At that time Hannah prayed:Hannah's prayer follows the birth of her son Samuel, whom she had dedicated to the LORD. This prayer is a response to God's faithfulness in answering her plea for a child. It is a song of thanksgiving and praise, similar in style to the Psalms. The act of praying reflects a deep personal relationship with God, emphasizing the importance of prayer in the believer's life.
My heart rejoices in the LORD;
Hannah's joy is rooted in her relationship with God, not merely in the gift of a child. This phrase highlights the centrality of God in her life and mirrors the biblical theme that true joy comes from the LORD. It echoes the sentiment found inPhilippians 4:4, where believers are encouraged to rejoice in the Lord always.
my horn is exalted in the LORD.
The "horn" symbolizes strength and power in biblical literature. Hannah acknowledges that her strength and honor come from God. This imagery is also seen inPsalm 92:10 andLuke 1:69, where the horn represents deliverance and salvation provided by God.
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Hannah's newfound confidence allows her to speak against those who have opposed her, such as Peninnah, who mocked her barrenness. This boldness is a result of God's intervention in her life. It reflects the biblical principle that God empowers His people to stand against opposition, as seen inRomans 8:31.
for I rejoice in Your salvation.
Hannah's joy is ultimately in God's deliverance and salvation, not just in her personal circumstances. This points to a broader understanding of salvation that includes spiritual deliverance. It foreshadows the ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ, as seen inLuke 2:30-32, where Simeon rejoices in seeing God's salvation in the infant Jesus.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
HannahA devout woman who was initially barren but prayed fervently for a child. God answered her prayers, and she became the mother of Samuel, a significant prophet in Israel.
2.
The LORDThe covenant name of God, Yahweh, who is the central figure in Hannah's prayer and the source of her joy and strength.
3.
EnemiesWhile not named specifically in this verse, Hannah's enemies could be seen as those who mocked her barrenness, including Peninnah, her husband's other wife.
4.
SalvationIn this context, it refers to God's deliverance and blessing, particularly in granting Hannah a son.
5.
ShilohThe place where Hannah prayed and dedicated Samuel to the Lord, a significant location for worship in Israel at the time.
Teaching Points
Rejoicing in the LORDHannah's joy is rooted in her relationship with God, not just in her circumstances. Believers are encouraged to find their joy in the Lord, regardless of life's challenges.
God's DeliveranceHannah's experience reminds us that God hears and answers prayers, often in ways that exceed our expectations.
Boldness in FaithHannah's boldness in speaking against her enemies is a testament to her faith in God's justice and protection.
Exaltation of the HumbleGod exalts those who are humble and dependent on Him, as seen in Hannah's life and echoed throughout Scripture.
The Power of PrayerHannah's account underscores the importance of persistent and heartfelt prayer in the life of a believer.
Lists and Questions
Top 10 Lessons from 1 Samuel 2
What does the Bible say about women worship leaders?
What defines a canticle?
What emotions and values are expressed in the Odes?
Psalm 75:10 mentions the cutting off of “horns” of the wicked; does this figurative language conflict with a literal approach to interpreting biblical texts?(1)
And Hannah prayed, and said.--"Prayed," not quite in the sense in which we generally understand prayer. Her prayer here asks for nothing; it is rather a song of thanksgiving for the past, a song which passes into expressions of sure confidence for the future. She had been an unhappy woman; her life had been, she thought, a failure; her dearest hopes had been baffled; vexed, tormented, utterly cast down, she had fled to the Rock of Israel for help, and in the eternal pity of the Divine Friend of her people she had found rest, and then joy; out of her own individual experience the Spirit of the Lord taught her to discern the general laws of the Divine economy; she had had personal experience of the gracious government of the kind, all-pitiful God; her own mercies were a pledge to her of the gracious way in which the nation itself was led by Jehovah--were a sign by which she discerned how the Eternal not only always delivered the individual sufferer who turned to Him, but would also at all times be ever ready to succour and deliver His people.
