3

of Samuel.

his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.

(21) And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. (22) 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

way, and did eat, and her countenance

was no more sad.

(19) And they rose up in the morning

early, and worshipped before the LORD,

of days.

LORD, and there abide for ever. (23) And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned him; only the LORD

to Ramah and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. (20) Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called

God.

though she had received injury from the high priest, yet answers with reverence and humility."

On these words of Hannah the Talmud says:-" Some think that Hannah spake in the following sense. Thou art neither lord, nor does the Holy Spirit rest upon thee, because thou dost suspect me in this matter, and hast formed such an uncharitable opinion of me. Neither the Shekinah nor the Holy Spirit are with thee." -Treatise Berachoth, fol. 31, col. 2.

(17) The God of Israel grant thee thy petition. The character of Eli is a deeply interesting one. Weak and over-indulgent to his headstrong, wicked sons, probably too self-indulgent, and a lover of ease, yet in the brief record we possess we catch sight of not a few noble thoughts and wishes: flashes of true nobility, real generosity and self-forgetfulness, of intense, devoted patriotism, light up a life which closed in failure and disaster. Here the old man is quick to see that he had been insulting a blameless woman, so at once he retracts his cruel accusation, and silently accuses himself of precipitancy and injustice in his graceful, courteous words of farewell; adding too his fatherly wish, he almost promises that what she wished so ardently should be hers.

(18) Let thine handmaid find grace.-In other words, Hannah's reply to his loving farewell asked the old man to think kindly of her, and to pray for her with his mighty power of prayer.

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Did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.-A beautiful example of the composing influence of prayer. Hannah had cast her burden upon the Lord, and so her own spirit was relieved of its load. She now returned to the family feast, and ate her portion with a cheerful heart."-Speaker's Commentary.

(19) And they rose up.-Another notice of the pious customs of the house of Elkanah. This is a striking picture of one of the many holy homes in Israel, even in the wild, disorderly days of the Judges, and of the deep degradation of the priests of the sanctuary. "The house at Ramah," the usual short name by which the city, "The Ramahs of the Watchers,' Ramathaim-zophim, was known.

(20) And called his name Samuel.-The words translated "because I have asked him of the Lord," do

abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.

(24) And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and

not explain the meaning of the name "Samuel" they simply give the reason for his mother so calling him. The name Sh'muel (Samuel) is formed from the Hebrew words Sh'mua El (a Deo exauditus), 66 heard of God."

(21) And his vow.-Elkanah too had vowed a vow unto the Lord, in case his wife Hannah should have a son. It has been remarked that vows are characteristic of that particular age of the Judges; for instance, we have detailed accounts of Samson and Jephthah's vows, the oath in the Benjamite Vow, &c.

(22) Until the child be weaned.-Weaning, we know, took place very late among the Hebrews. From 2 Macc. vii. 27, it appears that Hebrew mothers were in the habit of suckling their children for three years. The mother proposed, when the weaning had taken place, to leave her son as a servant of the sanctuary, there to remain all his life.

On the late period of weaning among the Oriental nations, Kalisch refers to the Persian custom of suckling boys two years and two months, and girls two years.

(23) Only the Lord establish his word.-No special word or promise of the Eternal in the case of the infant Samuel is recorded in this history; but there was an ancient Rabbinical tradition that a direct revelation respecting the future destiny of Samuel was made." The Bath-kol (Daughter of the Voice) went forth, saying, There shall arise a just one, whose name shall be Samuel. Then every mother who bore a son called him Samuel; but when they saw his actions, they said, This is not Samuel. But when this one was born, they said, This is that Samuel, and this is what the Scripture means when it says, 'The Lord confirmed his word that Samuel may be that just one.' Rashi.

If we decline to accept the Rabbinical tradition, Bunsen's simple comment will explain the difficult words of the text, "establish his word": that is, may the Lord fulfil what He designs with him, and has promised by his birth.

(24, 25) With three bullocks . . And they slew a bullock.-There at first sight seems a discrepancy here, and the LXX. translators seem to have felt it, for they read, instead of "three bullocks,"

Her Song of Joy.

