Summary: Hannah expresses profound gratitude to God through a prayerful song, demonstrating a deep appreciation for his intervention in her life. Next, the narrative shifts to Eli and his sons, who are depicted as corrupt priests, exploiting offerings for personal gain, even resorting to force (v.16). God condemns this as quite severe (v.17).
Returning to Samuel, we learn of his upbringing by his mother, who annually made him new clothes (v.19). Eli blesses Hannah, and God responds by granting her five more children, illustrating divine favor for those who trust in God (v.21).
The focus shifts back to Eli and his sons, where Eli, aware of their misconduct, proves reluctant to discipline them (v.22). It is even revealed that Eli’s sons were engaging in immoral acts at the Tabernacle’s entrance. Eli rebukes them (vv.23-25) but fails to take further action. Consequently, God intervenes, decreeing judgment that culminates in their demise (v.25).
A man of God predicts Eli’s family’s downfall, prophesying their future as either dead or destitute (vv.30-31). This prophecy is later fulfilled when Solomon removes Abiathar from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27), fulfilling God’s earlier judgment on Eli’s household in Shiloh.
When we receive answers to prayer, we are immediately happy, but often forget to give thanks. Hannah received a great answer to prayer, and consequently, it led to even more prayer. Some scholars see “Hannah’s Song” as an inclusio with “David’s Song” at the end of the book (2 Sam. 22).[] That is, the book of Samuel opens and ends with prayer. Others note similarities between Hannah’s prayer and Mary’s prayer after she becomes pregnant with Jesus (Lk. 1:48-52). Youngblood writes, “Both Hannah and Mary became pregnant miraculously (though admittedly in quite different ways), in due course each presented her firstborn son to the Lord at the central sanctuary (1:22; Luke 2:22), and both sang a hymn of thanksgiving and praise (Hannah after the birth of Samuel [1 Sam 2:1-10], Mary before the birth of Jesus [Luke 1:46-55]).”[]
In her prayer, Hannah repeatedly uses antithetical parallelism: the strong become weak, and the weak become strong. God is sovereign over all of this.
(2:1) 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.”
“My heart rejoices in the LORD.” Hannah begins her prayer by rejoicing in God himself.
“Horn.” The “horn” most likely symbolizes strength (v.10). The imagery comes from animals like deer who use their “antlers in playful or mortal combat (cf. Deut 33:17; Ps 92:10).”[] Hannah’s strength didn’t come from herself, but from being “in the Lord.”
(2:2) There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
“There is no one holy like the LORD.” God is totally and utterly unique. There is no one like him.
“There is no Rock like our God.” The concept of a “rock” is a symbol of stability and protection.
(2:3) 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.
Why shouldn’t we be proud or arrogant? Hannah gives two reasons: (1) God knows everything, and (2) God is the ultimate judge. If we lived in a universe without God, then pride would come easily. We might actually think that we lived at the top of the pyramid. But when God enters the picture, we realize how pathetic these pretensions really are.
(2:4) The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Hannah gives her first example of antithetical parallelism: The strong warriors are broken, but the weak warriors are strengthened.
(2:5) Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
Hannah uses another reversal: The full go hungry, but the hungry become full. Moreover, the barren woman has many children (“seven”), while the fertile woman “pines away” or “grows faint” (cf. Jer. 15:9). Incidentally, Hannah has a total of six children (1 Sam. 2:21).
(2:6) The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.
“He brings down to the grave and raises up.” God is sovereign over death and life. This is an early reference to resurrection.
(2:7-8) The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 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.
“The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.” He makes the rich poor, and the poor rich.
“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; on them he has set the world.” God created the very ground on which we walk (cf. Job 38:4; Ps. 75:3; 82:5; 104:5; Isa. 24:18; 48:13; 51:13, 16).
(2:9) 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 way to victory is not by power or by “strength.” In fact, this is a proud attitude, and God will “oppose” such people (cf. Ps. 138:6; Prov. 29:23; Mt. 23:12; Lk. 1:52; Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). It is by being a “godly one” that someone gains strength. That is, we gain strength by having the hesed of God.
(2:10) 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.
“The Most High will thunder from heaven.” Peninnah “thundered against” Hannah (1 Sam. 1:6), but God “thundered against” Peninnah.
“The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.” God is the ultimate Judge (v.3), and he will rule through his righteous “King” and “Anointed.” This foreshadows the life of David, and ultimately, Jesus.
(2:11) Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest.
Hannah must have gone home with her husband, leaving Samuel with Eli.
(2:12) Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD.
Eli’s sons were “scoundrels” in stark contrast to Hannah’s son, Samuel (1 Sam. 1:16-17).
“They had no regard for the LORD.” The Hebrew literally states, “They did not know the LORD.”[]
(2:13-14) Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.
The law taught that the people would freely give what they wanted to the priests (Deut. 18:3). The sons of Eli broke this law. They would “take for [themselves]” what they wanted.
(2:15) But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
They wanted the meat before it was even cooked. This could show that they were impatient, or that they were showing further contempt for God’s method (Ex. 12:8-11).
(2:16) If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”
“Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want.” By eating the fat of the animal, Hophni and Phinehas were explicitly breaking the Torah: “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. You must never eat fat, whether from cattle, sheep, or goats. 24 The fat of an animal… must never be eaten, though it may be used for any other purpose. 25 Anyone who eats fat from an animal presented as a special gift to the LORD will be cut off from the community” (Lev. 7:23-25).
“Hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.” Instead of taking a voluntary offering, they would take it by “force.”
(2:17) This sin of the young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.
They were showing “contempt” for God because they didn’t “know the Lord” (NASB, v.12). How odd to have priests that don’t even know God.
(2:18) But Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.
Samuel is in stark contrast to the sons of Eli. Even as a young boy, he was wearing the clothing of an adult priest (i.e. an ephod).
(2:19) Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
Hannah didn’t leave her little boy as an orphan. She would visit every year. Bergen comments, “This thoughtful gift from Hannah suggests that although Samuel was gone from the household in Ramah, he was still very much in Hannah’s heart (cf. Prov 31:19-21).”[]
(2:20-21) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD.” Then they would go home. 21 And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
God blessed Hannah with five more children. Meanwhile, God was cursing Eli’s two sons…
(2:22) Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
Eli was “very old.” Since his sons were acting by “force” (v.17), he may have felt impotent to assert his authority. Regardless, God held him responsible for his passivity. He was all bark, but no bite.
“They slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent.” The law commanded women to serve at the opening of the tent (Ex. 38:8). But not like this! These women were “being treated as though they were pagan shrine prostitutes,”[] and God forbade this sort of cult prostitution (Deut. 23:17; Num. 25:1-5; Hos. 4:14).
(2:23-24) So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the LORD’s people is not good.”
Was Eli’s rebuke a form of man pleasing? We think so. Eli was more concerned with what the people were saying, rather than what God was saying. Indeed, Eli mentions what the “people” were saying twice, but doesn’t mention God at all. He was more concerned about his personal reputation than he was with God’s reputation.
(2:25) “If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the LORD, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the LORD’s will to put them to death.
“If anyone sins against the LORD, who will intercede for them?” This foreshadows the great work of Christ. As God and man, Jesus was the perfect mediator for humanity (1 Tim. 2:5).
“For it was the LORD’s will to put them to death.” The sins of Eli’s sons were already irrevocable. Therefore, God judicially hardened them in order to bring judgment on them. This is similar to Pharaoh: these weren’t good men who were hardened to do evil, but bad men whom God had already decided to judge. Baldwin agrees, “Hophni and Phineas sealed their own fate by their refusal to take warning.”[]
(2:26) And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with people.
By contrast, Samuel grew with the Lord. The description of Samuel is very similar to that of Jesus (Lk. 2:40, 52), just as Hannah’s song is similar to Mary’s Magnificat (Lk. 1:46-55).
(2:27) Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh?’”
This “man of God” could be an angel (Judg. 13:3, 6), but it is more likely a human prophet (1 Sam. 9:9-10).
(2:28) “I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites.”
This line was chosen, but they forfeited their choosing.
(2:29) “Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?”
“Why do you scorn my sacrifice?” The word “you” is plural. This means that “Eli was implicated in some sense in the sin.”[] Was Eli guilty for overlooking their sin, or was he participating in it to some degree? It’s interesting that Eli’s sons were stealing the fattened food for themselves, and at the end of his life, Eli was obese (1 Sam. 4:18). This could have “resulted from eating the forbidden food.”[]
“Why do you honor your sons more than me?” This was the great sin of Eli. He wouldn’t put God first in his family. If he did, then he would’ve been the father that his boys needed him to be.
(2:30) “Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.’ 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age.”
This was a partial discipline of Aaron’s priestly line—not a complete cutting off of the line (v.33). Abiathar was spared to continue on in Eli’s line. Individuals could be removed from God’s line for sin or unbelief, but the line itself was permanently promised. When Abiathar was removed from priesthood (1 Kings 2:27, 35), Zadok took over after him (2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24-29; 1 Kings 2:35). This is fulfilled in 1 Kings 2:26-27.
(2:33) “Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.”
Eli’s line will still continue, but they will not live long lives (a sign of God’s blessing).
(2:34) “And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day.”
This is fulfilled in 1 Samuel 4:11-18.
(2:35) “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.”
This likely refers to Samuel in the short term, but it could refer to Zadok who took over after Abiathar in the long term (2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24-29; 1 Kings 2:35). Ultimately, this is fulfilled in the everlasting priesthood of Jesus (Heb. 5:10; 6:20). Hannah opened this chapter referring to God’s King and Anointed One (v.10). Now, the chapter closes with a priest who would follow “My anointed always.”
(2:36) “Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, ‘Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.’”
Eli’s offspring would grovel to simply have a piece of bread because of what they did. This is an example of the great “reversals” described in Hannah’s song (vv.1-10).
Eli’s sin was not a commissive sinner, but an omissive one. He was unwilling to do anything about the sin of his two sons. His problem was that he did… nothing. Leaders who aren’t willing to confront others in love are going to see God pull the plug on their fruit. We know of one famous Christian apologist who knew his high school son was sleeping around with multiple girls. But he did nothing about it. Today, his son is an agnostic author and speaker, who writes books about how the God of the Bible is evil! What a tragic legacy to leave behind as a parent.
In this chapter, we also see a comparison between Samuel’s righteousness and Eli’s unrighteousness. Consequently, in the next chapter, we see that God speaks to Samuel—not Eli.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 579.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 579.
Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 580.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 64.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 79-80.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 81.
Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 66.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 82.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 82.
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
