Bible Commentaries

1 Samuel 2:1 And 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.

Ver. 1. And Hannah prayed, and said,] i.e., She praised God, and said; for there is not one petition in all this holy hymn: but thanksgiving is a principal part of prayer; it is also an artificial begging.

My heart rejoiceth in the Lord.] Leapeth and danceth levaltoes, danceth a galliard; as did also Mary’s [Luke 1:47] for like cause; and betwixt this song and that of the holy Virgin there is a great likeness, as Peter Martyr rightly observeth.

My horn is exalted in the Lord.] My might and mirth is advanced. A metaphor from horned creatures, or, as some say, from conquerors setting up their crest.

My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies.] Peninnah and her accomplices, over whom now I can crow and triumph, my mouth magnifically praising the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:2 [There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.

Ver. 2. There is none holy as the Lord.] "Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." [Exodus 15:11] This holy God is to be sanctified, [Isaiah 5:16] and praised; [Matthew 6:9] yea, he "will be sanctified in all that draw near unto him." [Leviticus 10:3] The Pope, who arrogateth the title of Holiness, is injurious to God; and was no whit wronged by Philip the Fair of France, who wrote thus to him, Sciat tua maxima fatuitas, &c.: Be it known to your singular Foolishness, &c.

1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not] arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD [is] a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Ver. 3. Talk no more so exceeding proudly.] Heb., Multiply not, speak not loftiness, loftiness. Peninnah, that odious woman, had vexed and troubled holy Hannah both in her prayers and meals, with her insolent speeches. Now she is warned to have done, and not to let hard words any more to come out of her mouth, Ne lapides loquantur. See 1:15. And why? for divers good reasons: -

For the Lord is a God of knowledge.] Heb., Of knowledges; and he taketh cognizance of your pride and petulancy. See Malachi 3:13, Matthew 12:17 {See Trapp on "Malachi 3:13"} {See Trapp on "Matthew 12:17"}

And by him actions are weighed,] i.e., Exactly examined, and their ^(a) obliquities discovered and punished. Or, By him enterprises are established viz., if they be to his good liking, else not.

1 Samuel 2:4 The bows of the mighty men [are] broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

Ver. 4. The bows of the mighty men are broken,] i.e., The bows of Peninnah and her children, who did shoot reproachful words at Hannah. Some gather hence that Peninnah bore no more children, but lost those she had, as 1 Samuel 2:5.

They that stumbled.] To the same sense singeth the holy Virgin in Luke 1:46-55

1 Samuel 2:5 [They that were] full have hired out themselves for bread; and [they that were] hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

Ver. 5. And they that were hungry ceased.] Nimirum famelici esse, to be still hungry; they were "filled with good things," as Luke 1:53.

Is waxed feeble.] Weak for prolification; or having luctuosam faecunditatem, as Jerome saith of Laeta, who had born many children, but with this she had buried them.

1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

Ver. 6. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive.] He layeth men for dead, and then reviveth them, as 2 Corinthians 1:9-10. That great apostle was "in death often"; and those ancient confessors cry out, "For thy sake are we killed all the day long." [Romans 8:36] The Hebrews say that Peninnah’s children died all but two, and that those were saved alive by Hannah’s prayer for them, at their mother’s request.

1 Samuel 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

Ver. 7. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich.] De pauperat et ditat: It is he that stoppeth that hole in the bottom of the bag, those secret drains and issues of expense, at which other men’s estates run out. [Haggai 1:6]

He bringeth low, and lifteth up.] Job, for instance; and our Henry VI, in whom it appeared that mortality was but the stage of mutability; for today he was a most potent monarch, tomorrow not the master of a mole hill. How suddenly was Joseph advanced, and David, and Daniel, and Mordecai, and Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, &c.

1 Samuel 2:8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth up 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.

Ver. 8. He raiseth up the poor.] See Psalms 75:6. {See Trapp on "Psalms 75:6"}

To set them among princes.] As he did Agathocles, Marius, Maximinus, Claudius, who, hiding himself for fear of death in a hole, was pulled out by the heels and made emperor. Michael was condemned to death by the Emperor Leo; but before the execution the emperor died, and Michael was chosen in his stead.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s.] He hath hanged it upon nothing; only it hangeth in the midst of the heaven, equally poised with its own weight, and serveth for pillars or foundations to the whole fabric of the universe.

