10: Application and the State of Last Things

            Today, we will be concluding our devotional series on Hannah’s Song (1 Sam. 2:1-10). I hope that this has been very edifying and encouraging as we look at the sovereignty of God over all things—and not only at His sovereignty of itself, but the inherent goodness and mercy of that sovereignty. Join me as we look at some further application of Hannah’s Song.

            The main focus in Hannah’s song is upon God. He was being praised for removing Hannah’s reproach and for being uniquely sovereign. She describes God to such an extent as to maintain His total sovereignty over every possible realm: divinity, holiness, justice, providence, knowledge, power, creation, life and death, life after death, honor, and shame. Even full sovereignty is given to God over the future, including perfect judgement of the whole earth, and the permanent instalment of His Messiah-King. Nothing is left out of God’s absolute sovereignty.

            Firstly, it is significant that Hannah focused on God and not on what she received. In such as attitude, she showed submission to God and stands as a model for other believers to emulate. She is not praising God simply because He blessed her with a child, but because she has come to realize the great splendor of who God is. God did not have to bless her. Rather, He chose to bless her out of His own desire to bless. God can do all things that is in His nature to do; yet, He chose to bless her in a very particular and miraculous way. Hence, and this is a message for all believers, God blesses according to His own character and ways. One of those particular ways pertain to the blessing of His saints. God keeps (or guards) the feet of His saints in His own ways and at His own times. He straightens the path of His saints (all who are in Christ are His saints) so that they can never apostatize and so that they will grow in holiness. The way that this blessing is carried out is not always as we may desire of Him to do in the carnality and limitations of our thinking; yet, because of His sovereignty, He knows (and has) the best means for keeping His saints in the ways of His Son. His blessings come in forms suitable for each person, especially for those who grow in obedience to Him. Like Hannah, all should focus on God as their chief object of affection and not measure God’s blessings on the basis of their own earthly desires.

            Secondly, only God is worthy of worship. He alone is the absolute Rock of salvation: the only God. To Him alone is control over life and death, honor and dishonor, riches and poverty. With His exhaustive knowledge and wisdom, He alone knows how to apply such things in the best possible way. This application includes His care for humanity, especially for those who serve Him. (Remember that God made a way through Christ’s work on the cross for us to become permanently a part of His people, and to increasingly obey Him through the permanent indwelling of His Spirit). In Him is the fulfillment of every need and good desire. Real fulfillment cannot be in anything but God. In this, God is truly God to humanity. He alone is worthy to be praised.

            Significantly, readers can also see in Hannah’s prophecy some direct application of God’s sovereign work, which must, without any possible hindrance, come to pass. Just as God is perfectly sovereign over all things, so is He perfectly sovereign in bringing about the full empowerment and glory of His Messiah King. When Christ returns, believers are assured that He will have His horn (power) exalted over the whole earth in perfect justice and goodness. Evil will be utterly destroyed and the purposes of God (including the blessing of His saints) will be fully realized. Hence, in God, those who follow Him can place their complete trust and hope.

            This same Christ is explicitly referred to in Daniel 7:13-14 as the “Son of Man [who will come] with the clouds of heaven . . . . [to be given] dominion, and glory, and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [will be] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”[1] He is as a rock, cut without hands (not having its origin in creation or from man’s power), who will fill the whole earth with His everlasting dominion (Dan. 2:44-45). John the Baptist even said that God has “given all things into His hand” (John 3:35), and Jesus, “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”[2] Hence, Hannah’s prophecy has shown direct application all over the Bible.

From our study of 1 Samuel 2:1-10, it is possible to summarize the main idea of Hannah’s song. The main idea is that God is uniquely sovereign over all things, working out His good pleasure on the wicked as well as on His saints (keeping them), showing justice and goodness in all of His dealings, even to the return and empowerment of His Messiah King. The final consummation of Hannah’s prophecy is certain and sure. All justice will be carried out, all goodness will be done, and all that God sets out to do will be accomplished. Believers can put their full hope and trust in Him.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

            Before we conclude this series, I believe that it would be good to more closely examine the bigger picture being taught about God’s sovereignty in Hannah’s Song. Sometimes it can really help to put the pieces together.

