro view, where she is talking about her personal situation, but she is also stepping back and looking at the macro view, saying, “Look, this is more than just my situation. There is a bigger God at work here.” Verse 2 even says that there is none holy as the LORD. She recognizes there is a bigger God than all these others. There are a lot of false gods out there, but none of them are as holy, as set apart, as God. They are surrounded by Baal worship. The Ugaritic myths from that era speak of the assembly of the gods, the sons of the holy one. El is their high god. Baal is the prominent god of that land of the Philistines, the false god of fertility, the god of human fertility and of the fertility of the land. Well, the myth says that Baal fought against Mot, the god of death, and Mot won, but then Baal rose from the dead, and there is this ongoing battle between them. So if there is a famine in the land, that means Mot is winning, and if there is rain, that means Baal is winning. So it is as if Hannah is looking at these false gods of the land and saying, “It is not the god Mot who is in charge. It is not Baal who is in charge. It is not the high one. No, there is none holy as the LORD.” Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D: Jehovah, Yahweh. There is none holy as Yahweh. He is the God of all. There is no rock like our God, verse 2 says. I skip down to verse 6: “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” God is the One who is alive. He is in charge of all living things. He knows the beginning from the end. Mot was not strong enough in the myths to keep Baal under control. The false gods are constantly bickering and fighting. But God, no. Verse 2 says there is none holy as the LORD. Nothing even comes close to God. He is completely set apart. No one even comes near Him. There is verse after verse after verse in the Scriptures about the utter uniqueness of God, His holiness that sets Him apart. He is completely perfect, completely unique among all false gods. He is the God who is the source of Hannah’s joy.
A Small View of God
Now, I think there are some people who struggle with joy. They struggle with contentment, and bitterness, and anger, and I think when there are those struggles in people’s lives, they are confused about the priority of where the actual God falls in their lives. They get really anxious, real anxiety about life, in part because there might be a small view of God. Now, I am not saying that to belittle traumatic experiences or to lessen the grief of a situation. No, I am not belittling fearing a bad diagnosis or being scared in a situation at all. Even Hannah was grieved in her spirit, pouring out her soul in prayer to the Lord. It is not a bad thing to not like something that is happening in your life. I am just saying that if our only response to those issues is grief, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration, bitterness, and sometimes there are people with a questioning, discontented spirit, well, in many cases that is a sign of a low view of God. Hannah is saying here, “There is none beside thee.” That is our God. There is none holy as the LORD. Now, you might say, “Well, what about Peninnah? She was evil. She was bad. She was constantly pestering Hannah.” Hang on. Peninnah was the one who drove Hannah to her knees. Now, is that a bad thing? God used the evil of Peninnah to bring about this great thing, just like He used the evil of Joseph’s brothers to bring about the saving of Israel. Joseph said it himself: “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.” Folks, the cross of Jesus Christ is the most evil and treacherous and horrific thing that has ever happened on the face of the earth. But also, if Jesus had not been crucified, we would yet be in our sins. Without shedding of blood is no remission. So Jesus died on this evil cross, but God took this evil and treacherous and horrific thing and turned it into something beautiful and glorious and redeeming, and that is only by the work of God. Galatians 6:14 says, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Yes, there was the evil Peninnah was doing to Hannah. She was the one belittling Hannah for having no children. God saw all that, and God used all of it in Hannah’s life to drive her to plead with God. And who knows if that was the very thing that turned the tide of the nation, to bring in Samuel through these circumstances that were evil? The view we can have of God is that God can take something evil, and we can take a step back from our situation and, as believers, think, “Okay, how is God using this evil thing in my life for good?” I was talking to someone after a service recently who, with tears in their eyes, said, “I am still looking for good in this situation. It has gotten so bad. It has gotten so bad, and it has been so bad for so many years.” That particular week it had just gotten worse. I said, “Well, the good may not always be what we think the good is. Part of the good that is coming from this is the good that is happening in you. You have been driven to a deeper dependence on and trust in the Lord than you have ever had before. I mean, you are praying, and you are trusting, and you are seeking God like you have never trusted and sought Him before, right?” “Yeah, that is true.” “Well, that is part of the good.” God may never do something to the situation you are going through, but He wants to do something in you in the situation you are in. And it really is our choice whether we are going to allow God to use this thing to make us bitter or better, as the saying goes. Hannah chose to allow this thing to make her life better, and she poured her heart out to the Lord.
