II. (1 Samuel 2:1) The Song of Hannah. EXCURSUS A: ON THE SONG OF HANNAH (1 Samuel 2). The song of Hannah belongs to that group of inspired hymns of which examples have been preserved in most of the earlier books. Genesis, for instance, contains the prophetic song of the dying Jacob, Exodus the tr... [ Continue Reading ]
(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... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER IS THERE ANY ROCK. — This was a favourite simile among the inspired song-writers of Israel. The image, doubtless, is a memory of the long desert wandering. The steep precipices and the strange fantastic rocks of Sinai, standing up in the midst of the shifting desert sands, supplied an ever p... [ Continue Reading ]
A GOD OF KNOWLEDGE. — The Hebrew words are placed thus: _A God of knowledge is the Lord,_ The Talmud quaintly comments here as follows: — Rabbi Ami says: “Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between _two_ Divine names; as it is written (1 Samuel 2:3), ‘A God of knowledge is the Lord,’ and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BOWS OF THE MIGHTY MEN ARE BROKEN. — God reverses human conditions, bringing low the wicked, and raising up the righteous. Von Gerlach writes of these verses that “Every power which will be something in itself is destroyed by the Lord: every weakness which despairs of itself is transformed into... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT WERE FULL. — Another image to illustrate the vicissitudes of human affairs is sketched, one very familiar to the dwellers among the cornfields and vineyards of Canaan. THE BARREN HATH BORN SEVEN. — Here the thought of the inspired singer reverts to herself, and the imagery is drawn from t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD KILLETH, AND MAKETH ALIVE. — Death too and life come from this same omnipotent Lord: nothing in the affairs of men is the sport of blind chance. The reign of a Divine law administered by the God to whom Hannah prayed is universal, and guides with a strict unerring justice what are commonly... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH. — And the gracious All-Ruler does these things, for He is at once Creator and Upholder of the universe. The words of these Divine songs which treat of cosmogony are such as would be understood in the childhood of peoples. The quiet thinker, however, is tempted to ask whethe... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL KEEP THE FEET. — This was the comforting deduction Hannah drew from the circumstances of her life: this the grave moral reflection the Spirit of the Lord bade her put down for the support and solace of all true servants of the Eternal in coming ages. Seeing that Jehovah of Israel governs the... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS KING... OF HIS ANOINTED. — A Lapide, quoted by Wordsworth, wrote here, “_haec omnia spectant ad Christum,”_ “all these things have regard to Christ.” Jewish expositors, too, have generally interpreted these words as a prophecy of King Messiah. The words received a partial fulfilment in the splen... [ Continue Reading ]
ELKANAH WENT TO RAMAH. — These simple words just sketch out what took place after Hannah left her boy in Shiloh. Elkanah went home, and the old family life, with its calm religious trustfulness, flowed on in the quiet town of “Ramah of the Watchers” as it did aforetime; the only disturbing sorrowful... [ Continue Reading ]
(11-36) The Service of the boy Samuel in the Sanctuary — The Dissolute Life of the Sons of Eli — The Doom of the House of Ithamar.... [ Continue Reading ]
SONS OF. — The word Belial is printed here and 1 Samuel 1:16, as though Belial were the name of some pagan deity, but it simply signifies “worthlessness.” It is a common term in these records of Samuel, being used some nine or ten times. It is rarely found in the other historical books. “Sons of Bel... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIEST’S CUSTOM. — That is to say, the custom or practice introduced under these robber-priests, who were not content with the modest share of the offerings assigned to them by the Law of Moses. (See Leviticus 7:31; Leviticus 7:35; Deuteronomy 18:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THEY BURNT THE FAT. — This was a still graver offence against the ritual of the sacrifice. A contemptuous insult was here offered to the Lord. This fat was not to be eaten or taken by any one; it was God’s portion, to be burnt by the priest on the altar (Leviticus 3:16; Leviticus 7:23; Leviti... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF NOT, I WILL TAKE IT BY FORCE. — The solemn ritual of the sacrifice was not only transgressed by these covetous, greedy, ministering priests, but the worshippers were compelled by force to yield to these new lawless customs, probably introduced by these sons of the high priest Eli.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SIN OF THE YOUNG MEN WAS VERY GREAT. — _Grave peccatum sacerdotum ob scandalurn datum laicis_ (“the sin of the priests was a great one, because it put a stumbling-block in the way of the people”). — A. Lapide, quoted by Wordsworth. Religion was being brought into general disrepute through the co... [ Continue Reading ]
