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, April 13, 1997.
About this sermon
‘Exalt’ and ‘shattered’ anchor Hannah’s song, two words that together capture God’s swiftness and intensity in dealing with his enemies and his own. That same intensity secures the perfect vindication and glory reserved for the elect in heaven. Nothing about Hannah’s confidence here is tentative.
Sermon transcript
We are reading again from 1 Samuel 2, beginning at verse 1. Give your attention to God’s infallible word. Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my 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 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 themselves out for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, but he bringeth low and lifteth up. 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. 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.”
What of your comforts, Lord, that we, by the comfort of your scriptures, may have hope? Lord, if we grieve, grant us blessing with the confidence of your word, that we may have confidence for your people, and confidence for ourselves. Grant mercy, Lord, to the Moyer family and to others who have grieved recently. May it please you, Father, to surround them with your love, convincing them again that they are not alone, and affirming for them the resurrection of the dead. And Father, as we would share in the grief of those we love, we share in the joys as well. Because of that, Lord, we ask that we might have a heart of full support, in joy and in delight, for the news that has come recently concerning Hannah Yatch. May it please you, O God, that this may be the proper diagnosis, and that her progress will be steady. Hear us, Father, as we pray these things, and as we prepare ourselves that we might receive your word gladly. In Jesus’ name, amen. To many, poetry looks like a bunch of words dumped on a page. They can make no sense of it at all.
And some, after many years of running into these verbal landfills, not by any choice of their own, mind you, have decided that poetry belongs to those who have a certain aptitude. That’s them speaking at their kinder moments. Or is it that these people who are interested in poetry suffer from a deficiency, lacking a chromosome or two, belonging to all the rest of us normal people, not that there aren’t reasons in our culture to hold poetry and poets in contempt.
From the vile lyrics of too much of our popular music, to the pseudo-sophistications of the culturally arrogant, a number of our modern poets have made shameless commercial success out of verifying shameless commercial success. They have made very public retreats into their private havens, where they have innately assaulted the inanities of life. From their isolated cocoons they have let loose the most self-absorbed, profane howls in which they have had the audacity to pontificate against selfishness and self-righteousness in others.” If you haven’t heard, Allen Ginsberg died about a week ago. that I’m not talking here about the modern expressions and even perversions of the form. I’m talking about the class of literature and the form of communication itself.
And I judge for many who have come to dislike poetry that their attitude has a great deal to do with their patience, or shall I say, their lack of it, when they run into one of these verbal landfills. There is good poetry, and there is bad poetry. Good poetry, like bad poetry, takes time. demands invariably our patience, but I judge good poetry is worth it. And let me tell you, there is no bad poetry in the Bible.
Hannah’s prayer is good, no excellence. It is crafted as a song of thanksgiving. It is like a hymn. It comes to us in poetic form. And like all poetry, it demands of us our patience. And being the exquisite poetry it is, and at the same time the word of God, it is worth This morning we come to the second part of Hannah’s song. As we do so, it may be well for us to reacquaint ourselves with the structure of this song, and even make some adjustments to our previous comments about it.
Here is the outline as I now see it. Verses 1 through 3 form the first unit, as I have said before. The second and third sections, however, of the song demand a slight alteration. The second section contains verses 4 through 9, and here is the change. It also this second section, it also runs from that fourth verse through the first line of verse 10. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking, especially those of you who have no patience for poetry. You’re saying, I knew I didn’t like poetry. It makes no sense to me. It defies logic. It makes up its own rules and changes them whenever it wants.
With regard to what you’ve just said, how can it be both ways? How can this second section end with verse 9 and also begin, I’m sorry, end with the beginning of the tenth verse? How can this second section end with verse 9 and also with the beginning of verse 10?
Patience. It’s absolutely necessary. The end of verse 9 is, in fact, a natural stop in place, a powerfully conclusive one. For by strength shall no man prevail. So natural, so powerful, so conclusive is this line at the end of verse 9, that most translations place here the period.
