The First Carol

1 Samuel 2:8-10

(Hannah’s Song, Part 2)

8“He lifts the poor from the dust—

yes, from a pile of ashes!

He treats them like princes,

placing them in seats of honor.

“For all the earth is the LORD’s,

and he has set the world in order.

9He will protect his godly ones,

but the wicked will perish in darkness.

No one will succeed by strength alone.

10Those who fight against the LORD will be broken.

He thunders against them from heaven;

the LORD judges throughout the earth.

He gives mighty strength to his king;

he increases the might of his anointed one.”

Psalm Link

Psalm 32:10-11

10Many sorrows come to the wicked,

but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD.

11So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him!

Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!

Although Hannah may not have been recognized for her leadership as were Miriam and Deborah, she was still quite remarkable.

A woman of prayer, Hannah went to the Tabernacle and prayed in deep anguish. Because of her prayer, her son Samuel was born. She kept a promise she had made to God and gave Samuel to the priests in the Tabernacle, and he became a prophet and a priest himself.

Hannah praised God because “he has set the world in order.” And every year, as sure as clockwork, Hannah made a new coat for her son Samuel and brought it to him in the Tabernacle.

Hannah was also a poet. Her beautiful hymn of praise served as a model for the psalmists of the Old Testament as well as for Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the New Testament.

It seems that Hannah, in this song, was also acting as a prophet. In the last verse of her song, she speaks of a king and of the “anointed one,” using the Hebrew word messiah. There was no king in Israel yet, so who was she talking about? Was God allowing her to see that her son Samuel would eventually anoint the first two kings of Israel? Historically, both Jewish and Christian scholars have felt that Hannah was speaking prophetically of the Messiah who was to come. If so, Hannah had written the first Christmas carol. No wonder Hannah could sing, “He lifts the poor from the dust. . . . He treats them like princes.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW

Bible Networking

Hannah is claiming God’s protection in verse 9. See what David says in Psalm 32:6-7.

Notable Quotable

“No calamity of this world, no troubles of this life, no terrors of death, no guiltiness of sin, can be so great, but that the godly by means of his faith in Christ can wade out of them.”

THOMAS PLAYFERE