I Samuel 2 · The Lantern

At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD in whom my horn is exalted. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.

Let us see, then, what this reasoning of Hannah's prayer means, which if we shall have learned, perhaps we too shall be able to pray likewise.

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?

My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, etc. While my heart is enlarged to rejoice in Jesus, that is, in your salvation, my mouth is also enlarged over all enemies of faith and truth, to confess and proclaim His name; because even in the tightness of afflictions your word is not bound, nor is it bound in preachers.

There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.

"Because I rejoiced in thy salvation." If I have rejoiced in the salvation of God, then my mouth was enlarged over my enemies.

As if to restrain Judea in her vain boasting, he says: Those whom you claim did great things were mere men; He whom I proclaim was not only a holy man, but also mighty God. Therefore, when strength is considered, excellence is indicated, because truly all strength of man is utterly weak in comparison to the divinity.

There is none holy like the Lord, etc. Indeed, we read of holy and strong people and angels; but no matter how much one advances in holiness, however much perfection is acquired, a creature cannot be as holy and strong as the Creator; because He is the bestower of strength and holiness, the other is the recipient.

Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.

"Let not great speech come out of your mouth." See what was said by the Apostle: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This is fittingly said of every man. For wretched is the race of mortals: since indeed we are in peril not only in evils, but even in good things.

7. For evil spirits speak lofty and ancient things, when they suggest to the faithful that the high things of this age, as they appear, should be sought after.

In the Canticle of Anna it is said in the book of Kings: "Let the old things depart from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of sciences, and to Him thoughts are prepared;" not foolish thoughts, which are scattered along the ways of errors, but good thoughts are prepared for the Lord along the ways of truth.

The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.

"The bow of the mighty was made weak." The darts of the malign one, which are called fiery, are sent forth through the bow of the mighty.

What is the bow of the strong, if not the fraudulent savagery of the Jews? For from concealment, as if from a bow, they had inflicted a wound upon the Redeemer, whom they were killing by the hands of the Gentiles.

The bow of the mighty has been broken, etc. The proud intention of the Jews, by which they always presumed to be saved by the works of the law, has failed; the exercise of dialectical skill, and the loquacity of secular philosophy, as if bent to ridicule the simplicity of faith, has been weakened; finally, all the fiery darts of malignant spirits have been blunted by the weapon…

The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

"They that were filled with loaves were led into servitude." She shows that it is blameworthy to be filled with loaves, because Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked. "They that were hungry were forsaken." She means those who had been filled with loaves, because they forsook the hungry.

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).

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.

The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Certainly his making alive is to take place after he has killed. As, therefore, it is by death that he kills, it is by the resurrection that he will make alive. Now it is the flesh which is killed by death; the flesh, therefore, will be revived by the resurrection.

There was once a brother who was very eager to seek goodness. Being very disturbed by the demon of lust, he came to a hermit and told him about his thoughts. The hermit was inexperienced and when he heard all this, he was shocked, and said he was a wicked brother, unworthy of his monk's habit because he had thoughts like that.

The Lord kills and gives life, etc. He kills the Synagogue and gives life to the Church; or He gives life to those whom He kills; so that we might consider that we are indeed dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus (Eph. II).

The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth and will give power to His king. He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

These words refer to the return of Christ or to the return of God to heaven. His teaching [will be] heard like thunder by all, and holy Scripture foretells his future judgment of all afterwards. And after this it is said that the Lord will give strength to our kings.

For it is written: "He himself shall judge the ends of the earth." The Lord justifies or condemns each person at the end and considers the outcome of all things, so that not even the sinner, if he or she truly repents, need despair of forgiveness, nor should the just person have confidence in his own sanctity.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. It is certain that the Lord will judge not only the ends of the earth but also the inland regions. Thus it is said: He will judge the ends of the earth; as if it were said, He will also judge the ends of the earth; because no one can hide from His heat (Psalm XVIII).

Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.

Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

Samuel bore with the wicked sons of Eli, his debased sons whom the people would not bear and who were thereupon accused by divine truth or disciplined by divine wrath; finally he bore with the people themselves in their pride and rejection of God.… Let them read who wish, and who can, the heavenly language.

3. Supply "were." For who else are the sons of Eli, if not the Israelites according to the flesh, who knew the Sacred Scripture published by the fathers, and yet did not know the one whom Scripture had promised? Whom indeed Truth itself rebukes in the Gospel, saying: "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56).

Furthermore, the sons of Eli, sons of Belial, etc. The sons of the Jewish priesthood, sons of blind light, or without a yoke (for both Belial and Beliar mean this), were those who did not know the doctrine of Christ; not following the commands of the divine law but adhering to their own statutes and traditions.

or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling

and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”

Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.