            Hannah’s Song is filled with stark contrasts that communicate the final dealings with both God’s people (believers in Christ) and the wicked. Some of these may partially manifest themselves in life on earth now, but all will be perfectly consummated when Christ returns. I include some of these contrasts below, which help to paint a vivid picture of what heaven and hell will be like:

1. Verse 1: Believer’s hearts (their whole person) will be exalted in Yahweh (verse 7 also teaches this), paralleling the exaltation of the Messiah in verse 10. By contrast, the wicked will be in a permanent state of humiliation (verse 7).

2. Verse 1: Believers—longing for the final salvation of the Lord—will be given the final word or boast over their enemies, boasting only in God’s power and goodness. By contrast, the wicked will be left with no boast or way to defend themselves, since they rejected God. Verse 9 says that the wicked will forever be silenced in eternal darkness.

3. Verse 2: Believers will have a perfect relationship and safety with the only God, Who is perfectly good and the only source of true safety. By contrast, the wicked will be without the Rock of Salvation, meaning that they will have no protection or safety against the holiness and goodness of God.

4. Verse 4: Our weakness will be strengthened. Our strength will be permanent and never waver. By contrast, the wicked will have all of their power removed (they will become entirely impotent and helpless), with God’s wrath against them forever according to His good and holy judgement (verses 4 and 10).

5. Verse 5: Believers will never hunger again, and the barren will not lack children in the Lord (hunger and barrenness will be done away with). By contrast, the wicked will hunger forever, and women with many children will become weak (as though barren).

6. Verse 6: While we will all die some day, believers will be raised back to life by the God sovereign over all life and death. By contrast, the wicked will die, only to enter eternal torment in the second death (being given new bodies fit for hell, as the New Testament teaches).

7. Verse 7: Believers will be made rich in heavenly riches that neither moth nor rust can destroy or thief steal. By contrast, the wicked will lose all their riches forever.

8. Verse 8: Believers will inherit thrones of honour by the God who sustains all creation. By contrast, the wicked will be brought low (verse 7), losing every honour and position for the lowest possible permanent state of humiliation.

9. Verse 9: God will ensure that all true believers are made holy by guarding their ways and keeping them from apostasy. The result will be perfect holiness. By contrast, in verse 3, every word and action of the wicked will be judged and punished by God according to the fulness that they deserve (which we know is an eternity in the second death). Nothing can be hidden from Him.

10. Verse 10: God will give believers a perfect ruler with perfect power, Who will rule over us forever in truth and love: God Himself through Christ Jesus. By contrast, God will “smash [the wicked] to pieces” as He “thunders” against them in righteous wrath, not coming to them as their Saviour and loving ruler, but as a judge and their unassailable enemy bent on their just destruction and eternal torment.

  In the end, every wrong will be righted, and every good will be rewarded. God will, in His perfect sovereign power and goodness, bring all of creation back to perfect conformity to Himself, and forever banish all wickedness and evil. Everything shall come to pass according to God’s own perfect plan and desires, culminating in us becoming His perfect subjects under the rulership of Christ. All blessing and honour will be ours in Christ, and all of this blessing and honour will be a perfect human reflection of God’s own glory and honour. We will receive all blessing, honour, and glory because of God’s blessing, honour, and glory. Nothing will be of ourselves, but all will be because of God. Therefore, fellow saints, may we look forward to the consummation of all things: both to the destruction of all evil (including all those who persist in rejecting Christ), and to the conformity of all other things to the goodness of God. We have everything to look forward to, and nothing to not. Only, let us live our lives seeking first the Sovereign God above all, and that His will will be made perfectly manifest in every area and facet of our lives. God has given us all that we need towards that end, and He even carefully crafts our lives for us to grow in Him. May we walk in light of His perfect sovereignty, in light of His sufficient resources for our growth in godliness, and therefore pursue His ways in every time and circumstance that He has graciously provided for us. May we also help and encourage one another in this, that we may faithfully run the race of life in Christ. Amen.

[1] King James Version.

[2] King James Version.

9: God's Total Judgement and the Messiah-King

            Today, we will be looking at verse 10 from our passage, 1 Samuel 2:1-10. I will begin with summarizing verses 6-10 and then verse 10. In this devotional, we will learn more about God’s judgement of the earth and the exaltation of the Messiah-King: Jesus.

