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1 Samuel 2

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Hannah's Song of Praise and Reversal 1–10

1
And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. ​
2
There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. ​
3
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. ​
4
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. ​
5
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. ​
6
The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. ​
7
The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. ​
8
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.
9
He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
10
The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. ​

Samuel's Ministry Contrasted with Eli's Sons 11–21

11
And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest. ​
12
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. ​
13
And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; ​
14
And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
15
Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. ​
16
And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
17
Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD. ​
18
But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. ​
19
Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20
And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.
21
And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD. ​

Eli's Failed Rebuke and Samuel's Growth 22–26

22
Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. ​
23
And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
24
Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD'S people to transgress.
25
If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. ​
26
And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men. ​

Prophecy of Judgment Against Eli's House 27–36

27
And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? ​
28
And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
29
Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? ​
30
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ​
31
Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. ​
32
And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. ​
33
And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
34
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. ​
35
And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever. ​
36
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Samuel 2

Verse 1

mine horn is exalted — Qeren, a horn: the strength of the animal lifted high. The verb ruwm, 'exalted', returns in v.7 ('lifteth up') and v.10 ('exalt the horn of his anointed'). The LORD is himself 'the horn of my salvation' (Ps 18:2); Mary's song echoes this one (Luke 1:46–55; compare Luke 1:53 with v.5).

Verse 2

none holy as the LORD — Qadosh, holy, set apart: none is like him. 'Rock' is tsur, Moses' title for God in his song, 'He is the Rock, his work is perfect' (Deut 32:4). David takes the same thought, 'who is a rock, save our God?' (2 Sam 22:32); the LORD says the same of himself: 'beside me there is no God' (Isa 44:6).

Verse 3

a God of knowledge — Deah, knowledge; the LORD alone weighs what is said and done, 'the LORD weigheth the spirits' (Prov 16:2), and 'by him actions are weighed'. The warning is against proud speech, 'let not arrogancy come out of your mouth'; Hannah's own mouth, 'enlarged over mine enemies' (v.1), is given to the LORD's praise.

Verse 4

the bows of the mighty men are broken — The first reversal of the song: the 'mighty' (gibbor) lose their bows, and 'they that stumbled are girded with strength' (chayil). 'There brake he the arrows of the bow' (Ps 76:3); 'It is God that girdeth me with strength' (Ps 18:32). Such pairs run on through v.8.

Verse 5

the barren hath born seven — Seven is the number of fullness; Ruth 4:15 prizes a daughter-in-law 'better to thee than seven sons'. Hannah's later children are five (v.21). The full are 'hired out' for bread, and the hungry 'ceased' (chadel) from hunger. Mary says it again: 'He hath filled the hungry with good things' (Luke 1:53).

Verse 6

killeth, and maketh alive — The LORD's own words in Deut 32:39: 'I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal', with 'no god with me'. 'The grave' is sheol; the going down and bringing up are the language of Ps 30:3, 'thou hast brought up my soul from the grave'. Both movements are his.

Verse 7

maketh poor, and maketh rich — 'Maketh poor' is yarash, usually 'to dispossess' or 'to inherit'; it is the LORD who strips and who enriches. 'Bringeth low' (shaphel) is answered by 'lifteth up' (ruwm, as in vv.1, 10). Job says the same: 'the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away' (Job 1:21).

Verse 10

his king… his anointed — Said before Israel has a king: the LORD had promised one 'whom the LORD thy God shall choose' (Deut 17:15), and the people ask in 1 Sam 8:5. 'Anointed' is mashiach, the word behind 'Messiah'; in this book it names Saul (1 Sam 24:6) and returns in v.35. The LORD 'shall judge the ends of the earth'.

Verse 11

the child did minister — Sharath, to attend as a servant of the sanctuary. 'Child' is na'ar, the same Hebrew word as 'servant' in vv.13 and 15 and 'young men' in v.17: one word names the boy who serves the LORD and those who profane his offering. Hannah had 'lent' him to the LORD (1 Sam 1:28).

Verse 12

sons of Belial — Beliyyaal, 'without profit', worthlessness: 'children of Belial' are the men of Deut 13:13 who lead others to serve other gods; Paul sets 'Christ' against 'Belial' in 2 Cor 6:15. The charge is stated plainly: 'they knew not the LORD', as Judg 2:10 says of a later generation.