"a bullock of three years old." The true explanation, however, is that the one bullock alluded to in verse 25 was the burnt offering by which the child was consecrated to the Lord. The other two were the yearly festival offering, the presentation of which being the usual gift, the chronicler did not think it here worth while to mention again.

(26) O my lord, as thy soul liveth.-"This oath is peculiar to the Books of Samuel, in which it occurs six times, and to the Books of Kings, in which, however, it is found only once. The similar oath, as Pharaoh liveth (by the life of Pharaoh), occurs in Gen. xlii. 15; and as the Lord liveth is found almost exclusively in the books of which Judges is the first and 2 Kings the last, being especially frequent in the Books of Samuel. This accords with the fact of the age of the Judges and Saul being characteristically the age of vows."-Speaker's Commentary.

(23) I have lent him to the Lord.-The rendering of the Hebrew here, "I have lent," and in Exod. xii. 36, is false. The translation should run : "Therefore I also make him one asked of the Lord; all the days that he liveth he is asked of the Lord." The sense is: 66 The Lord gave him to me, and now I have returned him whom I obtained by prayer to the Lord, as one asked or demanded."

And he worshipped the Lord there.-“ He,” that is, the boy Samuel: thus putting his own childseal to his mother's gift of himself to God.

II.

(1-10) The Song of Hannah.

said.

(1) And Hannah prayed, and "Prayed," not quite in the sense in which we generally understand prayer. Her prayer here asks for nothing; it is rather a song of thanksgiving for the past, a song which passes into expressions of sure confidence for the future. She had been an unhappy woman; her life had been, she thought, a failure; her dearest hopes had been baffled; vexed, tormented, utterly cast down, she had fled to the Rock of Israel for help, and in the eternal pity of the Divine Friend of her people she had found rest, and then joy; out of her own individual experience the Spirit of the Lord taught her to discern the general laws of the Divine economy; she had had personal experience of the gracious government of the kind, all-pitiful God; her own mercies were a pledge to her of the gracious way in which the nation itself was led by Jehovah-were a sign by which she discerned how the Eternal not only always delivered the individual sufferer who turned to Him, but would also at all times be ever ready to succour and deliver His people.

there any rock like our God. (3) Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not 3ar

My heart rejoiceth. The first verse of four lines is the introduction to the Divine song. She would give utterance to her holy joy. Had she not received the blessing at last which all mothers in Israel so longed for?

Mine horn is exalted.-She does not mean by this, "I am proud," but "I am strong"-mighty now in the gift I have received from the Lord: glorious in the consciousness "I have a God-Friend who hears me." The image "horn" is taken from oxen and those animals whose strength lies in their horns. It is a favourite Hebrew symbol, and one that had become familiar to them from their long experience— dating from far-back patriarchal times-as a shepherdpeople.

(2) Neither is there any rock.-This was a favourite simile among the inspired song-writers of Israel. The image, doubtless, is a memory of the long desert wandering. The steep precipices and the strange fantastic rocks of Sinai, standing up in the midst of the shifting desert sands, supplied an ever present picture of unchangeableness, of majesty, and of security. The term rock, as applied to God, is first found in the Song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37), where the juxtaposition of rock and salvation in verse 15-he lightly esteemed the rock of his sal vation-seems to indicate that Hannah was acquainted with this song or national hymn of Moses. The same phrase is frequent in the Psalms.

That the term was commonly applied to God so early as the time of Moses we may conclude from the name Zurishaddai: "My rock is the Almighty" (Numb. i. 6); and Zuriel: "My rock is God" (Numb. iii. 35). -Speaker's Commentary.

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(3) A God of knowledge.-The Hebrew words are placed thus: A God of knowledge is the Lord. The Talmud quaintly comments here as follows:Rabbi Ami says: Knowledge is of great price, for it is placed between two Divine names; as it is written (1 Sam. ii. 3), A God of knowledge is the Lord,' and therefore mercy is to be denied to him who has no knowledge; for it is written (Isa. xxvii. 11), It is a people of no understanding, therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them.'"-Treatise Berachoth, fol. 33, col. 1.

of Praise to God.

