Let us open our Bibles tonight
to 1 Samuel chapter 1. Tonight we're going to look at
these two things, Hannah's vow and Hannah's hymn. Let's begin
our reading in verse 21 and read through the end of the chapter
as we look at Hannah's vow. And the man Elkanah and all his
house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and
his vow. But Hannah went not up, for she
said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be
weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before
the Lord and there abide forever. And Elkanah, her husband, said
unto her, Do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou hast have
weaned him. Only the Lord establishes word. So the woman abode and gave her
son suck until she weaned him. And when she had winged him,
she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one eaf of
flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house
of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. And
they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said,
O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that
stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed,
and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I ask of him. Therefore also I have lent him
to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall
be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. Last week, we looked at the first
verses of chapter one, at Hannah and her prayer, asking the Lord
for a man child. And as she prayed, she made a
vow if the Lord would give her a son. If you look back to verse
11, we read, and she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if
thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid
and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give
unto thine handmaid a manchild, then I will give him unto the
Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no raiser come
upon his head." She made a vow and promised the Lord that if
he would hear her prayer, her petition, and give her a son,
then she would give that son unto the Lord, no raiser would
ever cut his hair, which simply means that he would be a Nazirite.
He would be a Nazirite, rather, all of his days he would be given
unto the Lord. Now I mentioned last week that
in the law, in the law that God gave through Moses to the nation
of Israel, God regulated, he gave certain rules about making
vows. You notice in verse 21 where
we began our reading tonight, Hannah's husband, Elkanah, he
also went up, it says, yearly, he went up to offer unto the
Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. Maybe he had made a
different vow during the year, but that was typical when Israelite
at their houses, their homes during the year, between the
three times that they were commanded to go up to offer sacrifice. If they made a vow, then they
would pay their vow. They would pay their vow by offering
a sacrifice. Now, when we read here concerning
her husband, that he would offer his sacrifice and his vow It
may well be that he agreed with Hannah when she made her vow
because the law said that if a married woman made a vow and
her husband heard the vow and didn't disallow that vow, didn't
void that vow in that very day, then the vow stood. He couldn't
later say, no, she didn't have the right to make that vow. If
he heard her and he didn't void the vow, then it stood. And it's
possible here that Elkana probably knew what Hannah had vowed because
her whole disposition changed, didn't it? She was very sad.
afflicted and in her soul and grieving because she had no children. And then she was praying. She
made that vow. And Eli the priest, he as much
as said, God, give you what you've asked. And she, she changed immediately
before she wouldn't eat with the family, with Elkanah and
his other wife and the children. But once she heard that word,
she believed God. And her countenance changed immediately. And maybe she told Elkanah what
she had vowed unto the Lord. Women, you know, were not required
to go to the temple three times a year. Only the men were. But
many of the women did go. And it seems that Hannah was
a woman who did go normally three times a year with her husband.
as the law required him to do. But she wouldn't go. Now that
she had a son, she asked her husband, she told him that she
wouldn't go until she took him there to leave him. It seems
that the grief And maybe it would look like she was not keeping
her vow. Let's say the child was six months
old and she goes up to Shiloh with her husband and the other
children of the other wife, and then she brings Samuel back home.
It seems like she's not keeping her vow. And so she said she
wouldn't go up until she could leave Samuel. She had every intention
of keeping her vow, and she did. You know, in the book of Ecclesiastes,
Solomon, who was a very wise man, said this, better is it
that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not
pay. Better not to make a vow than
to make a vow to God and then not pay, keep that vow. Hannah paid her vow. Notice in verse 24 again, she
brought the child to Eli. Eli of course was a high priest
and it also says she brought him to the house of the Lord.
