1 Samuel 2:5 Komentář

In this chapter we have, I. Hannah's song of thanksgiving to God for his favour to her in giving her Samuel (Sa1 2:1-10). II. Their return to their family, with Eli's blessing (Sa1 2:11, Sa1 2:20). The increase of their family (Sa1 2:21). Samuel's growth and improvement (Sa1 2:11, Sa1 2:18, Sa1 2:21, Sa1 2:26), and the care Hannah took to clothe him (Sa1 2:19). III. The great wickedness of Eli's sons (Sa1 2:12-17, Sa1 2:22). IV. The over-mild reproof that Eli gave them for it (Sa1 2:23-25). V. The justly dreadful message God sent him by a prophet, threatening the ruin of his family for the wickedness of his sons (Sa1 2:27-36).

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2 In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, Sa1 2:1, 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, Sa1 2:11, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, Sa1 2:12, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, Sa1 2:22 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, Sa1 2:27.

They that are full have hired out themselves for bread,.... Such as have been full of the good things of this life have been stripped of all, and reduced to such circumstances as to be obliged to hire themselves out to persons to labour under them for their bread. Hannah has either respect to some instances she had known, or prophesies of what would be hereafter, and was fulfilled in the Israelites, when in the hands of the Egyptians and Assyrians, Lam 4:6 and may be exemplified in the case of the prodigal son, Luk 15:13 and is true of such who have larger gifts, but not grace, and which they exercise for lucre sake, and are mere hirelings; and of self-righteous persons who are full of themselves, of their goodness and righteousness, purity, and power; are quite mercenary do all they do for gain, work for life, and labour for perishing meat, and for that which is not bread, and is unsatisfying: and they that were hungry ceased; that is, from being hungry, being filled with good things, having a large and sufficient supply to satisfy their craving desires, Luk 1:53. Such are the changes sometimes in Providence, that those who have lived in great plenty and fulness are obliged to work for their bread; and, on the other hand, such as have been starving, and in furnishing circumstances, have been brought into very plentiful and affluent ones. The "hungry", in a spiritual sense, are such who hunger an thirst after Christ, and his righteousness, for justification before God; after him and his blood for the remission of their sins, and the cleansing of their souls; after him, and salvation by him, in whom alone it is to be had; after a view of interest in him, and a greater degree of knowledge of him; and after more communion with him in his word and ordinances; and after the enjoyment of them for that purpose: now when they enjoy what they are craving after, they cease to hire out themselves for bread, as others do; they do not cease from working, but from dependence on their works, on which they cannot feed and live, having found and got other and better bread to feed upon; they cease to be hungry, for they are filled and satisfied with the love of God, with the righteousness of Christ, with the blessings of grace, and salvation by him, with the goodness of his house, and with all the fulness of God and Christ; and so having what satisfies them, they desire no other food, shall have no more want, or be in a starving condition any more, especially this will be the case hereafter: so that the barren hath born seven; meaning herself, who had born many, even five children besides Samuel, Sa1 2:20 which either was the case before this song was delivered; or rather what she believed would be the case after Eli had blessed her, and prayed for the children by her; seven being a number put for many, Pro 24:16. and she that hath many children is waxed feeble; and incapable of bearing more; and stripped of what she had; this may be understood of Peninnah, concerning whom the Jews have this tradition (o), which Jarchi relates, that when Hannah bore one child, Peninnah buried two; and whereas Hannah had five, Peninnah lost all her ten children. This may be applied to the case of the Gentile and Jewish churches, under the Gospel dispensation, when more were the children of the desolate or barren, the Gentiles, than of the married wife, the Jews, Isa 54:1. (o) Vid. Hieron, Trad. Heb. in. lib. Reg. fol. 34. K.

