"The God of radical reversals" by Rod Bayley, 31 October 2010, 1 Samuel 2:1-10

[Danny]

In 1715, Louis XIV of France died.. Louis, who called himself “the
Great”, was the king who apparently made the infamous statement, “I am
the state!” He ruled for 72 years at the peak of his country’s royal
wealth. His court was the most magnificent in Europe, with the
nobility commanded to wait upon him at the palace he built to convey
his majesty - Versailles. He was surrounded by attendants when he
approached death, and as you’d expect, when he died his funeral at
Saint Denis Cathedral was spectacular. His body lay in a golden
coffin. To dramatize the deceased king’s greatness, orders had been
given that the cathedral should be very dimly lit, with only one
special candle set above his coffin. Thousands waited in hushed
silence at the funeral service to hear what would be said about Louis
‘the Great.’ Then Bishop Massilon began to speak, as he stood by
Louis’ coffin. Slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the candle and
said, “Only God is great!”

The books of Samuel describe the often sorry history of the power
struggles within Israel as Saul and David battled for supremacy, only
to demonstrate in the end that God is sovereign and that He will rule
His people, just as He does the whole world. However, the story
begins in chapters 1 and 2, with a reflection on power and
powerlessness, and on God’s attitude to human views of status, as we
read the account of the birth of Samuel and Hannah’s prayer of
thanksgiving. The story is presented through the life, and via the
lips in chapter 2, of an apparently insignificant woman, who initially
lacks self-worth and feels completely powerless. However, as God
answers her prayer, she learns that Yahweh is the God of radical
reversals.

In a culture where children were seen as a blessing from God and to be
without them was to be cursed, Hannah was made to feel insignificant.
She threw herself on God’s provision in prayer, in a humble
acknowledgment that God alone is sovereign and can overcome all
things. In verses 21 to 28 of chapter 1, we saw last week that Hannah
fulfilled her vow to the LORD, and that once she had taken Samuel to
Shiloh the separation was permanent. The fulfilling of her promise,
as emotional as this separation would have been with a young boy
probably three years old, evokes a prayer of praise and thanksgiving
from Hannah in the first section of chapter two. What we’ll see as we
consider the passage, is that the words go beyond Hannah’s personal
experience, and effectively address Israel, and all people.

That brings us to point one on your outline: ‘Powerless Hannah exalts
her powerful God.’ Notice again what is recorded in verses 1 to 3:
“Then Hannah prayed and said: ‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the
Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I
delight in your deliverance. 2There is no-one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. 3Do not
keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for
the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.”
It was not unusual to bring a special offering of praise to God at
times of particular rejoicing. Most of us have experienced that sense
of bubbling over with gratitude to God, but how many times do we
experience the joy and then move on without stopping to reflect on
what has been going on in the way that Hannah does here? Notice that
she begins in verse 1 by stating that her “horn” which is a symbol of
strength, has been lifted high. It is God who has strengthened and
lifted her up, and it’s through Him and in Him that she boasts. The
word translated ‘boasts’ in verse 1 is literally “enlarged over” which
is a picture of defeat for one’s enemy by swallowing them (cf Ps.
35:21, 25). In the context of chapter one, Penninah was her enemy, as
one who taunted her and made her life miserable. But this is a
theological introduction to two books that focus on leadership, the
rise of the kingship in Israel, and so the language goes beyond their
personal stoush, as the words ‘enemies’ and ‘deliverance’ make clear.
This prayer is both personal, and prophetic about larger issues in the
life of Israel which has been routinely oppressed by surrounding pagan
nations for years since the death of Joshua.

In verse 2 she acknowledges that the Lord, or Yahweh is unique, He is
the true strength or Rock. The basis of her joy, of her faith and
understanding, is God’s character. God is likened to a rock as he
provides the strength and security needed by Hannah, and also Israel
in this time of turmoil without clear leadership. And of course, out
of her turmoil, Hannah’s gift of her son Samuel was going to make a
real difference to the life of the people of Israel. This picture of
God as a Rock is also found in the Song of Moses in Exodus 15 (or Deut.
32), and it’s taken up by several of Israel’s psalmists (18, 61, 89,
94, 95) and prophets (Is.17:10, 26:4), including David in his song
which is recorded at the end of 2 Samuel (22:32). It is thought that
all these writers might have been reminded by the event in Exodus 17
when water to refresh the thirsty and dissatisfied Israelites flowed
out from the rock in the desert. Whether that is the source of this
repeated use of the rock metaphor, the point here is that the focus of
our joy should be in God himself, not simply our experience of His
blessing.

