BibleProject - Hannah’s Poem and Power Reversals – Firstborn E6

Episode Date: February 6, 2023

Hannah was an oppressed woman, scorned by her husband’s rival wife because of her barrenness. But the way she prayed and trusted Yahweh through this hardship became a remarkable example of how God works through the lowly to subvert human notions of power and status. In this episode, join Tim and Jon as they trace the theme of the firstborn in the scroll of Samuel.View full show notes from this episode →Timestamps Part one (00:00-9:59)Part two (09:59-27:27)Part three (27:27-46:11)Part four (46:11-1:03:54)Referenced ResourcesInterested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.You can experience the literary themes and movements we’re tracing on the podcast in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.Show Music “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTS"Downhill" by Leavv"The Birds Will Leave Soon" by fantompower"Shakshuka" by Philanthrope & mommyShow produced by Cooper Peltz with Associate Producer Lindsey Ponder. Edited by Dan Gummel, Tyler Bailey, and Frank Garza. Podcast annotations for the BibleProject app by Hannah Woo.Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

We've been tracing the theme of the first born in the storyline of the Bible. It's a theme about power. It's a theme about how God chooses to work with the least likely people. In today's episode, we'll continue this theme in the scroll of Samuel, where we'll find two rival wives. They're not siblings, but they're pitted against each other in a very similar way.

And we'll focus in on Hannah. She's the favored wife of her husband, but she's unable to have a child. And so she makes a promise to God. If God bless her with the sun, she will give her firstborn son back to serve God. Now this should remind us of Abraham, and how God asked of Abraham to surrender his first born son Isaac as a test. And in the story of Hannah, she's promising to pass the test, even before God gives her Abraham to surrender his firstborn son Isaac as a test. And in the story of Hannah, she's promising to pass the test even before God gives her

a son. The twist here is God had to force the surrender of Abraham's son Isaac. Here she's so amazing. She could respond a lot of ways here. When what she immediately does is she goes to the tent and she surrenders. Her life, her future, her fortunes, and says, even if you give me a son, I will surrender him to you. So she's like Abraham when he finally passed the test.

God gives Hannah a child. She sings a poem in celebration, a poem about how God loves to choose the lowly. Then as promised, Hannah gives Samuel over to work in the tabernacle. But it turns out that the priest in charge, Eli, he's been turning a blind eye to his corrupt sons. No, here, the story of this oppressed woman in paint and the story of this enfranchised, but lazy and self-indulgent priest in his sons. They live out exactly the inversion that Handus poem talks about,

but it's also really at the heart of God's desire to exalt the humble and to bring down the high and mighty, and that's how Yahweh establishes the pillars of the order of the world. It's such a powerful thing to meditate on. The downfall of Eli and his sons is a tragic story, because they're from the tribe of Levi, who are an early example of God raising up a group of people who are the lake comers and giving them power and responsibility. The story of Eli and his sons shows us that when God chooses people, he still gives them

a choice. And this is a real tension that weaves throughout the biblical story of Yahweh giving genuine agency to his partners. And when they really blow it, man, you can really, really blow it. And Yahweh will hand people over to the consequences. Yet at the same time, Yahweh won't withdraw his long-term covenant promises and purposes, but people can't exclude themselves from participating in the fulfillment of those purposes. Today Tim Mackey and I talk about Israel's priests, the boldness of Hannah,

and the raising up of Samuel to serve as a priest and judge over Israel. I'm John Collins and you're listening to Bible Project Podcast. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. Hey Tim. Hey John. Hi. Here we are.

You're on our thing. Doing our thing, which the thing now, right now, in this moment, is a theme we're calling the firstborn. Yes. Though as we've explored it, it's broader than just stories about firstborn sons. But the core theme is about the persistent pattern that God has in choosing, favoring, blessing, somebody who doesn't seem to deserve it and elevating them to a place of prominence, leadership, or it's often called the status or the right

of the first born. For example, all of humanity. That's exactly right. The first born of creation, in that sense, we'll actually know. Not the first born. The later born, the last born. The last born, forgive me, the last born of creation in the seven day narrative of Genesis one. lastborn, forgive me, the lastborn of creation in the seven day narrative of Genesis 1.

And dirt creatures who God says you're going to rule the skies and the land. Well, rule the land, and the sea, and the creatures up in the sky. And the creatures in the sea and that the Elohim, the host of heaven, they were created first and they seem a little bit more important. Yeah, certainly more glorious. More glorious, more powerful. Yep. So that theme continues, as then God continues to select someone,

the late comer, the second born, the... And it makes sense, you know, the story of selecting all humanity to be his image. Awesome. But then he continues to select humans from among all the humans. And that's connected to this theme of that through a seat of the woman through one line of humanity. God is going to raise up a Messiah. Yeah, that's right. Which by definition can only come through one genealogical lineage. Yeah.

So we're tracing a lineage from which this snake crushing size in a come. And so who's God going to pick? Is he going to give the inheritance and the blessing from which this lineage will come from to the powerful, to the first or not. And what we've seen as we've gone through the whole Torah now is that the theme is that God chooses the late cover,

the second born or the one of lower status, the one of the weak one. And this theme isn't so simple as God chooses the lower one, they turn out to be great, even though they're not the most powerful. No, they oftentimes are the lower one, they turn out to be great, even though they're not the most powerful. No, they oftentimes are the biggest problem, like Jacob. It got needs to deal with them. Yeah.

