The last word of the song of Hannah is the first mention of the Lord's Anointed, Messiah, Christ.

1. Her language was a direct prediction of the appointment of a theocratic king, for which Samuel prepared the way, and which, under Divine direction, he was the chief agent in effecting.

2. It was an indirect prediction of One who had been long expected (Genesis 3:14, 15; Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 22:17, 18; Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17-19; Deuteronomy 18:15-19), and in whom the idea of such a king would be completely realised.

3. It marks the dawn of a splendid series of prophecies founded on the reign of David, and ever brightening to the perfect day (2 Samuel 7; 2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 2; Psalm 110; Isaiah 9:9; Daniel 9:25; Micah 5:1; Malachi 4:2. Fairbairn, 'Typology,' 1:111; Pye Smith, 'Script. Test.,' 1:169). Consider -

I. HIS REGAL OFFICE. Its general purpose was -

1. To unite a divided people (Genesis 49:10). Nothing was more needed in the days of the judges.

2. To save them from their enemies. "Thy salvation" (1 Samuel 2:1; Psalm 18:50; Psalm 95:1; Matthew 1:21).

3. To rule over them, judge them in righteousness, and establish among them order peace, and happiness. "The regal office of our Saviour consisteth partly in the ruling, protecting, and rewarding of his people; partly in the coercing, condemning, and destroying of his enemies" (Pearson 'on the Creed,' Art. 2.). It was the fatal mistake of Israel in all ages to look for an outward, worldly, and imposing, rather than an inward, moral, and spiritual fulfilment of this purpose. The same mistake has, to some extent, pervaded Christendom. "My kingdom is not of this world." "The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself have founded empires. But upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love; and at this moment millions would die for him" ('Table Talk and Opinions of Napoleon Buonaparte').

II. HIS DIVINE APPOINTMENT. "His King." "His Anointed" (Psalm 2:6; Psalm 18:50).

1. The choice was of God. "Chosen out of the people" (Psalm 89:19). Even Saul, a man after the people's heart rather than after God's heart, was selected and appointed by him. The invisible King of Israel did not relinquish his authority.

2. Founded on personal eminence. David. The ancient Persians believed that their ruler was an incarnation of the eternal light, the object of their worship, and therefore rendered him Divine honour. This was a reality in Christ.

3. Confirmed and manifested by the anointing of his Spirit (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 16:13; 2 Samuel 2:4); the outward act being a symbol of the inward endowment (Matthew 3:16; Luke 4:18). "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him" (John 3:34; Hebrews 1:9).

III. HIS GLORIOUS EXALTATION.

1. After a state of humiliation; implied in the language here used; also indicated in ver. 8; and typified by the lowly origin of David and his course to the throne.

2. By the right hand of God. "He will give strength;" "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18); exhibited in his resurrection, ascension, and possession of supreme honour, authority, and power.

3. To a kingdom universal and eternal. "The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth" (Psalm 2:8; Psalm 72:2-5; Psalm 132:18; Luke 1:31-33, 69). Whilst Jesus lives and reigns in heaven, he also lives and reigns on earth. He does so by the continued and ever increasing power of his example and teachings, his wondrous life, and still more wondrous death. The truths and principles which he declared and embodied are, at this moment, accepted by the loftiest intellects, the purest consciences, and the tenderest hearts amongst men. Who now reverses a single judgment which he pronounced upon men or things? Who can conceive any character more worthy of reverence and affection than his? The lapse of time has only served to invest his words and character with fresh interest and power. Other kings and conquerors are fading away amidst the shadows of the past; but he is ever rising before the view of mankind more distinctly, and living in their thoughts, their consciences, and their hearts more mightily. Yea, more, he lives and reigns on earth by his Divine presence, his providential working, and the power of his Spirit. Just as the sun, shining in mid-heaven, sheds down his rays upon the earth; so Christ, the Sun of righteousness (though no longer seen by mortal eye), pours down the beams of his influence upon us continually, and rules over all things for the complete establishment of his kingdom. - D.

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Modern criticism has decided, to its own satisfaction, that the noble hymn here attributed to Hannah, cannot possibly have been uttered by her lips as a thanksgiving for the birth of Samuel. It breaks the obvious connexion of the narrative: its real theme is the rout of the nation's enemies, and the triumph of the national armies: above all, the concluding words, which speak of Jehovah's King, and pray that He may exalt the horn of His anointed, unmistakably stamp it as a product of the regal period, when the kingdom was already established. Some critics, of no mean reputation, go so far as to name David as the true author, and assign the slaughter of Goliath, and subsequent defeat of the Philistines, as the real occasion. Let us examine the hymn in detail. It is called a prayer; yet, with the exception of the concluding words, which should be rendered as a petition, it is wholly occupied with praise and thanksgiving. Prayer is not limited to supplication. It embraces all address of the human soul to the Most High: it includes all forms of worship. Praise and thanksgiving are true and necessary parts of prayer. And what are the thoughts which fill Hannah's heart, and will not be repressed? A deep and holy joy for the salvation which Jehovah has wrought for her. Her reproach of barrenness is taken away. She is now a mother in Israel: and mother of what a child! She is exultant; yet in the midst of triumph there is no vindictiveness, no uncharitable recollection of the taunts and unkindness which she had had to endure. Her heart is full, not of herself, but of God. He alone is holy: He alone is self-existent: He alone is the Rock of Israel, secure, unchanging, faithful in His covenant. From contemplating the character of Jehovah she passes to a survey of His dealings with men. In her own individual experience she sees an illustration of the laws which regulate the Divine economy. The most casual observer cannot fail to notice sudden vicissitudes of fortune in the lives of individuals and the history of nations. Whence these sharp contrasts? It is Jehovah who is "the God of life and death and all things thereto pertaining"; poverty and wealth, promotion and degradation, proceed from Him. The vicissitudes of humanity are not fortuitous; Jehovah created the world; Jehovah sustains the world; Jehovah governs the world and all that is therein in righteousness. He defends His saints: He silences the wicked: and who can resist His will? "By strength shall no man prevail." Her prophetic vision grows clearer as she proceeds. We are now in a better position to estimate the worth of the hostile criticisms.