Now we know there wasn't a house like we think of a house or a
temple at that time, there was a tent. the tent of meeting,
the tabernacle, which was pitched at Shiloh, but that was the house
of the Lord. That's where the Lord manifested
his presence, above the mercy seat, between the cherubims. I read that just this afternoon
again, when God gave instructions to Moses concerning the tabernacle,
concerning the mercy seat with the cherubim, God said, There
I will meet with thee and commune with thee. Isn't that wonderful? That mercy seed is Christ. It
pictures Christ, doesn't it? And that's the only place where
God will meet with the sinner, is in Christ. And not only meet
with us, but commune with us, fellowship with us. What a blessing
God's children have, that we have fellowship with the Lord
God Almighty. She brought him to the house
of the Lord. How old was he? I guess as long
as I've been interested in the scriptures, I've heard people
make comments about this and try to explain how old Samuel
was, but this is just one of those many things that God has
not chosen to reveal to us. I would say that I believe the
reason we don't know He was brought after he was weaned. And it was
common for the Jewish ladies to wean their child at three
years of age. They would give suck to their
child until the child was three. But then some of the writers,
you know, they said, well, it was weaning later from childish
ways. And before long, they've got
him up to 12 years of age. I don't believe that. All things
considered, he was very young. He was a very young child, maybe
three years of age. And people say, well, what help
could he have been? He'd been a hindrance for Eli. But surely there were other children
that were there being educated in the things of the Lord. And
there were helpers. It wasn't like Eli would take
on the responsibility of raising this child. There were others.
But we just don't know, do we? But Matthew, Henry. And look
at the last statement that we see here in chapter one. And
he worshiped the Lord there. Now, who does that he refer to?
Most believe it refers to Samuel. Samuel. You say, well, how could
a young child worship? He could pray. And that's what
this really means. He prayed. Matthew Henry said,
little children, I quote, little children should learn be times
to worship God. Their parents should instruct
them in his worship and bring them to it. put them upon engaging
in it as well as they can. I'm sure every parent here, you
know by experience, when God gave you children, that you would
ask the Lord's blessing upon your food at a mealtime, and
they don't get very old before, they wanna pray, right? They
wanna pray. And you teach them, you let them
pray. Sometimes when you put them to bed at night, you read
the scripture or speak with them, and they want to pray. And sometimes
they want to pray and pray and pray and pray. They don't want
to go to sleep. But you teach your little children.
And think about this. Paul wrote to Timothy, and he
said, and that from a child, Timothy, from a child. What a blessing. What a blessing. to be born into a Christian home. I mean, how could you qualify
that? To be born into a home where
father and mother love God, worship God, pray, and serve the Lord. And that from a child, Timothy. Thou hast known the holy scriptures
from a child. The only scriptures they had
were the Old Testament. And yet his mother and grandmother
were faithful to teach him. His dad was a Greek. We know that. Wasn't interested
in the things of God. So the single mother, not single,
but the mother, it was her responsibility. It fell upon her shoulders to
teach the scriptures to her child. And then Paul went on to tell
him, which are able. the scriptures which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through Jesus Christ, wise unto
salvation. All right, let's go on to the
second thing I said we wanted to say. So that's her vow. I want us to look now at her
hymn, chapter two. We'll read the first 10 verses.