The application of this first section of Hannah’s prayer is given for
us in verse 3: avoid proud talk because God knows and judges our
deeds. In the presence of Yahweh, the unique, the holy one, the Rock
of verse 2, all human arrogance is totally misplaced, and even
dangerous. God’s character is further described in verse 3 as the One
who knows. More than his knowledge, God also “weighs” up our deeds.
The words ‘weighs’ relates to judgment here, and also to ‘balancing
out.’ That is, God knows the ups and downs of our lives, he knows
when we are experiencing grief and frustration like Hannah, but He is
in control and can reverse the situation. But here in verse 3, there
is again the personal and the prophetic. Prophetically, although
Israel is oppressed by the Philistines and others at times, who boast
of their power, all such arrogant talk is empty. God knows and he
weighs up, and it is He, the Rock, that determines things, not weak
people. Personally, Penninah with her many children should not have
spoken arrogantly, taunting Hannah the barren first wife. God was
aware of the situation and was about to bring change - Hannah wasn’t
the born loser and Penninah the victor. We can’t speak proudly as if
we determine things, because God does the determining. Humble
dependence is what leads to joy. In James 4:13-16, which we looked at
in term 2, we read:

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or
that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’
14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your
life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then
vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we
will live and do this or that.’ 16As it is, you boast and brag. All
such boasting is evil.”

Proud, arrogant boastful talk is the mark of the world, not the mark
of a Christian.

This brings us to point two on your outline: ‘Radical reversals.’
Notice again what is recorded in verses 4 to 7:
“The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed
with strength. 5Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but
those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne
seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. 6The Lord
brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises
up. 7The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.”

In the second section of her prayer, we have a reflection on the
radical reversals that can occur in life. Hannah is quite clear that
these reversals come from God, so that in the end human status is
determined by God. Over and over in these verses, the lowly are
lifted up, and the powerful are brought low. Reversals of fortune may
be suffered or enjoyed by the warrior and the weak, the well-fed and
the hungry, the rich and the poor, the fertile and the barren. We are
told in verse 21 of this chapter that Hannah had another five children
after Samuel, but even after the birth of one she felt as if she had
reached the ideal, which was represented by 7, a number of
completeness.

Verse 6 is perhaps the most surprising reversal, as it envisages the
Lord bringing people back to life from the realm of the dead. Sheol,
the abode of the dead, often translated as the ‘grave’ in our English
bibles, is depicted at times as a huge underground cave (Dt.32:22; Ps.
88:3-6). The Lord can even deliver from death, whether metaphorically
or literally.

It was ten past midnight in Chile. The scene was the Atacama Desert, a
place so desolate and devoid of life that it is used to acclimatize
astronauts before space missions. The first miner appeared safely
above ground on the 13th October, after 69 days trapped in the bowels
of the earth. The mining accident occurred on 5 August 2010, when
part of the San José copper-gold mine in northern Chile collapsed,
leaving 33 men trapped 700 metres below ground. But in an amazing
reversal, when many expected their cave to be their grave, all 33 were
rescued and brought to the surface. After the last trapped miner was
winched to the surface, the rescue workers held up a sign stating
"Mission accomplished Chile" to the estimated more than 1 billion
people watching the rescue on live television around the world.
They’ve gone from dead men, to celebrities, being offered interview
and book deals - what a radical reversal.

Of course, God determined this. You didn’t hear much of that talk in
the Beaconsfield mine rescue in Australia in 2006, but in a strongly
Catholic nation like Chile, God was credited with the reversal. When
44-year-old Esteban Rojas stepped out of the rescue capsule, he
dropped to his knees in prayer. The youngest miner, 19-year-old Jimmy
Sanchez, wrote in a message that there were really 34, not 33, people
in the mine, "because God has never left us down here." Likewise,
Chileans as a whole are embracing the mine rescue as a miracle from
God. Before the rescue began, Chilean president Sebastian Pinera said,
"When the first miner emerges safe and sound, I hope all the bells of
all the churches of Chile ring out forcefully, with joy and hope.
Faith has moved mountains." As one story in the Daily Mail put it "A
deep religious faith powered this rescue; miners and families and
rescuers alike believe their prayers were answered.” Both government
representatives and the Chilean public have repeatedly credited Divine
Providence with keeping the miners alive.

In verse 8, the reason why God is able to bring about such reversals
is given: “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them
he has set the world.” The word “foundations” is literally ‘pillars’,
and so creation is expressed with this metaphor, as if the world is
sitting on some columns. The point is that God is the all-powerful
Creator, and so is also sovereign over all of His creation. He
controls everything that happens, determines the rise and fall of
every individual, and every nation. And His role as Creator is being
used here to validate his concern for the downcast. Since he made all
things, he is concerned for the least, just as much as the greatest,
and is able to reverse the two.