So the first version is the problematic, elder sibling who doesn't get picked. That's the cane pattern. The Jacob pattern is the younger one who gets elevated and chosen is actually like a chump and like not a very good person. But then there's also somebody who's not the first born, but they're also not the chosen one, but they want to be. So they do something terrible to grab at that status and that's the ham pattern from Genesis 9. So we've got all these

variations that start to happen as each generation goes forward. Yeah. So in a way, this theme is just really riffing on the relationship that siblings have with each other. When one is going to be selected out to carry on some sort of special vocation and mission. And so in a way, then it's a way to just to think about just the human condition and how we deal with each other when there's status issues. And then also the fact that all of humanity is in some way distant brothers. And so every rivalry between the clans is some sort of sibling rivalry. Yep. Every rivalry, certainly in the Bible, without nations and people groups, which is

actually the case, too, just in a more genetically complicated way. You know, now the genetic record can show us, but the basic intuition is actually true. We are all related. I'm thinking back to our conversations with Joshua Swamidhoth about the genealogical Adam and Eve. That was an interview we did a couple years ago. I still think about that conversation. That's the theme that we're tracing. And we in the last episode got up through essentially the sibling sets and the stories of these rivalries in the Torah. Yeah, ending with Aaron's sons. Yeah. And well, ending with talking about Moses and Aaron. Yeah. Israel as the first born. Yeah. Over Egypt. Egypt. Yeah. And then Aaron's sons and their kind of birth order and the dynamic between them. Yeah, there we go.

So that's where we've been, where we're going to go. And this conversation is touched down at just a couple spots. We could session the prophets for a long time. And I guess I'm going to force us to just condense it into one conversation, famous last words. But the story of Hannah and the birth of Samuel, at the beginning of the Samuel scroll, is a fascinating creative twist on all of these twists. And that's deeply connected to the story that will lead to the rise of David, because Samuel will be picked to go a

night, Israel's second king, but as far as God's concern, it's their first real king who will do what God desires. And those two stories have this inversion of the firstborn and God's elevation of the unexpected one, like that's the heart of these two stories, and it sets the pattern, the unexpected one. Like that's the heart of these two stories. And it sets the pattern, or continues the pattern, we'll get carried on into the writing profits about their expectation of the coming snake crusher, who will be a similar Samuel and David, like, and Moses, like kind of figure. Okay, let's get into it. So this is a story I don't think we've ever read aloud and meditated on. I'm so excited.

It's one of my favorite stories in the Hebrew Bible. Oh, cool. I love this. So we are at the beginning of the Samuel scroll. Israel has crossed into the land. That's Joshua. And when we get into Joshua, we get into the section of the Bible called the prophets. And we call it the former prophets and the latter prophets. Yeah. Yeah. We're in the former part of the book. Yeah. There's four collections in each part of the prophet. The former prophets, it's four scrolls,

Joshua judges Samuel Kings. Manak, well, the last two long for one scroll, so that they got divided, so that's like six scrolls. But it's four literary works, but they're all united. Joshua judges Samuel Kings, and then there's four collections of the writing prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then the 12th.

It's a scroll of the 12th. Okay. Shorter prophets. So four former prophets, more ladder prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then the 12th. His scroll of the 12th. Okay. Shorted prophets. So, four former prophets, more ladder prophets. Yeah, okay. Yep. And so, we're right in the middle of the the middle of the former prophets.

Correct. Yeah. And the Joshua's scroll is, relates went in to the promised land. They were met with great hostility by all kinds of tribes of most of Canaanites, and God enabled them to overcome their enemies, rescue them from destruction so that they could settle in the land. Judges is about this continued cycle of melody of Israel turning away from God, giving their allegiance to other gods, and raising God raises up little mini-mosis to deliver the people for a period until they give their allegiance to other gods again.

So when we come to the Samuel's scroll, we're coming right out of Judges, which is essentially a period of moral and religious disorder among Israel. And so there was just a civil war at the end of judges that nearly annihilated one of the tribes, Benjamin. You have lots of people who are giving allegiance to lots of different deities, but this story is going to begin with one family that has remained loyal to Yahweh, and it's about their family story. That's how Samuel begins. Samuel begins in the setting of the judges period, really. Correct. Yeah. In a way that the story begins with the birth of a figure who is the last of the judges as it were. He's actually named in that list of Israel's judges and it describes what he does.

But Samuel represents a pivot between tribal leaders that God raises up, like Moses, you know, spontaneously. That's what we mean by judges. Are these like tribal chief dancers? between tribal leaders that God raises up, like Moses, you know, spontaneously. That's what we mean by judges. Are these like tribal chief dens? Tribal chief dens that are empowered to lead Israel for a temporary period of time. But what Samuel will be, he's the last one of those,

and he stands at the threshold of Israel transitioning into a unified federation of tribes under one monarchy, a king over all the tribes, which is kind of like a tribal chieftain, but more centralized. More established. Yeah. And a Samuel warns them, taxes. It's almost peach about the taxes implied by getting a deal. So that's kind of the setting here.

So this is the birth story of Samuel, who's this figure at the threshold, transition figure. Now there was a guy, certain man, from Ramathayim Tsoufim from the hill country of Ephraim. That is Joseph, the son of Joseph. So this is one of the sons of Joseph. Yep. So it's happening north of the City that will become Jerusalem, but Jerusalem hasn't even become the central city yet. Mm-hmm. In the story This guy's name was El Kanah, which means L is passionate. El Kanah is passionate. Yep. L the passionate one. God the passionate one Kan-ah is passionate. Yep, L the passionate one. God the passionate one.

Or it could be L the creator, depending on what Kan-ah means. Or what root you think it's from. He's the son of Yeroham, the son of Elohu, the son of To-hu, the son of Zouf, of the tribe of Ephraim. Now he had two wives. The name of one was Grace, or favor, Han-ah. The name of the other was Coral. One was grace or favor, hana. The name of the other was coral. Penina, which is the Hebrew word for coral.

