Homily on 1 Samuel 1–2 1.9–1.19

But let us see with what prayer Hannah, that is, grace, consecrates him to God. We shall notice something new at the very beginning. For it says: “And Hannah prayed and said.” Yet I nowhere find her praying, as it were, to God or speaking to him except in two phrases only, where she says, “I rejoiced in your salvation,” and the other, “For there is none besides you.” The beginning runs thus: “My heart exulted in the Lord.” She did not say, “My heart exulted in you.” For if it were a prayer, it would follow that she should say, “My heart exulted in you.” And again in the following verse she says: “My horn is exalted in God.” She did not say, “My horn is exalted in you,” but “in God.” “My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoiced in your salvation.” One phrase, as I said, contains a prayer: “I rejoiced in your salvation”; and in what follows she does not say, “There is none holy but you,” but “There is none holy as the Lord is,” and “There is none besides you.” This wording does not seem to keep the form of prayer. At the end, under the appearance of a long supplication, she even introduces certain rebukes, saying: “Do not multiply speaking evil, nor let evil talk go out of your mouth, for the Lord is strong in knowledge.” Here she no longer seems to be speaking to the Lord. What, then, shall we say about this? Once, when I read in the Apostle that he said, “Pray without ceasing,” I asked whether this command could be fulfilled. For who can never stop praying, so as to have no time to take food or drink? For when these things are done, prayer seems to be interrupted. Nor does prayer, understood in the common way, allow under this command any leave for sleeping or for doing anything else that human need requires. Let us see, then, whether perhaps all the acts of one who is engaged in God’s service, and all the deeds and words that he does and says according to God, are to be counted as prayer. For if prayer is understood only as what we commonly know it to be, Hannah will not seem to have prayed in these words, and none of the righteous can ever pray without ceasing according to the Apostle’s command. But if every act of the righteous man that he does according to God and according to the divine commandment is counted as prayer, then, since the righteous man does what is righteous without ceasing, the righteous man will by this pray without ceasing and never cease from prayer, unless he ceases to be righteous. For when we do something unrighteous or sin, it is certain that at that time we also cease from prayer. I think we are taught this also in the Psalms, when it says: “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” For I do not think that if anyone lifts up or stretches out his hands to heaven (as is the usual posture of those who pray) he has thereby offered a sacrifice to God. But let us see whether this is perhaps what the word of God indicates there: that by hands works are meant. He lifts up his hands who lifts his deeds from the earth, and whose way of life, while he still walks on earth, is in heaven. Lofty and sublime deeds, then, at the sight of which people glorify the heavenly Father, are called the lifting up of hands and an evening sacrifice. Was this not taught in a mystery in the law too, when Israel prevailed while Moses lifted up his hands, but Amalek prevailed when he let them down and dropped them? “And all these things happened to them in figure, but they were written for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Therefore we ought to understand that as long as the servant of God lifts his deeds to God, the people of God prevails; but when he drops and lets down his hands, that is, his deeds, Amalek, the enemy of God, prevails. Or what do you think? (For I wish to linger a little with those who want these things understood not spiritually but according to the letter.) Must we think that almighty God looked at Moses’ hands, and if he saw them lifted up gave the victory to Israel, but if he saw them dropped down gave it to Amalek? Is it fitting to think so about the words of the Holy Spirit? Or should we not rather think that in these things he was prefiguring mysteries to come? That these things are to be understood of the mystery of the cross and the fastening of the Savior’s hands is indeed well worn and has often been discussed by many. But since one who lives according to the Gospel is commanded always to be renewed, and the New Testament ought always to be illumined with new meanings, and we are commanded to sing to the Lord a new song, and Paul did not say that our inner man is renewed and then stands still, but that it “is renewed day by day,” we too had to explain both the manner of prayer, how one is to pray without ceasing, and the lifting up of hands that is called an evening sacrifice, not only with customary and well-worn discussions but also with somewhat new ones.

