1 Samuel 2:3 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth.’ Does Hannah have herself in mind as much as anyone else when she says this? She is a very humble woman, but she is so thrilled and so lifted up and so happy. She mustn't give credit to herself or feel self-accomplishment over now having a child and a Levite child who is going to be dedicated all his life to the service of the Lord, as though it makes her special. ‘Watch your step,’ she says to herself, ‘mind how you hold yourself and bear yourself.’ ‘For the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed’ – if I crow and boast like Peninnah or anybody else, God will see and God will know my spirit is wrong, and I'm not giving him the glory, but taking pride in myself.’ Others believe she is referring to Peninnah, but, if so, then only as an example of the hostile attitude that exists in the unbeliever against the believer. She is thinking of the state of all the saints on earth (verse 9). Given her godly spirit and the elevated expression of her prayer, we cannot read into Hannah’s words simply feelings of bitter revenge. This is a recognition of God’s justice in dealing with all those who persecute his people. Believers may have this assurance: that God sees all that they go through, and the vitriol directed against them, both collectively, and as individuals trapped for the time being in situations from which they cannot get away, and which they must suffer in hope. The believer can feel this way while at the same time praying for those who persecute them. Our greatest consolation is to know that God’s love is upon his children, and their trials will not last forever.Certainly Peninnah had spoken proudly when she has despised Hannah for her barrenness. She spoke as if children were not a gift from the Lord, and she judged her rival as if she was capable of reading her heart, and saw no more than a personal rivalry between two wives. The reality was that Hannah was motivated by noble and God honouring desires which Peninnah was not capable of understanding. She who was allowed to prevail for a time would be left far behind when it came to doing something for the cause of God.