Song of Hannah

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Song of Hannah

The Song of Hannah is a poem interrupting the prose

Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
text of the Books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

The Books of Samuel are part of the Tanakh and also of the Christianity Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew language, and the Book of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles....
. According to the surrounding narrative, the poem (1 Samuel 2:1-10) was a prayer delivered by Hannah

Hannah (Bible)

Hannah was a wife of Elkanah mentioned in the Books of Samuel. According to the Hebrew Bible she was the mother of Samuel . The Hebrew word "Hannah" has many meanings and interpretations such as beauty or passion....
, to give thanks to God

Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton The letters, properly read from right to left , are:|-! Hebrew !! Letter name !! Pronunciation|-valign=top| ?'...
for the birth of her son, Samuel.

ah praises Yahweh

Yahweh

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Encyclopedia

The Song of Hannah is a poem interrupting the prose

Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
text of the Books of Samuel

Books of Samuel

Hannah (Bible)

Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton The letters, properly read from right to left , are:|-! Hebrew !! Letter name !! Pronunciation|-valign=top| ?'...
for the birth of her son, Samuel.

Contents and themes

Hannah praises Yahweh

Yahweh

Image:Tetragrammaton scripts.svg[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and Hebrew alphabet Yahweh is the English rendering of , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton that was proposed by the Hebrew scholar Gesenius in the 19th century....
, reflects on the reversals he accomplishes, and looks forward to his king.

Verses 4-5 contains three reversals. Stanley D. Walters notes that one is a "reversal of macho male prowess", one a "reversal of female longing" and one is "gender-neutral and universal".

There is a movement in this song from the particular to the general. It opens with Hannah's own gratitude for a local reversal, and closes with God's defeat of his enemies – a cosmic reversal.

Through the theme of reversal, the Song of Hannah functions as an introduction to the whole book. Keil and Delitzsch argue that Hannah's experience of reversal was a pledge of how God "would also lift up and glorify his whole nation, which was at that time so deeply bowed down and oppressed by its foes."

The reference to a king in verse 10 has provoked considerable discussion. A. F. Kirkpatrick argues that this does not imply a late date for the song, since "the idea of a king was not altogether novel to the Israelite mind" and "amid the prevalent anarchy and growing disintegration of the nation, amid internal corruption and external attack, the desire for a king was probably taking definite shape in the popular mind."

Walter Brueggemann

Walter Brueggemann

Walter Brueggemann is an American Old Testament scholar and author. Born in Tilden, Nebraska the son of a United Church of Christ minister. Brueggemann received an A.B....
suggests that the Song of Hannah paves the way for a major theme of the Book of Samuel, the "power and willingness of Yahweh to intrude, intervene and invert."

Identity of persons referred to in the song

Samuel

According to some contributors to the Classical Rabbinical literature, the first half of the poem was a prophecy, predicting Samuel's later role as a prophet, that her great grandson would be a musician in the Jerusalem Temple

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, and a The Third Temple features in Jewish eschatology....
, that Sennacherib

Sennacherib

Sennacherib Rise to power As a crown prince, Sennacherib was placed in charge of the empire while his father Sargon II was on campaign....
would destroy the Kingdom of Israel

Kingdom of Israel

The Kingdom of Israel was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It existed roughly from the 930s BC until about the 720s BC....
, that Nebuchadrezzar

Nebuchadrezzar II

Nebuchadnezzar II, also called King Nebuchadnezzar The Second , was a ruler of Babylon in the Chaldean Dynasty, who reigned c. 605 BC-562 BC....
would fall from power, and that the Babylonian Captivity

Babylonian captivity

The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, is the name typically given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 586 BCE....
would come to an end .

Saul

According to some textual scholars

Textual criticism

Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the Writing of manuscripts....
, the Song of Hannah actually refers to the birth of Saul

Saul

Saul or Shaul may also refer to:...
, with Samuel's name having been substituted awkwardly for Saul in the preceding narrative; the text is sometimes considered by biblical scholars

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources we...
to be more likely to have originally been a song of praise directed at a king than a prayer referring to the birth of a prophet. Its seemingly non-prayer-like nature was noticed by classical scholars, who believed that Hannah's prayer was silent and unrecorded, and that the Song of Hannah was what was said afterwards .

David

Although the "king" of verse 10 is left unspecified, the blessing to the king and to the anointed forms a clear parallel with 2 Samuel 22, which finishes with Yahweh

Yahweh

Use

In Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
the song of Hannah is regarded as the prime role model for how to pray

Jewish services

Jewish services are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
, and is read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Judaism New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, as ordained in the Torah, in ....
as the haftarah

Haftarah

The haftarah or haftorah is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Judaism....
. The poem has several features in common with the Magnificat

Magnificat

The Magnificat is a canticle frequently sung liturgy in Christian church services. The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth....
, which was sung in early Christian circles (and continues to be regularly sung or said in many Christian denominations). These common features include the themes, and the order in which they appear; many textual scholars believe that the Magnificat is essentially just a copy of the Song of Hannah, together with part of a previous prayer of Hannah referring to herself as a handmaiden (1 Samuel 11a), which have been paraphrased to be more succinct.