This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Samuel 1-7” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 23, 1997.

This morning we are reading from the book of 1 Samuel. We are in chapter 2. 1 Samuel 2, beginning at verse 1. Hear the word of God. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my form is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven. and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth low, he lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, 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. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Delcana went to Rema with his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Lord, you would give strength to your servants who would proclaim your word this day. Father, we would ask that you would give grace to us here, that the word would be proclaimed for us, our benefit, Father, truly, we desire to profit from it. Show us, Lord, the marvelous riches of your word, and may we delight in them. Encourage us, Father, that our hearing might be also an obeying. And, Father, we would please you May our prayer then, Lord, not merely be for ourselves, but for all of your church, that your church would hear your word and marvel in its riches. We ask this in Jesus’ name, who himself is the living word. Amen.

Hannah, or a certain type of pious person, has become the patron saint for those suffering disappointment and discontentment. Just as Hannah experienced mental anguish and personal grief in her inability to conceive a child. So these pious persons have regularly turned to the figure of Hannah in their anguish and grief. And as Hannah, just as Hannah received her answer from God being delivered from her distress, These pious persons have looked to Hannah in hopes of the same.

But we make a mistake when we turn to Hannah as the key to our personal problems. Hannah is not. Hannah is not the patron saint for the forlorn. who, in their devotion to her and what they think she represents, wish to see their own fortunes reversed as her fortunes were reversed. Now, Hannah is not the patron saint for the full war.

Rather, Hannah is a woman whose place in the Bible turns on her position in the history of salvation. She is important to us not because she provides material for an inspirational story about prayer and one woman’s answer to her own. material appropriate for the next issue of Guidepost magazine. Now, Hannah is important to us because God has made of her a woman in whom we are to see his elect. And through her, the story of the redemption of God’s elect. Hannah, whose name means grace, is therefore to be seen and appreciated as elect Israel, who, although beloved of God, is perilous, perilous to conceive. and yet, by the mercies of God, fulfills the meaning of her name in the arrival of a new day under God’s sovereign disposition and action, the day of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

The transition in this woman, therefore, from distress to joy, is not for the purpose of teaching us the secrets to psychological and emotional stability. Instead, that transition in her teaches us about God and his mighty acts, as he moves his people from distress to delight through the gracious gift of his kingdom. Hannah is, therefore, a transitional figure in whom we see the end of one era in the history of redemption and the beginning of another. The end, if you will, of one world and the beginning of a new.

Samuel, the miracle child granted to her is, in effect, the announcement of the New Day. In this New Day, we witness in its Old Testament form the approach of the Kingdom, as the stage is set for the appearance of that One close to the heart of God, David the King. And just as The Virgin Mary, while carrying the Christ child of David’s greater Son, sings her own song in Luke chapter 1, in acknowledgment of the arrival of the kingdom and all of its genuine potency. So, Hannah here sings her song in this preparatory stage. with lines rich in anticipation, eloquent with the message of gospel accomplishment. We come, then, to Hannah’s song.

Now, you’re going to kick yourself for not bringing your Bible this morning. If someone near you has one, get close. There have been many proposals for the ordering, the arrangement, the structure of this song. Let me give you mine. I propose verses 1-3 as a unit, the first movement of the psalm. Then verses 4-9 as the second movement and the main body. Finally we have verse 10. as summary and conclusion, the final movement. Here is my organization, verses 1 through 3, once more, verses 4 through 9, and finally verse 10.

Now let me point out to you certain features of the psalm which I hope will help to establish this outline. and also encourage us in our understanding. I’m going to do a little bit of literary analysis today. One feature is the way in which verse 10, the last verse, returns to the beginning of the song. You come to the end and there you’re reminded of things at the beginning. Now, this backward look may be more obvious to you in some versions than in others. The version that I like to work off of is the New American Standard version, and it is generally helpful to us.

The backward look from verse 10 becomes obvious to us if we look at that first line in verse 10 and the verb to shatter, as it is translated in the New American Standard Version, or as it is translated in the King James, to break. Some have suggested that the word means to confound. But at any rate, this word, to shatter, picks up the same word that had been used in verse 4, the first line. The bows of the mighty are shattered, or are broken.