Verse 13

the priests' custom — Mishpat, a rightful due, the word of Deut 18:3, 'the priest's due from the people'. The law gave the priest the wave breast and heave shoulder of the peace offerings (Lev 7:34). The servant's fleshhook 'of three teeth' took more: 'all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself' (v.14).

Verse 15

before they burnt the fat — The fat was the LORD's first: 'the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar' (Lev 7:31), and 'all the fat is the LORD'S' (Lev 3:16). The servant demands flesh to roast, 'raw', before the fat is burnt, putting the priest's portion ahead of God's.

Verse 17

men abhorred the offering of the LORD — Na'ats, to scorn: the people's contempt falls on the offering itself because of those who handle it. Mal 2:7–9 gives the standard: the priest's 'lips should keep knowledge'; those who break it are made 'contemptible and base before all the people'.

Verse 18

girded with a linen ephod — The linen ephod (bad) is plainer than the high priest's, 'of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen' (Ex 28:6). It is worn by the eighty-five priests killed at Nob, 'that did wear a linen ephod' (1 Sam 22:18), and by David before the ark (2 Sam 6:14).

Verse 21

the LORD visited Hannah — Paqad, to visit, the verb of Gen 21:1, 'the LORD visited Sarah as he had said', another barren woman remembered. Samuel was 'lent to the LORD' (1 Sam 1:28); Hannah receives three sons and two daughters. The child 'grew' (gadal) 'before the LORD'.

Verse 22

the women that assembled — Tsaba, to muster for service, the verb of Ex 38:8, 'the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation', whose looking-glasses of brass went into the laver. The sons' sin is done at that door, against those who served there. Eli 'heard all'.

Verse 25

who shall intreat for him? — The verb is palal, used of Hannah's praying in v.1. Between men 'the judge' (elohim, as in Ex 22:8) decides; a sin 'against the LORD' has no arbiter but him. Their refusal is bound to his purpose to slay them, as in Josh 11:20; 1 Sam 3:14 says Eli's house 'shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever'.

Verse 26

in favour both with the LORD, and also with men — Tov, 'good': Samuel is 'good' with the LORD and with men; 'grew on' is literally going on and growing. Luke describes Christ's boyhood in the same terms: 'in favour with God and man' (Luke 2:52; cf. 2:40).

Verse 27

a man of God — The title is Moses' (Deut 33:1) and is given to unnamed messengers of the LORD (Judg 13:6; 1 Kings 13:1). He opens with 'Thus saith the LORD'. 'Did I plainly appear' doubles the verb galah, to uncover: 'the house of thy father' is Aaron's line, set apart for the priest's office (Ex 28:1).

Verse 29

kick ye at my sacrifice — Ba'at, to trample, the verb of Deut 32:15, 'Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked'; fat is beside it there too: 'to make yourselves fat' (bara, elsewhere 'create') 'with the chiefest of all the offerings'. 'Honourest' is kabed, and the LORD answers with the same verb, twice, in v.30.

Verse 30

them that honour me I will honour — Kabed, answering Eli's 'honourest thy sons above me' in v.29. The promise that his house should 'walk before me for ever' (cf. Ex 29:9, 'the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute') is withdrawn, 'Be it far from me'. Cf. John 12:26, 'him will my Father honour'.

Verse 31

cut off thine arm — Zeroa, the arm, a figure of strength. The house loses its old men when Doeg slays the priests of Nob (1 Sam 22:18) and one son, Abiathar, escapes (22:20); Solomon later thrusts him out 'that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh' (1 Kings 2:27).

Verse 32

an enemy in my habitation — 'Habitation' is ma'on, the LORD's dwelling, as in v.29. The recorded outcomes include the capture of the ark and the death of Eli's sons (1 Sam 4:11). Psalm 78 recalls that 'he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh' and 'their priests fell by the sword' (vv.60, 64).

Verse 34

in one day they shall die both of them — Oth, a sign: a near event that vouches for the distant judgment, as the altar's breaking did in 1 Kings 13:3. It is met in 1 Sam 4:11: 'the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain'. 'When I begin, I will also make an end' (1 Sam 3:12).

Verse 35

a faithful priest — Aman, to be firm, the root of both 'faithful' and 'a sure house'; he acts 'according to that which is in mine heart'. Zadok took Abiathar's place (1 Kings 2:35). 'A sure house' is the phrase of 1 Kings 11:38, 'as I built for David'. Heb 2:17 calls Christ 'a merciful and faithful high priest'.