HANNAH'S SONG (I SAMUEL 2:1-10)

These verses have been labeled in various ways in addition to a “song.” For example, Boda calls it a “prayer of reorientation...that is, the prayer thanking God for salvation from distress.” And Verhoef points out, “The prayer of Hannah is not a petition that asks anything. It is rather 'descriptive praise of God,' telling who God is, what he is like, and what he has done in the past.”

Let us first deal with the most controversial issues regarding this hymn. Childs points out, “Literary critics have long observed that Hannah's song interrupts the narrative sequence of the chapters. Its strikingly different poetic form, its peculiar vocabulary, and its reference to the king as the anointed one, have caused many to regard it simply as a disturbing interpolation”

One way of dealing with this issue is that taken by Howard, who says, “It may very well be that Hannah did not compose this prayer herself but rather, prayed a prayer that already existed, or that Eli or someone else suggested for her. Its contents only very generally fit her situation, but it was appropriate enough.”

And Childs notes, “Significantly those very elements which the older literary critics regarded as incompatible with the intention of the Samuel cycle are picked up in the final chapters of Samuel.” Thus, Long says that “the books of Samuel are framed fore and aft with poetic pieces [the other being David's song in II Samuel 22-23] providing thematic orientation for the reading of the intervening narrative episodes.”

In addition to this general function, several scholars have enumerated exact parallels or reversals between these two songs:

Theme                                                                         I Samuel 2      II Samuel              Commentator

All appearances of “rock” in the Historical Books     v. 3                 5x in ch. 22             Black

The mighty are fearful / David is girded mightily      v. 4                 22:33                      McCarter

Exalting and abasing by God                                      v. 6                 22:28                      Childs

Killing and making alive                                            vv. 6-8             22:17-19                 Childs

Dual references to the anointed one                          vv. 10,35          22:51; 23:1             Hill

Language usual to an epiphany                                  v. 10                22:8-10                   Childs

Blessings to the king                                                  v. 10                22:51                      Childs

This importance of Hannah's Song to the combined books of Samuel is highlighted by other commentators:

    Enns: “Hannah's prayer, where much of the theology of 1-2 Samuel is anticipated,...is recorded not simply to recount a mother's prayer of thanksgiving for a male child. This prayer serves a larger theological purpose. Hannah's child is the first phase in a series of acts by God to bring Israel back to covenant faithfulness.”

    Howard: “By inserting this hymn with its references to the king at the beginning of the book, the author is signaling at the outset one of his dominant themes.”

And there are echoes of this song in both the OT and NT. Thus, “many commentators connect Ps. 113:5:7-8, and 9 with vv. 2, 8, and 5b of Hannah's Song in I Samuel 2. The story of God's care for Hannah becomes a model for God's care for Israel...” (deClaisse-Walford)

Similarly, Hannah's song and the early events in Jesus' life as recorded in Luke's Gospel have notable parallels, as recognized by many scholars. Here are some listed by Long:

Theme                                                         I Samuel 2                 Luke

Rejoicing in the Lord's deliverance            v. 1                            1:46-48

God's uniqueness and holiness                   v. 2                             1:49-50

Proud boasting condemned                        v. 3                             1:51

Reversal of human fortunes                       vv. 4-8                        1:52-53

Expressions of confidence in God's care   v. 9a                            1:54-55

Before turning to comments on the individual verses, the immediate context of Hannah's words must be considered. M.J. Evans describes the background: “I Samuel 1 makes it abundantly clear that regular worship, prayer, sacrifice and the making and keeping of vows played an important part in the life of this family...The structure of I Samuel 1:2 implies that Hannah was the first wife, and that in spite of Elkanah's love for Hannah, Peninnah had been married as a result of Hannah's barrenness. Whether or not this is so, it is clear that both women were unhappy with their situation.” We can compare this with the earlier conflict between Abraham's two wives, Sarah and Hagar.

I Samuel 2:1

The Hebrew word 'ls (“rejoice”) appears only here in I-II Samuel.

M.L. Brown prefers 'mighty champion' “in spite of its imprecision...to the almost universal, but too literal 'horn of my salvation,' which fails to translate the meaning of the metaphor.” Note how this same image which begins the hymn also closes it in v. 10. The same can be said for comments regarding the downfall of her enemies here (probably referring to her rival wife) and God's enemies in that later verse.