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. There's none holy
as the Lord, for there's none beside thee. Neither is any rock
like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They
that were full have hired out themselves for bread. They that
were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and she
that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. 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. He has set the
world upon them. He will keep the feet of his
saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by
strength shall no man prevail. 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. Now, this chapter begins, and
Hannah prayed. This is a prayer, but it's also
a hymn. And that just reminds us that
prayer consists of praise also. Hallowed be thy name. When we
pray, yes, we ask for petition. We have our petitions. We have
our requests. We ask. But we worship, we praise
Him. In fact, our prayers should begin
with praise. But this is certainly a hymn. Before, in chapter one, Hannah
prayed, but no words came out of her mouth. She didn't articulate
her prayer. She prayed in her heart. She
prayed silently. Her lips moved. Remember, Eli
marked her lips. He thought she was drunk. But this time, she prays, and
she doesn't pray silently. She prays out loud. She prays
unto the Lord. And she gives thanks. She gives
thanks unto the Lord in the form of a song. Now, I want to point
out three things to us tonight about this song. The first thing
is this, the similarity between Hannah's song and that of the
Virgin Mary. The similarity between this song
here of Hannah and that of the Virgin Mary when the angel announced
unto her that she was going to have a son who would be Christ
the Lord. These words are recorded in Luke
chapter one, of course. If you look at verse one here,
my heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord,
my mouth is enlarged over my enemies because I rejoice in
thy salvation. And Mary prayed, my soul doth
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, My Savior. And then here in verse two, there
is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither
is there any rock like our God. And Mary prayed, for he that
is mighty hath done great things, and holy is his name. And then in verse four, the bows
of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded
with strength. Verse eight, he raiseth up the
poor out of the dust, 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 has
set the world upon them. And in Luke, Mary said, he has
showed strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts, he has filled the hungry. with
good things and the rich he has sent away empty. There's a similarity
between Hannah's song of praise and the Virgin Mary's song of
praise. The second thing that I want
to point out about this hymn is the attributes of God that
she praises. The first one, there's three
of them, the first one is His holiness, verse two. Verse two, she said, there's
none holy as the Lord, His holiness. This Attribute of God. What do we mean by attribute?
We mean it's characteristic. This is characteristic of God.
There are many of these attributes. This is the way that God reveals
himself unto us, his creatures, by these various attributes.
And this one, his holiness, is one that we call God's chief
attribute, his holiness. The seraphims remember in Isaiah's
vision when he saw the Lord high and lifted up on his throne,
they didn't cry power, power, power. They didn't cry wisdom,
wisdom, wisdom. They didn't cry loving kindness,
loving kindness, loving kindness. What did they cry? Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. This is his chief characteristic. Because all of these other characteristics,
if you think about his love, his wrath, his anger, his power,
his loving kindness, his knowledge, all of these other attributes
are holy. They are holy. Why? Because he is holy. In Revelation
15 in verse 4 we read, who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify
thy name? For thou art holy. Why is it that men do not fear
God? Why is it that you may be here
tonight, you have no fear of God? Why is it? Because you do
not believe, you do not know, you do not realize how holy God
is. A thrice holy God. And that's
the God with whom you have to do. That's the God with whom
I have to do. That's the God before whom all
of us one day are going to appear. A holy God. A loving God, yes. Absolutely. A merciful God, yes. A gracious God, absolutely. But
first of all, A holy God. A holy God. He's the only one,
that verse tells us, for thou only art holy. Anyone else, the
angels, they derive their holiness from God. He is the only one
in himself who is independently holy, infinitely holy. What does that word infinitely
mean? It just simply means there's
no measure. There's no end to his holiness. Immutably holy. He's always been
holy. He's holy tonight and he shall
always be holy. Stephen Charnock. In his book,
On the Attributes of God, said power is God's hand or arm. Omniscience, that is his all
knowing. Omniscience is his eye. Mercy,
his bowels. You know, that's the way they
use that word, the old timers, bowels, we would say heart today. Emotions, bowels, his mercy. is his vows. Eternity is his
duration, but holiness is his beauty, is his beauty. Holy, holy, holy. God's holiness is manifested
to his creatures in many different ways, but none more so than at
the cross. How holy is God at the cross
when his only beloved son was charged with the sins of all
his people. God said, awake. God spoke to
the sword of justice. Oh, sword, awake against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. saith the Lord of hosts, smite,
smite the shepherd. That's how holy he is. When sin
was upon his son, he spared not his own son. Holy. The second attribute, his
knowledge, verse three. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth for the Lord. is a God of knowledge. You know, one of our favorite
Psalms, I'm sure for you as well, is Psalm 139, a Psalm in which
David said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And he speaks
about God, the different attributes of God in that Psalm. And then
he says this, such knowledge, the knowledge that God has. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too wonderful for me. It
is high. I cannot attain unto it. To think that God knows everything,
everything that has happened, everything that will happen,
everything that could have happened. God knows all things. In Ezekiel,
there's a verse, Ezekiel chapter 11 and verse 5, where God said,
for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of
them. Think over the billions of people
on the face of God's earth tonight, and all the thoughts that run
through the minds of men and women, boys and girls, and God
knows each and every one. omniscience, thy knowledge. This attribute is one of consolation
for the people of God. To a child of God, it's a source
of comfort. When you're misunderstood or
perplexed with God's providence, and who isn't? Who isn't from
time to time? Things happen. Things happen
to God's people. And we're nonplussed. We don't
understand and have no clue why. But thou knowest. And we can
say with Job, for I know the things that come. Let me find
it here. But he knoweth the way that I
take. Job said that. For he knoweth
the way that I take. The third attribute, his sovereignty. In verse four, the bows of the
mighty men are broken and they that stumble are girded with
strength. The sovereignty of God. Hannah
praised his sovereignty. Hannah's God is he that declares,
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. That's the God that Hannah worshiped.