Let us see, then, what this pattern of Hannah’s prayer means; if we learn it, perhaps we too will be able to pray in the same way. “My heart exulted,” she says, “in the Lord.” She had to add “in the Lord,” for there is an exultation that is not in the Lord, as it is also said: “Rejoice in …” For one can rejoice in fleshly things and not in the Lord. If I rejoice because I have found a visible treasure, that joy is of the flesh and not in the Lord. If I rejoice that people praise me, perhaps undeservedly, this is not rejoicing in the Lord. If I rejoice in fragile and perishable things, none of these is a praiseworthy joy. But if I rejoice because I have been counted worthy to suffer insult for the name of the Lord, that joy is in the Lord, for he himself said about this: “Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in heaven.” If I rejoice when unjust hatred is directed against me, if I rejoice when I am attacked because of the word of God, if I rejoice when I am chastised by sickness, persecution, and distress, if I receive all these gladly, that joy is in the Lord. And so Scripture teaches us to cast away earthly joys, fragile and perishable, and to exult in the Lord with eternal joys, so that we may rightly say what Hannah said: “My heart exulted in the Lord.” And since, while this was being said, one of those standing by was filled with an unclean spirit and cried out, so that the people ran together, let us also say with Hannah: “My heart exulted in the Lord.” The opposing spirit could not bear our exultation in the Lord, but wants to change it, so that by taking it away it may bring in sadness and prevent us from saying, “My heart exulted in the Lord.” But let us not be hindered; rather let us say more and more, “My heart exulted in the Lord,” and let us rejoice at this very thing, that we see unclean spirits scourged. For through these things too many are converted to the Lord, many are corrected, many come to the faith; there is nothing the Lord does without cause, and he allows nothing to happen in vain. For since there are many who do not believe the word nor accept the reasoning of doctrine, they are converted when a demon has leapt upon them, so that where sin abounded grace may abound all the more, and where the evil power has worked, there afterward the grace of the Lord may work the more. For when the grace of the Lord has driven out the evil spirit, it brings in the Holy Spirit, and the soul that had been filled with an unclean spirit is afterward filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, for all these things let us say: “My heart exulted in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God.” The righteous have, as it were, horns, which they use when they act or speak, as when they say: “In you we will toss our enemies with the horn.” In the Greek it says “we will butt with the horn,” or “we will toss.” And elsewhere it says: “And the horns of the righteous will be exalted.” We must, then, have these horns, which for just causes are joined to the arms of the cross of Christ, so that with them we may destroy and throw down the opposing powers from our soul; and when these have been laid low and driven out, a vineyard can be planted in us, for “a vineyard was made for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place.” So the horn of this righteous woman, grace, and of every righteous person, is exalted in the Lord. “My mouth is enlarged over my enemies.” It is written, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it,” and now this righteous woman says, “My mouth is enlarged.” If I have become capable and strong in the word and powerful in wisdom, so that I can refute, not with narrow assertions but with broad and abundant ones, every knowledge that exalts itself against the faith and truth of Christ; or if, refuting the unbelief or faithlessness of the Jews from the law and the prophets, I show that Jesus is the Christ, and can refute the enemies of the truth in all things, then I too can worthily say: “My mouth is enlarged over my enemies.” If Basilides challenges me to a contest and I crush him vigorously; if a disciple of Valentinus meets me and tosses me with questions, and I come out of that contest the victor; if, when these have been laid low, Marcion meets me and he too goes away defeated: “My mouth is enlarged over my enemies.” If, when these have been refuted, philosophers come at me, mocking the simplicity of our faith and crying out that we are ignorant and unlearned, and I turn to them too and with the strength of true wisdom scatter the fog of false and counterfeit wisdom, and destroy the wisdom not only of this world but also of the rulers of this world, then more fully “my mouth is enlarged over my enemies.” This, then, is the voice of a holy and perfect person, who can utter such a word supported by the facts themselves and by the truth, and say: “My mouth is enlarged over my enemies.” We must therefore first enlarge our mouth, so that God may fill it. And how do we first enlarge the mouth? By meditation on the divine word, so that we can advance so far as to come from the enlarging of the mouth to the enlarging of the heart too, and say with the Apostle: “My heart is enlarged toward you, O Corinthians.” For from breadth of heart abundance is supplied to the wise mouth.