1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

Ver. 9. He will keep the feet of his saints.] This is a lower love and courtesy than to keep their hands. [John 13:5-6] He keepeth them from utter prolapsion, from devoratory evils, as Tertullian speaketh, so as that either they fall not at all, - stumble they may, but they get ground by their stumbling, - or if they fall, they shall arise; for the Lord putteth under his hand. [Psalms 37:24] There is still a supporting grace, below which they cannot possibly fall.

The wicked shall be silent in darkness.] They may fall whither they will or can, for any care God taketh of them: they shall fall and never rise again. [Zephaniah 1:3] They have been silent in darkness, making no moan, neither humbling themselves in their distress; they "cried not when God bound them," [Job 35:12] therefore they shall be silent, sore frightened and astonished at their horrible calamities here, and tortures in hell.

For by strength shall no man prevail.] Or, Obtain his enterprise. Augustine striving against his headstrong corruptions in his own strength, heard a voice saying, In te stas, et non stas. Thou wouldst stand by thyself, and therefore fallest. See thyself weak as water, and run to Christ: rely on him alone; for God "hath laid help on One that is mighty"; he hath given "strength unto his King, and exalted the horn of his Messiah," as it is in the next verse.

1 Samuel 2:10 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 unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Ver. 10. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces.] "As a potter’s vessel." [Psalms 2:9] Turk and Pope, both those Antichrists, shall be served on this sort, saith Peter Martyr.

Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them.] As he did soon after this prophecy upon the Philistines. [1 Samuel 7:10] The mightiest men quake before God, and as the worms when it thundereth, wriggle into their holes.

The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth.] The Lord Christ shall; who is here first of all in Scripture called Messiah, or the Anointed One, of whom David and Solomon were types; and in that sense may also be here understood.

1 Samuel 2:11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.

Ver. 11. And the child did minister unto the Lord.] He did such offices as he was able about the tabernacle; which was the more commendable in young Samuel to be so sedulous, because Eli’s sons were at the same time so corrupt and dissolute. The word here rendered child, is by the Dutch translated Der knaben, the knave; which with them signifieth child or servant; and so it did in old English, not as now, a wicked varlet. And therefore manifest wrong is done to John Wycliffe by Bellarmine and others, because that, disallowing the invocation of saints, he called them servants, knaves, which was then a good word, - not gods, as the Papists made them.

1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli [were] sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

Ver. 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.] So were Jehoshuah the high priest’s sons. [Ezra 10:18] Heroum filii noxae! Their parents, much employed about other things, are oft not so careful of well-breeding their children; and besides, they are apt to abuse their father’s authority and power to a licentious practice. Eli brought up his sons to bring down his house. He might fitly have called them, as Augustus did his lewd daughters, his ulcers or cankers.

They knew not the Lord.] Apprehensively they knew him, but not affectively; they had no lively light, their knowledge was not accompanied with faith and fear of God. [Romans 1:21 Titus 1:16]

1 Samuel 2:13 And the priests’ custom with the people [was, that], when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;

Ver. 13. And the priest’s custom with the people was.] It was their custom, but not their right. Plus valet malum inolitum quam bonum insolitum. Here these priests are accused of sundry foul crimes, as ignorance, theft, sacrilege, luxury, adultery, obstinacy. A wicked priest is the worst creature upon earth. Who are devils, but they which were once angels of light?

1 Samuel 2:14 And he struck [it] into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.

Ver. 14. All that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself.] Whether it were his part appointed him by the law or not. See Leviticus 7:21-22. Commonly a wanton tooth is the harbinger to luxurious wantonness. Gluttony is the gallery that lechery walketh through.

So they did in Shiloh.] In that holy place, which should have struck shame into them, since it was in God’s eye, and to his face, that they committed these abominable villanies.

