Okay, so 1 Samuel chapter 2,
we'll be reading verses 1 through 10 to start with. Then Hannah
prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. In the Lord, my
horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance. There was no one holy like the
Lord. There is no one beside you. There is no rock like our God. Do not keep talking so proudly,
or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a
God who knows, and by Him deeds are weighed. The bows of the
warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves
out for food, but those who are hungry are hungry no more. She
who was barren has born seven children, but she who has had
many sons pines away. The Lord brings death and makes
alive. He brings down to the grave and
raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth. He humbles and he exalts. He
will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will
be silenced in the place of darkness. It is not by strength that one
prevails. Those who oppose the Lord will
be broken. The most high will thunder from
heaven. The Lord will judge the ends
of the earth. He will give strength to his
king and exalt the horn of his anointed. And then verse 11,
Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before
the Lord under Eli the priest. So I added verse 11 to our reading
because Eli plays a very important part of the story of Samuel.
And I like to go back to chapter one and look at that a little
bit just to kind of develop what we'll be looking at and help
us understand many of the things that are brought out in Hannah's
prayer there in chapter two. So starting there in verse one
of chapter one, Now there was a certain man of Ramathame, Zothem,
of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the
son of Jerom, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth,
and Ephraimite. And he had two wives. The name
of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Penanah. Penanah
had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up
from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of
Hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And whenever
the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give
portions to Peninnah, his wife, to all her sons and daughters.
But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah,
although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also
provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord
had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she
went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore
she wept and did not eat." Very similar to the story of Hagar
and Sarah that we studied in Galatians just a while back.
And I just want to finish with the next few verses there starting
with 8. Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you
weep and why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved?
Am I not better to you than ten sons? So Hannah arose after they
had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest
was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of
the Lord. And she was in bitterness of
soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made
a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the
affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget
your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child,
then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and
no razor shall come upon his head. And it happened as she
continued praying for the Lord that Eli watched her mouth. Now
Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice
was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was
drunk. So Eli said to her, how long
will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you.
But Hannah answered and said, know my lord i am a woman of
sorrowful spirit i have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating
drink but have poured out my soul before the lord do not consider
your maid servant a wicked woman woman for it's out of the abundance
of my complaint and grief i have spoken until now Then Eli answered
and said, go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition,
which you have asked of him. And then dropping down to verse
20, we see that God did indeed bless Hannah with a son named
Samuel. So it came to pass in the process
of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his
name Samuel saying, because I have asked for him from the Lord.
So there are many things that can be expanded on here in chapter
one, but since my focus is going to be more on the first 10 verses
of chapter two, I just wanted to bring out a couple things
that are very important to understanding Hannah's prayer as we go on.
First, we are introduced to Eli here. He is important because
of the vow that Hannah made to the Lord. Give me a male son
and I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and
no razor shall come upon his head. To keep her vow to the
Lord that as long as Samuel lived she would give him to the Lord,
When the time came, she kept her vow and gave him to the ministry
of the Lord. And Eli, being the priest of
the tabernacle, was to become Samuel's mentor until the day
that he, Eli, died. Then there was a second part
to the vow that she gave, and that was to proclaim that no
razor would ever come upon his head. This was a part of what
is known as the Nasoretic Vow, which was introduced way back
in Numbers. One of the elements of the Nasoretic
Vow was to never cut the hair for the duration of the
actual vow. A vow could be for a couple days,
it could be for couple months or it could even be a lifetime,
there was no set time except for the time that was established
by the person making the vow. We could probably spend several
weeks on the studies of the vows, but I just grabbed a couple of
verses to help us understand what the process was. Here's
how they're introduced to us back in Numbers chapter six.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel
and say to them, when either a man or a woman makes a special
vow, the vow of a Nazarite to separate himself to the Lord,
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. And then
it goes on listing many other things that the person vowing
must abstain from. But including this, all the days
of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head until
the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord,
he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair
of his head grow long. Now vows were done to show that
as individuals who are making the choice to take the initiative
to concentrate themselves to the Lord, This was a form of
worship by sacrifice. A vow was taken by the individuals
who had voluntarily dedicated themselves to God. The vow is
a decision, an action, and desire of the persons to give themselves
to God completely. By definition, the Hebrew word
nazir simply means to be separated or consecrated. There was no
divine command involved. Typical vows were made by an
individual by his own choice, but there were two individuals
in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament where the
vows were presented by God, presented to God by their parents.
