XLV. Third Sunday after Trinity. Subject. Hannah. Text. 1 Sam. ii. I. "Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD; mine horn is exalted in the LORD; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation." Illustrative Scripture. S. Luke i. 46-55; compare Job i with xlii. Illustrative Texts. Deut. xxxii. 39; Job v. 18; Ps. xxxiii. 10; xxxiv. 10; xxxvii. 15, 17; lxxv. 7; lxxvi. 3; xcii. 10; cxii. 9; cxiii. 7-9; Prov. xv. 23; xxix. 23; S. Luke xiv. 11; xviii. 14; S. James i. 9, 10; iv. 6; 1 S. Pet. v. 5. To understand the beautiful hymn thus beginning, we must study the preceding chapter. [Sketch history of chap. i.] The hymn is Hannah's song of triumph for the acceptance of her prayer. As it is recorded by the HOLY SPIRIT in this connection, we have reason to believe it is from Him. (Rom. viii. 27.) "She was acted by the same Spirit which moved S. James to give this direction, 'Is any afflicted ?' &c. (S. James v. 13.)" (Bishop Patrick in locum.) Indeed, it contains, as we shall observe, internal marks of inspiration. But it was assuredly "written for our learning:" and guides us to right dispositions and important practical truths. "This day I would lead you to Hannah, and direct my discourse into the meadow of that woman's virtues: a meadow, not of roses or perishable flowers, but of prayer, and faith, and abundant long-suffering. Far more fragrant than the vernal flowers are these, bedewed, not with fountains of water, but with showers of tears. For springs of brooks do not so fertilize the gardens, as fountains of tears replenish the plant of prayer, and cause it to run up to the loftiest height: as happened to this woman. For she no sooner spake, than her prayer ran up to heaven, and bore seasonable fruit, the holy Samuel." (S. Chrysost. Orat. xiii.; the second on Hannah. There are four, worthy of study for this subject.) The hymn sets forth I. The depression of Hannah. She was 1. Childless. This is commonly regarded as a calamity; and this feeling was more prevalent with the Israelite women than with any others; for they were aware of the promise, Gen. iii. 15, and that it was assured to their nation through its first ancestors. (Gen. xxiii. 18; xlix. 10; Deut. xviii. 15-19.) The promise appeared indeed now restricted to Judah; nevertheless, all the Hebrew women claimed an interest in it. To be childless, therefore, to a woman of Israel, was to be hopeless, or at least to be destitute of the greatest hope. 2. Unhappy in conscience. We must remember that Israel was a theocracy. Ordinary Providence ruled there as elsewhere; but there was also an extraor dinary divine government, which led Israelites to attribute sin wherever they saw chastisement. (S. Luke xiii. 1, seqq.; S. John ix. 2.) Under this government, fruitfulness was promised to obedience. (Deut. vii. 14.) Hence Hannah would naturally conclude that she was punished for some undiscovered sin, by a curse which was the earnest of greater miseries to come. : 3. The object of unkindness and calumny. As though it were not sufficient that she felt herself under a curse, her ungenerous rival, Peninnah, must reproach her with it reminding her that it was the doing of the LORD, and taking advantage of the time when she went up to the yearly devotion, that she might faint and despair in the very acts of religion. And, doubtless, considering the prevalent views of the Hebrews, Hannah must have heard like taunts from many others. See Gen. xxx. 23; S. Luke i. 25. With a good conscience, calumny may be borne; but where there is seeming ground for it, it is unendurable. Yet, even where it can be borne, it is a burden still. When Eli accused Hannah of drunkenness, though conscience acquitted her, yet she could not but feel herself an outcast. From the Priest of GOD, in the house of God, she might have expected healing and comfort; yet even here she met with misconstruction, insult, indignity. "At home her rival reproached her; she came to the temple, and the Priest's servant1 insulted her, and the Priest reproved her. She fled from the tempest at home, she came to the haven, and found again other surges there. She came to receive a medicine, but not only did not receive it, but endured beside 1 The reading in the LXX. is τὸ παιδάριον Ἠλεί. the stroke of reproach, and her wound was aggravated. You know how suffering spirits are affected by revilings and insults. For as severe wounds cannot endure the slightest touch of the hand, without increased irritation; so the troubled soul is hard to please, is painfully susceptible of every influence, and is stung by every chance word." (S. Chrysost. Orat. xiv.) She did indeed seem rejected of heaven and earthone "that stumbled"-the "poor"-the "hungry"the "beggar"-brought down to the "dust"-" the dunghill"-"the grave." II. The exaltation of her enemies. Peninnah was properly such. No judgment came on her. She bore many children, (verse 5,) and was therefore honoured as a mother in Israel, and most by those who most dishonoured Hannah. Eli, though not in heart the enemy of Hannah, had treated her with great harshness and want of charity; yet no retribution came. He was in the most honourable position in Israel, receiving the homage, respect, and obedience of all his countrymen. The censurers of Hannah were "the mighty," "the full," "the rich," "the princes." III. The exaltation of Hannah. She bears a child; her reproach is therefore gone. Her barrenness was no judgment; or, if it was, her sin is pardoned. If children are a token of obedience, and of GOD'S favour, GOD has borne witness to her sincerity, and confuted the calumnies of her revilers. IV. The depression of her enemies. Peninnah must now think with shame on all she has said, as being indeed blasphemy. She "hath waxed feeble." Hannah was always the favourite wife; Peninnah's boast of superiority was that she had borne children. The boast is gone, and she must encounter her husband's displeasure for her past want of justice and humanity. Eli, too, is now no object of envy. Could Hannah have envied, she might have compared her desolation with his honoured old age, supported by two sons among the honourable in Israel. But he who had censured imaginary iniquity in Hannah, had not restrained the conspicuous profligacy of his own children. From them was to proceed his temporal ruin; they were themselves appointed to destruction; his grandson, orphaned as born, came into the world amid death and defeat, bearing in his very name the witness of glory departed from his family and his country. The very posterity of Eli was under a curse. What childlessness was not better than such fruitfulness ? more: the " open vision is withholden from the Priest," its proper depositary, and is transferred to the child of her whom Eli so uncharitably rebuked! That child is chosen to rebuke him! a Levite boy to rebuke the aged High Priest of GOD! and GOD had so ordained! Samuel's obedient and respectful temper revolted from the office: yet he executed it; for GOD Himself had ordained that the reviler of Hannah should hear his judgment from the lips of her son! Yet V. The hand of GOD in all these transactions. This is the very spirit of the hymn. Hannah's barrenness was the appointment of GOD, though not His retribution. (1 Sam. i. 5.) The persecutions of Peninnah and Eli were permitted by Him; for He could have taken them away before, had it so pleased Him; yet He did not. The birth of Samuel was His especial Provi |