1 Samuel 2:15 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 sodden flesh of thee, but raw.

Ver. 15. Also before they burnt the fat.] Due to God by the law, [Leviticus 3:3-4; Leviticus 3:9] who well may call for the best of the best; but these liquorish Lurcos would needs be served before him, and be their own carvers. Neither waved they the breast and shoulder before the Lord, in token that they had it of his free gift: but ravenously seized upon whatsoever they liked, and said in effect, We are lords.

Give flesh to roast for the priest.] Boiled meat would not content them. But it ill becometh a servant of the Lord to be a slave to his palate. Christ biddeth his apostles when they come into a house, "eat such things as are set before them," ^(a) if wholesome, though but homely.

1 Samuel 2:16 And [if] any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and [then] take [as much] as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, [Nay]; but thou shalt give [it me] now: and if not, I will take [it] by force.

Ver. 16. Let them not fail to burn the fat presently,] q.d., Let God have his due first; [Leviticus 3:3-4] but these men took no care to serve at the altar, but only to satisfy their gluttony: their gut was their god.

1 Samuel 2:17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.

Ver. 17. Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great.] The greater because they were uncounsellable, ac ne moniti quidem ab ista perversitate desistebant; but became evil examples to God’s people, who might have desired the like of them, that one did once of a bad living preacher - viz., to point him out a nearer way to heaven than that he had taught in his sermons: for he went not that way himself.

For men abhorred the offering of the Lord.] Which yet was a great sin in them so to do, [1 Samuel 2:24] likeas it is in those now-a-days that separate from our churches because of the ill lives of some of our ministers. It is a true saying of a reverend divine, ^(a) The garden may be watered through a wooden gutter; the sun give comfortable light through a sluttish window; the field may be well sowed through a dirty hand; the bell call us to church, though it never enter itself but by the sound; the well may yield excellent water, though it have much mud: so may wicked ministers perform the true service of Christ, &c.

1 Samuel 2:18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, [being] a child, girded with a linen ephod.

Ver. 18. But Samuel ministered before the Lord.] He did some small charges, as setting up lights, laying up vestments, learning music, or the like. See 1 Samuel 2:11.

Girded with a linen ephod.] Theoderet saith, ^(a) that for the excellent grace appearing in him, and the hopes conceived of him, Eli imparted unto him this honour.

1 Samuel 2:19 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.

Ver. 19. His mother made him a little coat.] To wear under his ephod at festival times, saith Pet. Martyr, and so showed her motherly care; and did something toward his maintenance.

1 Samuel 2:20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.

Ver. 20. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife.] In the words of God, as being his high priest: and they took it so, and sped accordingly. [1 Samuel 2:21] Faith is effectual.

For the loan which is lent to the Lord.] This is a periphrasis for Samuel; who being begged of God, was no less the fruit of his parents’ supplications, than of their bodies. The words may be rendered, "For the petition which he asked of the Lord": and these, saith Junius, are not the words of Eli to Elkanah, but of the author concerning Elkanah.

1 Samuel 2:21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

Ver. 21. And the Lord visited Hannah.] In answer to Eli’s prayers for her. The like answer was returned to Dr Sandys’s prayer for his hostess, of whom taking his leave, when he departed the land for fear of Queen Mary, he said, Be of good comfort, ere that one whole year be past, God shall give you a child, a boy. And it came to pass that day twelve months, lacking one day, God gave her a fair son. ^(a)

And bare three sons and two daughters.] She had five for one. So little is there lost by giving to God: he is a liberal paymaster.

1 Samuel 2:22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Ver. 22. Now Eli was very old.] And with it dim sighted, and so could not see so well into the evil manners of his sons; who also haply therefore slighted him the more, because old, and overworn.