Coral like in the ocean? Yeah, like coral reef coral. Oh, yeah. Wow, yeah. So, favor and coral. Yeah. Now, penina,al, she had children. Vahana, she had no children. She's the favorite one. We don't know that yet. Well, her name's favor. You're gonna turn out that

she's the special one for Al-Kana. So we're clearly in the realm of the theme of the first born here. Totally. Yeah. Two wives, yeah. Once having children, one's not. So we're back here to Abraham's two wives, Sarah and Hagar, and then to Jacob's two wives. And that for sure, like you'll see, this story is modeled on both of those sets of rival wives in Genesis. So in this case, yeah, that's right.

So the name of the wife was no child. So Hannah is being likened to Sarah in the story and also likened to Rachel who had no children. The wives. We're both the favored wives. But they were both the favored wives. Now this man, Elkana would go up from his city every year to worship and sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh. So you find out that the tabernacle and the tent is located at this town Shiloh. That's where the liturgies and worship of Yahweh is taking place at this town. Okay, you should also know that working in the tent there in Chilo, or the two sons of Eli, Kultni and Finras, they were priests to Yahweh.

There. Now, the day came when Elkana would offer sacrifice at this annual feast, he would give gifts to his family. And he would give portions to Penina, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters. But to Hanna, he gave the double portion because he loved Hanna. But Yahweh had closed her womb. So there's just every word here is like a glowing hyperlink.

Yeah. One wife who's favored given the double portion, which is what you give the firstborn. Yes, there's a lot in Deuteronomy that talks about if a guy has two wives and he loves one more than the other, he can't give the firstborn double portion to the son of the wife he loves. If the unloved wife has the actual first born son.

Okay. But here, he's not giving inheritance to a son, but he's just giving to the wife that he loves. Yeah, a double portion. Because she doesn't have any sons. Yeah. So it's funny, he's not actually doing what the law in Deuteronomy says you're supposed to do.

You're supposed to not do. Yeah, what you're supposed to not do is give the double portion, which is the right of the first born to somebody who's not the first born. Yeah, so in this example, if Hannah were to have a kid later and Elkina is like, well, that's my favorite wife, so now that's my favorite kid. Right. He's not supposed to treat her kid like the first born. Correct. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. Does that all time. Yeah. So this guy already has a first born son. Yeah. Through coral. Mm-hmm. But he doesn't give the double

portion to that son. He gives it to his wife. So he is breaking the law. Yeah. Yeah. He's not doing what the law says. So, but he's so taken. so interesting as you would you have to really be familiar with this literature to even notice that. Oh sure. True. But this phrase double portion is not a very common idiom. So it just occurs in a few places, but the law is one of them. Yeah. Okay. So what's interesting is the wife's name that he loves is favor. And he clearly is showing favor to her. But what's interesting is in their economy, in their social economy, having children is a sign of favor.

And so she appears to be the unfavered one in the eyes of the people, but in the eyes of El Kanan. It's really interesting. In a way, you always not showing her favor. And here, yeah, Yahweh. Yahweh closed everyone. It's really interesting. Can I wait, you always not showing her favor? And here, yeah, Yahweh. Yahweh closed everyone.

It's withholding. Yeah, the favor of the fruit of the poem. We're six. Now Hannah's rival, she's not even called by her name, she just called that. Is this penina? Yeah, penina. She's called her rival, her enemy. My son uses this word.

Rival? Yeah. Oh well. To talk about like other kids on the playground. I don't know where it came from. That's awesome. And you got it from reading the Bible. Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly irritating her because the Lord had closed her womb. So corals like being a bad sport?

Yeah, throwing jabs. But you know, also Hannah's getting a double portion. That's gotta irritate her too. Exactly, yeah, solid point, solid point. But here it's because Yahweh closed the womb, not because she's getting favored. Yeah. So just notice we're just, so clearly this is about two rival wives who aren't siblings, but this is all the themes of the first born rivalry that we've

been seeing all throughout the Torah. So it happened year after year, you know, when they would go up to the tent and that feast, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she, that is choral, would provoke her, that is Hannah. And so Hannah would just, she would just weep. She wouldn't even want to eat, and it's the feast. And so Elkana, her sensitive husband, says to her, Hannah, why are you crying? Why don't you eat? Why is there evil, badness to your heart? Aren't I better than 10 sons for you? 10 sons, that's interesting. Might not better to you than 10 sons. What a chump. It's just like... That's a chumpy thing to say. Lessons and what not to say.

Do you... Do your grieving wife? Yeah, she's grieving over the fact that she can't have any children and her husband's like, am I come on? I'm better, but you got me but you got just wow Wow, Elkana Did get a clue So the sensitive comment because by the way if you're not reading long, it was not in the text. That was a jab. That was sarcasm. Oh, yeah. That was yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was sorry. That was yeah.

sarcasm hurt. What I meant to say was her insensitive insensitive literally. And that is what I meant non-literally by using sarcasm. Verse 9. meant non-literally by using sarcasm. Verse 9, then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in she love, and Eli the priest. He was sitting by the door of the temple of Yahweh, but by the curtain, doorposts. And Hannah was just greatly distressed, and so she's praying to Yahweh and weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, promised, Yahweh of hosts, she said, if you will look upon the oppression of your slave, you're made to servant. That's interesting because that's Sarah-apressed,

Hagar. It's exactly the same word. It's the same word. Yes, okay. Yes. Okay. So what Sarah, the favored wife, who had no children for Abraham, this is what Sarah did to Hagar, the slave, who did have Abraham's first born. So here is a twist on the theme.

It's exactly where you used to twist. And now it's the unfavered white. No, it's the favored wife. No. It's not. Well, she's kind of's the unfavered white. No, it's the favored wife. No. It's not. Well, she's kind of favored and unfavered. She's favored to her husband, but it doesn't seem like Yahweh has shown her favor because she has neck.

