1 Samuel 2

Hannah's Song of Thanksgiving

1 Then Hannah ¹prayed and said, "My heart exults in the LORD; ²My ^[a]horn is exalted in the LORD, My mouth ^[b]speaks boldly against my enemies, Because ³I rejoice in Your salvation.

2 "⁴There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, ⁵there is no one besides You, ⁶Nor is there any rock like our God.

3 "^[c]Boast no more so very proudly, ⁷Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; ⁸For the LORD is a God of knowledge, ⁹And with Him actions are weighed.

4 "¹⁰The bows of the mighty are shattered, ¹¹But the feeble gird on strength.

5 "Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. ¹²Even the barren gives birth to seven, But ¹³she who has many children languishes.

6 "¹⁴The LORD kills and makes alive; ¹⁵He brings down to ^[d]Sheol and raises up.

7 "¹⁶The LORD makes poor and rich; ¹⁷He brings low, He also exalts.

8 "¹⁸He raises the poor from the dust, ¹⁹He lifts the needy from the ash heap ²⁰To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; ²¹For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, And He set the world on them.

9 "²²He keeps the feet of His godly ones, ²³But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; ²⁴For not by might shall a man prevail.

10 "²⁵Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered; ²⁶Against them He will thunder in the heavens, ²⁷The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; ²⁸And He will give strength to His king, ²⁹And will exalt the ^[e]horn of His anointed."

11 Then Elkanah went to his home at ³⁰Ramah. ³¹But the boy ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.

The Sin of Eli's Sons

12 Now the sons of Eli were ^[f]³²worthless men; they did not know the LORD

13 ³³and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged * fork in his hand.

14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15 Also, before ³⁴they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only * raw."

16 If the man said to him, "They must surely ^[g]burn the fat ^[h]first, and then take as much as ^[i]you desire," then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force."

17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men ³⁵despised the offering of the LORD.

Samuel before the LORD as a Boy

18 Now ³⁶Samuel was ministering before the LORD, as a boy ^[j]³⁷wearing a linen ephod.

19 And his mother would make him a little ³⁸robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer ³⁹the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would ⁴⁰bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the LORD give you ^[k]children from this woman in place of ^[l]the one she ⁴¹dedicated * to the LORD." And they went to their own home.

21 ⁴²The LORD visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And ⁴³the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard ⁴⁴all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how * they lay with ⁴⁵the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

23 He said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

24 "No, my sons; for the report is not good ⁴⁶which I hear the LORD'S people circulating.

25 "If one man sins against another, ⁴⁷God will mediate for him; but ⁴⁸if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the ⁴⁹LORD desired to put them to death.

26 Now the boy ⁵⁰Samuel was growing * in stature and in favor both with the LORD and with men.

27 Then ⁵¹a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, '⁵²Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house?

28 '⁵³Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not ⁵⁴give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?

29 'Why do you ⁵⁵kick at My sacrifice and at My offering ⁵⁶which I have commanded in My ⁵⁷dwelling, and ⁵⁸honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?'

30 "Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, '⁵⁹I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever * '; but now the LORD declares, 'Far be it from Me-for ⁶⁰those who honor Me I will honor, and those ⁶¹who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.

31 'Behold, ⁶²the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

32 'You will see ⁶³the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an ⁶⁴old man will not be in your house forever *.

33 'Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

34 'This will be ⁶⁵the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ⁶⁶on the same day both of them will die.

35 'But ⁶⁷I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and ⁶⁸I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before ⁶⁹My anointed always *.

36 'Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, "Please assign me to one of the priest's offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.""'

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Images for 1 Samuel 2

1 Samuel 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Hannah's song of thanksgiving. (1-10) The wickedness of Eli's sons, Samuel's ministry. (11-26) The prophecy against Eli's family. (27-36)

Verses 1-10 Hannah's heart rejoiced, not in Samuel, but in the Lord. She looks beyond the gift, and praises the Giver. She rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, and in expectation of His coming, who is the whole salvation of his people. The strong are soon weakened, and the weak are soon strengthened, when God pleases. Are we poor? God made us poor, which is a good reason why we should be content, and make up our minds to our condition. Are we rich? God made us rich, which is a good reason why we should be thankful, and serve him cheerfully, and do good with the abundance he gives us. He respects not man's wisdom or fancied excellences, but chooses those whom the world accounts foolish, teaching them to feel their guilt, and to value his free and precious salvation. This prophecy looks to the kingdom of Christ, that kingdom of grace, of which Hannah speaks, after having spoken largely of the kingdom of providence. And here is the first time that we meet with the name MESSIAH, or his Anointed. The subjects of Christ's kingdom will be safe, and the enemies of it will be ruined; for the Anointed, the Lord Christ, is able to save, and to destroy.

Verses 11-26 Samuel, being devoted to the Lord in a special manner, was from a child employed about the sanctuary in the services he was capable of. As he did this with a pious disposition of mind, it was called ministering unto the Lord. He received a blessing from the Lord. Those young people who serve God as well as they can, he will enable to improve, that they may serve him better. Eli shunned trouble and exertion. This led him to indulge his children, without using parental authority to restrain and correct them when young. He winked at the abuses in the service of the sanctuary till they became customs, and led to abominations; and his sons, who should have taught those that engaged in the service of the sanctuary what was good, solicited them to wickedness. Their offence was committed even in offering the sacrifices for sins, which typified the atonement of the Saviour! Sins against the remedy, the atonement itself, are most dangerous, they tread under foot the blood of the covenant. Eli's reproof was far too mild and gentle. In general, none are more abandoned than the degenerate children of godly persons, when they break through restraints.