With an ending here as well, this second section then, running from verse four through nine, presents us with its own inherent symmetry. Verse 4, you will notice, begins with remarks about the vanity of human strength. The bones of the mighty men are broken. And then here, with verse 9, the section ends with remarks devastatingly conclusive and universal. For by strength shall no man prevail. Things have come back, then, to the starting point in the section. We have come full circle in the section.
We might also notice in the center, at the dense, dead center of these verses, in the second section, we have underscored the central theme of the entire psalm. You may recall that we located that dead center of this second section in verse 7, the second line, the line that reads, he bringeth low and lifteth up.
Or, as the New American Standard has it, he brings low, he also exalts. The word exalt there at the end of verse 7, now dead center to this second section, especially interests us because it is the same word we find in the first verse. The second line, “‘My horn, my strength,’ says Hannah, is exalted in the Lord.” It is also the same word we find in verse 10 at the very end of the song, the very last line, “‘The Lord will exalt the horn or the strength of his anointing.’” The word exalt appears at the beginning of the first section, at the end of the psalm, at the end of the third section. It also appears in the middle of the second section, dead center, establishing the case that exaltation by the Lord, standing as it does in such direct contrast to exaltation in and by men, is in fact the theme of Hannah’s psalm. But as we pointed out before, there is another occurrence of this word exalt in the psalm, and it appears in this second section. It occurs immediately after the occurrence we have already noted in verse 7. I have in mind the first line of verse 8, which should be read literally. he exalts the poor out of the dust. The word exalts appears once more.
This double use of the key word, exalt, makes of verses 7 and 8 in this second section of the song, the two sides of a poetic hinge. The second section of the song swings on that hinge like two doors. First part, running through the end of verse 7. The second part, then running on from verse 8 to the conclusion of the section.
This double use of the word exalt makes us alert to other double usages in the psalm in its entirety, and calls our attention to another instance, namely the repetition of the word broken in verse 4, and again at the beginning of verse 10. the word translated in the New American Standard as shattered.
But those of the mighty are shattered, the beginning of verse 4. The beginning of verse 10, those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. The effect of this is that while in one sense The second section ends with the dramatic punctuation at the end of verse 9. On the other hand, it ends with the concluding, balancing comment about the adversaries of the Lord at the beginning of verse 10.
The two doors swing on the hinge of verses 7 and 8, and are therefore verses 4 through 7, one door. and verses 8 through 10a, the other door. This means, of course, for those of you who are ahead of me, that the beginning of verse 10 serves as its own distinct and unique kind of hinge in the song. On the one hand, it serves as the beginning of the third part of the song, and is joined to the thundering of God mentioned in the second line of verse 10. On the other hand, it serves as the wrap, the closure to the second section, matching up with the beginning of verse 4, as we’ve already mentioned. When we come to the third section of this song, verse 10, In our next message, the significance of the double use of verse 10, its opening, will become more clear to us.
For the time being, we concentrate on the second section, in which we have observed this beautiful, although complicated, if not irregular, symmetry. I want you here to appreciate something more than the symmetry. I want you to appreciate the dramatic movement that is accented by the composition and the development of the lines in this second section.
Look at verses four and five. If you have a Bible version that lists these out in poetic form for you, it is very helpful. You’ll notice that you have six lines in the space of those two verses, six lines of relatively equal length with alternating content, content either pertaining to the self-exalted or to those whom God exalts, back and forth. The rapid-fire reversal from line to line is meant then, through poetic form, to emphasize the swiftness and the certainty of the Lord’s actions. That’s the power of the psalm. It’s gripping. The bones of the mighty are shattered, but the feeble get on strength. Back and forth it goes. Those with strength boasting in that strength humbled, those with no strength exalted and empowered. But now look at verses 6 and 7 as you get into it. What took two lines in verses 4 through 5 now only takes one line in verses 6 and 7. It’s even quicker, sharper, more pronounced, more punctuated.
The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave, He raises up, and thus it goes, a pace. That pace quickening, the pulse racing, as the poet is drawn even more deeply into the swiftness and the certainty of God’s actions and His inevitable drop.
