1 Samuel chapter 1. Someone has said, I just read it this week, remember Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. And we saw back in Genesis, we see how Jesus can be a priest. Remember after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus is not from the tribe of Levi, but still he can be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. That's recorded for us in history. Moses mentioned how God's gonna raise up a prophet like him, who are speaking about the prophets, but then also the ultimate prophet, Jesus as the prophet. And here in 1st and 2nd Samuel, we're seeing how Jesus is also in the line of the true kings of Israel. We're gonna get to that. The whole 1st and 2nd Samuel point out how the Davidic dynasty started. And that was the one that God promised that your son will sit on my throne forever from the family of David. Now, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings were one book in the Old Testament. I think that's a big book. But of course, back then it was on scrolls. So they divided it up into four parts. It was also what's called, this whole thing was called the Book of the Rains, because it's all about the kings. But anyway, this was one long book. So 1st Samuel all the way through 2nd Kings was one book. We covered some of that two weeks ago, at least two times ago. Now, 1 Samuel, you recall, begins where the book of Judges ends. Remember what happened at the end of the book of Judges, how awful Israel had become. Remember we saw that in the tribe of... Yeah. In the tribe of Benjamin, all these homosexuals wanted to rape the guest and they said they raped his daughter to death and he cut her into 12 pieces, sent her out to all the tribes. They combined with warfare and pretty much almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. And because there were so few women for the Benjamites to marry, they actually went up to the tabernacle at Shiloh and started just grabbing women off the street, basically. Just a dark time. Their morals, they've sunk very low in sin. And they're also constantly struggling with their pagan neighbors. All the time you see this. this cycle repeating, that their neighbors come in against them or they fall into idolatry. It's a very dark time for Israel. There's no king. There hasn't been a king. Have your seat there, Judges 21, 25. This is the last verse of Judges. This is repeated four times in the book of Judges. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was no central leadership. There was no king. There was no central palace. There's no capital city. It's just 12 tribes joined together by family and by covenant, but there's no central anything. It's just everyone doing what's right in their own eyes. And the book of Judges shows you that. And it leads to trouble. But as we saw last time, at this point in Israel's history, God is quietly working to raise up a deliverer. That's gonna be Samuel. No one would notice this. This woman who's barren, can't have a child, and all of a sudden God, because she prays earnestly, she prays her heart out to the Lord, God is quietly working to raise up a deliverer, Samuel. Samuel will be the one who will anoint King David. He meant setting up the Davidic dynasty, as they called it, David's line, and that's the line through which the Messiah came. Jesus' qualifications as king is because he's the son of David. This is the start of all that. This is where that all comes. This is explaining how that all happened. So now, we saw already last time the story of Hannah. I won't go into this detail. We went through this. Remember, Hannah was a barren wife of Al Kane. That was her husband. And he had two wives. She was being severely taunted by the other wife, Peninna, her name was. And she would make fun of her. In fact, it was vigorous. It was vicious. So much so that Hannah would need. She'd cry her eyes out. Remember, back in those days, to be barren was considered to be cursed. Because the best thing you can do for your husband is give him a son. She had no children at all. But unlike Sarah, who did something stupid to have a child, unlike Rachel, who did the same thing, Hannah is a godly woman. We'll see it all through this. She's a very godly woman. She goes with her husband up to the tabernacle, which is in Shiloh. Remember now, her husband is a Levite, descended from Korah. So every Jewish male had to go three times a year to the tabernacle. They offer sacrifice. And the Levites, they would draw lots for when your service was. So on a regular basis, they're traveling up to the tabernacle. And he would take his two wives with him. We're told here how when she went to the tabernacle one day, of course, this penina, was making awful fun of her, just mocking her, viciously insulting her. My husband, I gave my husband, I think she had what, seven or eight kids, whatever, I forget anymore. I'm teaching this, I don't know it. But Hannah got so broken in spirit, she wouldn't eat, she cried her eyes out, and she went in prayer. Let's look at that prayer, just one verse. 1 Samuel 1, verse 11, or verse 10. And she, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, oh, 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 son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head. She's weeping bitterly while she's praying. She's praying this silently. Remember, Eli's sitting there at the temple, a temple, a tabernacle. watching her, he thinks she's drunk because she's probably moving back and forth and her lips are moving and her face is probably all distorted and tears running down her face. But you know the story. God hears his prayer. In fact, it says there, it's interesting, she prays and then verse... Anyway, she leaves there in a much better mood. She took her burden to the Lord, she left it at his feet, she begged him If you will, but of course, she knows if you won't, that's fine, too. And then he left. Well, God heard her prayer. She has a son. This barren woman, God opened her womb. We saw that last time. Remember, God is the one who all life is God's life. No one will ever conceive unless God ordained it. That includes rapes. That includes incest. That includes all that stuff. No life ever starts. No human life ever comes into existence unless God ordains it. But anyway, Hannah gets a son. She names him Samuel, which means gotten of the Lord, or the Lord has given me. Samuel. God graciously answered her prayer. And remember, she