And by him actions are weighed.-This is one of the fifteen places reckoned by the Masorites where in the original Hebrew text, instead of "lo" with an aleph, signifying not, "lo" with a vaw, signifying to, or by him, must be substituted. The amended reading has been followed by the English Version. The meaning is that all men's actions are weighed by God according to their essential worth, all the motives which led to them are by Him, the All-knowing, taken into account before He weighs them.

are

(4) The bows of the mighty men broken.-God reverses human conditions, bringing low the wicked, and raising up the righteous.

Von Gerlach writes of these verses that "Every power which will be something in itself is destroyed by the Lord: every weakness which despairs of itself is transformed into power." "The bows of the heroes," that is to say, the heroes of the bow, the symbol of human power being poetically put first instead of the bearer of the symbol. The next line contains the antithesis: while the heroes rejoicing in their strength are shattered, the tottering, powerless ones are by Him made strong for battle.

(5) They that were full.-Another image to illustrate the vicissitudes of human affairs is sketched, one very familiar to the dwellers among the cornfields and vineyards of Canaan.

The barren hath born seven.-Here the thought of the inspired singer reverts to herself, and the imagery is drawn from the story of her own life. Seven children are mentioned as the full number of the Divine blessing in children (see Ruth iv. 15; Jer. xv. 9). There is a curious Jewish legend which relates how for each boy child that was born to Hannah, two of Peninnah's died.

(6) The Lord killeth, and maketh alive.Death too and life come from this same omnipotent Lord: nothing in the affairs of men is the sport of blind chance. The reign of a Divine law administered by the God to whom Hannah prayed is universal, and guides with a strict unerring justice what are commonly called the ups and downs, the changes and chances, of this mortal life. The following lines of the 7th, 8th, and 9th verses enforce by varied instances the same solemn truth.

The Babylonian Talmud on these words has a curious and interesting tradition :-" Three classes appear on the day of judgment: the perfectly righteous, who are at once written and sealed for eternal life; the thoroughly bad, who are at once written and sealed for hell: as it is written (Dan. xii. 2), And many of them that sleep in the dust of the

(8) 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, and he hath set the world upon them. (9) He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. (10) The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:

earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt; and those in the intermediate state, who go down into hell, where they cry and howl for a time, whence they ascend again: as it is written (Zech. xiii. 9), 'And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them.' is of them Hannah said (1 Sam. ii. 6), 'The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to hell, and bringeth up."-Treatise Rosh Hashanah, fol. 16, col. 2.

It

(8) The pillars of the earth.-And the gracious All-Ruler does these things, for He is at once Creator and Upholder of the universe. The words of these Divine songs which treat of cosmogony are such as would be understood in the childhood of peoples. The quiet thinker, however, is tempted to ask whether after 3,000 or 4,000 years, now, with the light of modern science shining round us, we have made much real progress in our knowledge of the genesis and government of the universe.

The pillars. Or columns-Jerome, in the Vulgate, translates this unusual word by "hinges "-cardines

terræ.

On

Gesenius prefers the rendering "foundations." the whole, the word used in the English Version, "pillars," is the best.

(9) He will keep the feet.-This was the comforting deduction Hannah drew from the circumstances of her life: this the grave moral reflection the Spirit of the Lord bade her put down for the support and solace of all true servants of the Eternal in coming ages. Seeing that Jehovah of Israel governs the world, the righteous have nothing really to fear; it is only the wicked and rebellious who have reason to be afraid. The Babylonian Talmud has the following comment on these words:-"If any man has passed the greater part of his years without sin, he will sin no more. If a man has been able to resist the same temptation once or twice, he will sin no more; for it is said (1 Sam. ii. 9), He will keep the feet of his saints.""-Treatise Yoma, fol. 38, col. 2.

By strength shall no man prevail.-The same thought is expressed very grandly by the prophet, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. iv. 6). The Holy Ghost, in one of the sublime visions of St. Paul, taught the suffering apostle the same great truth, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. xii. 9).

(10) His king

the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

(11) And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.

(12) Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. (13) And the priest's custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the

Lapide, quoted by Wordsworth, wrote here, “haec omnia spectant ad Christum," "all these things have regard to Christ." Jewish expositors, too, have generally interpreted these words as a prophecy of King Messiah. The words received a partial fulfilment in the splendid reigns of David and Solomon; but the pious Jew looked on the golden halo which surrounded these great reigns as but a pale reflection of the glory which would accompany King Messiah when He should

appear.

