The God of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10): Not a Warm Fuzzy

In the Bible, the rise and fall of people and nations is understood to be the expression of a moral order in which the haughty are punished and the downtrodden lifted up. Those entitled from birth are disenfranchised. The disenfranchised are given a new lease on life. Statements like these are true in two different senses. They become true, sporadically, in actual events. They are true, in principle, in all times and places.

In the same way, one says that man is born free and everywhere in chains, and that humankind is endowed with inalienable rights. The intended sense of the statements is not contravened by the fact that man is not born free, at all; and that inalienable rights are not that in actual fact. People are deprived of them all the time.

The rise and fall of the house of David recounted in 1-2 Samuel is placed under the sign of the upsetting freedom of God from the get go. Hannah’s prayer, a poetic inset at the beginning of the narrative sequence, projects a light of hope over the life of her son Samuel, and over the son of Jesse whom Samuel would anoint to be Israel’s king. She knew the following to be true in the senses explained above:

יְהוָה מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה

מוֹרִיד שְׁאוֹל וַיָּעַל

יְהוָה מוֹרִישׁ וּמַעֲשִׁיר

מַשְׁפִּיל אַף־מְרוֹמֵם

 

מֵקִים מֵעָפָר דָּל

מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן

לְהוֹשִׁיב עִם־נְדִיבִים

וְכִסֵּא כָבוֹד יַנְחִלֵם

YHWH, the one who deals death and gives life,

      the one who brings down to Sheol, and then lifted up!

YHWH, who makes poor and makes rich,

      who casts down and lifts high.

The one who raises the poor from the dust,

      lifting the needy from a heap of dung,

setting them next to princes,

      making them inherit a seat of honor.

(1 Sam 2:6-8)

 The entire prayer, text and translation, is provided below. In the translation, I am trying to be as literal as possible and as free as necessary. The result, often, is that my translation hews to the wording and structure of the source text more than most or all previous translations. The result, sometimes, is that my translation, in the interests of rhetorical equivalence and a clear text, is freer than some previous translations.

Enjambed 2:2 structures have generally gone unnoticed in the study of ancient Hebrew verse. I treat them as lines on a par with widely acknowledged non-enjambed 2:2 lines like Psalm 3:8a, 9. The result: 1 Sam 2:1-10 turns out to be an 18 line poem, a widely attested poem line length in ancient Hebrew literature. 1 Sam 2:9b and 10c turn out to be 2:2 lines which arrest the tempo of the material intake of the poem by virtue of their conciseness. They are crucial lines: ‘for not by strength / will man prevail,” and “YHWH judges / the ends of the earth.”

וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל חַנָּה וַתֹּאמַר

 

עָלַץ לִבִּי בַּיהוָה

רָמָה קַרְנִי בַּיהוָה

רָחַב פִּי עַל־אוֹיְבַי

כִּי שָׂמַחְתִּי בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ

אֵין־קָדוֹשׁ כַּיהוָה

כִּי אֵין בִּלְתֶּךָ

וְאֵין צוּר כֵּאלֹהֵינוּ

 

אַל־תַּרְבּוּ תְדַבְּרוּ

 גְּבֹהָה גְבֹהָה

 יֵצֵא עָתָק מִפִּיכֶם

כִּי אֵל דֵּעוֹת יְהוָה

 וְלוֹ נִתְכְּנוּ עֲלִלוֹת

 

 קֶשֶׁת גִּבֹּרִים חַתִּים

וְנִכְשָׁלִים אָזְרוּ חָיִל

שְׂבֵעִים בַּלֶּחֶם נִשְׂכָּרוּ

וּרְעֵבִים חָדֵלּוּ

עַד־עֲקָרָה יָלְדָה שִׁבְעָה

וְרַבַּת בָּנִים אֻמְלָלָה

 

יְהוָה מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה

מוֹרִיד שְׁאוֹל וַיָּעַל

יְהוָה מוֹרִישׁ וּמַעֲשִׁיר

מַשְׁפִּיל אַף־מְרוֹמֵם

 

מֵקִים מֵעָפָר דָּל

מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן

לְהוֹשִׁיב עִם־נְדִיבִים

וְכִסֵּא כָבוֹד יַנְחִלֵם

 

כִּי לַיהוָה מְצֻקֵי אֶרֶץ

וַיָּשֶׁת עֲלֵיהֶם תֵּבֵל

רַגְלֵי חֲסִידָיו יִשְׁמֹר

וּרְשָׁעִים בַּחֹשֶׁךְ יִדָּמּוּ

כִּי־לֹא בְכֹחַ

יִגְבַּר אִישׁ

 

יְהוָה יֵחַתּוּ מְרִיבָיו

עלו בַּשָּׁמַיִם יַרְעֵם

יְהוָה יָדִין

אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ

וְיִתֶּן־עֹז לְמַלְכּוֹ

וְיָרֵם קֶרֶן מְשִׁיחוֹ

Hannah prayed:

My heart exalted because of YHWH,

    my horn was lifted because of YHWH.

My mouth widened over my enemies,

    for I rejoiced because of your deliverance.

There is no holy one like YHWH,

    for none is your equal,

        and there is no rock like our God.

[translated modified in response to comments below]

 

Carry on no longer

    with high and mighty speech,

         arrogance goes out from your mouth!

For YHWH is an all-knowing God;

    by him acts are tested.

 

The bow of mighty ones are shattered,

     the faltering are girt with strength.

The sated hire themselves out for food,

     the hungry become stout.

The barren woman, even she, bears seven,

     the mother of many is forlorn.

 

YHWH, the one who deals death and gives life,

     the one who brings down to Sheol, and then lifted up!

YHWH, who makes poor and makes rich,

     who casts down and lifts high.

One who raises the poor from the dust,

     lifting the needy from a heap of dung;

setting them next to princes,

     making them inherit a seat of honor.

 

For the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s,

     he set the strand upon them.

He safeguards the feet of his faithful,

     but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness.

for not by strength

     shall man prevail.

 

YHWH – those who strive with him are shattered,

     the High One in heaven thunders.

YHWH judges

     the ends of the earth.

May he empower his king,

    may he raise the horn of his anointed one!

Comments

[J. K. Gayle]

Wonderful comments. Beautiful translation. My favorite verses in the whole song are those you began with and repeated, retranslating as:

One who raises the poor from the dust
/ lifting the needy from a heap of dung
/ setting them next to princes
/ making them inherit a seat of honor.

And you make me wonder, is the following phrase the one Jesus used for Moses, that Matthew translated into Greek (in Matthew 23)?

וְכִסֵּא כָבוֹד

So, while speaking of Greek, why do you think the LXX translators of this song omitted any explicit reference to חַנָּה? (I've taken liberties in translating their Greek into my [literal/ poetic] English.)

[JohnFH]

Thanks, Kurk, for dropping by.

I don't know know the answer to your question. Essays I've read on LXX 1 Samuel 2 include those by Stanley Walters and Emanuel Tov. You would enjoy the essays, I think, but I don't remember how they come down on the issue you raise.

[tim bulkeley]

I haven't had time to really work carefully through this - how do you do it!? but I wonder about the start, is it possible to keep somehow the:

כִּי

אֵין־

כִּי אֵין

וְאֵין ?

Maybe not...

[JohnFH]

Tim, that is an interesting observation. It can be done, by placing everything in the present tense:

my mouth widens over my enemies
for I rejoice in your deliverance;
there is no Holy One like YHWH,
for there is no one your equal,
and there is no Rock like our God.

[tim bulkeley]

I like that better, for a translation of the style you are attempting. How about retaining the verbs as pasts:

my mouth opened over my enemies
for I rejoiced in your deliverance:
there is no Holy One like YHWH,
for there is no one your equal,
and there is no Rock like our God.

Though it does make it a bit wordy...

[Al Wayman]

Excellent essay on the topic. Some Scholars believe that the text may have been a psalm that was recited by Hanna that may have been ritualistic for such an event. Nice work. Love the site.

[JohnFH]

Thanks, for commenting, Al.

You have a fine blog yourself, I see. The Patton quote in your masthead sets the tone very well, and you are clearly well and widely read.