Are these words going to be regarded as simply the words of one mere woman giving thanks for the birth of her son? Are people’s minds so turned away from the light of truth that they do not feel that the words poured out by this woman transcend the limit of her own thoughts? Surely, anyone who is appropriately moved by the events whose fulfillment has already begun, even in this earthly pilgrimage, must listen to these words and observe and recognize that through this woman (whose very name, Hannah, means “God’s grace”), there speaks, by the spirit of prophecy, the Christian religion itself, the City of God itself, whose king and founder is Christ. There speaks, in fact, the grace of God itself, from which the proud are estranged so that they fall, with which the humble are filled so that they rise up, which was in fact the chief theme that rang out in her hymn of praise. Now it may be that someone will be ready to say that the woman didn’t utter a prophecy but merely praised God in an outburst of exultation for the son who was granted in answer to her prayer. If so, what is the meaning of this passage, “He has made weak the bow of the mighty ones, and the weak have girded themselves with strength. Those who were full of bread have been reduced to want, and the hungry have passed over the earth. Because the barren woman has given birth to seven, while she who has many children has become weak.” Had Hannah herself really borne seven children, although she was barren? She had only one son when she spoke these words; and even afterwards she did not give birth to seven, or to six, which would have made Samuel the seventh. She had in fact three male and two female children. And then observe her concluding words, spoken among that people at a time when no one had yet been king over them: “He gives strength to our kings and will exalt the horn of his anointed.” How is it that she said this, if she was not uttering a prophecy? Therefore, let the church of Christ speak, the “city of the great king,” the church that is “full of grace,” fruitful in children. Let it speak the words that it recognizes as spoken prophetically about itself, so long ago, by the lips of this devout mother, “My heart is strengthened in the Lord; my horn is exalted in my God.” Her heart is truly strengthened and her horn truly exalted, because it is “in the Lord her God,” not in herself, that she finds strength and exaltation.

Who were previously filled, if not those who had the knowledge of God before the other peoples? Who then should be understood as previously filled other than the Jews, who were instructed in faith in the Creator almost from the very beginning of the world? They indeed hired themselves out for bread. For what do "breads" signify in this place, if not the mysteries of the divine Incarnation? And the place for finding the breads is Sacred Scripture. Hence also the Bread who descended from heaven says to those who do not know where to find him: "Search the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39). They therefore hired themselves out for bread, because they had received all the Scriptures so that in them they should have found the sacraments of the divine Incarnation. But when the Bread came, the Synagogue, which had hired itself out for bread, abandoned the place in which it should have found the bread it was seeking. It had the Scriptures, as I said, for recognizing the Redeemer, but it rejected him when he came according to the Scriptures. The hungry, therefore, were satisfied, because those from the Gentiles who believed, while they reverently receive the mysteries of the divine Incarnation, possess heavenly food for the enjoyment of interior delight. They are indeed called hungry because, before the coming of the Redeemer, cast out by the famine of unbelief, they had no food of spiritual refreshment. Or certainly they are called hungry because they receive the sweetness of spiritual food with great eagerness. But let the filled, who hired themselves out for bread, hear the one they were awaiting: "I am the living bread who came down from heaven" (John 6:33, 41 ff.). But because they did not deserve to recognize him, they answered: "Is this not the son of Joseph? How does he say that he came down from heaven?" (Luke 4:22; John 6:42). But he himself, who knew all things, was prophesying that the hungry would come to the banquet of his delight, saying: "Amen I say to you, that from the East and the West they will come, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness" (Matt. 8:11-12). The filled, therefore, hired themselves out for bread, but the hungry are satisfied, because the children of the Synagogue had in the Holy Scriptures the nourishment of faith concerning the future Incarnation of the Redeemer; but now, with them cast aside, while the Gentiles truly believe in him, they receive the sacraments of his divinity and humanity in the refreshment of innermost delight.

For since it is said by the distinguished Doctor: 'They all ate the same food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ)' (1 Cor. 10:3-4), it can reasonably be gathered that those ate and were not satisfied, while these ate and were satisfied. Which is indeed rightly said by holy Church against the Synagogue, so that those who are under grace may be shown to surpass with wondrous exaltation those placed under the law. For what was it for them to hire themselves out for bread, except to search out in sacred Scripture the mysteries of the coming Redeemer? Of whom indeed each one ate and was not satisfied, because he believed in the future Incarnation of the supreme Only-begotten but did not see it present. For him, to eat was to sweetly hold the divine Incarnation in the desire of his mind, and not to be satisfied was not to see His longed-for presence. But the weak, who were to be girded with strength, heard the proclamations of their satisfaction from the bread by which they were satisfied: 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Amen I say to you, that many kings and prophets wished to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear' (Matt. 13:16-17). For those who wished to see were already eating the bread of inmost delight through desire; but because they could not see, they had the joy of desire but did not have the enjoyment of satisfaction. For even if Scripture says: 'That bread having every pleasantness and all sweetness, God gave to them' (Wis. 16:20), it is said to be received by them in the way it was known—in the way that, known by them through faith, it could be longed for through the desire of charity. Therefore, against the Synagogue glorying in the early fathers, those girded with strength are set above, so that while the new and lofty summit of the elect is beheld, it may no longer glory in vain. And because the food of life is never taken away from the table of holy Church, intimating things future as well as past.