And how they lay with the women.] ^(a) That came thither for better purpose: either to be purified, as Leviticus 12:6, or to fast and pray, as Luke 2:37, to perform service to God in an orderly way. The Hebrew hath it, which warfared, or came together by troops, ^(b) as Exodus 38:8, where in the LXX render the sense by the verb νηστευειν, to fast. The sin of these priests, therefore, was "exceeding sinful": for that being of a sacred calling, and wearing white ephods, they should in so sacred a place commit such villany with religious women, such as came in freely and frequently to serve God in the tabernacle: this also they did, though they had wives of their own, as being sick of a pleurisy, {Now rare or Obs.; formerly almost always in sense ‘superabundance, excess’} and like the devil, delighting to sow other men’s grounds. [Matthew 13:25]

1 Samuel 2:23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

Ver. 23. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things?] This was to reprove them, Lenitate patris, non auctoritate pontificis, saith Jerome, i.e., with the lenity of a father, and not with the authority of a magistrate. This was to shave the head, which deserved cutting off, saith another. A weak dose doth but stir bad humours, and anger them, not purge them out: so it fareth with sins. Castigantur a parente Eli, leniter tamen et molli tantum brachio: Chastised these varlets {A person of a low, mean, or knavish disposition; a knave, rogue, rascal.} were by their father, but so lightly, as if he were afraid to hurt them. It is likely he had always marred them with too much indulgence: David’s fault also. Pope Paul III, hearing of the abominable practices of his son Petro Alvigi Farnesis, thought it enough to say, Haec vitia me non commonstratore didicit, He never learned these faults of his father.

For I hear of your evil dealings.] Which Eli should have instanced and aggravated for their terror and shame. A reproof should be soundly set on. Jehoshaphat was to blame with his "Let not the king say so."

1 Samuel 2:24 Nay, my sons; for [it is] no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress.

Ver. 24. Nay, my sons.] Too mild all along. He should have said as Isaiah 57:3-4, "Draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore," &c., ye degenerate brood and sons of Belial, and not of Eli; ye brats of fathomless perdition, &c.

For it is no good report that I hear.] He should have said, It is stark stinking naught that I hear, and woe is me that I yet live to hear it; it had been better that I had died long since, or that you had been buried alive, than thus to live and stink above ground. But he saith only, "I hear ill of you by all the people": as if he went only upon hearsay; and were put on by the people thus to check them.

Ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.] Or, To cry out: to transgress, even to a cry, by their abhorring the sacrifices, - see 1 Samuel 2:17 - which they did, but ought not to have done, - for the evil lives of those profligate priests.

1 Samuel 2:25 If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.

Ver. 25. If one man sin against another.] The magistrate or umpire may compose the difference in such a case, and piece them together again, if they be not implacable, and if their hearts be not bigger than their suits.

But if a man sin against the Lord,] i.e., Directly in things concerning his service, and purposely to offend him. [Leviticus 15:30] Saul killed the priests to be avenged on the Lord, who had set up David.

Who shall intreat for him?] Who shall be his daysman? Quid ergo si iacerdos ipse peccet? &c. What then if the priest himself, whose office is to offer sacrifice, and to intercede for others, fall into foul offences, as Cyprian ^(a) gravely argueth, since the means of atonement is thereby perverted and taken away? I read not in Scripture of a hypocrite’s conversion; and what wonder? for whereas after sin, conversion is left as a means to cure all other sins, what means to recover him who hath converted conversion itself into sin?

Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father.] Who should therefore have thrust them out of the priesthood, as the father of Marcion, a godly bishop, expelled him from the Church for fornication.

Because the Lord would slay them.] God withdrew his grace from them, and gave them up to a hard heart that could not repent, that they might perish in their corruptions. This text then maketh nothing at all for the Novatians, who denied pardon to the penitent. ^(b) These sinners against their own souls perished by their pertinacy, or rather obstinacy in wicked practices.

1 Samuel 2:26 And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.

Ver. 26. And the child Samuel grew on, &c.] The worse Eli’s graceless sons were, the better Samuel was: the more amiable and acceptable both to God and men. Bad company to good people is, or ought to be, as the dirt of oysters, whose mud hath soap in it, and doth rather scour than defile.

And also with men.] This was a great mercy to him, as it was afterwards to David, that "whatsoever he did pleased the people."

1 Samuel 2:27 And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?

Ver. 27. And there came a man of God unto Eli.] This man of God was Samuel, saith Junius: but that is not likely; rather it was Elkanah, as the Hebrews will have it, or some other prophet extraordinarily raised up by God, to show Eli and his sons their ingentia beneficia, flagitia, supplicia. Yet some good divines hold that this prophecy is part of that sent afterwards to Eli by Samuel, [1 Samuel 3:11-14] and here set down by way of anticipation.

Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father?] viz., Of Aaron, of whom thou art descended by Ithamar. This referreth, saith Lyra, to Exodus 4:27, before which time Aaron was a prophet, say the Hebrews, and prophesied in Egypt, reproving the Hebrews for their idolatry there, and that one of his sermons was recorded by Ezekiel. ^(a)

1 Samuel 2:28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel [to be] my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

Ver. 28. And did I choose him? &c., ] q.d., Do ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish folk and unwise Qui exprobrat reposcit: God doth not upbraid any, but only in case of abuse of his benefits, which he accounts a very great indignity. Beneficium postulat officium.

All the offerings made by fire.] A very liberal and an honourable maintenance. [Leviticus 6:17 Deuteronomy 18:1]

1 Samuel 2:29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded [in my] habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

Ver. 29. Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice?] i.e., Why slight ye, and, as headstrong horses, ^(a) trample under foot my holy ordinances?

“ Quae tibi pro vili, sub pedibusque iacent? ”

And honourest thy sons above me.] Choosing rather to gratify them than to glorify me, by abdicating them from the priesthood. But it may be Eli feared lest the high priesthood should by this means go from his family, as it had before from Eleazar’s for like misdemeanour, which also afterwards befell him, and he by seeking to prevent it, hastened it.

To make yourselves fat with the chiefest.] Whereby you intrench upon God’s part. And because Eli himself ate part thereof, he is also blamed: or rather because he suffered these disorders. Of Claudius, Emperor, it was said, Non faciendo malus, sed patiendo, fuit. And of Edward the Confessor, that, by Earl Godwin’s insolencies, though a good man, yet, not by doing, but enduring ill, he was held to be a bad prince. ^(b)

1 Samuel 2:30 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 honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Ver. 30. I said indeed.] Not as if God did at any time say and unsay: but many of his sayings are conditional, sc., if men reciprocate, if they prove faithful in the covenant.

For them that honour me I will honour.] This is a bargain of God’s own making; you may bind upon it.

And they that despise me.] God’s visitation is like a checker board, black and white.

1 Samuel 2:31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.

Ver. 31. I will cut off thine arm,] e.g., The ability and dignity of thy family. See Zechariah 11:17. {See Trapp on "Zechariah 11:17"}

There shall not be an old man in thine house,] Because, being an old man, thou hast no better quitted thyself in thy place and station, This was not executed for many years after, that it might be considered, and course taken to prevent it. God therefore threateneth, that he may not be put to punish.

1 Samuel 2:32 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 thine house for ever.

Ver. 32. And thou shalt see an enemy,] i.e., A rival, another high priest, viz., Zadok, set up by Solomon. [1 Kings 1:26-27] "Thou shalt see it"; i.e., thy posterity shall, to their grief and regret:

In all the wealth.] In the time of Solomon’s most flourishing reign, the most gallant of that kingdom.

1 Samuel 2:33 And the man of thine, [whom] I shall not cut off from mine altar, [shall be] to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.

Ver. 33. Shall be to consume thine eyes.] Should be so; couldst thou live so long, thou wouldst even weep thyself blind, and thy heart would fall asunder like drops of water.

1 Samuel 2:34 And this [shall be] a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.

Ver. 35. And this shall be a sign.] One part of the threatening fulfilled shall ascertain the truth of the rest. See Zephaniah 3:5.

1 Samuel 2:35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, [that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.

Ver. 35. And I will build him a sure house,] i.e., Bless him with children, and settle the office firm upon them.

1 Samuel 2:36 And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left in thine 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 priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

Ver. 36. Shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver.] As Abiathar did, that officiperda, when banished to Anathoth, where he had not a maintenance. [1 Kings 2:26] Let those that would shun poverty, and prevent it in posterity, take heed of snatching from others, and of pampering their paunches.

That I may eat.] We preach the gospel, saith an ingenuous Papist, tantum ut nos pascat et vestiat, for this end only, that we may pick a living out of it. So do too many amongst us.