III. God gives and takes away all life, wealth, honor, and power; declaring those against Him destroyed, those with Him protected, and the Messiah King exalted (verses 6-10).

E.  God judges the earth (smashing His enemies) and exalts His Messiah King (verse 10).

10 “They that contend with Yahweh will be smashed to pieces; He will thunder in the heavens against them; Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth, and He will give power to His King and exalt the horn of His Messiah.”

  In verse 9, God taught that He will ultimately silence the wicked. Here, in verse 10, God further describes that silencing as “smashing” his enemies “to pieces” as He “thunders” against them. Three different ways are used to describe this judgement: (1) “They that contend with Yahweh will be smashed to pieces,” (2) “He will thunder in the heavens against them,” and (3) “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.” Repeating the same thing in three different ways shows the highest level of emphasis, showing that God Himself—with all of His sovereign power—will bring it about. (We see this same sort of emphasis in the Great Commandment—about loving God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength—each of which represent the totality of the inner-man: our whole self repeated three times). The idea is that God will by no means allow for the wicked to go unpunished. God personally set Himself as the One who both (1) sentences and (2) carries out judgement against the wicked; He both knows all things that everyone has ever done, and He has the perfect power to carry out His perfect knowledge in a way that is inherently good. No one can be more qualified and good for that role than Him, since He is perfect in all His being and in all His ways. So, it is with the strongest sense of surety and finality in His judgment, that God will personally smash all the wicked of the earth to pieces in thunderous judgement.

There also appears to be a close place to our passage, using similar language of God’s thundering against the wicked. God’s use of thunder represents His sovereign power, will, and glory. His voice is often described as thunder (such as in Ex. 19:19), so there is a sense in which God “thundering” against His enemies represents His divine will acting against them. 1 Samuel 7:10 says that “the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel” (ESV). God “thundering” against the Philistines resulting in them being subdued. At the time, the Philistines were the biggest threat to Israel, and God came and used His sovereign power to subdue them before Israel, because Israel obeyed Him and called on His name. This is a foreshadowing of what God will do to the whole earth when His Son returns. (God’s voice as “thunder” also contrasts the silenced voices of the wicked in the last verse. When God speaks, it is inherently far greater than any man’s).

Another use of God “smashing” in judgement can be found in Isaiah 30:14. This verse does not have the same underlying Hebrew word, since that construction does not appear again in the Old Testament. Yet, it does convey the same idea, and gives more context for understanding how the idea is being used in Hannah’s song:

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 14 and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” 15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, 16 and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. 17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill (ESV, italics added).

 The idea is that the wicked—those who contend against God, and therefore reject His judgements and commands—are those who will be judged suddenly and absolutely. They will be judged in such a way that they will become suddenly entirely impotent or powerless. Their strength will be shattered in an instant, so that nothing will be left of the power that contends against God.

Many passages and overarching themes in the Bible also teach that God will judge the whole earth. For instance, Revelation 16:18-21 refers to the final judgement of the all the wicked, where He will come in “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder” and they had to drink “the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath” (ESV). This will lead to the fall of Babylon the Great, never to rise again (Rev. 18:21). All the wicked are affected by that judgement, since at that time God would be judging the whole earth and smashing that wicked power to pieces. It is almost immediately afterwards that God gives all power and glory to His Son (Rev. 19). Just as it is written in 1 Samuel 2:8, the saints are also to be given “thrones” and “authority to judge” (Rev. 20:4-6). Likewise, since God judges to the ends of the earth, there is no place for people to hide from His judgement, whether in the depths of the sea, under a mountain, in the heights of the heavens, or in death (see Rev. 6:12-17; 20:11-15; Luke 23:28-31; Ps. 139:7-12). God’s judgement will be complete and total.

It is significant to know that it is with the same level of surety and finality, according to God’s infinite power, that He will give power and glory to the Messiah King over the whole earth. While not always translated, there is an “and” that connects the momentum and power of the judgement with the exaltation of the Messiah. The implication is that the same God with the same perfect power will ensure that the Messiah receives the power that was at once destroyed in the wicked, but through a perfectly exalted way. In other words, the power that the Messiah will receive will not have limitations or restrictions imposed by God through redistribution that was due to human wickedness. Rather, the power meant for redeemed humanity will be perfectly and permanently endued for use for God’s purposes. Power given to redeemed humanity will be perfectly exalted, reflecting the goodness of the Messiah.

In the second half of verse 10, for the first time in the Bible, there is direct reference to a coming Messiah-King. While the idea of God’s salvation through One like Moses and the coming Seed was taught about the Messiah before this passage, and there were “types” of Christ that pointed to Him, this is the first direct reference to the forever-reigning Messiah-King who will be given all power and glory from God when the whole earth is judged (referring to His second coming). Literally, the Son is referred to as “His King” (belonging to God) and “His anointed one” (the “Messiah”). There is a double application regarding the Messiah King. First, it likely applies to David as a type of Christ. He was anointed king by Samuel and became king when Saul died and even had a song that echoed Hannah’s (2 Samuel 22:1-51), but he could only be recognized as the messiah king in a limited sense (God only gave some power and dominion to him over the earth and David’s life precedes the final judgement). Saul was not God’s anointed one because he came as a result of the people of Israel rejecting God as king (1 Sam. 10:19). (Saul was “anointed” in a lesser sense, merely as a temporal king by God). Second, the line of David was the line through which the coming Messiah King would come in the spirit of Moses (2 Sam. 7:11-13; Deut. 18:15-19). Hence, the anointing and blessing of David was only to point towards the coming of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah King, to whom God will give all the power and dominion of the earth forever (Matt. 26:64; see also Ezek. 37:22-25). David was only a shadow of Christ, and the Messiah-King Jesus—in the line of David—was the perfect fulfillment of the Davidic covenant promise of His line ruling Israel forever. It is important to note that the ancient Jews commonly believed that this reference to the Messiah King in 1 Samuel 2:10 was also to the coming Christ, which is also reflected in the LXX’s (Greek Old Testament) rendering of “His Messiah” as “His Christ” (χριστού αυτού).[1] Only Christ will fulfill Hannah’s prophecy in the full sense. Of important note as well is that there are many parallels between Hannah’s song of Christ and Mary’s song of Christ (see Luke 1:46-55). It is as if Mary’s song is meant as a direct allusion to Hannah’s song, declaring in the New Testament that Jesus was the fulfillment of Hannah’s prophecy. Because of all this, one can be certain that Hannah’s prophecy had the Christian Faith in Christ in mind when it was given. Only He can fulfill Hannah’s prophecy.

Next time we will be looking at some closing application of Hannah’s Song.

[1] “Apostolic Bible Polyglot.” Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/apostolic/1_samuel/2.htm.

8: God Controls all Power

            Today, we will be looking at verse 9 from our passage, 1 Samuel 2:1-10. I will begin with summarizing verses 6-10 and then verse 9. May we seek to know the character and power of God.

III. God gives and takes away all life, wealth, honor, and power; declaring those against Him destroyed, those with Him protected, and the Messiah King exalted (verses 6-10).

D.  To God alone is true power, even power to judge evil and preserve His saints (verse 9).

9  “He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked are silenced in darkness, for man does not become strong by power.”

  In verse nine, for God to “keep the feet of His saints” is for God to care for the saints as one would care for his children. He makes sure that their way in life is good, that they grow in wisdom and truth, and that they will not become desolate or turn to evil. The word for “keep,” means literally to guard, preserve, or protect. This is like a loving parent keeping his child from danger. The “feet” represent the ways or paths of the saints, including what they do and the council that they listen to.[1] That is a common meaning of feet in this usage, such as in Psalm 40:2, which says of God, “[He] set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (KJV). So, God’s keeping the feet of His servants refers to God’s sovereign power in directing and preserving His saints. This fits with the theme seen so far of God blessing those obedient to Him. Yet, this is not meant in a way that refers to believers pursuing an esoteric or secret knowledge of God, but in pursuing (1) obedience to God’s Word, employing godly wisdom for the way of life, and (2) trusting in God to sovereignly grow us in holiness. God is the One who makes us “faithful ones” through Christ’s work on the cross, and He promised to “keep [our] feet,” establishing our lives in holiness.