Verses 27-36 Those who allow their children in any evil way, and do not use their authority to restrain and punish them, in effect honour them more than God. Let Eli's example excite parents earnestly to strive against the beginnings of wickedness, and to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the midst of the sentence against the house of Eli, mercy is promised to Israel. God's work shall never fall to the ground for want of hands to carry it on. Christ is that merciful and faithful High Priest, whom God raised up when the Levitical priesthood was thrown off, who in all things did his Father's mind, and for whom God will build a sure house, build it on a rock, so that hell cannot prevail against it.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 69

1. 1 Samuel 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-55
2. Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 16:15; Psalms 75:10; Psalms 89:17, 24; Psalms 92:10; Psalms 112:9
3. Psalms 9:14; Psalms 13:5; Psalms 35:9; Isaiah 12:2, 3
4. Exodus 15:11; Leviticus 19:2; Psalms 86:8
5. 2 Samuel 22:32
6. Deuteronomy 32:30, 31
7. Proverbs 8:13
8. 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39
9. Proverbs 16:2; Proverbs 24:12
10. Psalms 37:15; Psalms 46:9
11. Psalms 18:39; Hebrews 11:32-34
12. Ruth 4:15; Psalms 113:9
13. Jeremiah 15:9
14. Deuteronomy 32:39; 2 Kings 5:7; Revelation 1:18
15. Isaiah 26:19
16. Deuteronomy 8:17, 18
17. Job 5:11; Psalms 75:7; James 4:10
18. Job 42:10-12; Psalms 75:7; Psalms 113:7
19. 2 Samuel 7:8; Daniel 2:48; James 2:5
20. Job 36:7; Psalms 113:8
21. Job 38:4-6; Psalms 75:3; Psalms 104:5
22. Psalms 91:11, 12; Psalms 121:3; Proverbs 3:26; 1 Peter 1:5
23. Matthew 8:12
24. Psalms 33:16, 17
25. Exodus 15:6; Psalms 2:9
26. 1 Samuel 7:10; 2 Samuel 22:14; Psalms 18:13, 14
27. Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; Matthew 25:31, 32
28. Psalms 21:1, 7
29. Psalms 89:24
30. 1 Samuel 1:1, 19
31. 1 Samuel 1:28; 1 Samuel 2:18; 1 Samuel 3:1
32. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 9:3, 6; 2 Corinthians 6:15
33. Leviticus 7:29-34
34. Lev 3:3-5, 16
35. Malachi 2:7-9
36. 1 Samuel 2:11; 1 Samuel 3:1
37. 1 Samuel 2:28; 1 Samuel 22:18; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Chronicles 15:27
38. Exodus 28:31
39. 1 Samuel 1:3, 21
40. Luke 2:34
41. 1 Sam 1:11, 27, 28
42. Genesis 21:1
43. Judges 13:24; 1 Samuel 2:26; 1 Samuel 3:19-21; Luke 1:80; Luke 2:40
44. 1 Samuel 2:13-17
45. Exodus 38:8
46. 1 Kings 15:26
47. Deuteronomy 1:17
48. Numbers 15:30; 1 Samuel 3:14; Hebrews 10:26, 27
49. Joshua 11:20
50. 1 Samuel 2:21; Luke 2:52
51. Deuteronomy 33:1; Judges 13:6
52. Exodus 4:14-16; Exodus 12:1, 43
53. Exodus 28:1-4; Exodus 30:7, 8; Leviticus 8:7, 8
54. Leviticus 7:35, 36
55. 1 Samuel 2:13-17
56. Deuteronomy 12:5-9
57. Psalms 26:8
58. Matthew 10:37
59. Exodus 29:9; Numbers 25:13
60. Psalms 50:23
61. Malachi 2:9
62. 1 Samuel 4:11-18; 1 Samuel 22:17-20
63. 1 Kings 2:26, 27
64. Zechariah 8:4
65. 1 Samuel 10:7-9; 1 Kings 13:3
66. 1 Samuel 4:11, 17
67. 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 9:12, 13
68. 1 Samuel 8:3-5; 1 Samuel 25:28; 2 Samuel 7:11, 27; 1 Kings 11:38
69. 1 Samuel 10:9, 10; 1 Samuel 12:3; 1 Samuel 16:13

Footnotes 23

[a]. I.e. strength
[b]. Lit "is enlarged"
[c]. Lit "Talk much"
[d]. I.e. the nether world
[e]. I.e. strength
[f]. Lit "sons of Belial"
[g]. Lit "offer up in smoke"
[h]. Lit "like the day"
[i]. Lit "your soul"
[j]. Lit "girded with"
[k]. Lit "seed"
[l]. Lit "the one asked for which was lent"
[m]. Lit "place"
[n]. Or "making the LORD'S "people transgress"
[o]. Lit "was going on both great and good"
[p]. Or "first"
[q]. Or "arm"
[r]. Or "arm"
[s]. Lit "He does"
[t]. Lit "to waste away your eyes and to grieve your soul"
[u]. Lit "as men"
[v]. Or "payment"
[w]. Lit "attach"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2

In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, 1Sa 2:1-10, and an account is given of the return of Elkanah and Hannah to their own home, and of the care she took yearly to provide a coat for Samuel, and of her being blessed with many other children, and of the growth and ministry of Samuel before the Lord, 1Sa 2:11,18-21,26, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, 1Sa 2:12-17, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, 1Sa 2:22-25 and of a sharp message sent him from the Lord on that account, threatening destruction to his house, of which the death of his two sons would be a sign, 1Sa 2:27-36.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible