1 Samuel — Chapter 2

My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in the Lord. The canticle of Anna is inspired by the Holy Spirit and forms part of Holy Scripture (Augustine, Theodoretus, Procopius). Lapide: Zacharias's canticle at John the Baptist's birth, and the Virgin Mary's \"Magnificat,\" are closely similar to and sometimes verbally identical with this canticle of Anna. Both Anna and the Virgin conceived prophets and received prophetic grace (Theodoretus, Procopius).

There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee, and there is none strong as our God. Anna first celebrates God's holiness as the noblest attribute — that for which he is most worthy of adoration, service, sacrifice, and all worship. \"Fortis\" (strong) renders Hebrew tsur = \"rock\"; God is the rock in whom the just are secure against all tempests and hunters. Bernard: \"The martyr stands exulting and triumphing with his torn body — for the martyr's soul is in safety, in the rock, in the wounds of Jesus.\"

The Lord is a God of knowledge, and to him are thoughts prepared. God foresees all things, present, past, and future; all human thoughts lie open before him. He weighs proud and arrogant thoughts and overturns them with contrary decrees. Lapide: \"God is the God of sciences\" — Bernard: \"He is the origin and fount of all virtues and sciences; from him flow continence of the flesh, diligence of the heart, rectitude of the will.\"

The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girded with strength. Antistrophe to the Magnificat: \"He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.\" Applied variously: (1) to fallen angels and Michael's hosts (Gregory); (2) to demons and men armed with faith (Origen); (3) to Pharaoh and Moses; (4) to Pharisees and Apostles — \"God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise\" (1 Cor. 1).

The full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry are filled. Antistrophe to \"He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away\" (Magnificat). Mystically: God fills the faithful with the wisdom, preaching, doctrine of the Word, the Eucharist, and the Sacraments, while the impious and the Jews are deprived of these (Ambrose).

The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again. (1) He raises the dead; (2) he drew souls of the fathers from Limbo when Christ rose; he transfers purified souls from Purgatory to heaven (Chaldaean: \"brings back to the life of eternity\"); (3) he afflicts the healthy with mortal illness and then restores the penitent; (4) he fecundates the sterile, giving Anna quasi a new life in her son. Allegorically: God mortifies the Synagogue, vivifies the Church (Gregory, Bede, Angelomus).

The Lord maketh poor and enricheth; he humbleth and exalteth. God's omnipotence expressed through five antitheses (vv. 4–8): he can raise anyone from the lowest to the highest, and cast down from highest to lowest. Therefore neither the exalted should glory vainly in their state, nor the afflicted despair.

He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth the poor from the dunghill, that he may sit with princes and hold the throne of glory. Applied to Job despoiled and sitting on a dungheap, then restored; to Saul raised from driving asses to the sceptre; to David raised from sheep and their dung to the glory of Israel's kingdom; to Joseph from prison to the principality of Egypt. Mystically (Gregory): God raises the sinner from venial sin (dust), from mortal sin (dungheap), through penance to grace.

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for a man shall not prevail by his own strength. The seven prophecies of Anna's canticle begin here. First: God guards the steps, motions, and actions of the just so they do not stumble into sin and fall into hell (Gregory; Chaldaean: \"he kept the bodies of his just servants from hell\"). Mystically (Augustine): the feet of the soul are its affections — the two feet by which we come to God are humility and fortitude (Gregory).

The adversaries of the Lord shall fear him; and upon them he shall thunder in heaven. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and shall give empire to his king, and shall exalt the horn of his Christ. Lapide: Anna is the first in all Scripture (after the Pentateuch) to use the name \"Christ\" (Messiah). Three oracles: (1) God judges all the earth; (2) God gives power to his king (Saul, David as types); (3) God exalts the horn of his Christ. These refer ultimately to Christ — he alone will judge the ends of the earth; God gave him empire over all nations; and his horn (kingdom and glory) is exalted to the Empyrean heaven. Chaldaean: \"shall multiply the kingdom of his Messiah.\"

The sons of Heli were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord. Lapide: As the priest is, so is the people. The sins of Ophni and Phinees (taking the best portions by force before the fat was burned, and fornicating with the women who served at the tabernacle door) were the cause of the rare and precious state of prophecy in Israel at that time.

Samuel ministered before the Lord, a child girded with a linen ephod. Lapide: note Samuel's virtue and holiness from earliest childhood. Chrysostom (on Ps. 14): God desires youth and joins himself to it as to an untouched virgin, that he may have the first-fruits of a man's life. Saints of outstanding holiness gave themselves to sanctity from boyhood: Samuel, John the Baptist, Nicholas, and others.

If a man sin against a man, God may be appeased for him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him? Heli's sons were obstinate and would not hear their father's voice, because the Lord willed to slay them. Lapide: sin directly against God excludes the ordinary intercessory remedies; only God's mercy avails.

The child Samuel advanced and grew, and pleased both the Lord and men. Antistrophe of Luke 2:52 (Christ's advancement in wisdom and age and grace before God and men). Model: growth must be in virtue, not merely in age or dignity.

A man of God comes to Heli and announces divine judgment on his house for tolerating his sons' wickedness. Lapide: Heli had corrected them, but with fatherly leniency and not with pontifical authority and severity (Angelomus). Hence he is punished with them. Peter Damian: \"The fault of subjects redounds to the reproach of superiors; what errs in the sheep is ascribed to the negligence of the Shepherd.\"

Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be despised. God's retributive principle: dignity and favour are contingent on fidelity; the priesthood is not a guarantee of salvation but an obligation.

And I will raise me up a faithful priest, who shall do according to my heart and my soul, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before my Christ all the days. This prophecy is fulfilled primarily in Sadoc (who replaced Abiathar under Solomon) and ultimately in Christ the eternal high priest (Gregory, Angelomus, Beda).