The Book of 1 Samuel

Word Study

"his anointed," Hebrew meshiho (מְשִׁיחוֹ). Hannah's song ends with the very first occurrence of "anointed" (Messiah) in the books of Samuel: "he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." "Horn" is a symbol of strength and royal power; to "exalt the horn of his anointed" is to establish the mighty, saving reign of the Messiah. At the time there was no king in Israel yet, so the possessive is striking: God already has an anointed one of His own.

mashiach, "anointed one, Messiah." This is the noun Hannah's word is built on, the title itself. Hannah speaks by the Spirit of a coming anointed king, and her words reach beyond Saul and David to the great Anointed One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Her whole song is echoed centuries later by another humble woman, Mary, in the Magnificat, "he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1:52). The God who lifts the lowly Hannah is the God who would lift the lowly through His Anointed. Hannah's private joy opens into the hope of the world.

Explanation

Hannah's song is a masterpiece of praise. It begins in personal joy, "my heart rejoiceth in the LORD... I rejoice in thy salvation", but quickly rises to exalt the character of God Himself. She confesses pure monotheism: "There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." Then she celebrates the God who reverses all human fortunes: He breaks the bows of the mighty and girds the weak; He fills the hungry and empties the full; He "killeth, and maketh alive," "maketh poor, and maketh rich," "bringeth low, and lifteth up." The barren woman with a baby in her arms had tasted this reversing grace firsthand. And she ends looking forward, to the King and the Anointed whom God will exalt. Her theology is vast: the one holy God rules over life, death, poverty, riches, and history, and He will save through His Messiah.

Gospel Focus

Hannah's confession, "there is none beside thee," is the bedrock of true faith: one God, holy, unrivaled, "the Rock." And the God she praises is the God of the great reversal, who lifts the lowly and casts down the proud. This is the very shape of the gospel: "God hath chosen the foolish things... the weak things... and base things of the world... that no flesh should glory in his presence" (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). The same God who gave a barren woman a son would give a virgin the Son, and Mary's song simply takes up Hannah's. If you are low, poor, weak, or barren in soul, take heart: this is exactly the kind God delights to raise "out of the dust" and set "among princes." And the song's climax is our hope, the exalted horn of God's Anointed, Jesus Christ, our strong and saving King.

Word Study

"they knew not the LORD," Hebrew lo yadu et-YHWH (לֹא יָדְעוּ אֶת־יְהוָה). The most damning thing said of Eli's sons is not merely that they stole the offerings, but the root beneath it: "they knew not the LORD." Yada is the word for deep, personal, relational knowing (as in Judges 2:10). These men were priests, they handled holy things daily, they wore the ephod and stood at the altar, yet they had no living knowledge of the God they served. It is the most dangerous condition a religious person can be in: near the sacred, professionally involved in it, and a stranger to God. Jesus warned that many would say "Lord, Lord," and hear, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:22-23). To handle holy things without knowing the Holy One is to be a son of Belial in a priest's robe. The contrast could not be sharper: the sons of the priest "knew not the LORD," while the little son of Hannah "ministered before the LORD" and grew in His favor.

Explanation

The chapter draws a stark contrast. On one side, "the child did minister unto the LORD," Samuel, girded in his little linen ephod, growing year by year as his mother brought him a new coat. On the other, "the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD." As priests they abused their office grossly: seizing the worshipers' sacrifices by force with a three-pronged hook, demanding raw meat before the fat was burned to God, treating the offerings of the LORD with contempt, so that "men abhorred the offering of the LORD." Their greed drove people away from worship itself. Meanwhile God blessed Hannah with five more children for the one she had lent to Him, and "the child Samuel grew before the LORD." Two households, two kinds of sons: one knowing God and thriving, one near the altar and rotting.

Gospel Focus

It is possible to be immersed in religious activity and not know God at all. Eli's sons proved that a priestly office, a sacred setting, and daily contact with holy things cannot substitute for a living knowledge of the LORD. The gospel is not about handling holy things but about knowing the Holy One: "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Their corruption also warns every servant of God against using ministry for personal gain; they made worship "abhorred" by their greed, driving people from God. Let us examine ourselves: do we truly know the LORD, or merely know about Him and handle His things? Samuel's secret was not talent but relationship, he "ministered before the LORD" and "grew before the LORD." Nearness to God, not nearness to religion, is life.

Word Study

"them that honour me I will honour," Hebrew kabad (כָּבֵד), "to be heavy, to honor, to glorify." The root kabad means "weighty"; to honor someone is to give them weight, to treat them as significant. God's charge against Eli is that he "honourest thy sons above me", he gave his sons more weight than God. And the LORD lays down an abiding principle: "them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (literally, "shall be made light," the opposite of kabad). What we treat as weighty, God weighs in return. Eli made his sons heavy and God light, and God would make Eli's house light. The New Testament holds the same scale: "If any man serve me, him will my Father honour" (John 12:26). The question every heart must answer is where the true weight lies: is God heavy to us, our chief treasure and fear, or have we made something else, even good things like family, weightier than He?

Explanation

Eli, now old, hears of his sons' immorality and greed and rebukes them, but weakly, with words only, never removing them from the priesthood though their sin was destroying Israel's worship. His failure was that he "honoured his sons above" God, tolerating in his own household what he should have judged. So a "man of God" comes with a solemn prophecy: because Eli's house despised the LORD who had chosen them to the priesthood, God will cut off his line, "there shall not be an old man in thine house." As a sign, his two sons Hophni and Phinehas will die in a single day (fulfilled in chapter 4). But the word ends with hope beyond judgment: "I will raise me up a faithful priest... and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever." God's purposes for a true priesthood will not fail, even when one house does.

Gospel Focus

Eli's tragedy is the danger of misplaced weight, honoring family above God, and the danger of a rebuke without real action. Love that will not correct is not love; Eli's mild "why do ye such things?" while leaving his sons in office was, in the end, honoring them above God. The principle stands over every life: "them that honour me I will honour." But the brightest word here is the promise of "a faithful priest... who shall walk before mine anointed for ever." Partially fulfilled in Samuel and in the line of Zadok, it points finally to the truly faithful Priest, Jesus Christ, "an high priest... holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26), who does perfectly "that which is in mine heart and in my mind," and ministers forever. Where every earthly priesthood fails, God raises up the eternal Priest. Honor Him above all, and He will honor you.