“Because I rejoiced in your salvation.” If I have rejoiced in God’s salvation, then my mouth is enlarged over my enemies. “There is none holy as the Lord.” If it had been written, “There is none holy but the Lord,” it would follow that we must all renounce the hope of being made holy; but as it is, Scripture uses a necessary distinction and says, “There is none holy as …”: that is, though there are many holy ones, none is so holy as the Lord. Many, then, can become holy, as God’s commandment also says: “Be holy, for I too am holy.” But however far anyone advances in holiness, however much purity and sincerity he acquires, a human being cannot be holy as the Lord is; for he is the giver of holiness, the other its receiver; he is the fountain of holiness, the other one who drinks from the holy fountain; he is the light of holiness, the other one who beholds the holy light. And so “there is none holy as the Lord,” and “there is none besides you.” What it means by “there is none besides you” I do not fully grasp. If it had said, “There is no God besides you,” or “There is no creator besides you,” or added something of that kind, there would seem to be nothing to inquire into; but as it says, “There is none besides you,” it seems to me to indicate in this place that none of the things that exist has by nature this very thing, that it is. You alone are he to whom what you are was given by no one. For all of us, that is, the whole creation, were not before we were created, and so that we are is the will of the Creator. And since there was a time when we were not, it is not entirely right to say of us that we are, as regards the time when we were not. God alone is he who has always had what he is, and did not receive a beginning of being. Thus when Moses wished to learn from God what his name was, God taught him, saying: “I am who I am, and this is my name.” If, then, anything else among creatures could be called by this name or with this meaning, the Lord would never say that this was his name. For he knew that he alone is, while creatures received from him that they are. For a shadow, compared with a body, is not, and smoke, compared with fire, is not. So also the things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, are not, as regards the nature of God; as regards the will of the Creator, they are what he who made them willed them to be. Therefore it is said: “Besides you there is none.”

“There is none mighty as God, our God.” This is like what was said above, that “there is none holy as the Lord.” For as there it did not say that no one is holy, but that none is holy as the Lord, to show that though there are holy ones, no one is so holy as the Lord is; so in this place too, though someone may be mighty, “there is none,” it says, “mighty as our God.”

“Do not multiply speaking lofty things.” Why did it not say, “Do not speak lofty things”? It is permitted me, then, to speak some lofty things, but not to multiply lofty and difficult things; for this seems to be indicated by the words, “Do not multiply speaking lofty things.” Let us consider what is meant by this. Human nature is not permitted to speak many lofty things, nor to understand many. For Solomon also says: “Do not seek what is too high for you, and do not search out what is too strong for you; but understand what you have been commanded.” So in this place too it speaks of “lofty things,” not so that you should not inquire at all, but so that you should not multiply questions about them. Considering the frailty of the human condition, let it suffice you to have inquired into or spoken of those lofty and difficult things that bring life to those who inquire or speak. What, then, are the matters in which I must speak lofty things? When I speak of God’s omnipotence, of his invisibility and eternity, I speak lofty things. When I declare the coeternity of his Only-begotten and his other mysteries, I speak lofty things. When I discuss the majesty of the Holy Spirit, I speak lofty things. In these alone are we allowed to speak lofty things. After these three, speak nothing lofty. For all things are lowly and abased compared with the loftiness of this Trinity. “Do not, then, multiply speaking lofty things,” except about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And to make what we say plainer, let us use examples, if you please. For instance, the Gentiles bring in many gods: they multiply speaking lofty things. Some of the heretics, abandoning the Creator of the world and his Son, invent for themselves some other higher god, I know not who, and likewise bring in others, whatever they call these gods. They too, then, multiply speaking lofty things.

“Let no boasting go out of your mouth.” See what the Apostle says: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” This may fittingly be said of every human being. For the race of mortals is wretched, since we are in danger not only in evil things but also in good things. For example: I have seen some good visions, and they became an occasion of pride to me. Signs and wonders have been performed through me, and I have become proud in good things. I have kept righteousness, continence, virtue, but in these I am in danger. For when the devil can do nothing else, he stirs up pride in me on account of all these, so that afterward I need an angel of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted and boasting go out of my mouth, that is, lest I speak great things of myself; for the Lord destroys deceitful lips and the boastful tongue of those who have said, “We have magnified our tongue.” “Let no boasting, then, go out of your mouth, for the Lord is strong in knowledge.”