Samuel was one, as seen in our reading, and then Samson, also
from the Old Testament, and John the Baptist from the New Testament.
The requirements of the vows were put in place so that people
taking the vows could be seen as being set apart from all the
other people. It was a picture of being set
apart in Christ. Samson, as we've been studying
on Wednesday nights, was special in the sense that having the
hair was seen as part of his strength. And once that covering
was cut off, that strength disappeared. Well, we know that our strength
is in Christ, and it's in his vows that we find our strength,
and he is our cover. We have been set apart from the
crowd since before the creation of time, and as we are told in
1 Corinthians, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became
for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. and sanctification is the same
thing as being set apart. And earlier in that same chapter,
Paul says, to those who are sanctified in Christ, called to be saints
with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord, both theirs and ours, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. sanctified, again as mentioned,
set apart in Christ, and not at all by our vows or works,
but by the grace of God alone. That is where we have our sanctification,
it is in Christ. is not our vow, but the vow of
our Lord and Savior. One example of many would be
when He declared that He held His sheep in His hand and no
one could snatch them from His hand. He also vowed that all
that the Father had given Him, He would lose, not one. And He
truly was one that would keep all His vows. Now turn with me
to Romans 8, if you'd like, and we'll start reading in verse
37. Romans 8 and verse 37. And this is a vowel where we
find our strength. He truly is our covering. He
is our hope and our security. And what does that strength assure
us of? Romans 8, verse 37 gives us a
good list of things. Know in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now we will be returning
back to that passage here pretty soon. But for now, let's get
back to chapter two in 1 Samuel. We have read now Hannah's prayer
in chapter one and also in chapter two. They are two different prayers. One being called Hannah's prayer,
the other is also called Hannah's prayer, but often it's called
Hannah's song. Depending on the commentator
you are reading, one prayer is a plea to God. The other one
here in the second chapter, a praise offering to God. The first prayer
was a plea to rid her of her burden of being childless. And
the other given some 12 years later, after she had weaned Samuel
from the mother's milk, and then as was custom, weaned also from
childish behavior. She kept the terms of the vow
and gave him over to the Lord and then offered up this prayer
of praise and thanksgiving. So let's take a quick look at
each of these 10 verses and see how they weren't only significant
to Hannah, but they are significant to all of God's elect. So verse
one says, then Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoices in
the Lord. In the Lord, my horn is lifted
high. My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance. Her heart is certainly in the
right place. Her heart rejoices in the Lord,
not her husband, not her child, but where her happiness and fulfillment
have come from, and that was the Lord. It's as if she had
read James chapter one, where it says, every good and perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly
lights. She praised God for the gift he had given her, the son
she had prayed so hard for. Then she goes on to praise the
Lord for her strength, talk about her horn lifted high, recognizing
it as one of those good and perfect gifts from above. She knows that
is where her strength resides. She realizes that even her strength
to conceive came from him, not her, not her husband. Like Hannah,
our confidence is not in the flesh. And as Paul states in
Philippians, we are those who worship by the spirit of God
and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. She finishes off verse one by
praising the Lord for her deliverance, her salvation, focusing on the
victory over her enemies. probably even referring back
to the punishment and harassment she received from Peninnah. She
counted them all a victory accomplished by God as he was showing her
his immense grace. She also, though, lived in Israel
and the Lord had given them many victories over their enemies.
