Her story, told honestly
Hannah
Hannah is the barren woman whose bitter tears and whispered vow God answered with a son, Samuel. Her song of praise soars with the same themes Mary would later sing in the Magnificat.
“For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:”1 Samuel 1:27
Her story
Her story. Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah, and "the LORD had shut up her womb" (1 Samuel 1:5). Her rival Peninnah had children and provoked her sorely, year after year, until Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband loved her, but his love could not fill the ache. At the tabernacle in Shiloh she prayed in "bitterness of soul," weeping and vowing that if the LORD would give her a son, she would give him to the LORD all his days (1 Samuel 1:10-11). She prayed so intently, only her lips moving, that Eli the priest thought she was drunk. When he learned her grief, he blessed her, and she went away no longer sad. In time "the LORD remembered her," and she bore a son and named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked him of the LORD" (1 Samuel 1:20). When he was weaned she brought him to Eli and gave him to the LORD's service, keeping her vow though it cost her the child she had longed for. Then she prayed a great song of praise: "My heart rejoiceth in the LORD . . . there is none holy as the LORD" (1 Samuel 2:1-2). Each year she brought Samuel a little coat, and God gave her more children.
What her life shows
What her life shows. Hannah's life shows honest prayer wrung from real anguish, and a God who hears it. She did not hide her grief or pretend; she poured out her bitterness of soul before the LORD, and Scripture holds her up as a model of heartfelt, believing prayer. Her life shows the pain of longing and provocation, and the peace that comes not when the answer arrives but when the burden is truly cast on God, for she went away and was no longer sad before Samuel was ever conceived. It shows costly faithfulness: having received the son she begged for, she gave him back, keeping a vow that must have torn her heart. Her worship in that surrender is striking; her song is not clutching but rejoicing. Her life shows that God lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry, that He is the God who reverses the world's order, raising the poor from the dust to set them among princes (1 Samuel 2:8). She reminds us that our deepest sorrows can become the birthplace of our deepest worship.
Where it points to Christ
Where it points to Christ. Hannah's song rings with the gospel: "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength . . . He raiseth up the poor out of the dust" (1 Samuel 2:4-8). When Mary learned she would bear the Christ, her Magnificat echoed these very notes: God scattering the proud, putting down the mighty, exalting the lowly, filling the hungry (Luke 1:46-55). Hannah's praise for a God who reverses human fortunes anticipates the greater reversal accomplished in Christ, who came that the humble might be exalted and the exalted humbled. Her song even ends looking beyond itself: "he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed" (1 Samuel 2:10), a hope for a coming anointed King, the Messiah. And the son she surrendered, Samuel, would grow to anoint David, from whose line the true and eternal King would come. Hannah's answered prayer sets in motion the story that leads to Christ.
Questions people ask
What did Hannah pray for?
Hannah, who was barren and provoked by her husband's other wife, prayed at Shiloh in bitterness of soul for a son, vowing to give him to the LORD's service if God would grant her request (1 Samuel 1:10-11). The LORD remembered her, and she bore Samuel.
How does Hannah's song relate to Mary's Magnificat?
Hannah's prayer of praise in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 celebrates a God who humbles the proud and lifts the lowly, fills the hungry and raises the poor. Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 sounds the same themes, showing how Hannah's worship anticipates the reversal accomplished in Christ.
Why did Hannah give Samuel away?
She had vowed that a son granted to her would be devoted to the LORD all his life (1 Samuel 1:11). When Samuel was weaned she kept her vow and brought him to serve at the tabernacle, a costly act of faith. God later blessed her with more children (1 Samuel 2:21).