That's the God in whom she rejoiced. That's the God of whose salvation
she partook. God who declared, I will do all
my pleasure. Charles Spurgeon said this about God's sovereignty. I'm just going to read just a
portion. He said, there's no attribute
more comforting to his children than that of God's sovereignty.
No attribute. You say, why is that? Because
when you go through afflictions and trials and difficulties,
because you know God is in control, you know this didn't just happen,
didn't just fly up out of the dust. This is part of God's purpose
for you. And he's able to make all and
will make all things work together for good to those who love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Spurgeon said,
there's no attribute more comforting to his children than that of
God's sovereignty. But then he said, on the other
hand, There's no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth
of which they have made such a football as the great, stupendous,
but yes, most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite
Jehovah. Men hate, men hate the truth that God sits
on the throne. And he's just not there. setting,
he's ruling, he's reigning over all things, at all times, in
all places. We can't understand that, can
we? But it's so. Now the last part, Hannah's Savior. She rejoiced in God's salvation. You notice that in verse one,
because I rejoice in thy salvation, God's salvation. God purposed
it, God purchased it through Christ, and God applies it. Thy salvation. The scriptures
reveal that Christ is the subject of all the word of God. He said,
search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, but there they which testify of me. And we see in this psalm,
in this hymn here of Hannah, we see the Lord Jesus Christ
at least with these two terms. First of all, in verse two, he
is the rock who is God. Neither is there any rock like
our God. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the rock in many places in the word of God. I think of 1 Corinthians
10 in verse 4, Paul identified the rock that supplied the water
for the Israelites. When they journeyed 40 years
in the wilderness, the rock that supplied the water for them,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And
that rock was Christ. Christ. When I think of Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, under the picture of a rock, what do
you think of? I think of durability. I think of strength, don't you?
A rock, strong, mighty, and he's mighty to save all that come
unto God by him. Look in Psalm 62, just a moment. In Psalm 62, the psalmist said
in verses one and two, truly my soul waiteth upon God. From
him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He only. There's none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He only is my rock, my salvation. And then if you still have your
Bible open there to 1 Samuel chapter 2, look down in verse
10, a second name, he is God's anointed, verse 10. The latter part of the verse
says, the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall
give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Who is his anointed? That word
anointed means Christ, doesn't it? Christos, Messiah, the anointed
one. Not only is he anointed of God,
he is the appointed one. He's the only one that God has
appointed as a mediator between God and man. This is where God
and the sinner join together. Come together in Christ. He's
God's anointed. He's God's Christ. He's my Christ. He's my Christ. He's God's chosen. He's my chosen. He's God's holy
one. He's my holy one. We meet together
in Christ. I pray that the Lord would Bless
his word to all of us here tonight, and we would go away rejoicing
in Christ. And our salvation in Christ,
if you know him. What a wonderful, wonderful salvation. We'll sing a verse of a hymn.