And she may have been very happy in praising the Lord about that
as long as much as the suffering from Peninnah's scorn. And going
back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, back to 1 Corinthians chapter
15 this time, and starting at verse 54, if you'd like to follow
along. What the Lord has done for her, he also has accomplished
for us, defeating all the enemies of the church. He did so at the
cross, being crucified, buried, and then raising to life again,
victorious over all the enemies of the church. Paul proclaims
this to all who at the time were doubting the resurrection. So
beginning here at verse 54, when the perishable had been clothed
with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then
the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed
up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. The church is now secure. Victory in Jesus assures us of
that. The enemies of the church are
defeated, establishing the church on the rock of Christ. which
leads us right into verse two of Hannah's Song of Praise, where
it says, there is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one
beside you. There is no rock like our God. Here is the words of someone
who truly knows her God and understands that God is holy and there is
none other besides him. God's main attribute is his holiness. As Henry Mahan puts it, God is
essentially, originally, perfectly, and unchangeably holy, as others
are not. There truly is no substitute
for the holiness of God, and Hannah, with her knowledge of
all that God has done for her, just can't praise him enough.
She, like the disciples in John chapter six, is declaring that
she believes and knows that he is the one and only holy God. Then she continues on to declare
him the rock, again saying there is no other rock like him. We see where our Lord Jesus is
often called the rock. He is our rock and our salvation
to hide, shelter, and support all who come to him. He is the
rock that the church is built upon, the stone that many rejected,
but he has become the chief cornerstone. And then we continue on to verse
three. Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak
such arrogance for the Lord is a God who knows and by him, deeds
are weighed. Again, I think this could be
a response to Panana's scorn towards her, but we also know
that God does not look favorably on boasting or whining, things
which Panana was very good at. We have no room to complain if
we are barren, and no room to boast if we are blessed. Arrogant
words and thoughts will be judged, for God knows every heart. As
we are told in James chapter four, God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. And then goes on to say, humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. Moving on to 1 Samuel 4 and 5,
the bowls of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled
are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves
out for food, but those who are hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has born seven
children, but she who has had many sons pines away. There is a continuance of the
thought expressed in verse three. In fact, verses three, four,
and five could all be lumped together under one response.
Hannah praising God's grace to the humble and speak and weak,
and it speaks to how he exalts the humble, but resist the proud.
Mighty men trusting in their strength and arms are broken
to pieces while God gives strength to those who stumble in weakness.
Baron Hannah, by his mercy, has borne several children, while
proud Peninnah, according to tradition, could bear no more
and loses all that she had. I want to read just a couple
verses in Jeremiah chapter 9. If you would like to turn there,
there are some differences, I will call them, about how many children
Hannah had and what actually happened to Peninnah and her
children. But what is clear, all that scorn and boasting from
Peninnah towards Hannah was not rewarded by God. And in fact,
tradition says that she paid a price, but again, scripture
is not clear on that. But we do know Hannah was blessed
by the Lord, not only with the birth of Samuel, but depending
on where you are reading, she has had as many as four to six
children besides Samuel. So this is what Jeremiah 9, verse
23 and 24 have to say about the attitudes of those who love to
boast. This is what the Lord says, let
not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their
strength, or the rich boast of their riches, but let him who
boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows me. that
I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness
in the earth, for in these things I delight, declares the Lord. We can clearly see the distinction
here between Hannah and ones like Peninnah, ones who boast
and are in scorn, and one then who knows the Lord and all his
attributes. So again, We can quote from James
4, as we did just a bit ago, God resists the proud but gives
grace to the humble. This is a theme throughout God's
word and taught by Jesus in the Beatitudes, which is part of
the Sermon on the Mount that he preached. I will read them
all, but there's several of them and time just doesn't allow that,
but you can always read that there in Matthew chapter five
about the Beatitudes. But a summation of the Beatitudes
would be quite simply this, God's grace is a gift to the needy
and humble, but not a reward for the rich. And then moving
on to verses six and seven. In verse six, the Lord brings
death and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and
raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth.