WHETHER SAMUEL WAS ONE OF THE SONS OF AARON, AND WHETHER HE IS TO BE CONSIDERED A PRIEST? — There are some among us who, partly occupied with secular affairs and partly less studious concerning the Holy Scriptures, fall into error, thinking that Samuel was a priest, that is, that he traced his origin from Aaron, whose offspring the Lord God ordained should be born priests, not…

9. A linen garment is known to be finer than a woolen one. And fittingly Samuel is said to have been clothed with a linen ephod, by whom the order of priests chosen from the nations is designated. For in comparison with the life under the Law, the new manner of life of the Gospel is the fineness of linen.

Now Samuel was ministering before the face of God, etc. Ephod in Hebrew, in Latin it is called a superhumeral or overgarment; the garment of this name, woven from gold, blue, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and twisted fine linen, is mentioned in the Scripture of Exodus (Exod. XXV) as allowed only for the high priests.

Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.

So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

When Hannah had once offered in the tabernacle the son whom she had vowed to God, she never took him back: for she thought it unbecoming that one who was to be a prophet should grow up in the same house with her who still desired to have other sons.

But since Samuel is first said to have been girded with a linen ephod, and then the mother's fruitfulness in the multitude of children can reasonably be understood as what we observe happening daily—namely, that from the good reputation of a chosen disciple, the gains of converts increase for the master.

The Lord therefore enriched Anna, etc. The Lord gave to the Church the Spirit of His grace, by which it, being fruitful, bore for Him spiritual offspring, partly to search out or preach the mysteries of the Holy Trinity powerfully, partly with perfect love of God and neighbor despised in its simplicity; because the humility of the incarnation assumed by Christ for a time was he…

Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

Because their father [Eli] did not chastise them with enough severity … he moved the forbearance of God to wrath so great that foreign peoples rose up against them and killed those sons of his in war in one day. His entire nation, furthermore, was vanquished, and a considerable number of his people fell.

But a great fear is struck into us, because Eli is condemned for the fault of his sons, though no sins of his own are reported. For good subjects, living well suffices for salvation, but for prelates their own life does not suffice. For he is truly very old who always strives to live blamelessly.

And he heard everything that his sons were doing, etc. The transgression of the sons of Eli was not small nor uniform, which did not fear to tarnish both divine religion and love of neighbor.

“Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people.

No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people.

If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.

Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house?

For with respect to the future, they will not be benefited by the honor done them, but receive the greater condemnation, neither will they be injured as to the future by ill treatment, but will have the more excuse. But all this I desire to be done for your own sakes.

23. What is represented by this man of God, if not that venerable company of the holy apostles? He is indeed called a man of God on account of the excellence of his holiness, because he governed the summit of authority, which he had ascended in the governance of the whole world, with an equal loftiness of virtue.

Was I not openly revealed? etc. He does not speak here of the recent father of Eli, who could not have been in that Egyptian servitude; but of Aaron himself, to whose house He was revealed in Egypt, and whom He, having been instructed from there, preferred to all the tribes of Israel by the right of the priesthood.

And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the offerings of the Israelites made by fire.

Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’

Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.

If we regard the sentence passed on him [the serpent] to be in the nature of a condemnation, God did not condemn the serpent in order to cause injury to humans. He pointed out what was to happen in the future.

A pearl will shine in the midst of squalor, and a gem … will sparkle in the mire. This is what the Lord promised when he said, "Those who honor me I will honor." Others may understand this of the future when sorrow shall be turned into joy and when, although the world shall pass away, the saints shall receive a crown which shall never pass.

Therefore, says the Lord God of Israel: He spoke, I said, etc. The question arises by what reason what was promised to last forever could be changed; but recall that the priesthood of Aaron was the shadow of the eternal priesthood, and the promise of eternity; understand that truth pertains not to the shadow but to that shadowed.

Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no older man will be left in your house.

Hence I beg you to offer a hand to our children lest we ourselves become liable for what is committed by them. Are you not aware of what happened to old Eli for not properly correcting his sons' shortcomings?

32. Now he is without an arm, because he who lost the temple and the tabernacle does not extend his hand for the offering of the old sacrifice.

Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, etc. These days are present, no priest is now chosen from the stock of Aaron; but the boast of the legal priesthood has been cut off, not only in Eli alone, but in the entire succession of the Levitical lineage; so much so that not even a priest of the lesser order, who are called presbyters in Greek, that is, elders, is…

You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age.

And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, your eyes will fail and your heart will grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.

And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.

Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.

38. For when the sons of Eli were dead, the Lord raised up a faithful priest for Himself, because when the leaders of the ancient people were destroyed in their faithlessness, He chose elect ones to carry out the ministry of our redemption. He is indeed called a faithful one who was taken up, because the old one, whom he succeeded, was rejected on account of unfaithfulness.

"And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will act according to my heart, etc." [1 Samuel 2:35] What the prophet says, speaking to Eli in the person of God: And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will act according to my heart and my soul: and I will build him a faithful house, and he will walk before my Christ all days, must be understood under the…

And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

I Samuel2