God’s Specialty
Now she says, in verses 3 and 4, “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. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.” Man, this is so good. The enemies of the Lord, the ones who exalt themselves against Him, are so brazen when they look at you: “Man, you live a life of faith? What are you doing? You are just wasting your time. What an idiot. Why would you be so dumb? Why are you praying to a God you cannot even see? You Christians have faith; you are ignorant. That is foolish.” Well, God says in Romans 12, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is all in the hands of the Lord now, and that is the kind of trust we can have. So Hannah’s song is recognizing, “There are some evil things that happen in my life, but really, this is God’s battle. He is the One who is going to break the bows of the mighty. This is not my battle. He has got this. This is what He does. I have got nothing to worry about. He is a pro in this field.” You might have seen videos of Cesar Millan. He is a dog trainer with a show on TV, and he would take some of the wildest situations, and sometimes, in an instant, I mean, he would have this raging dog in this crazy state of mind, state of being, and all of a sudden he would take the leash in his hands and control the situation, and the dog would almost instantaneously change. Just as soon as he comes in and takes over, with this posture of alpha dog, it is like, “Oh, okay, you are the boss. This is what he does. He just takes care of these situations. It is all good now. This is his specialty.” Dog training is Cesar Millan’s specialty. And when we are looking at the enemies of God, it is like, “Oh, God, they are winning! What are we going to do? This is not good. This is not right.” God just says, “Talk no more so exceeding proudly.” The arrogant will not win. God will take care of the arrogant ones, and He will support the weak ones. That is us, by the way. One might say, “Not me. I am strong.” Well, if you think that, then good luck. You are on your own, away from God, and I do not wish that on anyone. He helps those who realize, “God, You are so much bigger than me. I need God’s help.” Those are the humble ones. Verses 5 through 8: “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. The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 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, 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.” So she recognizes, “Man, I am in desperate need of God.” And we look at the deliverance God gave Hannah. The way God delivered Hannah was like a small-scale deliverance of what He does for everything. It is like, “Well, He is a specialist in this field. This is what He does. He is the sovereign God. He is in control of life and death. He has got this situation, whatever it is. It is God’s specialty. He has got this.” And He is not just a dog specialist. I mean, Hannah’s situation was like a small Lego model of the bigger picture. This is just what He does on a universal scale. So when you are looking at how God has come through in your own life, you might think of a particular situation. Maybe it was some marriage conflict, something you never saw yourself getting through, but you came out on the other side of it, and you realize it is as if God is saying, “If you will trust Me like that in every situation, I can do it not only in this marriage situation; I can do it in all areas.” Marriage is God’s specialty, but that is just a small-scale version, just a model of something much bigger, just a small picture of the greatness of God. Hannah recognized there is none holy as the LORD. So again, I am asking you: have you seen God come through in certain situations of your life? Maybe it was a situation of safety, and you had a real close call, something you barely made it through, and you realized, “Man, that was a God thing. That was only God.” Well, God might be using that as a reminder to say to you, “No, I keep you safe every day, all day. That one example of safety was like a small-scale model of something much bigger. I am the One who keeps you going day by day.” Every single day you have is a gift. By Him all things consist, and He wants us to remember that. There is a lady in our church who tells me almost every week, “I am so blessed. Every day is another day to praise the Lord,” and she does. I am just saying that those daily blessings are just a small-scale sample of the evidence of God in your life, and on the broader view, of the evidence of God in the workings of history as well.
I mean, if we think back to our salvation, God reached down to the dust. “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.” I mean, that was us before salvation. “To set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.” In the Old Testament, they did not even realize the implications of that statement, but literally, through Jesus Christ, we are adopted into God’s family. We will rule and reign with Christ. We are literally made royalty through Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus did for us. And this passage is like, “Well, yeah, that is what God does. This is who He is.” God took care of Hannah’s barrenness, and Hannah is like, “Well, yeah, He gave me a son, but this is not about Samuel. This is about God. This is not about the baby He gives us.” If you are a parent, you recognize the miracle of birth. God is the Giver of life. Amen to that. But not just this life; God is the Giver of all life. Verse 6: “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” This is what God does. This is a picture of the whole scale of life. The author Dale Ralph Davis says, “No, this is no piddly little affair. This is a manifestation of the way Yahweh rules and will bring His kingdom. Hannah’s relief is a sample of the way Yahweh works and of the way He will work when He brings His kingdom in its fullness. The saving help Yahweh gave Hannah is a small-scale demonstration of how Yahweh will do it when He does it in grand style.”
The King of Kings
But what is he talking about? Look at verses 9 and 10: “He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 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.” He is talking about the Lord there. He is talking about the end times, about the final fulfillment of the promises that are just seeds right now. Well, who is the king he is talking about here? A lot has been written about those very verses. Samuel’s mother is singing about kings, and they do not even have kings yet. Well, there is a striking resemblance between Hannah’s song and Mary’s song in Luke chapter 1, and Mary’s baby is Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah prophesied of that and said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” It was promised that His kingdom would have no end. So I believe that in 1 Samuel 2 this is a prophecy, or at least an allusion, to the King of kings, to Jesus Christ. Here is this poem, this song about an answer to prayer from the Lord, only Hannah was recognizing that this answer from God was not just Samuel. This is about God. And I am saying that Hannah’s prayer of praise shows us that what God did for her was just a picture of the holy, just, almighty, and good nature of God. Verse 2 said there is none holy as the LORD. The just nature of God is in verse 3: by Him actions are weighed. Verse 6 is talking about the almighty God: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. But He is so good. Verse 8 says He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes. If we can get a glimpse of that God, then all the bad things of this world can be potential for good in the hands of the Redeemer, the One who buys back the mess and recovers it for His glory, the One who takes these horrific situations and redeems them, turns them around, buys them back, and turns them into something good. Again, I do not know what kind of good can come from forest fires and devastation, but I am just saying that if we can trust a God who is holy and just and almighty and good, then He can turn those things around for good. Any of those moments of God coming through for you in the past are moments of salvation, just pictures of the bigger salvation that is yet to come. We can look at God and say, “Well, He is a specialist in this area. He has got this.” God raises up, and He puts down. Our very lives are in the hands of God, and He is perfectly good. This is who He is. This is what He does. Some people would say, “Yeah, but why does a good God allow bad things to happen to good people?” What I am saying is that even in tragic circumstances, we can trust that He is the Giver of life. He is not the One to be blamed for the evil of this world. He is the One who did everything He could to redeem this world. Jesus is the One who comes to fix all the wrong things of this world. He is the King of kings, who will undo all the twists and the tangles and the evils of sin. And I believe all of that is wrapped up in this prayer of Hannah, and we can trust the King just as Hannah did. God bless you, and we will see you in the next video. Thank you for watching. I really pray that it can be a blessing to you and really help bring the Bible home. If it was a blessing and a help to you, would you consider liking the video and subscribing to our channel? We look forward to seeing you in the next video.