“And they did not amend, making excuses.” As it is also said there: “Do not let my heart turn aside to evil words, to make excuses for sins with men who work iniquity.” And in Proverbs it says: “The lazy man takes pretexts and says, ‘There is a lion on the road, and murderers in the streets.’” We find, then, that sinners are such as accuse everything rather than themselves and invent excuses for themselves, when they say, “The devil tripped me up, the woman seduced me, that man gave me the occasion to sin,” when surely they ought to remember the commandment that says, “Tell your sins first, that you may be justified.” For excuses do not amend, neither here nor in the future, if we have done evil. But it seems necessary to touch on this too in passing, for it contains a wonderful sense, that it is written: “The righteous man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech,” whereas the unrighteous man is the accuser not of himself but of others. So the devil too is an accuser, but not of himself: of the brothers. Meanwhile it is necessary that all be accused; but if I am righteous, I do not wait for another to accuse me, but become my own accuser. Yet I should like to discuss more fully how the righteous man can be his own accuser. It is certain that as long as anyone sins and remains in his offenses, he is neither righteous nor his own accuser, for he does not accuse what he is doing. But when he has repented of his offenses, then he becomes righteous, and is the accuser not of another but of himself.

“The bow of the mighty is weakened.” The flaming darts of the evil one, as they are called, are shot by the bow of the mighty. The opposing powers are called mighty, and of them it is said: “For behold, sinners have bent the bow, and on it they have prepared instruments of death.” And again: “He has made his arrows for those who burn.” But now it is said that “the bow of the mighty is weakened.” For if you have put on the armor of God, if you are protected by the shield of faith and covered by the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of love, and girded with the sword of the Spirit, the bow of the mighty against you will be weakened in the face of such defenses. For if he shoots a single flaming dart at you, it is caught on the shield of faith and at once quenched. He shoots another dart: this too is driven back by the breastplate of righteousness. He shoots a third, and it is cut off by the sword of the Spirit. Perhaps he sends a fourth, and it likewise is thrown off by the helmet of salvation. And when the man of God, attacked through all of these, has remained unwounded, then the bow of the mighty, after so many shafts aimed at him, will be utterly weakened.

“And the weak are girded with strength.” If we see how God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong, you understand how the weak are girded with strength. The Gentile people was weak, since it was a stranger to God’s covenant; it has obtained strength. What strength? “The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation.” My strength, then, is Christ the Lord himself, with whom we are girded, we who were once strangers to God’s covenant and without God in this world.

“Those full of bread have been brought down into servitude.” It shows that to be full of bread is blameworthy, for “Jacob ate and drank and was filled and grew fat, and the beloved kicked.” “The hungry … in children has become weak.” I should like to see how the Jews, the champions of the letter, explain how she who is fruitful in children is made weak, and how the barren one has borne seven. But setting aside their fables, let us consider whether perhaps each of us has within himself the barren woman who has borne seven, and also the woman fruitful in children who is made weak. My flesh was fruitful in offspring, having very many fruits of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, provocations, dissensions. These were the numerous offspring of our flesh. But when we came to faith in the cross of Christ, and began to carry about in our body the dying of Jesus, to put to death our members that are on earth, and to present them to serve righteousness and sobriety, then the fruitfulness of this shameful generation was shut off; and in this way she who was fruitful in children was made weak. Let us see how the barren one bears seven. My soul was barren within me; it bore no fruits of righteousness. But now that through faith in Christ it has merited the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of righteousness and mercy has filled it, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord has filled it, it is certain that the barren one has borne seven and she who was fruitful in children has been made weak.

“The Lord puts to death and makes alive.” Whom does the Lord put to death, and whom does he make alive? He puts me to death when he makes me dead to sin, and he makes me alive when he makes me live to God. I was a sinner and lived in offenses. He put me to death to sins, he made me die to my former life, and he will make me alive, so that I may live in his fear, stand in his faith, and live no longer to sin but to God, who raised him from the dead, so that I may walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.