It's the same thing with Sarah. Yeah, that's right. Oh, but she's the one, okay, that's the twist. She's the one being oppressed instead of being the one who's oppressing. Oh, pressing. Yes, okay. Yeah, exactly right. So she's like Sarah, but also like Heigar.

She's both in just different ways. Ooh, this is great. This is what the Hebrew Bible scholar, Yonatan Grossman, he calls this dynamic analogy. In other words, there's a hyperlink that's comparing character in one biblical story to an earlier story, but it's not just a one-for-one slot.

In other words, a character can be linked to multiple characters in the previous story. So here, she's both Sarah. She doesn't have kids, and she's like, hey, Gar, she's getting oppressed by a rival. It's a good example of that. So she says, please do not forget your servant, but please give your servant a son. And if you do, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life. And no razor will ever pass over his head. And the razor bit is that from the Nazarene vow? Yep. The Nazarite vow. Nazarite vow. And Nazarite was any Israelite. Doug have to be from the tribe of Levi. Yeah, but can take on themselves the calling and

holiness and lifestyle of Israel's high priest. I see. So if God gives me a son, I will pass off the son to the service of God as working like a high priest even though he's not from the tribe of Levi. Yep, that's right. So what's fascinating here is this is about, if you give me a first born, I will surrender the first born back to Yahweh. And this is a theme as well. Yeah, this is the Abraham and Isaac theme, right?

So they scheme to get a firstborn son and oppressed the Egyptian immigrant in the process. And so what Yawai asked for is give me that son back. And then Yawai gives back what he was going to take the life of the son by offering a substitute and then they would not have that. So we should be anticipating, okay, we're gonna have a story like that.

We're gonna have a story where she's gonna get a son, she's gonna give the son over. Yeah, yeah. And then something special is gonna happen. Yeah, the twist here is God had to force the surrender of Abraham's first son, Isaac. Here she's offering it for the beginning. She's so amazing. Like she could respond a lot of ways here. Yeah.

And what she immediately does is she goes to the temple, the tent, and she's surrenders. Her life, her future, her fortunes, and says, even if you give me a son, I will surrender him to you. So she's like Abraham now. Like Abraham, when he finally passed the test. Yeah. So she's passing the test even before she didn't need to have a test. She's just, oh, surrender at all. Or the test is the beariness. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

That's exactly right. The test is, yeah, thank you. That's great. That's exactly it. Two times we've been told, Yahweh, closer, will, that puts her in a very difficult situation. Yeah, and that's the theme of the test is this awkward, where like, is God doing that to be mean? Did He set this person up just to be cruel?

And this is where we talked about the theme of the test, which is about the intent of the orchestrator of a test. If you're trying to get someone to fail, we call it a trap. But if you are giving someone the opportunity to grow in patience, endurance, in virtue, and loyalty, then the same scenario that looks the same from the outside could actually be a test. Yeah. It seems to be how the story presents it, which is maybe just to name, you know, this is a very sensitive topic for lots of men and women, you know, inability to have children.

It's very painful. So there's both wisdom in the story, but also I think it's important to be sensitive and not try to interpret, especially for someone else, that every difficult thing they've ever gone through is just a test. It's just a, yeah, and God's really generous. It's really hard to feel that way, when you're in the middle of some of these scenarios, and so it takes discernment to know. But the narrator's telling us that's the situation Hannah was in. And this is how she responded with Butter's surrender. Yeah. So, I came about as she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli was watching her mouth and

Hannah, she was speaking in her heart So her lips were moving but her voice was not her and so Eli thought Oh, did she's drunk? Too much of that tarrernacle was too much So Eli said woman how long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine. And Hannah replied, no, no, no, I'm a woman oppressed in my spirit. Oh, what is this? Oh, caches. Yeah, yeah, oppressed in spirit. I haven't drunk either wine or any alcohol. Here's what I am doing. I haven't poured out a drink for myself. Rather,

I am pouring out my neffesh, my very being before Yahweh. Such a beautiful scene. Don't take me for a worthless woman who would like come into the temple trunk. I have spoken out of my great I have spoken out of my great concern and overall with this pain and provocation that I'm in. So Eli said, Go inshalom, may the God of Israel grant you your request as you've asked him. And she said, let your maid servant find, Hanna. Yeah, or Hanna is the short name of the noun, but it's her name. So let me

Hanna find Hanna in your eyes. And she went away and her face was no longer that. Let's the story. So the next sentence, they rose early in the morning, they worshiped and returned to their house in Rama and Al-Khanna. New is wife. That's hyperlinked back to Adam and Eve had a manoeuvre and the birth of Cain Hmm and able and the Lord remembered her This is exactly what happened to Rachel in the story of Jacob's two wives and then she conceives and has a son And she names him schmuel because I Schmuel schmuel. Oh, yeah, schmuel. Schmuel. Schmuel? Schmuel. Oh yeah?

Schmuel. Schmuel. Let's schema. Listen. Oh. And L. God. Oh God listens.

God listens. Yeah. And then she makes a word play because I have Schaul requested him from the Lord. Schmuel listens because I have asked. Yeah. I name him Schmuel because Yahweh Schaul. Yeah. So then what happens is she doesn't go up to the annual sacrifice

because she spends the first couple of years just with her baby, nursing and caring for her baby. But then when he gets old enough, when she's weeping down. She's just skipping down. I'm skipping down. Yeah. What they do is she finally, when he's like a little boy,

she brings him up and they offer a bowl as a sacrifice and they bring the boy and Kana sees Eli sitting there. And she says, oh, you know, my Lord, as your soul lives, I'm the woman who stood here years ago. Remember me? Remember me praying. You said I was drunk. Yeah, I prayed for this boy.