These true, beautiful thoughts the Spirit of the Lord first planted in Hannah's heart, and then gave her lips grace and power to utter them in the sublime language of her hymn, which became one of the loved songs of the people, and as such was handed down from father to son, from generation to generation, in Israel, in the very words which first fell from the blessed mother of the child-prophet in her quiet home of "Ramah of the Watchers."
My heart rejoiceth.--The first verse of four lines is the introduction to the Divine song. She would give utterance to her holy joy. Had she not received the blessing at last which all mothers in Israel so longed for?
Mine horn is exalted.--She does not mean by this, "I am proud," but "I am strong"--mighty now in the gift I have received from the Lord: glorious in the consciousness "I have a God-Friend who hears me." The image "horn" is taken from oxen and those animals whose strength lies in their horns. It is a favourite Hebrew symbol, and one that had become familiar to them from their long experience--dating from far-back patriarchal times--as a shepherd-people.
Verse 1. -
And Hannah prayed and said. Like the Magnificat, Hannah's hymn of thanksgiving begins with the temporal mercies accorded to herself, but rises immediately into the realms of prophecy, foretelling Christ's kingdom and the triumphs of the Church. From this prophetic element, common more or less to all the hymns of the Bible, most of them have been used in Christian worship, and still merit a place in it, though we in the liturgy of the Church of England now use only two, taken both from the New Testament. In ver. 1, in four strophes of equal length, Hannah declares how, first, her
heart, the centre with the Hebrews, not merely of the physical, but also of the moral and intellectual life, rejoices in Jehovah; while the exaltation of her
horn, the symbol of strength and vigour, signifies that this inward joy is accompanied, or even occasioned, by the changed circumstances of her outward lot. Her
mouth, therefore, is opened wide over her enemies, yet not for cursing and in bitterness, but for joyful praise of the God who has answered her prayers. It is
his salvation, the being delivered by him, that makes her thus burst forth into thanksgiving. It is a proof too of her faith and spirituality that she thus refers all to Jehovah. In ver. 2 she gives her reasons for this holy joy. The first is God's absolute holiness; the second his absolute existence, in which she finds the proof of his holiness. Hannah may have meant to express only the language of piety, but she also stated a primary philosophical truth, which was early grasped by the deeply religious instinct of the Hebrews, that outside of God is no existence. Many necessary deductions follow from this fundamental truth, that God alone absolutely exists, and that all other existence is secondary and derived; but no deduction is more certain than Hannah's own, that such a Being must be absolutely holy. In calling him a
rock she assigns to him strength, calm, immovable, enduring, but a strength which avails for the safety of his people (comp.
Deuteronomy 32:4, 15;
Psalm 18:2). For rocks, as being capable of easy defence, formed the nucleus of most ancient towns, and continued to serve as their citadels. In ver. 3 she appeals to God's omniscience, "for Jehovah is a God of knowledges," the pl. being intensive, and signifying every kind of knowledge. As too he weighs and judges human actions, how can men venture to talk so arrogantly before him, lit.
so proudly, proudly. The last clause is one of those numerous places in which there is a doubt whether the Hebrew word
lo means
not, or
by him. If the negative sense be taken, which the Hebrew spelling favours, the rendering will be "though actions be not weighed." Though wicked actions be not immediately punished, yet Jehovah is cognisant of them, and in due time will requite. In vers. 4-8 Hannah illustrates the working of this attribute of the Deity by enumerating the vicissitudes of human events, which are not the result of chance, but of that omniscience combined with holiness which she has claimed for Jehovah in vers. 2, 3. She begins with the vicissitudes of war; but these are not more remarkable than those of peace, by which the
full, the rich and wealthy, have to descend to the position of a hireling; while those previously hungry
have ceased,i.e. from labour, and keep holiday. In a nation of small proprietors, where the land was tilled by the owner and those "born in his house," the position of the hireling, the "mean white" of the southern States of America, was lower than that of the slave, especially in Judaea, where the slave was more in the position of a vassal than of a serf or forced labourer. In the next clause the translation may either be, "She that was long barren hath borne seven," or, "Until the barren" etc.;
i.e. these vicissitudes may even reach so far as to make a barren woman the mother of seven,
i.e. of a perfect number of children, happily generalised in
Psalm 113:9 into "a joyful mother of children." But see
Ruth 4:15;
Jeremiah 15:9. In this there is also a typical reference to the long barrenness of the Gentile world, to be followed by a fruitfulness far exceeding that of the Jewish Church, while it, prolific once in patriarchs, and prophets, and saints, is now comparatively sterile. In ver. 6 "the grave, Hebrews
Sheol, is "the pit," the hollow vault underground, which is the dwelling of the dead. Lit., therefore, Hannah's words might seem to imply a belief in the resurrection; but her meaning rather was that God brings a man to the very brink of the grave, and then, when all hope seems past, raises him up again. In ver. 8
beggar is simply
needy, but the expressions
dust and
dunghill add dishonour to his poverty.