All this, along with Hannah’s own example, should confront us and
reassure with the application that God can do radical reversals in our
own lives. The kind of jostling for position and wrestling for status
that forms such a major part of human relationships is really a waste
of time. God is on the throne, and the future is in His hands.
Hannah reassures us of the power of God and the arrogance of humans
who are essentially powerless. She was very much aware of her own
weakness, but nevertheless saw herself as empowered by God. Her
message is also confronting - one that future kings needed to hear and
take note of also. It is a message that should be noted today by any
person or nation, or church, particularly where the tendency has taken
hold to overestimate human powers, and to underestimate the need for
humble dependence on God. God is a God who turns things upside down.
What really counts is not position or status or power, but faith in
Him. In James 1:9-10,we read: “The brother in humble circumstances
ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich
should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like
a wild flower.” Money is usually the thing that brings power or
status today. What we are to learn from James and Hannah is that this
is passing, and even if there is no reversal of our difficult
circumstances on earth, we await the judgment day when we will receive
the crown of eternal life.

This brings us to the third and final point: ‘God the judge and His
promised king.’ Look again at what is recorded in verses 9 and 10:
“He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced
in darkness. ‘It is not by strength that one prevails; 10those who
oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from
heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. ‘He will give
strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Human pride and power amounts to nothing, because true power lies only
with God. This is the summary in verses 9 to 10 where an element of
judgment enters. Only God’s people are assured of their outcome,
because as we saw in verse 3, it is God who knows us and who weighs a
person’s deeds. His people will prevail and stand firm, those who
depend on His strength and not their own. But the wicked, those who
oppose the Lord, will be silenced and shattered.

And notice that the metaphor of the horn from verse 1, which stands
for strength, has returned to close out this prayer in verse 10. Here
we have the promise of an anointed king, who the Lord will
strengthen. I say promised king because no king yet existed. Here
more than anywhere, Hannah’s prayer moves from the personal to the
prophetic. Of course she is connected with perhaps a growing desire
among the people for a king, and her son Samuel will be the king-
maker. Samuel will be the one who anoints both Saul and David. And
so this prayer of thanksgiving looks beyond the birth of Samuel, to a
coming king, and as God’s plan of redemption unfolds, it ultimately
looks forward to Christ the king. David, would be promised in 2
Samuel 7 that an eternal king would come from his family line, and in
time Christ came.

Here is the application for us, as there are parallels between
Samuel’s birth and Christ’s birth - both long awaited, both from
insignificant families, both set to be leaders of God’s people. Of
course the parallels end with a major difference - Jesus was the
divine Son of God. But nonetheless, Christ’s mother Mary used
Hannah’s prayer as the basis for her prayer or psalm of praise in Luke
1 (46-55). Mary said in part: “He has brought down rulers from their
thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with
good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his
servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55to Abraham and his
descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” Samuel would be
a great leader of Israel, the last Judge to rule Israel, but also a
priest and prophet, and the person who would anoint their first two
kings. Every prophet, priest or king in the OT is a foreshadowing of
the Messianic king who was to come. David would soon enter the scene
and be the most ideal foreshadowing of Christ, but ultimately Hannah’s
prophecy finds fulfilment in Jesus and his complete triumph over the
enemies of God. And like Samuel’s humble yet miraculous birth, Christ
would come as a weak baby to an unimportant woman. Of course,
uniquely, Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and uniquely he
would die for the sin of all people. And despite his apparent defeat
in death, he would experience the radical reversal of resurrection and
exaltation to the Father’s right hand. As Paul writes in Philippians
2:10-11, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven
and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Well, where do you stand in relation to Jesus tonight? I think
sometimes we struggle to grasp how radical God is, thinking we’re at
the bottom of a pit and that God couldn’t save us, or that we are
undeserving of God’s love and grace. But the truth is we’re all
undeserving, and yet no-one is beyond God’s reach. If you will trust
in God’s eternal king, Jesus, who paid for your sin, then you will see
the greatest reversal in the universe - unimportant sinners who love
God will be co-heirs and rulers with their brother and Saviour, Jesus
Christ, in heaven.

Returning to the mine rescue in Chile, when the miners came up one-at-
a-time in that capsule - most were wearing special yellow T-shirts.
These had been created by the Chilean branch of Campus Crusade for
Christ. Emblazoned boldly across the front of the T-shirts were the
words, in Spanish, "Thank you, Lord." And a quotation on the back of
the shirts was from Psalm 95:4: "In His hands are the depths of the
earth, the heights of the mountains are His also." Rev. Aldredo
Cooper, the chaplain to the President of Chile, said of the rescued
miners, "They're all wanting to testify to the Lord Jesus Christ. All
33 of them are saying that they found God in the mine. Five or six
were already Christians and held services down in the mine. But many
went down with no faith at all but they all say this: 'We were not 33;
we were 34 because Jesus Christ was with us down there." One miner,
Mario Sepulveda, told reporters, "I have been with God and I've been
with the devil. I seized the hand of God." Do you know that a medic
was actually sent down the rescue hole before the other miners could
be brought up. Isn't that a picture of what God did? He sent His Son
down to us before we could be rescued. We all, like the miners, were
in darkness. But, as Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who
follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of
life" (John 8:12). Where do you stand with Jesus, Hannah’s promised
King?