And Yahweh gave me my request, which I asked for. And so now I am dedicating him to Yahweh. This is Abraham offering up Isaac. He's surrendering. Yeah. And I dedicated him to Yahweh. And as long as he lives, he belongs to Yahweh. And worship the Lord there and then she sings a song. It becomes a straight-up musical. So good. So first we're going to talk about her song, because it's so awesome. But let's just kind of register where the story went and how this kind of creates another twist about the story of the first born. Yeah, this is a story where while it begins intention and conflict, the character, the main character here, is just from the Gekko, just like passing the test, and then following through.

Mm-hmm. That feels like a new thing. Yeah, sure. Like every other story, it's like, there's so much scheming, and there's new thing. Yeah, sure right like every other story. It's like Mm-hmm. There's so much scheming and there's so much like rivalry that just gets so hairy and nodded and like Almost in spite of everyone God comes through. Yep, and here's one where it's like you get a character who she's oppressed Like she's going through this test and she just like flying colors Mm-hmm. Yeah does yeah suppressed, like she's going through this test. And she just like flying colors.

Mm hmm. Yeah. Does. Yeah. So like she's a like very saintly kind of picture here. Holy saint Hannah. Saint Hannah. Absolutely. Yeah. She's impeccable. Like she is this model of both trusting in Yahweh. Even when it feels like Yahweh is the one who's withholding favor from me.

Not surely the irony of her name. And then she says, even if you were to show me favor, I would surrender that thing that you gave to me to show me favor. Yeah, she's like the opposite of Abraham and Sarah, the opposite of Jacob and Leia and Rachel. She's awesome. What else can you say? And what's amazing is that it's this woman of low social standing, and she's the one

being exalted in the narrative as this model of faith and devotion to Yahweh. That surely part of the dynamic is she herself is like the favored chosen one as a model of devotion and trust, even though the whole story is about how she's not perceived as the favorable one by her community. Now what's interesting is, as we trace this theme so far, it's always been about who's going to carry on gods, blessing in order to then be the lineage, which then Messiah comes. Yeah, exactly. And this story is not about that yet. That's perfect tea.

See up for the poem. Okay. So what the poem's all about? Okay. Well, I mean, just to say, I mean, because Samuel is not... That's right. He is an align of Messiah. No, that's right.

But he's going to anoint. He will be the one to anoint, David, who becomes a lineage. So what's cool is she becomes this model of trust. And that trust ends up putting her and her son in a role that will result in the lineage of the snake crusher getting kind of like kickstarted again with the word, it's been kind of stalled out for a couple scrolls. Where's the line of Judah? Not that prominent in Joshua, it is in a couple places. Where's the line of Judah in Judges?

Ah, it's kind of here and there. But Judah's kind of been on pause since the Torah. And then, it's the resurrection of that. Yeah, Judah and the promise of the King from the line of Judah really becomes the focus in this story of David. And it's this woman and her son that heard the crucial kind of hinge to kickstart the theme again. Yeah, but to be favored here, it isn't even necessarily to be part of the lineage of this

snake crusher. It's just to aid the lineage of this snake crusher. It's just to aid the lineage. That's so cool. Yeah. Okay. So, that's the story of Hannah, which just sets us up for how amazing her song is. Okay.

So, this is in first Samuel chapter two, and maybe let's just say, let's notice something. Think about the narrative circumstances that she just had. And then think about how the narrative circumstances fit or doesn't seem to quite fit with the poem. Okay. And I'm not saying it doesn't fit, but it fits in a way that takes some adjusting of your expectations. Right. Then Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts in the Lord. Exalt. I don't use that word. It means celebrate.

Okay. My heart celebrates in Yahweh. My horn is lifted high in Yahweh. And what's the horn again? You made a video about this. and is lifted high in Yahweh. And what's the horn again? You made a video about this. I made a video about a horn. You and Chris made one of our visual commentary videos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some or some 148.

Oh, that's right, some. Yeah, yeah. So I'm 148. The horn referred to is that of a bull's horn. Yeah, so it's victory. Like when a bull lifts its horn in battle, that just won. Yeah. It's like just bite.

Just gourd its enemy, something like that, or like knocked it down in it. So there's a symbolic lifting of the horn. Victory. It's victory, okay. It's the image of victory. So my heart is celebrating and my horn is exalted. I just got vindicated over against coral who has a bunch of children. My mouth can now speak boldly against my enemies

because I rejoice in your Yeshua, your deliverance or rescue. So she's depicting this as a moment to stand up proud and all of her rivals and enemies plural. Yeah. There is no one holy like Yahweh. Indeed, there is no one besides you nor is there any rock like our God. This is a line that comes right out of two of the most important poems in the Torah and the song of deliverance that the Israelites sing after they rescue from the sea. There is no one like you, Yahweh, no one like you. And then Moses's last poem in Deurontomy 33, he talked about God as being the rock, like whom there is no one else.

Now here's Hannah affirming, just like God rescued Israel from the sea against their enemies, and just like God brought Israel through the wilderness. So now here, she's making a similar statement after she's... She's identifying with the whole legacy of redemption. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So then she starts addressing her enemies. You should not boast so proudly. In particular,

Pennyna, what's her name? Coral. Coral, yeah. Yeah. That's the one we know of. That's right, totally. But she's already talked about like. She's got multiple. She's been like victorious in the arena against her enemies, you know. So now she's got a lot to be- Cause in a way like all of society's like look down on her,

is that the idea here? Yeah, what we're gonna see is she sees what just happened in her own family story of cosmic significance. She's interpreting and talking about it as if it's like this cosmic victory, like Israel getting rescued from the sea. So it's great because it shows her imagination is shaped by the melody of the biblical story. So cool. Or you might argue it's a little overdramatic. So you should not boast so proudly.

You should not let arrogance come out of your mouth because Yahweh, He's a God who knows. And with Him, everyone's actions are being weighed in a balance. The bows of the mighty warriors, they get shattered. And it's the weak, the feeble ones, they are the ones who are putting on strength like armor. So there's our theme. There it is. The bows of the mighty are shattered, the feeble, they're going straight. She keeps going. Those who were full now have to hire themselves out for bread.

So you used to know where every meal was coming from. Now you're going to become a day laborer and you're not sure. Maybe you'll get some bread. And even but those who have been hungry, they're hunger will cease. Even the Baron one will give birth to seven. But the one with many children, she will languish. She's getting ahead of herself here.

He just had your first one. So that's a good use of the number seven, symbolic seven. Foleness. Foleness. Yep. Complete. So for her, she does feel complete. She got the sun she wanted.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Notice, this really feels like how Jesus begins the sermon on the Mount. Yeah. Those, like the hungry, those who hunger, for righteousness, they will be filled. You know, the meat or the unimportant will inherit the land. Actually, this is more like Jesus

has sermon on the plane in Luke 6 where he provides the inversion of all the be attitudes. Though those who are hungry will be filled, but those who are filled will go hungry. So this whole, so you're saying that Jesus' Beatudes is a riffing on the first point theme. Yeah, or it's a riffing of it's meditating on Yahweh's ways in the world. Yeah. The consistently identifies with the hungry and the weak and the oppressed and the one of low status and elevates them. And those who are of high status, their status doesn't mean anything. And so he'll bring down from a throne and he'll, well, actually, that's what you'll want.

But now all of a sudden, the theme of the first born, we're, it's getting meta. Yeah, meta. And we're just talking about how God works in the world in general. So she goes on. Yahweh brings some down to death and makes others alive. He brings down to the grave and he raises up death and resurrection. That's like the most extreme form of Yahweh associating with the low and the oppressed. The Yahweh would even side with the dead over against the grave.

Whoa. Yahweh makes poor and he makes wealthy. He brings down low and he lifts up high. He would even do this. Yahweh would even raise up the poor from the dust of the ground. The most desolate place. Yes. Lift up the needy from the ash heap, and he would enthrone them with nobles so that they

inherit, think of firstborn and inheritance, that they are the ones who inherit the seat of honor. Okay, let's pause there. So you get this whole string of inversions. And she's getting really cosmic here. So think of the different categories. She talks about warriors. So the bows are the mightier shattered, but the weak warrior that actually is strong. Then you have food, and then you have... It's kind of like that turn the other cheek kind of thing. The weak warrior.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Sure your strength. Yeah. A postured weakness. That's right. Yeah. So being full or hungry, being barren or having many children, death or life, the grave or resurrection, poor and rich, poor in the dust versus up high on the throne. So it's all these inversions and she's

obstructing. This is a meditation on what the stories, all the cycles of the melody throughout the Torah and the prophets have been teaching you, but she doesn't hear. So rad, man. Yeah. The upset, this is kind of the, for me, what was formative for how Jesus consolidates all this together in what we start calling the upside down kingdom in the gospels, but it's this idea. Yeah. Yeah. So she goes on, she says, the pillars of the land belong to Yahweh. He set the world on them. Yeah, I bring up the pillars. By the way, the pillars are something that I think a lot of people aren't that familiar with.

The land itself sits on pillars, which then keep it elevated from the chaos waters, right? Right. Yeah, just like a house or a structure or roof is set on pillars. So this is a metaphor for how the biblical authors imagine that the dry land is elevated atop of the chaos waters. And Yahweh is the one who makes those pillars and keeps them firm. In other words, they believe the dry land and all order and life could at any moment be totally overwhelmed by death and disorder.

But God has created the structure by which it exists. So what's funny is, this is a funny, a little ironic kind of twist because you first think, how does this fit in? Yes, we have sort of a lot of questions. When you think of inversions, you think of upsetting order. The stronger week, and the kings get humiliated, and the poor become the rulers, like that's upsetting the world order. Well, maybe in a way, like taking dry land and setting up on pillars to stand up above the chaos waters is also disrupting. Oh, it's going against the forces of chaos.

Yeah, it's going against the forces of chaos. Yeah, that's right. And in addition to that, I think this little lion is talking about, yes, Yahweh is the keeper of order. But what if the way that he keeps order is by upsetting human order? I think. Yeah, yeah.

Because it's all about inversion, subversion, upside down, Yahweh doing the opposite of what humans think but Yawai is the one responsible for the order in the world What if his way of ordering is having to disorder are distorted orders That's the idea. Okay. Yeah, verse nine. He keeps the feet of his godly ones. That's a stability image But the wicked they are silenced in darkness, for it is not by strength that people prevail. She's feeling this in the moment. She's experiencing this moment. But look around Hannah, like, that's not what's going on. Everywhere, you know?

Yes. Like the wicked, you know, I bet she could like just travel a couple miles in any direction and find some scheming, manipulative, violent men like doing a lemetic thing and just being like, look at me. Totally, totally. Okay. So this is what's so rad is this poem is programmatic for the rest of the Samuel scroll. What she's giving you is the program. And her story has been set in front as the template. And the bold audacious claim of her poem

is actually in reality. The way Yahweh works in the world is like what he did for me. And- I think it's audacious. And that's how the world is ordered. It's by Yahweh confronting human disorders. So actually what she's about to say

is this is how Yahweh actually really works in the world. And if you have eyes to see it You'll start seeing it everywhere and just think about what the Samuel scrolls gonna be about It's gonna be about the rise of Israel's first king a guy named Saul And then it's gonna be about his slow tragic downfall Because of his the slow turning away of his heart and so Yahweh raises him up and Then he brings them down and then it's. And so Yahweh raises him up and then he brings them down. And then it's going to be about Yahweh taking David, who's down in the dust of low status, and he raises him up. And the slow turning of David's heart, and then he goes down.

And so really the whole Samuel scrolls a study of two kings that both are exalted and both fall, but in really different ways, and they embody what Hannah says about this poem. Good look at what she says next. She says, those who contend with Yahweh will be shattered. Against them he will thunder in the skies. Yahweh is the judge of all the ends of the land. And he gives strength to his king, and he will exalt the horn of his masjihah, his anointed one.

Then Elkana went to his home. And the boy stayed and served before Yahweh, with Elias priest. So there's going to be this rise and fall of inversions that will finally result. She gets apocalyptic here. I mean, yeah, because this is this audacious, that's a great word, hope for how the story, the human story will come to fulfillment is with God judging the earth with justice. He is king with his strength and this Messiah being victorious.

But that's not the reality on the ground. She's experiencing that in some little way, her little moment of salvation. And now it's getting cosmic. Yeah. She sees in her life experience this plot arc, this arc of a story that she's like, this is what Yahweh has planned for the whole cosmos. It's like the world is the venue of people in their power games. But actually what Yahweh loves to do is to take the powerless and put them in charge. But you know what, even that can become a rollercoaster. But ultimately, there is coming a day that is captured in this moment, which is the birth and the arrival of Yahweh's chosen one.

And she paints a picture forward to final justice, the arrival of a king who will stand victorious over the nations. Here's a slash. Whoa, man, Hannah the poet. Whoa, man. That's from a American actor. Whoa, man. Whoa, man. That's right.

Make you mic my ass. This poem has it all, man. You know, I said we were gonna talk about the story of David and then go, yeah. But no, no, no, no, we need to stay here. So you wanna know it's super awesome. So, okay, what happens to Samuel is born. Yeah.

And all of a sudden, Samuel is compared to the two sons of Eli. Okay. And they're- So they have a rivalry? They have a rivalry? Yeah. And they're chumps.

I mean, they're stealing the sons of Eli Art. Yeah, they're stealing from Israelites and they're like literally bullying Israelites coming to give their offerings. And so, what Yahweh orchestrates in the next few chapters is the exaltation of Samuel as the real leader of the Tabernacle. And even though he's not a Levi. No, no, he's totally, yeah. And she's a true outsider than in this scenario.

Yeah, so Samuel becomes one exalted to the place that the Levite should occupy, but there's no qualified Levites, and they're all corrupt with the sons, the two sons of Eli, Huffney and Finchas. And then, so what happens is the Philistines attack, they steal the arc, and Hothnian, Finchas and Eli all die in the fallout from that battle. And then the arc is delivered back, because Yahweh stands plagues on the Philistines.

But without him, and they're like, here you go. Totally. But without a Moses figure, just the arc becomes his own Moses, and striking is really fascinating. And so the arc comes back on a cart, and Samuel, and they're like there to guide it back, and it's a tabernacle. So Samuel, both Hannah and Samuel,

become these exalted late comers over what you think is the first point. And so that's the story, and it sets the tenor for what the rest of the Samuel School will be about, which is mainly a story about the rise and fall of Saul, the first king, and then the rise and fall of David, this real second king. So if Eli's sons are also about the theme,

when we didn't really dig into that, but it makes me think of Aaron's sons. Totally, yes. Aaron's sons who go in with a strange fire and then they're like, they're killed. Yeah, and you want to. I mean, hopefully in Thinhoth, Eli's sons, there's all these hyperlinks in the stories about them to the

weird story in Leviticus 10. It's really interesting. So you're just a good job. I'm just saying, I'm affirming your insight. It is an important analogy. And you've, and this is maybe getting out of the theme, perhaps, but you've also connected Aaron's sons to an nice and fire before in Acts. And that's a strange story in the book of Acts where these two characters are just struck

dead. And it's really severe. Yeah. Sudden and severe. And this idea of that we're all now supposed to be priests in the tabernacle, which we are also the tabernacle, because we are in Christ, all these things milling together, then we need to be a certain type of priest. And so is there anything there with, I mean, it's interesting that Samuel is not a Levi,

but he comes in and kind of like takes over rescues that position of taking care of the tabernacle. Yeah, yeah. And there's something there about the not chosen one or not elected one coming in to then take the place and actually become the elected one. Well, yes, I mean, there's many overlapping themes. Actually, let's go forward. I didn't. I mean, there's many overlapping themes actually let's go forward

I didn't plan on this but it's great So after Eli learns about what his sons are doing and he's like stoked on Samuel Yeah, you know, we got a good relationship. Yeah, totally like the intern And but his actual sons are like really terrible But he doesn't really disqualify them or take them out of service and so a prophet It's just called a man of God, comes up to Eli and just speaks, he always worded to him like a prophet. And he always really, really like severe against Eli.

And so here, I just want to read from the speech because it kind of, I think, we'll give an angle on what you're asking about. So what he always says through the prophet to Eli is thus this is the Lord. This is right after the prayer. This is later in chapter 2. Yeah. But basically Eli finds out about what his sons are doing. I mean, not like right, right, but like in the chapter.

Later in the chapter. That's right. Yep. The man of God comes and says this says Yahweh, didn't I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Baudge at Pharaoh's house? Didn't I choose them? That is the Levites from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear the effod, didn't I give to the house of your father all the offerings like the meat, you know, for the sons of Israel,

why do you kick at my sacrifice? It's like you throw it on the ground and kick it like it's trash. Why do you kick at my sacrifice and offering that I've commanded in my dwelling? It's not your dwelling, my dwelling. Why do you honor your sons above me, Why do you honor your sons above me making yourself fat with the choice offerings of my people Israel? So this is the story about Yahweh has elevated the tribe of Levi the thirdborn of the sons of Jacob to a place of honor To be the priest and then now this is about this is the Jacob pattern, the one that God does choose and elevate. It's kind of like a scheme. That's right. So this is the really fascinating line.

So therefore, Yahweh the God of Israel declares, I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever. that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever. I had promised you perpetual priesthood, but now Yahweh says, far be it from me. It's those who honor me that I will honor, and those who despise me will be treated as despised. The days are coming when I'll break your strength and the strength of your father's house. There will be not even an old man in my house. You'll see the distress of my dwelling and in spite all the good that I might do for Israel and an old man will no longer be in your house.

And he goes on to say like, you're gonna die, your sons are gonna die. And verse 35, I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do what is in my heart and in my nephesh, my soul. And I will build for them a perpetual house. And he will walk before me as my anointed one, or he will walk before my anointed one always. There's the translation rabbit hole right there.

But essentially what he's saying is, you've been relieved of your job. Yeah. And I'll raise up, I raised your family up. Yeah, I raised the poor from the dust. I can raise a new priest from another line. Yeah, so Eli becomes the negative example. Hannah's the first positive example

And now Eli is the first example of the high and mighty brought down, but the power of this line. I did Tell you that your family would be the eternal priesthood, but now I'm saying that you're not gonna be that Yeah, that's uncomfortable. You isn't it? Yeah. I think so too. Yeah. I made a promise. And you know what? You blew it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. The reason why I'm reading this is it has that severity to it that's like the death of Aaron Suns and like Ananias and Sephira. And this is a real tension that weaves throughout the biblical story of Yahweh giving genuine agency to his partners. And when they really blow it, man, like you can really, really blow it.

And Yahweh will hand people over to the consequences and the fallout from that. But yet at the same time, Yahweh won't withdraw his long-term covenant promises and purposes, but people can exclude themselves from participating in the fulfillment of those purposes. And now we're back to the themes of the wilderness generation that doesn't get to enter the Promised Land. Moses doesn't get to enter the Promised Land. And this is the attention that's brought up again in the letter to the Hebrews in the famous warning passages of Hebrews.

And I don't think it's a tension you can fully resolve. We create theological systems that want to solve the riddle. And it seems to me the point is to let this challenge us and challenge every generation to re-evaluate, be self-critical be like Hannah and surrender yourself to y'all always mercy again But I don't also want to like cover over the severity, you know of the challenge here So I don't know all I've done is respond to what you raised. That's great providing an answer But and this is connected to the theme right Providing an answer. And this is connected to the theme. Right. Where it's like, I'm going to elevate someone, I'm a select someone.

And well, is it connected theme? Well, it's a twist on the core theme. With Cain, remember what God said to Cain, you know, I've favored your brother, but if you do good, isn't there exaltation for you too? Yeah. Sin is a croucher at your door. You can rule it. It's like you have a choice. You have a choice to make your body.

And so in a way, it's a little different because Eli is from the tribe of Levi. And what's God said is I had already exalted you. You were the late comer that I exalted, but you didn't do right by me. And so it's not a license to just do whatever. Yeah, you didn't rule the beast. And so you will be brought down instead of exalted. Cool. Well, we didn't get to David. No. Well, then I think we'll just, we'll make David the next conversation. All right, because we can't not talk about David. So we'll do the David. Well, let's just note here, the story of this oppressed, you know, woman in pain and suffering

and this story of this enfranchised, but lazy and self-indulgent priest in its sons. They live out exactly the inversion that Handus poem talks about, but it's also really at the heart of God's desire to exalt the humble and to bring down the high and mighty. And that's how Yahweh establishes the pillars in the order of the world. Such a powerful thing to meditate on. That's what these stories are all about. Okay, so this is Dan Gummol with the podcast team and I'm back with another employee introduction and I'm here with a friend of mine. Co-worker and we're gonna read the outro credits. So you want to go ahead and introduce yourself? My name is Mocker and I've been working for Bioproject for about a year now, and I am the

product manager for the lips one. So, Maka, tell us a little bit about what that means for you in a daily days. Yeah, I mean, work just involves everything that has to do with the website, putting our podcasts up, our videos up, Bible studies, anything to do with the website and you need to figure out what Bible project has to say about something and you find us on the web. You come to our website and that's what I do. So anything that's on the website, you have meticulously gone over in port over in detail.

Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your life outside of work. Oh, yeah, sure. I live in Maryland with my two kids. Okay. And my husband, yeah. So you're an active mom. How old are your kids?

They're four and five. Oh, really? Yes. What's one of the most unexpected things about being a parent? I don't know. I mean, they were so close in age. As a new mom, I wasn't aware of how much diapers. So yeah, it was literally, there was a time

where I was like, clean diapers every 30 minutes. It was intense. And so that was pretty surprising. No one told me that. Wow. It was like around the clock. Baby one pass, you sit down, baby two pass. You sit down, you sit down.

Wow. I don't know how people who have multiple still it. Will you read the credits for us a month? Sure. Thank you. Today's show was produced by Cooper Peltz with associate producer Lindsey Ponder. Our lead editor is Dan Gummol, Tyler Bailey and Frank Karza are our editors. This episode was also next by Tyler Bailey and Hannah Wu compiled our annotations for the Bible Project app. At the Bible Project we believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. Everything that we make is to serve that end and it's

free. Thanks to the generosity of thousands of people just like you. So thanks for being a part of this with us. That was great. That was really smooth. Thank you. So thanks for being a part of this with us. That was great. That was really smooth. Thank you. you