So you have, at the end, this backward look, this return. language used at the conclusion that you found at the beginning, but further along this line. The remaining four lines in that tenth verse, if you have a New American Standard or a New International Version, you’ll see that that tenth verse is laid out for you in five lines. The remaining four lines in verse ten take us back to the first three verses. Now, there is a great deal here that we must leave for now for later consideration in this message. However, for now, presently, notice the obvious links.

The repetition of certain words, the repetitions of words like exalt and horn. Verse 10, line 5, and he will exalt the horn of his anointed. Compare that with 2 in the psalm, verse 1, my horn is exhausted in the Lord. I want to cite at this point, you may be confused by the use of the word horn. We certainly have sung about horns a lot this morning in the psalms that we have sung. You may be confused about that use of the word horn.

It is derived from the image of the ox. horn was a symbol of strength. We see this meaning in the parallel between lines 4 and 5 in verse 10. He will give strength to his king, then the parallel line, he will exalt the horn of his anointed. You notice that there is a strict parallelism as you run through those last two lines of verse 10. And the word that is standing there, described later as the horn in the last line, is the word strength in the previous line. So, horn equals strength.

At any rate, we have the return in verse 10, the last verse of the song, to parallel thoughts expressed earlier in this song, so that it doesn’t seem inappropriate to say, as we have, verse 10, is a summary and conclusion to the song, bringing us, as it does, back to the beginning. But I want you to notice another feature.

It is the recurring use of the word exalt. The word exalt. Now, our English translations invariably pick up on this in verses 1 and 10. I was reading the King James this morning for the scripture reading. It was not obvious, because it’s not there. The New American Standard and New International only get half of the story.

We find this word, the same word, exalt, at the end of verse 7. He brings low, he also exalts. and we also find it in the first line of verse 8, he exalts the poor from the dust. That’s what the Hebrew says. This means, then, that not only do we have this word at the beginning, verse 1, and at the end, verse 10 of Enison, we also have it appearing in the center, or in the heart of the song. But I want you to see just how much at the center of the song this word exalt is.

Look at the second movement that we have isolated, verses 4 through 9. Now, if you have a New International or you have a New American Standard, I want you to count the lines. I want you to count the lines in those verses. They are laid out for you in poetry form. If you count them correctly, I judge you will come up with 19. 2 in verse 4, 4 in verse 5, 2 in 6, 2 in 7, 6 in 8, 3 in 9, a total of 19 in all. Now let me ask you, which is the middle line? The middle line in a series of 19 is line 10. Nine lines before, then the tenth, followed by nine lines more. And which is the tenth line?

It is the end of the seventh verse. He brings low, he also exalts. The word exalts. And then, so as to emphasize the point, Hannah repeats the word in the next line. He exalts the poor from the dust. Now, in light of all of this torturous literary analysis that has some of you possibly near slumbering, I ask you, what is the theme of Hannah’s song? What is the theme of Hannah’s song? Would you not say, looking at the beginning, looking at the conclusion, looking at the middle, that the theme is exaltation, or exalting? Hannah’s point, then, in the song, is exaltation.

Now, the sense that she attaches to this exaltation seems to be this. Exaltation is elevation. Exaltation is ascent. Exaltation is going up. It is ascent. to a higher position. In verse one, Hannah tells us that her strength, or her horn, is exalted. Her strength ascends. Her strength goes up In verses 7 and 8, the lowly and the poor ascend. They are lifted up. And in verse 10, the king, the Lord’s anointed, ascends. He is lifted up.

For herself, Hannah confesses in verse 1, returning to that first verse. You will note that such an ascent for her, such a lifting up, is in the Lord. It is an ascent, it is a lifting up, it is a going up in the Lord. Behind and within these words from her, Hannah acknowledges that the ascent to which he is privileged is grounded in God himself. It is in the Lord.

It is grounded in God himself, and as she completes her thoughts at the end of that first verse, it is grounded in his work of salvation. This work of salvation, by the end of her song, will center not upon herself, but upon the King, the Lord’s anointed, but expresses itself throughout the song as you see those who are lowly lifted up, exalted, put in a high position. However, there is the suggestion of something even more profound in what Hannah has to say. There is the suggestion here of something even more profound than simply the fact that Hannah’s exaltation is grounded in God himself and in his work of salvation. Returning to that second line in the first verse of her song, my horn or my strength is exalted in the Lord.

