August 23, 2021
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Reading along with us in 1 Samuel? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Samuel 2 (NIV)
Hannah’s Prayer
1 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.
2“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
Such amazing faithfulness for Hannah to sing this prayer on the day she was dropping off her son never for him to return to her home again. Must have been such a difficult thing to do especially in her case when she longed for a child for so long! But with what appeared to be gladness she honored her vow!
Also cool to see God working things out in his time to have someone in place for the sons of Eli that had gone so astray! Hannah waited because God knew the hearts of Eli’s sons and that they were no longer fit to represent Him as priests. So when He makes the decision to remove them Samuel is already in place ready to serve.
1 Samuel 2-3
Hannah’s prayer is lovely and Mary took a little of the tone and content in her prayer about Jesus from what we see here. There is an emphasis on God’s sovereign hand over everything as well as exalting those that are lowly and weak. Truly, there is no Rock like our God!
And the chapter goes from this beautiful, faithful, God honoring prayer to the complete disregard for God in how Eli’s sons conducted themselves. It really is shameful for those in a position of trust and power to take advantage of those who are coming to them. Especially for the priests who were the ones to do the sacrifices (ie the people couldn’t do it themselves) and God even gave the priests a portion of the sacrifices legitimately. Eli’s sons wanted what wasn’t to be theirs and took advantage of their privilege. Eli tries to correct them, but they do not listen. So God reveals to Eli that the jig is up and He will bring harsh consequences on his house. It just shows the depth of the offense that Hophni and Phinehas caused.
It is interesting how we can learn from the good example of Hannah and the bad example of Eli and his sons.
Hannah worships the Lord.
I wonder what she meant by “salvation”. How was salvation defined in the Old Testament. Were they thinking of eternal life?
They did have a sense of the beyond and a paradise with God. But Hannah here focuses on an earthly deliverance/salvation….