promised to give this child to the Lord forever. Now let's pick up the story. Chapter 1, verse 21. Then the man Elkanah went up with all of his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up. For she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child is weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever. Now Cain, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord confirm his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with a three-year-old bull. Actually, that's supposed to read with three bulls. They've done some great research on this. That actually should say three bulls. one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli. She said, oh my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord as long as he lives. He is dedicated to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. We're told earlier in Chapter 1 how Akena would go yearly up to the tabernacle, year after year after year, probably several times a year up to the tabernacle. Here we're told he goes again, but this time she doesn't go. And she says, I'm going to stay behind. I'm weaning my son. Until he's weaned, I won't take him up there. Now, there's some debate on what's she doing here. Why is she going up to the tabernacle? She should accompany her husband, but she's not. Some think that she's just trying to, she's not going back on her vow. She's promised to give that notice. They say that promise unto him forever. But seems like she's gonna wait until he's fully weaned. I won't take him up to the tabernacle in case they decide to take him earlier. Somehow he ends up staying there earlier. Something like that. Because if you notice in verse 26, 28, Elkanah sort of gives her a little reminder. He's a very kind guy, it sounds like. Verse 23, I mean. Elkanes, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you. Remain here until you have weaned, and know that only may the Lord confirm his word. There's a gentle reminder there about this vow. He's kind of saying, look, okay, fine. You want to stay with the boy until he's weaned and not let him go anywhere? That's fine. But remember what was promised to the Lord, what the Lord promised you. It's a very gentle reminder. She's not going back on her word. It seems like she wants to spend as much time as possible with him before she gives him up. Don't know that for sure, but the text points that out. It makes a great point of trying to point that out to us. She's kind of holding on to this for a little bit longer. Now, back in their days, you weaned a child at about the age of three. I've read several things in the commentary. They didn't have baby bottles. They didn't have all the comforts we have today. And you would nurse a child basically until they could walk. basically, so he could start walking and walking well and feed himself. So this is probably about three years old. Now, after about three years, she brings Samuel to the tabernacle, to the Lord, when she had weaned him. But no, sir, she brings an offering, verse 24, it says she brings an offering, literally she brings three bulls. What's that? King James has it right. It should be three bulls, not whatever my version says, three bulls. An ifa of three bowls is three times, one bowl would have been enough. She's bringing three times what she needs to bring for the sacrifice. She has an ifa of flour, that's like a huge, big bucket of flour. She doesn't need half that for the sacrifice. She's bringing three times more, and it says here she brings a full skin of wine. All she needs is a drink offer, a little bit to pour out. She's bringing three times plus what's required for this sacrifice. Now some think it's because she's just so thrilled with what's happened. You know, when you really, when the Lord gets ahold of your heart, he gets ahold of your pocketbook. This also shows they were probably quite wealthy to be able to afford an offering like this. Because if you, a woman doesn't travel with just three bulls. She had to have a bunch of people with her to take care of these bulls and walk them up. And so she's bringing her entourage with her. But point is, she's bringing a whole lot more than was needed for this offering. Probably because she's so moved by God's kindness, she just gives generously, way more than she should have. And it also says there, although the child was young. Literally in Hebrew, it's although the child was a child. Remember in Hebrew, when you double something up, it makes it more emphatic. He's a very young boy. He's probably just barely three, just barely able to walk, a little toddler. Three years old. How old is your little grandson? Three. That's what I'm thinking of. About that age, a little kid walking around. I don't know if I could give him up. That's hard. Imagine that, doing that. This is being written just the way that you see that. She has some, she doesn't want to give him up just yet. She will. And then for her to bring this little boy, it actually might even be easier for a baby. Now she's had this child for three years, this little toddler walking alongside her. What she's about to do is pretty something. I have your sheet there. His youth is probably emphasized to point out how hard this would be for any mother. But she does it, she keeps her vow. If you notice chapter two, verse 19, she does get to see him. Look at verse 19, chapter two. Says, and his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer yearly. In other words, she's still going back with her husband over and over again to the tabernacle. So when she does, she brings him stuff. She gets to see him. It's not like she never sees him again. They don't live all, they live about nine miles away from Bethel anyway. So it's not that she can't get to see him, but she's not living at home with him. She makes his outfits year to year, his robes and all. So she still gets to see him. But Nelson also says there, and he worshiped the Lord, it's he. There's a lot of debate who's worshiping her, but it says he. The context here, it's Samuel. Little Samuel learns to worship at age three. In fact, notice some other verses about Sam. Look at verse 11, chapter two. Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah, but the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. This three-year-old boy learns right away to start working, he's a Levite, working in the tabernacle. Look at verse 26. Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men. Does that sound familiar? Where'd you hear that before? That's said of our Lord. In fact, some think when Luke wrote that, he was thinking about this, because he's using the exact same words. And look at chapter three, verse one. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There's a contrast coming. Remember, Eli has these two wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They're wicked, they're priests, but they're wicked. They're stealing from the people, they're robbing the tabernacle, they're being immoral with the women, they're threatening the worshipers. And there's this little boy learning to be a priest who does everything well. He loves the Lord, he's serving the Lord, he's growing in favor with the Lord and with men. There's a contrast coming up. God's gonna do something powerful in the life of the tabernacle. Let's move on. Hannah does all this. She brings the boy to the tabernacle. Eli's sitting right outside the entrance of the tabernacle and brings him to him. Here he is. He tells him who she is. I'm the one you saw praying. God gave you my request. I'm giving him to you. In other words, you are now gonna raise this boy as a Levite, as a priest. Now think about that. It's an amazing thing she does. She's given the dearest and the best thing in her life, that thing she most desired to the Lord, that's it. There's a lot to be said there, we could spend a lot of time there. But having done that now, we come to chapter two. Hannah, now picture this, the tabernacle's set up, people coming and going, there was always a lot of busy activity around the tabernacle. And now Hannah has come up, given the boy to Eloi, and now she says this prayer in chapter two, the first 10 verses. Some call it a song, but the scriptures call it a prayer. But a lot of times, prayers were sung. A lot of the Psalms, even though they're prayers, they were sung. And she gives this famous prayer. As I mentioned earlier on, this is the most recorded words of prayer of any woman in the Old Testament. This is the second time we hear her prayer. And this prayer is amazing. We learn a lot about Hannah, but what she prays here by the Spirit is amazing. Let's just read this now, and then we'll take it apart. Chapter two, verse one. Then Hannah prayed and said, my heart exults in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. Boast no more so very proudly. Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are shattered. but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even a baron gives birth to seven, but she who has many children languishes. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to all and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich. He brings low. He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles to inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he set the world on them. He keeps the feet of his godly ones, but the wicked ones are silence and darkness. For not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. Against them he will thunder in the heavens. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king and will exhort the horn of his anointed. Or you could say there is anointed one, is actually what it's saying, an anointed man. Let's work through this. Now, the commentaries suggest many ways to break this up. The one I like is Hannah basically is talking, there's six sections to this. Each one is a source of her joy. She's singing this prayer or praying this song out loud. And there's basically six things she says she's joyful of. Let's work through this. Now, these are the last recorded words of Hannah. We don't see her again, except where she's bringing Samuel, little tunics. This is the second prayer of Hannah, as you know. We just read the first one. The first prayer of Hannah is all broken hearted, bitter in spirit, just weeping her eyes out. Contrast that with this. Notice the first words there. My heart exults in the Lord. And then in verse one, I rejoice. This whole psalm is about joy and rejoicing and exulting and celebrating. She just gave her son away, the one the Lord miraculously gave her, and she sings this song of praise. Now this prayer demonstrates that Hannah has a high and very accurate view of God. We tend to think sometimes that people back then weren't very smart. They were, they were very smart. She knows the Lord, she knows him well. She knows their history, she knows what went on, and she has a very accurate view of God. But she has this high view of God. Very accurate view of God, the God of Israel. So first of all, there's basically, she gives here six reasons why she's rejoicing. First one's found in verse one. She rejoices in God's salvation. Notice she says, my heart, my horn, my mouth. My heart exalts in the Lord. That word exalts means my heart is so lifted up. My heart has been raised high. Contrast that with her previous prayer. When she was crying in bitter agony and brokenness and tears, and her heart probably couldn't have sunk any lower. She's saying here, my heart has been lifted by the Lord. I exult in the Lord. In Yahweh, literally what she's saying, I exult in Yahweh. My heart's been lifted up. God's great kindness to her is overwhelming her and has turned her grief into joy. She says, my horn. Now, my horn, that's used often in the Old Testament for strength. They consider an animal's strength was in its horns that it could gore you with and hit you with. It even speaks of the horns of the altar, my horn. So she's saying here, my strength. Again, contrast that with her previous prayer. She had no strength at all. Her antagonist was mocking her and insulting her and being nasty to her, and she couldn't do a thing about it. She was barren. What could she do? She had no strength. She was helpless. She was hopeless. She saw no future. There's nothing I can do. I'm hopeless. Here she says, my strength, my horn in the Lord has been exalted. God has given me strength. God has given me power, is what she's saying here. She's no longer a weak victim picked on. Now she feels strong. She's exalting in the Lord. My horn is exalted. My mouth, literally, is what the word is in Hebrew. My mouth is enlarged against my enemies. That might be a dig against her husband's other wife. Those who were against me, those who were insulting me, those, and it might have been other women as well. Back then, if you were childless, other women would, oh, tsk, tsk, tsk. As they walked by, they'd