Hannah Sings the Reversals That the House of Eli Will Face

“Prayed” here introduces a song, as the note at Psalm 72:20 calls David’s psalms “prayers”. “Horn” is the image of an animal carrying its head high in strength. “My mouth is enlarged” is literally “my mouth is wide”, opened to answer those who had mocked; the lips that moved without sound in 1:13 now speak out.

Three negatives in a row: none holy, none beside thee, no rock. “Rock”, tsur, is Moses’ word for God in the Song of Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect”. Hannah borrows Israel’s oldest poetry for a family’s answered prayer.

The Hebrew doubles the word, “proudly proudly”, for emphasis. “Actions are weighed” pictures God testing deeds on scales. The Hebrew text is written “not” but read “by him”, lo and lo sounding alike, an old scribal variant; the King James follows the reading.

The warrior’s bow is broken while those who were stumbling get strapped with strength, “girded” as a man binds up his robe for work or battle. The first of the reversals turns on weapons.

The second reversal turns on food: the well-fed hire themselves out as day labourers for bread, and the hungry “cease”, that is, rest from hunger. “Waxed feeble” is umlalah, to languish or wither, used of a mother of seven in Jeremiah 15:9.

“The grave” is Sheol, the realm of the dead. Deuteronomy 32:39 has the same pair, “I kill, and I make alive”. The line claims for the LORD both ends of life and even the power to bring up from Sheol.

Two pairs of opposites in two halves, set as neatly as a scale: poor and rich, low and high. The verbs are all active and causative; the LORD is the subject of each.

The ash heap, ashpoth, was where beggars and the diseased sat outside a town, as Job sat among the ashes (Job 2:8). Psalm 113:7–8 repeats this line almost word for word. “The pillars of the earth” are the foundations on which the world was pictured resting, and the LORD owns them.

“Saints” is chasidav, his faithful ones, those who keep chesed. The feet kept steady answer the stumbling of verse 4. “By strength shall no man prevail” is the motto of the whole song, and of the David and Goliath account to come.

The last line gives the first mention in Scripture of the LORD’s “anointed”, mashiach, the word from which Messiah comes. Israel has no king yet. The song ends where it began, with a horn lifted, now not Hannah’s but the king’s.

Elkanah goes home; the verse does not mention Hannah returning with him, though she did. “Minister” is sharat, the word for priestly service at the sanctuary, used here of a small boy. He serves “before Eli”, under the old priest’s eye.

The same phrase, “sons of Belial”, that Hannah feared being called in 1:16 now falls on the priests. “Knew not the LORD” is the exact phrase used of the generation after Joshua in Judges 2:10.

“Custom” is mishpat, which usually means justice or ordinance; here it is the priests’ own rule, a custom set up in place of the law. “Seething” means boiling. The meat of a peace offering was boiled for the worshippers’ meal.

Four kinds of cooking pot are named, as if to show the fork went into every one. The law had set the priest’s portion as the breast and the right shoulder (Leviticus 7:31–34), not whatever a fork happened to bring up.

The fat belonged to God alone and was to be burned first (Leviticus 3:16, 7:25). Demanding raw meat for roasting before the fat was offered put the priest ahead of God. Roasted meat was the more prized dish.

“Presently” in 1611 means at once, immediately. The worshipper appeals to the order of the law, God first; the servant answers with force, and the verb “take by force” is chazaq, to seize.

“The young men” are Hophni and Phinehas, called na’arim here, the same word used of Samuel in the next verse. “Abhorred” is ni’atsu, to treat with contempt; people came to despise the offering itself because of how it was handled.

The linen ephod was a simple apron or waistcloth, worn by those who served before the LORD; David dances in one before the ark (2 Samuel 6:14). It is not the high priest’s jewelled ephod. The word “child” is na’ar again: two kinds of young men at one sanctuary.

The “little coat” is a me’il, the robe worn over the tunic, the same word used of the high priest’s blue robe (Exodus 28:31) and of the mantle by which Saul recognises Samuel at Endor (28:14). Here it is cut to a boy’s size, and it grows each year.

Eli’s blessing plays on sha’al again: “for the loan which is lent”, the thing asked which was asked for the LORD. The King James “loan” keeps the pun on asking alive in English.

“Visited” is paqad, God’s attention turning to someone, as in Genesis 21:1, “the LORD visited Sarah”. Samuel “grew before the LORD” while his mother’s household filled; the Hebrew says literally “grew up with the LORD”.

“Very old” anticipates his age, ninety eight, given in 4:15. The women at the door of the tabernacle are the serving women mentioned in Exodus 38:8. This clause is missing from the oldest Qumran scroll and the main Greek text, though it is in the Hebrew.

“Why do ye such things?” is feeble beside the offences. Eli relies on hearsay, “I hear”, and his rebuke is phrased as a complaint about what people are saying.

“Nay, my sons” is the father speaking, not the high priest. “Transgress” is avar, to cross over a boundary. Eli sees the harm to the people, not only to the family name.

“The judge” is Elohim in Hebrew, which can mean God or human judges acting for God, as in Exodus 22:8. Eli’s point is that a wrong against a neighbour can be arbitrated, but who can arbitrate between a man and God? The answer the book will give is Samuel, who intercedes for Israel (7:5, 12:23).

The verse is echoed almost word for word of the boy Jesus in Luke 2:52. Two growth notices bracket the sons’ corruption (verses 21 and 26), a quiet increase set against a noisy decay.

“A man of God” was an early title for a prophet (Judges 13:6, 1 Samuel 9:6). He is unnamed. “The house of thy father” is Aaron’s house, to which God revealed himself in Egypt, and the question expects the answer yes.

Three priestly duties are listed: to offer at the altar, to burn incense, to wear the ephod, which carried the Urim and Thummim for enquiring of God. “Offerings made by fire” were shared with the priests by law (Leviticus 2:3). They had been given plenty.

“Kick” is ba’at, the kick of a fat animal, used in Deuteronomy 32:15: “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked”. “Make yourselves fat” continues the image. The plural “yourselves” includes Eli, who in 4:18 is described as heavy.

“For ever” was a real promise to Aaron’s house (Exodus 29:9). “Be it far from me” is chalilah, a strong refusal, literally “a profanation to me”. “Honour” is kaved, weight, and “lightly esteemed” is qalal, to be light: God weighs men, and the heavy priests will be found light.

“Arm” is the image of strength and ability to act. “Not an old man in thine house” means no one in the family will live to old age. Eli himself, the “very old” of verse 22, is the last of his line to reach it.

The Hebrew is difficult; “an enemy in my habitation” may be read “distress of dwelling”, seeing affliction in the sanctuary. The oracle promises the rest of Israel prosperity while Eli’s house suffers.

The one descendant not cut off will weep his eyes out. Ahimelech’s son Abiathar alone escapes Saul’s massacre of the priests at Nob (22:20), where eighty five priests of this line are killed.

The sign is one day, two deaths. It will be fulfilled in 4:11, when the ark is taken and both brothers fall at Aphek. The names are given in full, so no one can mistake the sign.

“Faithful” is ne’eman, reliable or established, the same word used of Samuel in 3:20, “established to be a prophet”. “A sure house”, bayith ne’eman, is the promise Nathan will make to David in 2 Samuel 7:16. The priest and the king are both to have lasting houses.

“Crouch” is to bow low as a beggar. “A piece of silver” is agorah, the smallest coin weight, used only here. “Put me… into one of the priests’ offices” asks for any post at all, only to eat. The line reverses verses 13–16 exactly: the forks that took meat become hands that beg for bread.