Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 2
The words that we call Hannah’s prayer (2:1-10) are in fact a prophecy (a message from God). Hannah received this prophecy from the Holy Spirit at the time when she handed over her son Samuel to work for God. Afterwards, Hannah returned to Ramah with her husband Elkanah.
At that time, Israel had never had a king. However, Hannah saw by the power of the Holy Spirit that God would appoint a king to rule his people. In fact, God did that by means of Hannah’s own son, Samuel.
Hannah also calls the king: ‘his (God’s) anointed’. That word refers to the special ceremony that 1 Samuel 16:13 describes. The purpose of that ceremony was to separate the king for a holy task: to rule God’s people.
The word ‘anointed’ is a very special word in the Bible. In the Hebrew language, that word is Messiah;in the Greek language it is Christ. Originally, those words were titles for the kings of Israel from David’s family. Christians use those words today as titles for Jesus, who also came from David's family.
God would give strength to the king, God’s anointed, to rule the nation on his behalf. However, although God is especially the God of Israel, he is also the God of the whole world. David was only the king of Israel, but Christ is the King of kings, who will rule every nation (Revelation 19:16; Psalm 2:7-8; Psalm 110).
In her prophecy, Hannah understood this. She said that God would act as judge of ‘the ends of the earth’. That phrase means the most distant parts of the world. Israel’s kings never achieved that. However, God will do it by means of his Messiah, the Christ (Acts 17:31; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25; Philippians 2:9-11).
Next part: Evil priests at Shiloh (1 Samuel 2:12-17)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.