This article is the finale of the series, Inheritance and Influence: Women of the Promise.

Long before Mary sang of God bringing down the mighty from their thrones, a heartbroken woman in Shiloh prayed a prayer so bold it reshaped how we understand the power of God. While the personal narrative of 1st Samuel 1 centers on barrenness, tearful intercession, and open-handed surrender, 1st Samuel 2:1-10 steps back from telling one woman’s story and establishes a pattern that runs throughout the Bible. 

“And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.”

1 Samuel 1:14

The priesthood and general spiritual guidance in Shiloh were in shambles when Hannah came to make her offering and pray to God. Eli, the priest, engaged in immoral behavior himself and refused to restrain his sons, who abused their position and the people who came to the temple. Hannah’s grief and struggle cause her prayers to be in her mind, and while her lips are moving, she is not speaking or vocalizing the prayer. Eli, in his own guilt, accuses Hannah of being drunk. At the end of chapter one, we see God answering Hannah’s prayer and Hannah having the son she has long desired. The second chapter of 1st Samuel presents another prayer from Hannah. This prayer is one offered in joy and thanksgiving. 

“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.”

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah is overwhelmed with joy at the birth of her son. However, she recognizes that the victory is not hers but rather God’s. That out of her defeat and the agony she has suffered due to her barrenness, God has shown his power and his might. As Hannah’s prayer continues, she reflects on the frailty of man and the absolute authority of God. She begins, in verse 3, by addressing human pride and intellect. She states, “The Lord is a God of knowledge,” clearly indicating that God dismantles human arrogance and knowledge through his actions. She then moves to the physical aspects of the human experience. She declares God’s power to make the weak mighty, to make the hungry have plenty, and to make the poor rich. The core concept of her prayer is expressed in verse 6, where she states that God controls life and death. Hannah’s prayer is not a simple thanksgiving for the birth of her son, but a theological statement about the sovereign divinity of God.

Many years later, another woman would offer a prayer and a song of praise upon learning of the impending birth of her own son. In Luke 1:46-55, we have the record of what is called The Magnificat, which is the prayer and song of Mary of Nazareth. Hannah’s words in her prayer are echoed in Mary’s words. She also focuses on the exultation of God, the destruction of human arrogance, and the inversion of status.

“He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.” 

Luke 1:52-55

Mary was not inventing a new concept of God; she was stepping directly into the established redemptive pattern first voiced by Hannah. In both women, God’s method was not to use priests to proclaim the truth of his divinity, but rather to use faithful women who had received maternal blessings. The truth of his power remains consistent across centuries and both the New and Old Testament. 

As we turn back to Hannah’s prayer in 1st Samuel chapter two, there is one verse that deserves additional consideration. The events recorded in 1st Samuel chapter two took place during Israel’s pre-monarchical period. When necessary, Judges stepped in to offer guidance to Israel, but there was no king on the throne. Yet in 1st Samuel 2:10, Hannah makes a specific reference to a king and the anointed one. 

“The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel 2:10

This particular verse was not a prayer about the current state. Rather, it was a prophecy and a prayer about what would come to pass. The first fulfillment of this prophecy and prayer happened some 75 years later when Samuel was an old man. In 1st Samuel 16, it is Samuel, the child of Hannah, who brings forth David as the man God has chosen as the rightful king of Israel. God gave his strength and power to David to rule over Israel, bringing together all the tribes and focusing them on praising and obeying God. However, the complete fulfillment of Hannah’s prophecy and prayer happened with the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hannah is the very first person in Holy Scripture to explicitly use the term Mahiach, or Messiah/Annointed to describe Jesus Christ. Her personal act of yielding Samuel provides the prophet who will anoint David, whose line ultimately yields the true King of Kings.

Throughout the series, Inheritance and Influence: Women of the Promise, we have considered women who God called for a specific purpose in His Kingdom. Whether it was women who journeyed with Christ (Mary Magdalene and the Unnamed Collective), women who provided him earthly comfort and became disciples (Mary of Nazareth and Mary and Martha of Bethany), women who played vital roles in the early New Testament church (Phoebe, Priscilla, and others), women who showed great acts of courage and faith (Esther, Ruth, Rahab, Deborah), or women like Hannah who declared the righteous, sovereign authority of God each of these women are part of the peace and comfort we have in Jesus Christ today. In each one, God continually bypassed worldly systems, human prestige, and conventional strength to execute his providence, grace, and mercy.