This is the first passage in the Old Testament which speaks of "His Anointed," or "His Messiah." The LXX. render the words "Christou autou."

This song was soon evidently well known in Israel. The imagery, and in several passages the very words, are reproduced in the Psalms. See Excursus A and B at the end of this Book.

(11-36) The Service of the boy Samuel in the Sanctuary-The Dissolute Life of the Sons of Eli-The Doom of the House of Ithamar.

(11) Elkanah went to Ramah.- These simple words just sketch out what took place after Hannah left her boy in Shiloh. Elkanah went home, and the old family life, with its calm religious trustfulness, flowed on in the quiet town of "Ramah of the Watchers” as it did aforetime; the only disturbing sorrowful element was removed in answer to the mother's prayers, and little children grew up (verse 21) round Hannahı and Elkanah. But the life of the dedicated child Samuel was a different one; he lived under the shadow of the sanctuary, ministering with his child powers before the altar of the Invisible, and trained, we may well assume, in all the traditions and learning of Israel by the old high priest. The word "minister is the official term used to signify the duties performed by priests and Levites in connection with the service of God.

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(12) Sons of.-The word Belial is printed here and chap. i. 16, as though Belial were the name of some pagan deity, but it simply signifies "worthlessness." It is a common term in these records of Samuel, being used some nine or ten times. It is rarely found in the other historical books. "Sons of Belial" signifies, then, merely sons of worthlessness," worthless, goodfor-nothing men. The Speaker's Commentary ingeniously accounts for the use of Belial in the English Version here, and in other places in the Old Testament, by referring to the contrast drawn by St. Paul between Christ and Belial, as if Belial were the name of an idol, or the personification of evil (2 Cor. vi. 15).

They knew not the Lord.-The whole conduct of these high priestly officials showed they were utter

Eli at the Sanctuary.

priest's servant came, while the flesh. was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; (14) and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. (15) Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will

unbelievers. They used their sacred position merely as affording an opportunity for their selfish extortions; and, as is so often the case now, as it was then, their unbelief was the source of their moral worthlessness (see verse 22). "Hophni and Phinehas (the two sons. of Eli) are, for students of ecclesiastical history, eminently suggestive characters. They are true exemplars of the grasping and worldly clergy of all ages.

"It was the sacrificial feasts that gave occasion for their rapacity. It was the dances and assemblies of the women in the vineyards and before the sacred feast that gave occasion for their debaucheries. They were the worst development of the lawlessness of the age, penetrating, as in the case of the wandering Levite of the Book of Judges, into the most sacred offices.

"But the coarseness of these vices does not make the moral less pointed for all times. The three-pronged fork which fishes up the seething flesh is the earliest type of grasping at pluralities and Church preferments by base means, the open profligacy at the door of the Tabernacle is the type of many a scandal brought on the Christian Church by the selfishness or sensuality of the ministers.”—Dean Stanley, On the Jewish Church, Lecture xvii., Part I.

(13) The priest's custom.-That is to say, the custom or practice introduced under these robber-priests, who were not content with the modest share of the offerings assigned to them by the Law of Moses. (See Lev. vii. 31, 35; Deut. xviii. 3.)

(15) Before they burnt the fat.-This was a still graver offence against the ritual of the sacrifice. A contemptuous insult was here offered to the Lord. This fat was not to be eaten or taken by any one; it was God's portion, to be burnt by the priest on the altar (Lev. iii. 16, vii. 23, 25, 30, 31).

In all these strange rites and ceremonies there was a higher symbolism involved. This was ruthlessly set at nought and trampled on by these reckless, covetous guardians of the worship of Israel.

Portions of the sacrifice fell legally to the ministering priests in lieu of fee. It was fair" that they which ministered at the altar should live of the altar." The "heave leg" and the "wave breast" of the slaughtered victim were theirs by right, and these the sacrificing priest was to receive after the fat portion of the sacrifice had been burnt upon the altar. But to take the flesh of the victim, and roast it before the symbolic offering had been made, was a crime which was equivalent to robbing God. It dishonoured the whole

ceremony.

