BibleTools
1 Samuel 2:1
Compare all

Hannah’s Prayer

1 And Hannah aprayed and said:
b“My1 heart rejoices in the Lord;
cMy horn is exalted in the Lord.
1I smile at my enemies,
Because I drejoice in Your salvation. 
2 “Noa one is holy like the Lord,
For there is bnone besides You,
Nor is there any crock like our God. 
3 “Talk no more so very proudly;
aLet no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of bknowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed. 
4 “Thea bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength. 
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even athe barren has borne seven,
And bshe who has many children has become feeble. 
6 “Thea Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up. 
7 The Lord amakes poor and makes rich;
bHe brings low and lifts up. 
8 aHe raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
bTo set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
c“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He has set the world upon them. 
9 aHe will guard the feet of His saints,
But the bwicked shall be silent in darkness.
“For by strength no man shall prevail. 
10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be abroken in pieces;
bFrom heaven He will thunder against them.
cThe Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
d“He will give estrength to His king,
And fexalt the horn of His anointed.”  
11 Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.  

The Wicked Sons of Eli

12 Now the sons of Eli were acorrupt; bthey did not know the Lord.  
13 And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling.
Commentaries:


No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for 1 Samuel 2:1.

I Samuel 2:1-11

Let us see a great example of this. It is not in the Psalms; it is in I Samuel chapter 2. This is one of those songs of thanksgiving done by Hannah after she bore Samuel. We are going to read Hannah's prayer here. It is a prayer of thanksgiving, and it should teach us a lot about the Hebrew mind and the way that these thanksgiving psalms work. We are going to read the first 11 verses.

This is Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving for God opening her womb and bearing Samuel. Notice how she dwells on God, about how He changes things. He takes the low and makes them high. He takes the poor and makes them rich, and vice versa for both of those.

He is the agent of change, as she sees Him here, because He is sovereign. He can do everything. He can see what is needed to happen, and by her petition to Him, He was made aware, if you want to say, of her lowly condition. She was feeling humiliated. She had no sons, and she asked Him to change that, and He did. He took her from being barren to being a producing mother, and that changed her status in society at the time.

And so she is praising Him, but did you notice any word of thanks? Zilch, not one in that whole prayer. No, she said she would praise Him, right? And her heart was rejoicing because of what He had done, but there is no thanks, no gratitude as we would see it.

Excerpted from Psalm Genres (Part One): Psalms of Thanksgiving

 
<< 1 Samuel 1:28   1 Samuel 2:2 >>

Join 137,228+ readers

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning

Consistent Bible study is hard to start.

The Berean gives you the starting point: one scripture and a focused commentary in your inbox each morning — read it in minutes, or go as deep as you like.

Free, daily, and spam-free. We never share your address. Unsubscribe anytime.

Close
E-mail This Page