shake their heads. She said, now my mouth exalts over them. They had nothing to say now. In her childlessness, she felt so helpless and embarrassed. She was brought low. We saw that. Now her heart, her strength, and her mouth are rejoicing. She's singing God's praises publicly because of what God has done for her. That's a huge reversal. That's what God is so good at. So first, she's rejoicing in, well, she calls it there at the end of verse one, his salvation. He saved me. I was dying. Remember, she couldn't eat. She was crying so bad. Her husband even said, can I help you somehow? She's rejoicing in how God saved that situation. Next, secondly, she rejoices in her God. This is pretty cool. Notice again there, verse two, there is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there's no one beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. That's an amazing statement. There's no one. Those three times here, she says that phrase, there is none. There is none. There is none. Now, all around her, where she lived, she would see idols and statues almost every place she went. The Asherah poles, and the little statues of Baal, and the Ashtoreth, and all those things. They were everywhere. All the nations around them were filled with that kind of thing. Yet she says here, there's none like you. There is no one like you. She gets it. I believe before this she knew that the God of Israel was the only God there is by being taught it. Now she knows it by experience. She's experienced what this God can do in her life. First she says, there's no one holy like the Lord. No one. Of course, holy means holy, holy, holy. There's no one like you. You are so far above all these other so-called gods. There's none like you, Lord. But there's no one holy like the Lord. There's no one beside you. That's a bold statement, because a whole lot of her Israelite kinsmen are playing around with idolatry. Israel got in trouble all through the book of Judges by playing around with idolatry. But she says, there's no one besides you. You are the only God there is. There's no one besides you. And look at that last phrase. There's no rock like our God. I love that phrase, rock. Every time I do a deep Bible study, I look up the word rock, especially in the Old Testament, all through the Psalms. You are my rock and my salvation. You are my rock and my deliverer. That idea of rock means, before this, remember in her previous prayer, she was falling apart. She had no firm, she didn't know where to stand. Rock pictures a firm, solid place. You can stand on that and you are secure. Rock pictures a hiding place. Rock pictures a fortress. She's saying there, God is the only place you can run to with your problems, and be secure, and be safe, be firm. There's no rock like our God, no other comforter like him. As you well know, the world gives you a million other options, but there's none like the Lord, nothing like the Lord. All-seeking sand. That's right, all-seeking sand, that's right. So she knows God, and she's praising God. She says, God is faithful and good. And rock means a stable, safe place to be. Isaiah 45.6 says that, the Lord says that, men may know from the rising and setting of the sun, there is no one besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Whenever you hear modern religionists saying that, well, there's many ways, or all religions are valid, it means they do not know the Lord. If you knew the Lord, you wouldn't say that. There's none like him. There's nothing like Christianity. There's nothing like this. on earth that comes close to what he is. This isn't. And notice here, Hannah, picture this, is praying publicly right outside the tabernacle. In fact, if you notice chapter one, verse 26, she's talking to Eli here. She says, oh my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood here besides you praying. Now she's doing it again. So Eli, being the judge, is sitting probably right at the mouth of the tabernacle. She's standing right next to him. He probably has Samuel in his hand, or she does. And she's praying this publicly to all those who are hearing her. So she has just said, there's no one holy like Yahweh. There's no one like him at all. He's the rock. There's no one but you. And now she kind of turns. She's praying. But she kind of addresses the people around her. She gives like an application of what she just said. Notice verse three. Boast no more so very proudly. Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with him actions are weighed. Then she'll go on to give seven indications of that. This is the third thing. She rejoices in God's sovereignty and justice. So as she thinks about God, who is God alone, the only God there is, the God who is the rock, the God who is holy, she starts taking about the proud, like her husband's wife, other wife, and people who had taunted her, just in general. She applies what she just said to anyone who's listening, I'm sure herself as well. No, she says here, boast no more so very proudly, verse three. Again, in the Hebrew, it's boast no more so very proud, proud. You who are proud, she says, stop it. If you knew who God was, you wouldn't be so arrogant. She mentions the word arrogance there in verse three. Why? Why should the proud stop being so arrogant? Because God knows. Moses says God knows. He's a God of knowledge. He knows. He knows who you are. He knows what you are. Remember Albert Barnes in his commentary says, true humility is just seeing yourself as God must see you. He knows. If you could see yourself as God actually sees you, you wouldn't think you're all that great, or you're all that strong. You wouldn't fool yourself into thinking, I don't need God today. You would know how much you need him. Because God knows. He's not fooled. We're the ones who are fooled. He isn't. And she says there, God knows. Your actions are weighed. God sees the heart. You can't be proud if God sees your heart. If you guys could see my heart, I'd slink out of here in shame some days. And we don't know how that works. God sees the heart. Therefore, she says, stop being so proud. Stop thinking you're all that. God saw her in her humility, and he lifted her up. That's her point here. She was humbled as humble could be. She was in shame, embarrassment. She was broken. And God lifted her up. And she's saying, therefore, don't be proud. And now she's going to go on here to make seven contrasts. Here's what God does. God has this