Who is the barren one, if not holy Church, as we have already said more fully above in the type of Anna? What then does it mean that the hungry are satisfied until the barren woman gives birth, if not to possess the bread of life until the end of the world? Which He Himself also promises, saying: "Behold, I am with you even until the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). For those whom holy Church brings forth are none other than the hungry. Therefore, as long as she gives birth, the hungry are satisfied, because until the end of the world she begets children for God, who, while they believe that the Redeemer has come in the flesh, eat the bread of life which they desire and are filled with fullness. But while the barren woman gives birth to very many, she who had many sons is weakened. For the Synagogue to be weakened is to be unable to bring forth by the institution of the old law. For she who lost the faith of her former husband now gives birth to the devil and no longer to God. And rightly it is said, "She who had many sons," because while in the truth of the Scriptures she anciently taught the people subject to her to desire the coming of the future Redeemer, she was bringing forth sons from the embrace of the heavenly Bridegroom. But now she who had sons is weakened and has no sons. She indeed presents the Scriptures to her hearers, but because she denies the Redeemer, she never begets children for God. Therefore she is said to be weakened, to whom spiritual fruitfulness is denied. And because both the rejection of the Synagogue and the election of the Gentiles were accomplished by the incomprehensible judgment of God.

13. Those are filled first who, while they receive the foods of pride as refreshment for the mind, cannot take in the delights of holy virtues, as though already full of food. But nevertheless they hire themselves out for bread, because in the Scriptures which they understand they think they receive spiritual gifts of virtues according to the greatness of wisdom. But they cannot be satisfied, because they can in no way add the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the fullness of arrogance. For the spirit of discipline itself flees from what is feigned, and does not dwell in a body full of sins (Wisdom 1:5). Hence it is also written: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). In vain, therefore, do they eagerly desire to receive the things of God, who by the very fact that they are proud make the bestower of gifts their adversary. Therefore they cannot be satisfied, because they do not obtain the gifts of spiritual graces. But who are the hungry, if not those empty of the foods of vices, fasting from pride? The hungry, therefore, are satisfied, because holy men, endowed with the stronghold of humility, while they do not think highly of themselves, merit the lofty gifts of virtues. For through the good of humility they become seats of the Holy Spirit, and while they receive him abiding in them, they are more fully filled with his gifts. Whence the Lord also says through the Prophet: "Upon whom does my spirit rest, if not upon the humble, and quiet, and the one trembling at my words" (Isaiah 66:2)? Greatly, therefore, are the hungry satisfied, because in the fullness of gifts the Holy Spirit rests upon the humble. 14. This, however, can not unfittingly be said against negligent ministers of the sacred altar and presumptuous receivers of the Lord's body. For those who hire themselves out for bread were filled beforehand and saturated with the food of vices, because they do not prepare their body for the reception of the Eucharist. They indeed eat and cannot be satisfied, because even though they receive the sacrament with their mouth, they are in no way filled with the power of the sacrament. They therefore fast from that power of the sacrament precisely because they had been filled beforehand. For they do not receive the fruit of salvation in the eating of the saving host, who carry in their mind the sins with which they had filled themselves. Therefore none are satisfied except the hungry, because those who perfectly fast from vices receive the divine sacraments in the fullness of their power. And because even the elect cannot be without sin, what remains except that they strive to be emptied daily of the sins with which human frailty does not cease to stain them? For he who does not daily drain off what he commits in transgression, even if the sins he heaps up are small, little by little the soul is filled, and they rightly take from him the fruit of interior satisfaction. Paul, urging us to empty ourselves of this fullness, says: "Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup" (1 Cor. 11:28). For what does "prove" mean in this passage, except, having emptied out the wickedness of sins, to present oneself approved and pure at the Lord's table? Concerning those who are full he also adds: "For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Therefore, since we sin daily, let us daily run to the laments of repentance, because that alone is the power which empties out what guilt accumulates in the belly of the soul. And then the hungry are truly satisfied, because the more diligently we are cleansed by the lament of repentance, the more abundant the fruit of divine grace we receive in spiritual refreshment. Because this satisfaction of the elect extends all the way to the end of the world, she adds and says: "Until the barren has borne many, and she who had many children has grown feeble." 15. Who therefore is signified by the name of this barren woman, if not she of whom Paul speaks, saying: "The Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother" (Gal. 4:26, 27)? Whence also shortly after he fitted to her the prophecy of Isaiah, saying: "For it is written: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband" (Isa. 54:1). But how is Jerusalem understood as barren—namely, the holy society of the blessed angels—when according to the meaning of its name it is fruitful with everlasting joy from the eternal vision of peace? But if she is the mother of the elect among men, she was indeed barren when the human race had perished in Adam. For she was as though unable to bring forth, since she lost through the persuasions of the fallen spirit him in whom she ought to have extended the bosom of her fruitfulness. The weak are girded so long until the barren one gives birth, because we have need of the powerful ministry of the humble angels until as many as are predestined to life from the human race are gathered together, even to the end of the world. For the Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather His elect from the four winds (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). For they are to be sent then to gather those for whose salvation they are sent daily, because they will not gather into the kingdom any except those to whom they now offer assistance through the strength of their girding. Even until the end of the world the hungry are filled. But rightly is this barren woman said to bear very many, because not all men, but only the elect, are led to eternal joys. Fittingly therefore she is also said to give birth, because through the ministry of angels we are taught to seek heavenly things, so that we may be able to attain their goods. But when this barren woman gives birth, she who had many children is weakened, because the fuller the gains of the elect that the heavenly kingdoms receive through the ministries of angels, the more the children of this Babylon are diminished. For she is as though weakened in her childbearing, who through the disordered love of passing things cannot, as she was accustomed, bear children. For everywhere the heavenly kingdoms are now preached, and indeed while the minds of the faithful love what they hear, while they also seek those things through good conduct, Babylon is as though constricted in her childbearing, because our mother Jerusalem brings forth throughout the world for God those whom Babylon was accustomed to bear for hell from her exhausted womb of perdition. Yet the strength of those who are girded is ascribed not to themselves, but to Him by whom they are girded.

