I Samuel 2 · The Lantern

And 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.

What is the meaning of "my horn"? Scripture frequently employs this phrase, remember, as when it says, "His horn was exalted" and "The horn of his anointed was exalted." So what on earth does "horn" mean?

Now we have learned who the Salvation of God is. Concerning whom Isaiah also prophesying says: All flesh shall see the Salvation of God; all the ends of the earth shall see the Salvation of God (Isa. 52:10; Ps. 97:3). But Jesus in our language is called Savior. Concerning whom Habakkuk also promises himself joy, saying: I will rejoice in God my Jesus (Hab. 3:18).

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] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none besides thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.

"Be holy, for I also am holy." But however much one might advance in sanctity, however much purity and sincerity one might acquire, a human being cannot be holy like the Lord, because he is the bestower of sanctity, the human being its receiver, he is the fountain of sanctity, the human being the drinker from the fountain, he is the light of sanctity, the human being the contem…

6. For by these words of Anna, every chosen soul cries out this in praise to the Redeemer, which it believes to be a gift from him. But from this order of pious confession, the order is indicated by which we may attain those same goods of the gift which she set forth in sequence.

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.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not] arrogance come out of your mouth: for the LORD [is] a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

No sensible person, then, will be proud of his wisdom … but will follow the excellent advice of blessed Hannah and of the prophet Jeremiah, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom and let not the strong man glory in his strength and let not the rich man glory in his riches." But what is true glory and what makes one great?

For the Lord is the God of knowledge, etc. Therefore, it is necessary for you to not seek higher things for yourselves, nor to search into things stronger than yourselves (Eccles. III); for the source and treasure of wisdom and knowledge, who teaches man knowledge: the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Psa. XCIII).

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 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 become feeble.

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).

Those who were filled have hired themselves out for bread, etc. The Jews, having previously been refreshed by the living bread of Scriptures, now, dissembling within themselves, lack amidst the spiritual feasts of the church at the feast of the good father, who gratefully received the returning younger son, and those who were once guests of the covenants, now taste and see that…

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth 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.

16. In these words, indeed, the order too must be noted. For he is said first to kill, then to make alive, because unless we cease to love the world, we cannot live for God through love, as John attests, who says: "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).

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 maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

He raiseth the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth 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 to his king, and 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).

And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.

Now the sons of Eli [were] sons of Belial; they knew not 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.

And the priest's custom with the people [was], [that], when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand;

And he struck [it] into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came thither.

Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee, but raw.

And [if] any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and [then] take [as much] as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, [No]; but thou shalt give [it to me] now: and if not, I will take [it] by force.

Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.

8. The sin is recognized to be exceedingly great which is not washed away by the tears of repentance. For the prophet, beholding this exceedingly great sin of the Synagogue, says: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1). Or certainly the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord because it was dragging others into sinning.

The sin of the boys was therefore exceedingly great, etc. The sin of the scribes and Pharisees was exceedingly great before the Lord, although before men they justified themselves through hypocrisy (Luke 11); because they, being men, annulled the commandment of God through their traditions; or certainly taking away the key of knowledge, they themselves did not enter, and they p…

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, [being] a child, girded with a linen ephod.

Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought [it] to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband, to offer the yearly sacrifice.

And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee issue of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went to their own home.

And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before 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.

13. By the three sons are designated all the more perfect members of the holy Church, who are known to have always done mighty deeds for the faith of the Trinity. But if the holy Church were to bring forth only the perfect, our weakness could not attain the rewards of eternal life.

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 heard all that his sons did to all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

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.

And he said to them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

No, my sons; for [it is] no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD'S people to transgress.

If one man shall sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man shall sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.

And the child Samuel continued to grow, and was in favor both with the LORD, and also with men.

And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear to the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in 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.

Now a man of God is described as having come to Eli, who, being about to bring forth the severity of the divine sentence, carefully enumerated how many gifts He had bestowed upon him. And because he finally announces the punishment of the vengeance that he deserved, what does this give us to understand, except that the faults of pastors are judged more strictly?

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 did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel [to be] my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give to the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded [in my] habitation; and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed [that] thy house, and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

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.

Now the Lord says: Far be it from me, etc. Changing times, not changing plans, the Lord seeks elected ones from the nations for Himself in a spiritual priesthood, and deprives entirely the contemptuous sons of Aaron of any order of priestly office.

Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thy arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy 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…

And thou shalt see an enemy [in my] habitation, in all [the wealth] which [God] shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever.

And the man of thine, [whom] I shall not cut off from my altar, [shall be] to consume thy eyes, and to grieve thy heart: and all the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age.

And this [shall be] a sign to thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them.

And I will raise me up a faithful priest, [that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before my Anointed for ever.

And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left in thy house, shall come [and] crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

I Samuel2