It is meant to overpower you, even in its poetic form. You are caught up in it. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a Hasidic Jew read the Bible. They do it in caves. It is a very emotional experience. They are gripped by what is going on in the test. They completely misunderstand, unfortunately, tragically, but they are gripped by what is going on.
Thus it is with this Jewish woman, this poet, in the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, the quickens now, rapid fire, the pulse races as she is driven even more deeply into the swiftness and certainty of the Lord’s justice and the greatness of his actions. But not only so, Hannah is being drawn by this emotional intensity as she races through this.
Carried along in the Spirit, she is being drawn into the very reality of the things of which she speaks. Yes, it’s objective as she speaks of God’s actions outside of her, but she is drawn into this as it pertains to her. It becomes a catalog for her and her life. She is identified with it, and her identity is taken up in it. She is drawn by all of this emotional intensity into the very reality of the things of which she speaks. She is drawn with an affirmation that God is just, and what he does is right. She is the one who had complaint. She is the one who had bitterness of soul. That is past. A new day has dawned. There has been the transition in her. She has moved on by the graciousness of God.
Objectively, the work of God is out there. Subjectively, she’s drawn in, and she participates now in the reality of that of which she speaks. as one experiencing it directly, living it directly. Such is the conviction now, such is her affirmation, such is her justification of God. This which grips her concerning the Lord’s in saving his people. At the turning point in the second section, we’ve already latched onto what that turning point is. It’s the end of verse 7.
Hannah is so participating in the reality of the Lord’s great action for his people, that her own exaltation—remember verse 1—my strength is exalted. There’s the word at the beginning of the song, my strength is exalted in the Lord, she had said. Now, her own exaltation is drawn into the pithy, powerful exaltation belonging to God the Lord, as he bequeaths it to his people. It is this exaltation by which the Lord saves His own. But now, Hannah participating in this so directly, so fully, Hannah participating in this is carried beyond the fact that one more bearing woman of Israel has been able to conceive. Her exaltation now is to fall by, even as it is absorbed into, the exaltation of the people of God as a whole, into the ultimate reality, the ultimate reality, the conclusive, the final reality of God’s own vindication of his people. and their enrichment with wealth that outlasts the grave in the resurrection of the righteous. Indeed, the Lord bringeth down to the grave, and he raiseth up. Even in the face of death, I justify God and His ways. I trust Him.
At this point now, having been reached in the song, with such determined and driving intensity, and I hope you don’t disobey. The door now swings on the hinge, you see. You’ve come to the center of that middle section of the song, and now the door is going to swing on the hinge that you find there in verses 7 and 8. and the lines will explode with glory as you, it seems like, not only does the door swing, you go right through it. Exclusive attention now, it seems, focused upon the glory belonging to the Lord’s exalted people. As Hannah observes their entrance and because of their entrance, her entrance, into that glory itself.
Verse 8 to the beginning line of verse 9. Look at it in poetic form on the page. Now, if you have that in front of you, it’s very helpful. Verse 8 to the beginning line of verse 9. There are seven lines altogether. through verse 8 to verse 9, that opening part of verse 9. Row 7. It is the vision of perfect vindication. It is the vision of perfect glory. Seven rows, complete and full, laid out in front of you now in poetic form.
The perfect number. these lines completely diverted to the Lord’s elect. They’re describing God’s people as they, in their exaltation, displace, through the course of these very lines themselves, all thoughts that are contrary and all considerations of the wicked. They’re gone. They’re gone. It is as if the eternity of glory for the elect were here being represented poetically in the sweep and duration of the lines. And again, let me tell you. With Hannah, as for all the people, wonderfully drawn into the description.
We, then, God’s own beloved poor ones, exalted from the dust, the literal dust. We, his beloved needy ones, lifted up by him from the ash heap, the rubble heap, the place where the world throws its refuse and garbage. And we, of all people, and worthy and weak that we are, need to sit amongst the exalted
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