He will not have sodden flesh.-The meaning of this is, these priests and their attendants insisted on having the best part of the sacrificed victim raw, not boiled-that is, fresh, full of juice and strengthbefore the offering had been made.

day.

a Ex. 28. 4.

the Sons of Eli.

sacrifice. (20) And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. (21) And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

ephod. (19) Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly

by troops.

(16) And if not, I will take it by force.-The solemn ritual of the sacrifice was not only transgressed by these covetous, greedy, ministering priests, but the worshippers were compelled by force to yield to these new lawless customs, probably introduced by these sous of the high priest Eli.

(17) The sin of the young men was very great. -Grave peccatum sacerdotum ob scandalum datum laicis ("the sin of the priests was a great one, because it put a stumbling-block in the way of the people").-A. Lapide, quoted by Wordsworth. Religion was being brought into general disrepute through the conduct of its leading ministers; was it likely that piety, justice, and purity would be honoured and loved in the land of Israel when the whole ritual of the sacrifices was openly scoffed at in the great sanctuary of the people by the chief priests of their faith?

(18) Ministered . . . being a child.-A striking contrast is intended to be drawn here between the covetous, self-seeking ministrations of the worldly priests and the quiet service of the boy devoted by his pious mother and father to the sanctuary service.

Girded with a linen ephod.-The ephod was a priestly dress, which Samuel received in very early youth, because he had, with the high priest's formal sanction, been set apart for a life-long service before the Lord. This ephod was an official garment, and consisted of two pieces, which rested on the shoulders in front and behind, and were joined at the top, and fastened about the body with a girdle.

(19) A little coat.-The "little coat"-Hebrew, m'il-was, no doubt, closely resembling in shape the m'il, or robe worn apparently by the high priest, only the little m'il of Samuel was without the costly symbolical ornaments attached to the high priestly robe.

This strange, unusual dress was, no doubt, arranged for the boy by his protector and guardian, Eli, who looked on the child as destined for some great work in connection with the life of the chosen people. Not improbably the old man, too, well aware of the character of his own sons, hoped to train up the favoured child -whose connection with himself and the sanctuary had begun in so remarkable a manner-as his successor in the chief sacred and civil office in Israel.

(20, 21) And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife And the Lord visited Hannah.The blessing of Eli, a blessing which soon bore

3 assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (23) And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all

its fruit in the house of the pious couple,—his training of Samuel, and unswerving kindness to the boy (see following chapter),-his sorrow at his priestly sons' wickedness, his passionate love for his country, all indicate that the influence of the weak but loving high priest was ever exerted to keep the faith of the people pure, and the life of Israel white before the Lord. There were evidently two parties at Shiloh, the head-quarters of the national religion: the reckless, unbelieving section, headed by Hophni and Phinehas; and the God-fearing, law-loving partisans of the old Divine law, under the influence of the weak, but religious, Eli. These latter kept the lamp of the loved faith burning-though but dimly-among the covenant people until the days when the strong hand of Samuel took the helm of government in Israel.

(22) Now Eli was very old.-The compiler of these Books of Samuel was evidently wishful to speak as kindly as possible of Eli. He had, no doubt, deserved well of Israel in past days; and though it was clear that through his weak indulgence for his wicked sons, and his own lack of energy and foresight, he had brought discredit on the national sanctuary, and, in the end, defeat and shame on the people, yet the compiler evidently loved to dwell on the brightest side of the old high priest's character-his piety, his generous love for Samuel, his patriotism, &c.; and here, where the shameful conduct of Hophni and Phinehas is dwelt on, an excuse is made for their father, Eli. "He was," says the writer, "very old."

The women that assembled.-These women were evidently in some way connected with the service of the Tabernacle; possibly they assisted in the liturgical portion of the sanctuary worship. (Compare Ps. lxviii. 11: "The Lord gave the word, great was the company of female singers.") Here, as so often in the world's story, immorality follows on unbelief.

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In Ps. lxxviii. 60-64, the punishment of the guilty priests and the forsaking of the defiled sanctuary is recorded. The psalmist Asaph relates how, in His anger at the people's sin, God greatly abhorred Israel, so that He forsook the Tabernacle at Shiloh-even the tent that He had pitched among men. He delivered their power into captivity, and their beauty into the enemy's hand. The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests were slain with the sword, and there were no widows to make lamentation."