Another way to put this is to say that God’s promises to use His sovereignty to personally orchestrate our lives in order to preserve us as His saints for holiness. This does not mean that we won’t ever stumble into sin, but that God will use everything in our lives to make us holy (like Christ), and that we have the promise of the perseverance of the saints. God divinely ensures that we can never be lost. So, when we look at this prophetically, we can see an OT declaration of God’s preservation of the saints: God’s promises to keep the feet of His faithful ones. This echoes 1 Peter 1:5, which claims that God’s power protects His own in faith unto salvation. While men are weak without God and not able to keep God’s ways, God Himself comes to their aid to ensure that He does not even lose one (John 10:28).

Also, since the keeping of our feet is done in accordance to God’s perfect sovereign power and will, we can know that God personally directs our lives in accordance to His own measures and purposes and not according to human measures and purposes.[2] God is the standard by which He directs and counsels His people. We don’t need to know why or what God is seeking to do in our various circumstances. Rather, we can trust in His absolute sovereignty that He knows exactly what He is doing, and that what He is doing is in perfect accord with His perfectly good character and will. Our part is seeking to be “faithful ones” to all that God desires of us from Scripture, as we trust in God to bring about His holiness in us.

This is contrasted with God’s silencing of the wicked. Rather than God keeping the path of the wicked, He allows them to continue in their evil to be ultimately “silenced” in death.[3] As well, this reference to the wicked being “silenced” refers back to the wicked in verse three, who were multiplying arrogant words against God. He judges and ultimately silences them. Yet, according to John Gill, this may also have a further meaning. Just as God “enlarged” Hannah’s mouth to give a response to her oppressors (boasting in the Lord), so God will prevent the wicked from having any response whatsoever as they are silenced in hell.[4] They will be without excuse and be the ones to bear the weight of their actions. They will ultimately be silenced in the second death and be in silent despair forever.

The reference to man not being able to become strong by power may seem confusing when not taken in its context. In the usage of “כֹּחַ” (literally referring to a kind of reptile), the term always refers to a certain kind of power.[5] It does not refer to power as if it were a detached and abstract thing, but to a certain possession and usage of power. In the context of verse nine, this power refers to both human power, being possessed by that of a man, and to power that is opposed to God. Clearly, if a man was trying to gain power through his own means (as if it were his own inherent power) to dominate everything that is around him, then he is acting in ignorance of the fact that God is the possessor of all power. Hence, it is not by seeking to attain human power that a person becomes powerful. Rather, a person becomes powerful because God gives him that power. Power, then, is nothing intrinsic to man, since all power is given or taken according to God’s designs (not man’s), as God said in Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (ESV). The LXX (Greek Old Testament) also agrees in their rendering: “for not by strength is man able.”[6] So, God is the One who distributes power according to His good pleasure, towards His own good ends. Anyone claiming to have power apart from God is thus speaking as a fool. We can therefore also trust that, although we may not fully understand why He chooses to distribute power as He does, we can trust Him even despite any power given over to the wicked (Lam. 2:17; 3:22-27). God can snuff out their power in an instant, if He wanted to do so. The wicked are completely powerless apart from God. So, can we trust God even in light of the current power or persuasion of the wicked in our day? We certainly can! Everything, even the power of the wicked to oppress, is, so to speak, spoon-fed to His saints for our good and for His glory. The devil has borrowed power that is subject to the purposes of God. What then do we have to fear, apart from our God? God is greater than all, and there is no wicked scheme or device that surprises God. There is no rogue power that is outside of God’s perfect control. This ought to be a great source of comfort for us as His saints. We never need to question whether evil will overcome or thwart God, and we can see even the most hostile enemy as something being spoon-fed to us by a loving Father who promises to keep the feet of His faithful ones; faithful ones whom He guarantees will continue in faithfulness, forever.

Next time we will be looking at verse 10.

[1] F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1906; repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017), 919-920.

 [2] Brown et al., 1036-1037.

 [3] Brown et al., 199.

 [4] “Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible,” Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/1_samuel/2.htm.

 [5] Brown, et al., 470-471.

 [6] “Apostolic Bible Polyglot,” Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/apostolic/1_samuel/2.htm.