There is laid within these words the hint that the relationship between Hannah and the Lord is so strong, effected by God himself, that Hannah’s exaltation is preceded by and established because the Lord himself has moved, as it were, through his own humiliation, that is, a time of the demonstration, short of his strength, into a time of his strength and exaltation. That the Lord has moved, as it were, through his own humiliation into his own exaltation, and that exhibited by the work which he has accomplished in the salvation that he has wrought for his people. Hannah’s strength can be exalted in the Lord because the Lord has himself been exalted in his strength in that salvation in which now Hannah rejoices. In fact, Hannah’s participation in that salvation becomes a participation in the Lord’s very own ascent in triumph, because he has acted, and in his action he has exalted himself. He has been lifted up, he has ascended.

God has gone up with a shout, the Lord, to the voice of triumph. Hannah, therefore, sees her own salvation, her own exaltation, as a receiving and resting in, if not an extension of, the world’s triumphal revelation of His strength. I am describing to you true faith. I am giving to you the catechism definition of faith. receiving and resting in Christ alone for salvation. Hannah sees her own salvation as a receiving and resting on and in, if not an extension of, the Lord’s triumphant revelation of His strength in His saving might.

In her salvation, Hannah confesses with her mouth that her God has become the exalted I am paraphrasing here Romans 10.9. Hannah, in her salvation, confesses with her mouth that her God has become the exalted Lord, and she has believed in her heart that he has moved from his prior non-exalted state to the state of manifest glory.

Isn’t it interesting? that Hannah, in her song, mentions both her heart and her mouth in that opening verse. Paul also mentioning mouth and heart in Romans 10-9. Indeed, as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, the justification of believers under the Old Testament was one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament. We conclude this morning by looking once more at the match-up between verses 1 and 10. By observing the same dynamic at the end of Hannah’s song that we have noted at its beginning.

However, this time it is the King who is in view, the Lord’s Anointed. And here the matter is a little more explicit, though yet not full-blown. As Hannah sings about the exaltation of the Lord’s Anointed, once more we perceive, in Hannah’s words, the movement this time for the King, the Anointed One, from a non-exalted state to a state of manifest glory.

The Lord will give strength to his King because the King presently lacks strength. the Lord will elevate, raise up, exalt the strength of his anointed, because his anointed has been laid low.” As to the precise nature of that humiliation and that exaltation, from Hannah onward, the remainder of divine revelation will make clear. The remainder of that divine revelation will also make clear the precise nature of the relationship between the exaltation of the Lord himself, in verse 1, and the exaltation of his anointed, in verse 10. In the day for the completion of God’s revelation, it will be made abundantly clear that the Lord’s anointed, in verse 10, is the Lord himself. in verse one, and that his humiliation, the humiliation of the anointed one, has been to the extreme of the death on the cross, and his exaltation, his lifting up, has been to the heights of his resurrection and his ascension into glory.

Truly, our strength is exalted. it is elevated, it is lifted up, even resurrected and granted ascent only in and through Christ’s, the Anointed One’s, resurrection trial. In Him, we have died to our sins. we have died to death, and in him we have been raised to justification.”

The Gospel from Hannah. Oh father, may you be patient with your church. If she is slow to recognize. The affinity of her faith. And the proclamation of it gloriously in the pages of the Old Testament. If she passes over the story of Hannah. Contempt there that she sees only a distressed woman who is answered because of her prayers. Much more, oh God. May we see the history of salvation.

May we see the workings of salvation in the hearts of your elect. May we see the pattern of redemption and justification, and may we give assent, yes, that the justification of believers in the New Testament is one and the same as the justification of believers in the Old. Truly, O God, we are justified by faith, but, Lord, may it be apparent to us, whether old or new, that justification ultimately is in and through you and your son. You, knowing the depths of humiliation for us, knowing also the exaltation that we who would share with you in the death might also partake of the glory. We ask this in Jesus name, the one who is exalted now, lifted up,

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.