To set might more correctly be translated
to make them sit; sitting, especially on a raised seat, being a mark of honour among Orientals, who generally squat on mats on the ground. In the next clause the A.V. particularises what in the Hebrews is quite general. "He will make them possess (or enjoy) a glorious throne." Their seat among the princes is not inherited, but acquired; and though promoted thus to a place among men of hereditary rank, and given an honourable position among them, yet it was not necessarily "the throne of glory," the highest seat. Still even this was quite possible; for while the tribal chiefs and heads of fathers' houses obtained their rank by inheritance, nevertheless, in early days the judges, and among them Eli and Samuel, acquired rank and power for themselves. Subsequently, under the kings, the great officers of state took their place along with the hereditary princes, but were dependent upon royal favour. In the last clause the word rendered
pillars is rare, being found only here and in
1 Samuel 14:4. In both places the ancient versions are uncertain as to its signification, but in the latter it can only mean a crag, or mass of rock. If then the rock masses of the earth are
Jehovah's, and he can lift up and poise upon them the inhabited world (Hebrews
rebel), how much more easily can he raise up a man!
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
At that time Hannahחַנָּה֙(ḥan·nāh)Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 2584:Hannah -- mother of Samuelprayed:וַתִּתְפַּלֵּ֤ל(wat·tiṯ·pal·lêl)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 6419:To judge, to intercede, pray“My heartלִבִּי֙(lib·bî)Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3820:The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centrerejoicesעָלַ֤ץ(‘ā·laṣ)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5970:To jump for, joy, exultin the LORDבַּֽיהוָ֔ה(Yah·weh)Preposition-b | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068:LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israelin [whom]בַּֽיהוָ֑ה(Yah·weh)Preposition-b | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068:LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israelmy hornקַרְנִ֖י(qar·nî)Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7161:A horn, a flask, cornet, an elephant's tooth, a corner, a peak, a ray, poweris exalted.רָ֥מָה(rā·māh)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7311:To be high actively, to rise, raiseMy mouthפִּי֙(pî)Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6310:The mouth, edge, portion, side, according tospeaks boldlyרָ֤חַב(rā·ḥaḇ)Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7337:To be or grow wide or largeagainstעַל־(‘al-)Preposition
Strong's 5921:Above, over, upon, againstmy enemies,א֣וֹיְבַ֔י(’ō·wy·ḇay)Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 341:Hating, an adversaryforכִּ֥י(kî)Conjunction
Strong's 3588:A relative conjunctionI rejoiceשָׂמַ֖חְתִּי(śā·maḥ·tî)Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 8055:To brighten up, be, blithe, gleesomein Your salvation.בִּישׁוּעָתֶֽךָ׃(bî·šū·‘ā·ṯe·ḵā)Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3444:Something saved, deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity
Links
1 Samuel 2:1 NIV1 Samuel 2:1 NLT1 Samuel 2:1 ESV1 Samuel 2:1 NASB1 Samuel 2:1 KJV
1 Samuel 2:1 BibleApps.com1 Samuel 2:1 Biblia Paralela1 Samuel 2:1 Chinese Bible1 Samuel 2:1 French Bible1 Samuel 2:1 Catholic Bible
OT History: 1 Samuel 2:1 Hannah prayed and said: My heart exults (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa) 