I. Can it be seriously maintained for a moment that this hymn interrupts the narrative and is obviously out of place? What could be more natural than that Hannah should join in her husband's worship, and pour out her full heart in the energy of a prophetic inspiration? What place could be more fitting for this than the tabernacle where Jehovah had fixed His visible dwelling place? What moment more appropriate than that of which she restored to Jehovah the gift she had received from His hands for His service?

II. Nor, secondly, can we agree with the assertion that the tone and contents of the hymn mark it to be an old war song, a thanksgiving for victory over enemies. There is no direct mention of an Israelite victory: the defeat of the mighty warriors is but an incidental illustration: it is but one of the contrasts introduced to show how Jehovah's government is exercised in the world.

III. The third objection is at first sight more forcible. The mention of a king might seem to argue a later date. But even this difficulty is only superficial. Why should not Hannah have spoken of a king, the anointed of Jehovah? The promises made to Abraham pointed to the eventual establishment of a kingdom for the chosen people. "I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." "I will bless Sarah, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." And at this period the desire for a king was manifestly stirring in the national mind. Already the men of Israel bad proposed a hereditary monarchy when they said to Gideon, "Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son;" and though he refused, saying, "The Lord shall rule over you," it must have been felt that the establishment of a monarchy could not be far distant. A monarchy, indeed, was not the ideal form of government for the chosen people. In demanding it they were actuated by unbelief and mistrust of Jehovah, and therefore it was displeasing to Him, for it was a "rejection of Him." Yet it bore its part in the preparation for Messiah's coming; it was incorporated as an element in the evolution of the divine purposes. And why should not Hannah be inspired with a prophetic foresight to see that at length the king was inevitable, and to pray that Jehovah would make his rule effectual? The review of the Divine character, and the Divine government of the world is a theme which would most naturally suggest itself to one who felt that she had just experienced a manifestation of those principles in her own case. Let us turn to a consideration of the leading idea of the hymn. The problem of the mysterious and incalculable vicissitudes of fortune is one which has presented itself to all ages. What is the cause of them? It is Φθόνος the Νέμεσις, said the Greek. The Envy of the Gods, drags the over-prosperous down to the abyss of ruin, and smites down the pride of man in middle course. He counted the Gods to be beings of like passions with himself, slaves of jealousy and spitefulness. Some, in the spirit of a truer creed, denied such a degrading hypothesis: and saw Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, dogging the footsteps of the sinner, and exacting from him to the utmost the penalty of his transgression. It is Necessity, answered the ancient Roman, stern, inexorable, heartless Necessity, before whose fiat we must bow, whose decisions we cannot investigate. It is Fortune, laughed the sceptical Horace: "Fortune exulting in her cruel task, And bent on playing out her heartless game." But centuries before Greek or Roman faced the problem, its solution had been revealed to the Hebrew mind. The Hebrew prophetess sees no angry, spiteful deity, jealous of man's prosperity: no stern and pitiless fate: no fickle and capricious Fortune at the helm of the universe; but a personal Ruler, holy, just, omniscient, almighty, governing in truth and righteousness. It was a truth which had an especial value for the Israelite of that age. He had no clear revelation of a future life: and without the knowledge of a future life the mystery of human existence is a thousandfold more perplexing. His faith was often sorely tried, because "he saw the wicked in such prosperity." The unmerited chastisement of righteous men like Job seemed almost like a flaw in the justice of the Almighty: and he had need to brace his moral consciousness by recourse to a confession such as this, declaring in no equivocal terms the universal rule of Jehovah, founded in righteousness and truth. For us the reiteration of this truth is valuable for a widely different reason. The study of second causes, the formation of laws, physical, social, moral, tend to obscure our view of the Great First Cause, and to obliterate our conception of the direct personal control exercised by the ruler of the universe. "Jehovah bringeth low and lifteth up. By strength shall no man prevail." There is a personal and a national lesson in this. We are forced, all of us, some time in our lives, to learn our own impotence, our littleness, our dependence on a power not our own. There is a lesson for nations here too. It is God who lifteth up, it is God who gives national prosperity; the continuance of that prosperity is surely conditional upon the observance of His laws, and those laws will be best observed when the national conscience acknowledges that its prosperity springs ultimately from a higher source than its own genius or industry. Pride and self-confidence have ever been the parents of corruption and degeneracy.

(A. F. Kirkpatrick, D. D.)