kind of power. Here's what God does. Because God does these things, don't think you're so great. Notice this. First, she says there, verse four, God shatters the weapons of the mighty while strengthening the feeble, verse four. The bows of the mighty are shattered, but the feeble gird on strength. She might be referring here to what happened back in Egypt. That only was a couple hundred years before this. That was very recent history to them. And think what happened in Egypt. The mightiest nation on earth was Egypt. The Jewish slaves were powerless, even without weapons. They would never get out of there, never get out of there on their own. If they'd had a meeting one night and says, we're getting out of here, how are they going to pull that off? They'd be slaughtered. They'd never get out of there. But God shatters the bows of the mighty and blesses the feeble. That's what she's saying here. Of course, that applies to her, but she knows God does these things. Therefore, don't be proud. Don't think you're that strong, especially for oppressors. Next she says, verse five, the rich, or those who are full is the word, end up in poverty while the hungry get satisfied. Proverbs has many verses that say don't trust in riches. You know, the rich kind of think they have the right to run everything, and in the world they do. The rich are the powerful, the rich are the celebrated, the rich are the ones who think they're invincible. But she says don't be so proud. God can make the rich go out and bake bread anytime he chooses. Dean? This prayer does sound a lot like It does, doesn't it? It really does. It's interesting when you go way back in the Old Testament and start coming through, you start seeing how so much that comes later is on what came before. It's all building. Because they read their own books. They read the Bible that they had. But God tends to send the fool into poverty. And he can satisfy the hungry or the humble. Notice verse 5. This is her story exactly. I'm not sure I'm getting ahead of myself. Oh yeah, verse five, those who were full hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry ceased to hunger. Notice this, even the barren gives birth to seven, and she who has many children languishes. Hannah had six children total. Seven is that full number, that means a complete number. She's saying even the barren, God is able to make them rejoice with a full family if he wants to. While those who have all the kids that everybody admires, God can make them languish. The word languisher means to, to pine away, to waste away, which is kind of what I think Penina's going to end up doing, to languish. Because you're saying these reversals. You think you're great because you're powerful. You think you're great because you're rich. You think you're great because you have this wonderful family. God can so easily take that away from you. And you look down on those who aren't powerful. You look down on those who are poor. You look down on those who are childless. Remember, God gives grace to the humble if he exists to provide. That's the point she's making here. Notice this one, verse six. This is something a lot of our modern prosperity gospel preachers say, apparently they don't read their Bibles, verse six. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to she old and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich. He brings low, he also exalts. Think of that. The Lord kills. Does that fit your theology? The Lord kills all the time. In fact, every life that comes into the world is his doing. Every death is his as well. And the Lord kills people. The Lord destroys people. The Lord takes people out. That's a powerful thing. But notice also what it says there. The Lord makes poor. The Lord brings poverty on people. Doesn't the Bible teach that every good gift, everything you have comes from the Lord? So if you don't have it, why don't you have it? Because the Lord doesn't want you to have it. He didn't give it to you. Now, understand, if you're lazy, or you're a thief, that brings poverty. But at the end of the day, you'll have what the Lord decides you're going to have, and no more. And God may just decide you go into poverty. Many, many years ago, I read an article that's called the Joseph Syndrome. Joseph was the favorite son of a rich king, Jacob. Yet he had to go through great poverty and distress and jail time and just being picked on and being ignored and being forgotten for probably about 20 years. And if you look at your Bible, most of the big figures in scripture had to go through that same valley. If you think about it. Yeah, trouble. God often decrees. Yeah, like Proverbs says in Proverbs, or at least actually chapter three, there's a time to be born, a time to die, there's a time to be rich, there's a time to be poor. There's a time to dance, there's a time to mourn. Who decides that? God does. God may just decide it's time for you to do some crying, Rick. It's time for your life to fall apart. Don't think because your military might is impressive that God can't take you down. Or because you have all this money or whatever. Here he says the Lord kills. He can take you out anytime he wants. Don't think you're safe if you're proud, if you're against the Lord. He kills and he makes alive. All life and each death are under God's power. He brings down to the shale, oh, the grave. Good example, Barron. Good example. All blessing, success, as well as disaster and death are of the Lord. One of these days I'm gonna pull out my old notes. Years ago I did a study called the God of calamity, destruction, and death. There are so many verses in the Bible. Who do you think sends thunderstorms? Who do you think sends floods, earthquakes, forest fires? Tsunamis. Yeah, why do volcanoes? Who do you think does that? Job says, God says, lightning can't strike but by his command. Who does that? It's God. Every microbe, every coronavirus is in his absolute command. And he kills, and he makes alive. Life and death are from the Lord. Verse seven, the Lord makes poor, the Lord makes rich. It's what he does. He brings low and he exalts, verse seven. Her point is, you should fear him. Don't be so proud of yourself. Don't think anything you have is of your own. Don't think anything you have can save you if you're not right before him. Notice there, I have a sheet there that makes this for when Moses goes before the burning bush, remember? And he says, but Lord, I stutter. Don't send me, remember what God said? Who has made a man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Somewhere you gotta fit that into your theology. God determines sometimes, God determines every time someone's gonna be born blind, or become blind, or go deaf, or cripple, or lame. God says, I do that. Remember that blind man in Luke, they said, was this man blind because his parents sent, or he? Remember, Jesus said, neither. Because God determined that on this day and hour, God was gonna show his glory through me healing this guy. That man was born blind for that reason. Jesus said it, didn't he? He left Lazarus dying deliberately. That wasn't pleasant for anyone involved, but he did. So anyway, fourthly, she rejoices in God's powerful care for his people. Notice again, verse eight and nine. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles and inherit as a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he sets the world on them. He keeps the feet of his godly ones. But the wicked one shall be silenced in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail." She's rejoicing in God's keeping, his ultimate authority. He can put down the proud, raise up the low, but notice what she says here. He raises the poor. He lifts the needy. He keeps the feet of his godly ones. As powerful as he is, able to put down the greatest king when he sees the humble, God has a special heart to the needy, to the poor, to the weak, to the struggling. Cry out to the Lord, you'll find help. He's an ever-present help in time of need, the Bible says. He shows, he pities the lowly. God gives grace to the humble. He lifts the poor. He lifts the needy. He keeps the feet of his godly ones. That's a cool promise. If you're one that God approves of, says he keeps your feet, meaning he guides your path, as Proverbs 3 says. He'll guide your path. He keeps your feet. God shows special pity. Notice he says about that he raises him out of the dust, out of the ash heap. But God is so good like that. God, with all of his power, unlike the heathen deity, unlike the heathen gods, the false gods, they're all about power and kings and all that kind of stuff. The true God actually cares for those who are hurting. He actually cares for those who are down. You know, the world just chews people like that up. It just does. It always has. Back in their day, if you were poor, you were a slave, basically. You were nobody. Nobody at all. But she says he raises the poor. He lifts the needy. She's rejoicing how God cares for his people. Fifthly, she's rejoicing here in God's ultimate authority. Again, notice verse eight. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them all sit with nobles and inherit a seat of honor. Notice this. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he set the world on them. Now get that. Notice the end of verse nine. Not by might shall a man prevail. She's talking here about God's ultimate authority. God has the right to take apart nations, to take down kings, to take down the proud, to take down the rich. Why? Because he made the earth. He built this planet. Everything on this belongs to him. Notice how she says it there. She describes God creating the earth like someone building a building. She says that he, read it again, The pillars of the earth are the Lord's. He set the world on it. Just think of someone building a house. You lay a foundation down. Then you build the house on top of that. She's probably quoting, or at least thinking about, the book of Job. Job was written about 600 years before Samuel. Remember, Job took place around the time of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Job probably took place about 300 or 400 years after the flood, probably. So she would have this book. The Israelites had the book of Job at this time. Because notice, I have a quote there from Job. Remember at the end of the book of Job, God appears to Job? Remember when he asked Job? It's on your sheet there, Job 38. Where were you? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? God describes building the earth like building a house. Tell me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Who stressed a line on it? On what word's basis sunk, or who laid its cornerstone? I think Joe would be like, where were you when I did all of this? But God describes the building of the earth like we build a house. You lay the foundations, you stretch the measuring line out, you put the plumb bob on to make sure it's straight, you build on top of that, you lay the foundation. How do you build a house? You go up on the floor and you look at that. God's describing what he did sort of like that so we can picture it. Well she says that here. He laid the earth on its foundations. Again, remember, she's surrounded by all these foreign deities and all these little stupid carved idols will be everywhere she goes. She says, the Lord, Yahweh is the word here. Yahweh created the earth. He set the earth up. He built this planet. That means he rules. That means he sees. That means he knows. That means he acts. That means every one of us is responsible before him. I love Marian's one of her latest art out there, Coram Deo. in the face of God. Everything you do is right in God's face. This is his planet. He built this. He owns every bit of it. He owns everything on it. He owns a cattle of a thousand hills and a thousand hills under the cattle. He owns it all. She's saying that. That's exactly right. It's all his. It's all his. Once you understand it, if you were to get a handle on that, it humbles you. But it also can delight your soul, because if we know the God who made all this, that means I'm in good hands. That's why she calls him a rock, and a deliverer, my savior, my salvation from the Lord. If you understand that your best friend is the one who has all the power, then you can relax, like she's doing here. You can rejoice, you can realize, I belong to God, the God who made everything. The kind of power, can you imagine the power it takes to do that? We can't. What does it take to do what God did in creation? But she's saying he's the one who puts down enemies and lifts up the lowly. He's the one who takes care of his godly ones. And notice in verse 10 there, those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. No one ever successfully challenges the Lord, ever. It looks like they're getting away with it now, but they are not. ever successfully challenged the Lord, even