He humbles and he exalts. The Lord sovereignly, according
to his purpose, controls all things, and men live and die. We succeed or fail, rich or poor,
rule or serve by the will of God. And that is a truth that's
made very clear throughout his word. But focusing on verse seven,
it is also true that before God saves a sinner and reveals Christ
to his heart, He strips the center of all self-righteousness, all
self-hope, and all personal merit. God will bring us low before
he exalts us, strip us before he closes us, and show us our
poverty before he reveals our inheritance in Christ. It reminds
me so much of the great exchange that we looked at some time ago,
when we saw how Christ stripped us of our robe of sin, guilt,
self-righteousness, and exchanged and imputed to us his robe of
sinless perfection, that robe of righteousness that makes us
perfect and right before God. In Matthew 9, Christ says he
came not to call the righteous, but he came to save sinners.
but before he could save us, he had to remake us in his righteousness,
thus the great exchange, our sin for his righteousness, our
death for his life. And that takes us to verse eight
of Hannah's song. He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them with
princes and has them inherit a throne of honor for the foundations
of the earth are the Lord's, on them he has set the world.
We are going to look at a few verses in Ephesians 2. So if
you would like to turn there, and then in verse 8 of Hannah
still, Hannah is giving us a description of our state in sin. Poor beggars
in the dust and on the dunghill. Well, Ephesians 2 verses 12 and
13 give us a description of what we had and what we were before
Christ redeemed us. So I'm gonna start reading there
in Ephesians 2, verse 12. Remember that at that time you
were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and
foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and
without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you
who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of
Christ. In Romans, Paul tells us that
in our unregenerate state, we were at enmity with God, poor
beggars in the dust with no way out, either in desire or ability. But as we read in verse 13, and
now we will see, as we read verse 13, and now we will see, as we
read verses four to 10 of chapter two in Ephesians, we have very
clear roadmap to our redemption. So starting in Ephesians 2, verse
4, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with
which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved
and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we learn there
that because of our Lord's righteousness and obedience and shed blood,
we are seated with him among princes on the throne of glory. We have truly been lifted up
in his perfect obedience and humbleness to the Father. And
it's by his grace that he has bestowed that wonderful gift
to all he purposed to redeem. And why should anyone question
He who has established the foundations of the earth and placed the world
on them? He is the sovereign Lord over
all things, and it's in Him who is in complete control. It's
just a waste of breath to question God and His purposes. We will
conclude now by looking at verses 9 and 10 together. After that,
we will look at a passage in Romans that covers both of them
so well. So verses 9 and 10, here in Hannah's
prayer, he will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but
the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. It is
not by strength that one prevails. Those who oppose the Lord will
be broken. The Most High will thunder from
heaven, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give
strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointing. So
the Lord will keep his faithful servants, as Hannah says there
in 9 and 10 there in chapter two of Samuel. There is no one
who can bring a charge against them. There is no power or principality
that can go against God and not be completely defeated. What
can be more powerful than sin and death when it comes to those
who would oppose God, those who would try to bring a charge against
God's elect? Christ handled them all at the
cross. It might not have been completely
manifested to us yet, but in the Lord's timing, we will see.
But for now, we believe because God has bestowed in us the faith
of Christ himself, So just like Hannah has made abundantly clear
in her song of praise to our Lord, just like her, we believe. So in closing, I would like to
read Romans 8, verses 31 through 39. What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? Who, he who did not spare his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a
charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who
is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore
is also risen, who is even at the right hand of the God who
also makes intercessions for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is
written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other thing shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord." So
I hope after reading all that, that we can all just like Hannah,
we can say we have full confidence in all the things that the sovereign
Lord can, does, and will do. And that belief that Hannah has
clearly demonstrated, can we also say, I believe. Can we say,
as disciples said in John 6, we believe and know that you
are the Holy One of God. Can we say, I believe in that
good and perfect gift sent from the God above. And who was he?
He is Christ our Savior. And when it comes to our salvation,
our sanctification that we have spoke so much of today, He is
all we have. He is all there is. But the good
news of the gospel is He is all we need.