1 Samuel 2:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 2:10
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.
properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֞הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
pieces
חָתַתchâthath
H2865
properly
heaven
בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִםba.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
thunder
יַרְעֵ֔םyar.'Em
H7481
to tumble · verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
judge
יָדִ֣יןya.Din
H1777
a straight course · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ends
אַפְסֵי'af.sei-
H657
cessation · noun, common masculine plural construct
earth
אָ֑רֶץ'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
give
וְיִתֶּןve.yi.ten-
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
strength
עֹ֣ז'oz
H5797
strength in various applications (force · noun, common masculine singular absolute
king
לְמַלְכּ֔וֹle.mal.Ko
H4428
a king · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
exalt
וְיָרֵ֖םve.ya.Rem
H7311
to be high actively · conjunction + verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
horn
קֶ֥רֶןKe.ren
H7161
a horn (as projecting) · noun, common feminine singular construct
anointed
מְשִׁיחֽוֹme.shi.Cho
H4899
anointed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 2:9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psalms 89:24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
Psalms 18:13-14 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
Psalms 96:13 Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth…
Exodus 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
1 Samuel 7:10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great th…
Psalms 20:6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
Psalms 21:7-9 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 2:1-10
We have here Hannah's thanksgiving, dictated, not only by the spirit of prayer, but by the spirit of prophecy. Her petition for the mercy she desired we had before (Sa1 1:11), and here we have her return of praise; in both out of the abundance of a heart deeply affected (in the former with her own wants, and in the latter with God's goodness) her mouth spoke. Observe in general, 1. When she had received mercy from God she owned it, with thankfulness to his praise. Not like the nine lepers, Luk 17:17. Praise is our rent, our tribute. We are unjust if we do not pay it. 2. The mercy she had received was an answer to prayer, and therefore she thought herself especially obliged to give thanks for…
the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth . . . exalt the horn of his anointed--This is the first place in Scripture where the word "anointed," or Messiah, occurs; and as there was no king in Israel at the time, it seems the best interpretation to refer it to Christ. There is, indeed, a remarkable resemblance between the song of Hannah and that of Mary (Luk 1:46).
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:10
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken - Those who contend with him, מריביו meribaiu, by sinning against his laws, opposing the progress of his word, or persecuting his people.
Shall judge the ends on the earth - His empire shall be extended over all mankind by the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, for to this the afterpart of the verse seems to apply: He shall give strength unto his king, and shall exalt the horn of his Christ, or, as the Targum says, וירבי מלכות משיחיה viribbey malcuth Meshicheyh, "he shall multiply the kingdom of the Messiah." Here the horn means spiritual as well as secular dominion.
After the clause, The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, the Sep…
What are the ends of the earth, if not the furthest parts of this world? Indeed the Lord judges the ends of the earth, so that the sentence of His equity may leave nothing unpunished or unrewarded, because while He concludes the final things in judgment, He does not abandon anything that must be examined.
For it is written: "He himself shall judge the ends of the earth." The Lord justifies or condemns each person at the end and considers the outcome of all things, so that not even the sinner, if he or she truly repents, need despair of forgiveness, nor should the just person have confidence in his own sanctity.
His adversaries will fear the Lord, etc. He openly predicts the terrible day of the strict and final judgment; on that day, since His adversaries will fear the Lord, it is necessary now for us who do not yet see Him to humbly fear Him, so that then we may rejoice at His sight in majesty. But even today, the Lord thunders from the lofty and luminous pages of Holy Scripture, which His Spirit enriched, to chide the stubbornness of the wicked.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Hannah — Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. 1; 2). Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim, whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle…
Mary — Hebrew Miriam. (1.) The wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, called the “Virgin Mary,” though never so designated in Scripture (Matt. 2:11; Acts 1:14). Little is known of her personal history. Her…
Messiah — (Heb. mashiah), in all the thirty-nine instances of its occurring in the Old Testament, is rendered by the LXX. “Christos.” It means anointed. Thus priests (Ex. 28:41; 40:15; Num. 3:3), prophets (1…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Thunder — Often referred to in Scripture (Job 40:9; Ps. 77:18; 104:7). James and John were called by our Lord “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). In Job 39:19, instead of “thunder,” as in the Authorized Version,…
Barrenness · A reproach — A reproach
Hannah · Her hymn of praise — Her hymn of praise
Heaven · God: Sends his judgments from — God: Sends his judgments from
Horns · Illustrative: (Exalting,) of increase of power and glory
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces,.... Or Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, "shall break in pieces those that contend with him"; with the Lord, or with his people, or with Samuel particularly; for this may be considered as a prophecy of Hannah concerning her son, what God would do for him against his enemies, that should rise up, contend, and fight with him, as the Philistines; of whom Ben Gersom interprets it, whom the Lord discomfited and broke to pieces; see the literal fulfilment of this prophecy in 1 Samuel 7:1 in a spiritual sense all wicked men are the enemies of God, and of his people, and sooner or later shall be broken to pieces. Some, in a good sense; when they…
Hannah's song of praise. - The prayer in which Hannah poured out the feelings of her heart, after the dedication of her son to the Lord, is a song of praise of a prophetic and Messianic character. After giving utterance in the introduction to the rejoicing and exulting of her soul at the salvation that had reached her (Sa1 2:1), she praises the Lord as the only holy One, the only rock of the righteous, who rules on earth with omniscience and righteousness, brings down the proud and lofty, kills and makes alive, maketh poor and maketh rich (Sa1 2:2-8). She then closes with the confident assurance that He will keep His saints, and cast down the rebellious, and will judge the ends of the earth,…
The king was to fulfill the descriptions of 2:4-9 by using his God-given power to care for the oppressed, the hungry, and the barren (see Ps 72:1-4, 12-14; Prov 31:8-9). • he increases the strength: See study note on 1 Sam 2:1. • anointed one (Hebrew mashiakh): This climax to Hannah’s prayer is prophetic both of Israel’s anointed kings and of God’s supreme Anointed King—the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see 12:3-5; 24:6, 10; Ps 132:17; Dan 9:25-26).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 2:10
Let Him thunder against them from heaven. The spelling is עָלוּ "they have ascended" meaning that even if they have ascended to the heavens, He thunders upon them and casts them down.
May Adonoy judge the ends of the earth. He judges and punishes them. Justisier in O. F.
— Illustrative: (Exalting,) of increase of power and glory
Missionaries, All Christians Should Be As · Exemplified: Hannah — Exemplified: Hannah
Poetry · .Hannah’ s — .Hannah’ s
Praise · Of Hannah — Of Hannah
Psalms · Of Hannah, in thankfulness for a — Of Hannah, in thankfulness for a
Samuel · His mother’ s — His mother’ s
Satire · Hannah’ s — Hannah’ s
Titles And Names Of The Wicked · Adversaries of the Lord — Adversaries of the Lord
War · Threatens — Threatens
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