Satan himself. No one ever did. They're never going to get away with it. Ever. And he says there, those who contend with the Lord will be shouted against them. He will thunder into heavens. Why? Because the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. Everything on earth is under his control. That word judge means to rule, like the book of Judges. He will judge the ends of the earth. He will rule the earth. And he is right now. Powerful, that's a powerful prayer. She's praying, remember, she's praying this publicly, so people are hearing this, are rejoicing. Then lastly, number six, we saw this a little bit before, she prophetically rejoices in God's coming king. Hannah, at least Dean asked, was she praying through the spirit? I think certainly she was, because here she makes a bit of a prophecy. Now she's not called a prophetess, but in her prayer through the spirit, she makes this little prophecy, verse 10. Again, those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. Against them, he will thunder in the heavens. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. And here's the last two words. He will give strength to his king and will exalt the horn of his anointed. There's that word horn again. Remember, at this time, Israel still doesn't have a king. Since the days that Israel was founded, way back with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, going through the whole time in Egypt, they don't have a king. Moses was never, they don't have a king. Yet here she says, The Lord is going to exalt his king. On one level, she knows God's going to give Israel a king. Remember, Samuel's all about King David. The whole first and second Samuel are all about basically how did King David come to be? How did the Davidic dynasty start? The whole book's about that. She says here, Yahweh is going to bless his king. He will exalt, he will give strength to his king. Yahweh has chosen a king. Now, at this time, there is no king. They don't even know who it's going to be. But notice what also she says. And we saw this a little earlier. And will exalt the horn of his anointed. This king, Yahweh's king, is also his anointed one. In the Hebrew, this is the first time in the Bible that phrase anointed is used of a person. Now, as I said, many times before this, like throughout the whole books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, it says to anoint, anoint this, anoint that, anoint this. Here it speaks of an anointed one. God, Yahweh, is going to give strength to his king, his anointed one. And of course, anointed one, as you know, is the word Christ. Dean mentioned Psalm 2. It says that. God says, I've set my king on the throne, my Christ. I've set my anointed one, my Christ, is on the throne. This is prophetic, a smaller level of David, but also of the Christ himself, the anointed one. At this point, the whole song comes full circle. Notice she started verse one by saying, my horn is exalted in the Lord. Here in verse 10 she says, he will exalt the horn of his anointed. She starts with her horn being anointed, her strength being elevated, and ends with this prophetic announcement, God's Christ, the Lord's anointed one, his horn will be anointed. In other words, the Lord will give great strength to his king. to his Christ. And these are the last words of Hannah. But let's think about this now. As you know, this is very clear, I think, that this is prophetically pointing to King David. But through King David to the ultimate king, the anointed one, the Christ. Remember, Christ isn't his last name, it's his title. All through the New Testament, when you say Jesus Christ, you're saying Jesus, the anointed one. Jesus, the Messiah. Yeshua, Messiah. This is foreshadowing another one who's coming. Now, in closing here, I've mentioned this before, many centuries later, remember how God so many times already had worked through a barren woman with Abraham, with Rachel, with Samson and others, here with Hannah. Well, centuries later, we're gonna see this again. As Isaiah prophesies coming future, behold, a virgin shall be with child. Now Mary, we're not told Mary had trouble conceiving. She wasn't married. Elizabeth was way past the age she gave birth to John the Baptist. This whole thing is repeated. These patterns repeat. These cycles repeat. God does the same thing. In fact, someone has said, and I'll say it again, salvation history is full of God doing great things through poor, unknown women. Have you noticed that? The women. You would never have heard of Hannah. She was a nobody. She had a good husband. She was probably fairly wealthy, her husband was. But she was a nobody. But she was barren. Same with Abraham and Sarah. They were nobodies, so God called them. So was Elizabeth. So was Mary. She was a nobody. But she was a daughter of King David. In the line of David. And God came to her. Remember, she said, you're going to get pregnant. And she, being a righteous young lady, said, well, I'm not married. How can I get pregnant? It's going to be a miracle. She got miraculously pregnant. As I said before, Mary, it seems, knew a whole lot about Hannah. Hannah, if you were a Jewish woman, a godly Jewish woman, you would love Hannah. She's like one of the heroes of the Old Testament for the ladies, because of who she is, what she does. So they knew from Adam and Eve on, there's one coming. A male child of the woman is going to come one day and crush Satan's head. So they knew right from day one, it's coming, he's coming. And it builds and builds and builds, of course. But I said, Mary, being a godly Jewish girl, would probably love Hannah. She probably knew Hannah well. Most godly young Jewish women would take Hannah as their role model. She's one of the most godliest women in the Old Testament. I mean, Sarah was, too. There are others. But she's the one that we know a whole lot about. There's a whole lot written about her. And so Mary would have known this prayer. So when Mary gets, remember when Mary meets Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is six months pregnant, remember Elizabeth's baby jumps for joy, and Mary sings this song? I have it broken down here in your sheet. The song that Mary sings parallels Hannah's song here. I've broken it down for you. For example, in her earlier prayer, in 111, when Hannah's praying broken before the Lord, remember Hannah says this, look on the affliction of your maidservant, she says that three