Those who were filled have hired themselves out for bread, etc. The Jews, having previously been refreshed by the living bread of Scriptures, now, dissembling within themselves, lack amidst the spiritual feasts of the church at the feast of the good father, who gratefully received the returning younger son, and those who were once guests of the covenants, now taste and see that the Lord is good.

The barren has borne many, etc. Isaiah explains that the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband (Isaiah LIV). The translators of the Septuagint wrote, "For the barren has borne seven." Saba, a Hebrew word, indeed designates both seven and many. But even the sense of that version becomes clear to those recognizing the number seven, which signifies the complete perfection of the church. This is why the apostle John writes to the seven churches (Revelation I), showing himself thus writing to the fullness of one; and in the Proverbs of Solomon, prefiguring this before: Wisdom has built a house for herself, she has hewn seven pillars (Proverbs IX).

Hannah's prophetic hymn, Sa1 2:1-10. Samuel ministers to the Lord, Sa1 2:11. The abominable conduct of Eli's sons, Sa1 2:12-17. Farther account of Samuel, and of the Divine blessing on Elkanah and Hannah, Sa1 2:18-21. Eli's reprehensible remissness towards his sons in not restraining them in their great profligacy, Sa1 2:22-26. The message of God to Eli, and the prophecy of the downfall of his family, and slaughter of his wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas, Sa1 2:27-36.

They that were full - All the things mentioned in these verses frequently happen in the course of the Divine providence; and indeed it is the particular providence of God that Hannah seems more especially to celebrate through the whole of this simple yet sublime ode.

HANNAH'S SONG IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD. (Sa1 2:1-11) Hannah prayed, and said--Praise and prayer are inseparably conjoined in Scripture (Col 4:2; Ti1 2:1). This beautiful song was her tribute of thanks for the divine goodness in answering her petition. mine horn is exalted in the Lord--Allusion is here made to a peculiarity in the dress of Eastern women about Lebanon, which seems to have obtained anciently among the Israelite women, that of wearing a tin or silver horn on the forehead, on which their veil is suspended. Wives, who have no children, wear it projecting in an oblique direction, while those who become mothers forthwith raise it a few inches higher, inclining towards the perpendicular, and by this slight but observable change in their headdress, make known, wherever they go, the maternal character which they now bear.

they that were hungry ceased--that is, to hunger. the barren hath born seven--that is, many children.