MINISTERED... BEING A CHILD. — A striking contrast is intended to be drawn here between the covetous, self-seeking ministrations of the worldly priests and the quiet service of the boy devoted by his pious mother and father to the sanctuary service. GIRDED WITH A LINEN EPHOD. — The ephod was a prie... [ Continue Reading ]
A LITTLE COAT. — The “little coat” — Hebrew, _m’il_ — was, no doubt, closely resembling in shape the _m’il,_ or robe worn apparently by the high priest, only the little _m’il_ of Samuel was without the costly symbolical ornaments attached to the high priestly robe. This strange, unusual dress was,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELI BLESSED ELKANAH AND HIS WIFE.... AND THE LORD VISITED HANNAH. — The blessing of Eli, a blessing which soon bore its fruit in the house of the pious couple, — his training of Samuel, and unswerving kindness to the boy (see following chapter), — his sorrow at his priestly sons’ wickedness, — h... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW ELI WAS VERY OLD. — The compiler of these Books of Samuel was evidently wishful to speak as kindly as possible of Eli. He had, no doubt, deserved well of Israel in past days; and though it was clear that through his weak indulgence for his wicked sons, and his own lack of energy and foresight, h... [ Continue Reading ]
YE MAKE THE LORD’S PEOPLE TO TRANSGRESS. — The life led by the priests publicly in the sanctuary, with their evident scornful unbelief in the divinely established holy ordinances on the one hand, and their unblushing immorality on the other, corrupted the inner religious life of the whole people.... [ Continue Reading ]
SIN AGAINST THE LORD. — This touches on the mystery of sin. There are transgressions which may again and again receive pardon, but there seems to be a transgression beyond the limits of Divine forgiveness. The pitiful Redeemer, in no obscure language, told His listeners the same awful truth when He... [ Continue Reading ]
GREW ON, AND WAS IN FAVOUR. — The very expressions of the biographer of Samuel were adopted by St. Luke when, in the early Chapter s of his Gospel, he wishes to describe in a few striking words the boyhood and youth of Him who was far greater than the child-prophet of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD. — Of this messenger of the Highest, whom, from his peculiar title, and also from the character of his communication, we must regard as one of the order of prophets, we know nothing. He appears suddenly on the scene at Shiloh, nameless and — as far as we know — homeless, deli... [ Continue Reading ]
DID I CHOOSE HIM OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL?... — After such glorious privileges had been conferred on this favoured house, and such ample provision for all its wants had been made for it, it was indeed a crime of the blackest ingratitude that its leading members should pour dishonour on their... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE KICK YE AT MY SACRIFICE. — The imagery of the words are taken from Deuteronomy 32:15 : “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked... then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” The image is one drawn from the pastoral life of the people: the ox or ass over-fed... [ Continue Reading ]
... BUT NOW THE LORD SAITH, BE IT FAR FROM ME. — But the fulfilment of the glorious and gracious promise which involved the walking of the favoured house for ever in the light of the Lord in the blessed courts of the sanctuary with no worldly cares — were they not amply provided for without sowing a... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL CUT OFF THINE ARM. — “The arm” signifies power and strength: “Thy power and strength, and that of thy house is doomed.” (See for the figure Job 22:9; Psalms 37:17.) AND THERE SHALL NOT BE AN OLD MAN IN THINE HOUSE. — No one more in thy house, O High Priest, who hast so signally failed in thy... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT SEE AN ENEMY. — Some — _e.g.,_ the Vulgate — understand by enemy a “rival”: thou shalt see thy rival in the Temple. The words, however, point to something which Eli would live to see with grief and horror. The reference is no doubt to the capture of the Ark by the Philistines in the b... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CONSUME THINE EYES AND TO GRIEVE THINE HEART. — The _Speaker’s Commentary_ well refers to 1 Samuel 2:36 for an explanation of these difficult words. “Those who are not cut off in the flower of their youth shall be worse off than those who are, for they shall have to beg their bread.” AND ALL THE... [ Continue Reading ]
IN ONE DAY THEY SHALL DIE BOTH OF THEM. — See for a literal fulfilment the recital in 1 Samuel 4:11. This foreshadowing of terrible calamity which was to befal Israel was to be a sign to Eli that all the awful predictions concerning the fate of his doomed house would be carried out to the bitter end... [ Continue Reading ]
A FAITHFUL PRIEST. — Who here is alluded to by this _“_faithful priest,” of whom such a noble life was predicted, and to whom such a glorious promise as that “he should walk before mine anointed for ever,” was made? Many of the conditions are fairly fulfilled by Samuel, to whom naturally our thought... [ Continue Reading ]