times. That word maidservant means female slave. Lord, have mercy on your female slave. Well, Mary in Luke 1.38 says the exact same thing. Behold, the bond slave, or the levered bond slave in Greek is an effeminate. Behold, the female slave of the Lord, Luke 1.48, for he has regard for the humble estate of his bond slave, his female slave. They both had the same answer. Mary's probably quoting Hannah here, because Hannah was before the Lord. Mary realizes this angel's from the Lord, and she says, behold, like Hannah, I am your bond slave. Do with me as you wish. In 1 Samuel 2, 1, Hannah sings, my heart exalts in the Lord. And she mentions in your salvation. Well, in Luke 1, when Mary sings her song before Elizabeth, she says, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit in God, my savior. She's quoting Hannah. Or at least prophetically, she's saying the same words Hannah said. It parallels perfectly. Verses 5 through 7, we saw this. Hannah says that those that were full, those who were rich, God sent away hungry. He brought low. He raises up the feeble. He puts down the proud. He dethrones rulers. Those who were hungry are now full. They give strength to the poor. The needy get raised up. Well, Mary says the same thing in Luke 1.51. It's on your sheet. He has scattered the rich and exalted the humble. He's filled the hungry and sent the rich away hungry. Look at Hannah's words. Mary's praying Hannah's word. Mary took Hannah as a role model, as well she should. In 1 Samuel 2, verse 10, Hannah says, he will give strength to his king. He'll exalt his anointed, or his Christ. And in Luke 1.54, she says, he has given help to Israel, his servant, and remember, he's over the mercy. In other words, he's going to raise Israel up. God has done great things to raise up Israel. It's neat. And you see these themes in the scripture, I love this stuff, how it all kind of, like a chain, it starts building. And Mary, who is the mother of the Messiah, is in the same chain that Hannah was in. Same basic circumstance, same basic idea, same spirit is inspiring both these songs. And this is all pointing ahead to Christ. The whole message of this section of 1 Samuel is there's someone coming. And we have the whole story. We can look back now and see how this all fits together. It's pretty cool. And it's interesting here. One of the commentators said, in this passage, and in what Mary does with it in Luke chapter 1, God is elevating the status of women in the gospel story. He just is. You couldn't have this story without these women. The front and center. Yeah, what God did. At the tomb on Easter morning. Exactly. The first person to ever recognize the resurrection was a woman. It's the men who are always fussing and fighting and arguing and getting rebuked. But God has done great things through these quiet, humble women, godly women. It's amazing how it works out, what God does. You know, Jesus, Luke mentioned, had this whole cadre of women who followed him around. And Luke is special mention. Normally in ancient writings, you wouldn't mention something like that. Women weren't important in their day. But Luke mentioned them because they are important. At the cross, except for John, all the disciples were turned tail and fled. But the women were there. That's a neat thing. As I preached two weeks ago, the first woman, apparently, who Jesus revealed himself to as Messiah, was one of the lowest despised women on earth. God has this special favor for women. Don't ever think otherwise. He does. He just does. But you can't get away from that in the Bible. The fact that hen is so highly mentioned here in these ancient writings. Someone has said, in a lot of the older, like the Mesopotamian writings and the Babylonian writings, they don't even mention women. They don't ever come up much, hardly at all, never like this. She's exalted here, she's elevated here. She's laid here as a role model for all of us. And this is another way of saying this is the kind of woman God loves, the kind of woman God blesses, who's humble, who trusts in the Lord, who knows who he is. That's the kind of woman God blesses. And someone has said, and I think they're right, probably one of the reasons Satan so hates children. You know that, you see what he does. It's because in Genesis 3.15, God promised a male child. And how many times now through history God has used the birth of a child to bring about God's salvation plan, to bring about and move God's plan forward a few more steps. God rules. That's the point of Hannah's prayer. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the sacred history, Lord. We thank you for allowing us to know our sister Hannah who lived so many years ago, Lord. Thank you for Her godly spirit, you raised her up, Lord. And the things she said and the things we learned, Lord, thank you, Lord. We see that you've been working all through history. You are the God who made the heavens and the earth. You are the God of absolute authority, Lord. There is none like you. There is none beside you. Lord, you know the thoughts of all men's hearts. You have all power in heaven and earth. And Lord, we're glad that knowing that, that we who are weak, we who are lowly, but we're in Christ. And so we're loved by you and we're cherished by you. And you are, you're not our judge anymore. You are a rock. You are a deliverer. You're our strong fortress. And Lord, we thank you that because of people like Hannah, we can learn that you do favor the lowly and we can take our, our heartaches and our, and our, our brokenness to you, Lord, knowing that you hear us and you delight in the humble prayers of someone crying out to you for help. And Lord, not only do you hear, but you can do something about it. Lord, you are the God who can. So Lord, help us to believe these things, to trust these things, to have a high view of you. Lord, we thank you that long, long, long ago, you've been telling the world over and over and over again that the Christ is coming. Lord, we thank you that we can look back on that Christ who came, knowing that he came for us. He came to save us. He sought us out. He died on the cross for us. That all your prophecies, all these pictures, all these images came true, which tells us again, Lord, that your word is true. We thank you for it. Lord, bless us tonight because of this study. May this cause us to love our Lord more and to want to be more like Hannah. We ask this all in Jesus' name.