I Samuel 2:2-3

C.J.H. Wright writes that “the Historical Books affirm that Yahweh is unique and universal...that he is beyond comparison, for none is like Yahweh (I Sam 2:2). The effect of these convictions on ethics includes the awareness that Yahweh is inescapable as the God who knows the truth in spite of temporary circumstances (I Sam 2:3).”

“None of the gods is holy as he [the Lord] is, for none casts down the exalted and raises the humble as he does.” (Neude)

I Samuel 2:3

“God precisely judges all human actions according to his regulating standard.” (R. Fuller) This same sentiment is voiced by Fretheim: “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

“The adj gaboah ('haughty' or 'proud') can also be used in conjunction with one's eyes (Is. 5:15), heart (Prov. 16:15) and human spirit (Eccles. 7:8).” (Smith and Hamilton)

I Samuel 2:4

K.L. Younger detects “clear treaty terminology” in this verse.

“The most common use of the word [i.e. “mighty”] is in texts dealing with military activities. It can designate a man who is eligible for military service, is able to bear arms, has combat experience, or who has acquired a reputation for outstanding bravery...Yahweh intervenes to alter the disproportion of power in human relationships by ensuring that the bows of the mighty are broken whereas the stumbling (i.e., the weak) gird on strength.” (Wakely)

I Samuel 2:6

P.S. Johnston notes that Sheol is hardly ever mentioned in the Historical Books of the OT. This is one of the exceptions, and it teaches that it is “ultimately within Yahweh's power.” There is a similar statement found in Moses' song (see Deuteronomy 32:29).

The verb form used here “suggests that people go to Sheol against their will; they are brought down to that place...Ultimately, it is Yahweh who causes them to go down, but he also has it in his power to bring them forth again.” (Merrill) For that latter thought, see Isaiah 26:19 – “Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise...and the earth will give birth to those long dead.”

I Samuel 2:7

“In all twenty-nine instances of the vb. [i.e. 'become low']...the vb. has a negative connotation; viz., something or someone is low or brought low because of its unwarranted elevation.” (Dumbrell)

I Samuel 2:8-10

Some hymns “supply a theological 'moral' to the stories that turns artistic literature into religious instruction.” (Watts) He cites these articular verses as a prime example of that statement.

Writing on this passage, McCarter notes that a comparison of the text with the Dead Sea scroll shows that both the standard Hebrew and Greek texts “have suffered losses of material here...The full original reading cannot be recovered from this evidence.” For this reason, the reader should not be surprised to encounter English translations that vary somewhat from one another in their rendering of these verses.

I Samuel 2:8

8a. See Psalm 113:7, as noted earlier, which states: “He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” Another parallel passage in which someone is raised from the dust is I Kings 16:2.

8b. Williamson notes that in passages such as this one the word 'eres (“land”) “sometimes carries global or cosmological connotations.”

The noun tebel ('world') “is used frequently in contexts that associate it with Yahweh's creative act and that, as a result, express the stability or durability of the earth.” (C. Wright)

The word masuq (“pillars”) only appears once more in the OT, at I Samuel 14:5.

I Samuel 2:9

Van Dam states that “'darkness' is probably best taken here as a poetic name for Sheol as a place of punishment, darkness, and gloom.”

Contrast Ecclesiastes 4:1 which, more realistically or cynically, says that worldly oppressors have all the power on their side. (A.E. Hill)

I Samuel 2:10

10a. See Isaiah 8:9 – “Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered.”

Referring to 'thunder', Futato says, “This general statement finds specificity in [I Samuel] 2:10, where the Lord thundered against the Philistines.”
10b. “Certainly Hannah's song in 2:1-10, in which the reversal of human fortunes through the intervention of God is the dominant theme, has more than the turnaround in her own fortunes in mind when it concludes with the confident assertion that God would 'give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.'” (Gordon) This more literal rendering of “horn” is replaced by “power” in the NRSV and others since in the Old Testament, horns symbolized power and strength.

“Hannah's embedded oracle celebrates Yahweh's control over all, both human and cosmological, ending with the confident declaration 'Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth'...This oracle creates anticipation, inviting the reader to conceive of a theocracy with a special human figure at the head representing Yahweh.” (Block)