Fr Matthew Reese

1 “My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in thy salvation.

2 “There is none holy like the Lord,
there is none besides thee;
there is no rock like our God.

3 “Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.”
—1 Samuel 2:1-3

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today’s Old Testament lesson, from the First Book of Samuel, is the “Song of Hannah” (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Hannah, wife of Elkanah, probably lived about 1100 BC, in a period of transition between the rule of the Judges and the rule of the Kings of Israel. Hannah was the mother of the great prophet Samuel (after whom the two books are written), and she is revered as a prophetess in her own right. 

Even a cursory reading of Hannah’s song will bring to mind the beautiful poetry of Mary’s song, uttered a thousand years later, the Magnificat. Back-to-back in the King James Version, we read:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior” (Luke 1) and, “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn [RSV: “strength”] is exalted in the Lord.” (1 Samuel 2)

Hannah, already married, long childless and thought to be barren, could not be more different from the young maiden Mary in many practical ways. But they both have miraculous pregnancies, unexpected—even shocking—experiences of the Divine, and they both lift their voices aloft to God in praise.

The content of their two songs, the structure, the scriptural context, are all quite varied. And yet there is a deep commonality between the two. Both songs are forward-looking, even eschatological in their vision. They look to an age in which the poor, the lowly, the oppressed, will be exalted by God. Both frame these women’s own, personal experiences of the divine, as having ramifications for the whole story of salvation.

Ten days ago, on Advent III, we meditated at length on the Magnificat. 

Today, as I pray that wonderful text in Evening Prayer, I will also be pondering Hannah’s words: “there is no rock like our God.”

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew