Hannah’s Dedication Song (1-11) 

Hannah offered Samuel to Yahweh with a beautiful poetic prayer as a response to the fulfilled promises of Yahweh. 

In the poem, Hannah pointed toward to the themes that the entire book of Samuel was going to be about: 

• God opposes the proud and exalts the humble. 

• God gave Hannah personal victory over her enemy in response to her rejoicing in Yahweh’s salvation before it occurred (1).

• Hannah rejoiced in Yahweh as God alone, God unlike any other, God who weighs the actions of people (2-3).

• God was the One Hannah knew would break the weapons of the mighty while making the feeble and blind powerful (4).

• God was the One Hannah praised for humbling the rich and powerful, while the barren became enormously prosperous (5).

• God was the One Hannah praised for using death as an engine for life (6).

• God was the One Hannah praised for the transformation of the poor and needy, giving the forgotten a throne; she noted the earth was set by Yahweh on the foundation He established (7-8).

• God was the One Hannah praised for placing the faithful under His watchful care by giving them a king He would strengthen; then she praised Yahweh for cutting off the wicked, for breaking His adversaries in pieces (9-10). 

After the song, Elkanah went home and Samuel remained in the presence of Eli (11).

It is also important to note that much of the same vocabulary can be found in 2 Samuel 22 and 23, at the end of the book where David sings songs to the Lord. Knowing that these two books are supposed to be read as one unified story and that these songs from Hannah and David act as bookends and share the same themes and vocabulary is important. These psalms literally frame the story woven into the whole of 1 and 2 Samuel. 

Eli’s Wicked Sons (12-26) 

We are told at the beginning of verse 12 that Eli’s sons were worthless men, for they did not know the Lord, meaning they had no relational experience with Yahweh. It is interesting to note that this word “worthless” is the same Hebrew word that Hannah used in 1:16 when she was approached by Eli during her prayer for Samuel. The contrast between the truth about Eli’s sons versus what Eli originally may have perceived to be true about Hannah is not coincidental (12).

Regarding sacrifices, there were many regulations concerning how burnt meat offerings were to be handled by both the one offering the sacrifice and the priest who had certain duties regarding the offering. The priest was to be given a specific portion of the meat offering, but it seems here that Eli's sons were not acting according to those specifications, and were rather having their servants blindly shove a fork into the pot and pull from the pot whatever piece came out (13-14).

The author goes on to say that Eli’s sons did not stop there; they also would try to take their portions of the raw meat before the fat was offered to Yahweh. They threatened to take the sacrifice by force if the people offering the sacrifice would not oblige. Their actions showed they had nothing but contempt for sacrificing good meat to Yahweh (15-17).

This sort of behavior was horrendous and put the people in jeopardy of not being able to join in the covenant sacrifices Yahweh had prescribed.

The contrast could not be more blatant, so here the author inserts a short clip concerning the heart of Hannah in giving Samuel to Yahweh and Yahweh’s blessing on faithful Hannah (18-19).  

Hannah wanted nothing more than a son but when she finally had one, she stayed true to her word and gave him to the Lord, which meant that she did not raise the boy but gave him as a gift to Yahweh. Yahweh rewarded Hannah’s faithfulness by opening her womb to bear three more sons and two daughters (20-21).

The sins of Eli’s sons were quite shameful:

• Eli’s sons would send their servants and fork the choicest part of the sacrifice for themselves, the part which belonged to Yahweh (13-14).

• Eli’s sons became so brazen that they would take that meat belonging to Yahweh before the fat was cooked away from the meat so they could cook it the way they desired (15).

• When they were begged by the man cooking the sacrifice not to desecrate it, Eli’s sons ignored his plea and took it, by force if necessary (16).

• Eli’s sons engaged in ritual fornication with the girls who served at the Tabernacle (22).

• Eli’s sons would not listen to their father (25). 

The next paragraph is put here to juxtapose Eli’s two sons and their disobedience to Yahweh and Samuel, who was essentially Eli’s adopted son, and his faithfulness to Yahweh. 

When Eli heard about his sons’ sins, how they were treating the sacrifices with contempt and sleeping with women serving in the Tabernacle, he questioned their mental state with great alarm (22-23). Eli explained to them that for sin against man, they could be forgiven by a mediating priest. If they were directly sinning in God’s face against God personally, wishing to steal His glory for their own lust, however, no one was left to intercede for them or to offer a sacrifice for such a sin. No man of any kind could serve as a mediator for those who so willingly and uncaringly sinned against Yahweh in the presence of Yahweh (24-25).

During all of this incredible wickedness, Samuel continued to grow in stature and favor with Yahweh and the people of Israel (26).

Eli’s House Rejected (27-36) 

The final verses of the chapter tell of a prophet sent by God to renounce Eli and his household for the sins they had committed in defaming the people’s offerings to Yahweh. The unknown prophet reminded them of Yahweh’s grace in choosing them while they were yet in Egypt in their grandfather’s loins. They had been chosen by God to stand in Yahweh’s righteous love and grace and offer sacrifices to Yahweh for the people (27-28).

It was the Lord who had raised them up as priests, and they were returning Yahweh’s favor by mocking Yahweh in the way they treated His sacrifices and Tabernacle servants.  

Even Eli was guilty in that he would not stop his sons, honoring them above Yahweh (29).

The Lord then promised to cut down the house of Eli and, as a sign of this curse of removing Eli’s family as priest, Eli’s two sons would die on the same day. They would both be slain by their enemies. Yahweh had promised Eli’s family the potential of being His priests forever, but because they had not revered Yahweh, all of that was changing (30).

The man of God continued to prophesy: 

• Eli’s house would not see another man grow old; they would all die young, except for those who would survive only to have their hearts broken and eyes put out, and then they would die a violent death. This point is made three times in this prophecy (31, 32, 33).

• The sign to verify what the prophet was saying about Eli’s house would be the death of both of Eli’s sons on the same day (34).

• After the Lord had dispensed with Eli’s wicked house, He would raise up a righteous priest who would honor Yahweh and anoint the kings yet to come and rule Israel (35). Eli’s future family would bow and even beg for work from the future priest, who would mercifully give them jobs so they could eat (36).

The final part of this prophecy is best interpreted in the fulfillment of Jesus the High Priest. Jesus is God’s anointed Priest, and He began a new royal priesthood with Jesus serving as the faithful High Priest (1 Peter 2:9). As far as those of the old Aaronic priesthood, they would have to bow before God’s anointed Messiah, Jesus, if they were going to occupy a place of priestly service in the future.