02 September 2006

Hannah

Today our Synod commemorates Hannah, mother of Samuel. If Samuel is in many ways a type of our Lord, Hannah prefigures the Mother of God.

Being childless, she prayed to the Lord for a child which she promised she would "loan to the Lord" for all his life. God heard and answered her prayer with the child, Samuel. When she brought him to Eli, the priest, she sang a song that has strong similarities to Mary's Magnificat:

My heart exults in the LORD;
my strength is exalted in the LORD.

There is none holy like the LORD;
There is none besides You;
There is no rock like our God.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

The LORD kills and brings to life;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

He raises the poor from the dust;
He lifts the needy from the ash heap.

Read the whole song in 1 Samuel 2!

As the son of Hannah was "lent to the Lord" so the Son of Mary would be "lent to the Lord" in a much more profound and deep way: Mary's Son returns humanity to the Lord by the Lord taking humanity from her flesh and making it His own and then in that human flesh rendering the complete obedience that all human flesh owed and none else could deliver. It is hard to read Hannah's song and not to see its glorious fulfillment in the Child of the Blessed Theotokos, our Lord Jesus.

For Your servant, Hannah, dear Lord, glory be to You!

1 comment:

Wartburg said...

Pastor Weedon,
Greetings to you my excellent brother in Jesus Christ. For what ever it is worth, I have just counted 56 pictures hanging up in my room here at the Wartburg pertaing to the Life of Samuel (1st Samuel). Yes, his Mom is in 3 of the pictures. I created this last September, October 2005. I went to Staples and bought the background in red color and hooked up a "white board" with all of the color markers to write on as well. First Samuel has been a study of mine for a long time. I called all around for Lutheran Commentaries on this subject but there really was not much out there to purchase. Thanks for the Hannah POST.
S.P.
Your dog is cute.