(Continued-Chapter III-Early Rays of Messianic Glory)

Moses was a great intercessor. Had it not been for this fact Israel would have been blotted out of the land of the living.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These are thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people" (Ex. 32:7-14).

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book" (Ex. 32:33).

"And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Lord art in the midst of this people; for thou Lord art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great according as Thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word (Num. 14:11-20).

"Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach,
To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them (Ps. 106:23).

From these quotations we see that Israel owes her very existence to the intercessory ministry of the man Moses. In the great servant prediction (Isa. 53:12) we see that Messiah will make fervent prayer in behalf of transgressors. "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). As Israel owed her life to the intercession of Moses, so, according to this verse, she will owe her continued existence and blessing to Messiah.

A people without a competent leader is like sheep without a shepherd. In order to prepare a leader, the Lord providentially placed Moses in the royal palace of Pharaoh where he had every advantage of the day. But he needed additional training; hence in the same providential manner the Lord brought it about that Moses had to care for the sheep of his father-in-law for forty years. Such an experience was of inestimable value to him in preparing him to be the leader of Israel. He not only became acquainted with the geography of the Sinaitic peninsula but had the time to meditate and commune with his God. His duties with the sheep developed characteristics that were indispensable to his great life's work of leading his people out of bondage.

Though the record states that the Lord led Israel, He did it by causing "his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses" (Isa. 63:12). In fact, in giving him his call the Lord said, "And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee."

Messiah likewise is to be leader of Israel. Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord pled with His people saying, "Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples" (Isa. 55:3,4).

In the discussion of the five outstanding points given above, I have briefly called attention to the more important analogies between Moses and Messiah. One writer has listed as many as twenty-four points of similarity. But these facts are sufficient to show that the prediction was not fulfilled by any of Israel's prophets of whom we read in Tenach. Nevertheless we may be certain that the oracle will be fulfilled to the very letter.

An objection has been raised against the individual interpretation of this passage by certain ones who see this forecast as a succession of prophets. To place such a construction upon the language is to force upon it a strained and unnatural meaning. Since prophet is in the singular number, one should accept its primary meaning unless the context demands a figurative or secondary signification. Since, as has been seen, Moses occupied a unique position approximated by none other, we are forced to accept the individual interpretation of the oracle.

The ancient rabbis interpreted this passage personally and messianically, as we have already seen from the rabbinical quotations at the beginning of this section.

The next advance in the development of the messianic idea is found in Hannah's song of praise spoken when she dedicated her God-given son Samuel to the Lord.

"And Hannah prayed, and said:
My heart exulteth in the Lord,
My horn is exalted in the Lord;
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;
Because I rejoice in thy salvation.
There is none holy as the Lord;
For there is none besides thee,
Neither is there any rock like our God.
Talk no more so exceeding proudly;
Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth;
For the Lord is a God of knowledge,
And by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty men are broken;
And they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread,
And they that were hungry have ceased to hunger:
Yea, the barren hath borne seven;
And she that hath many children languished.
The Lord killeth, and maketh alive:
He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.
The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich:
He bringeth low, he also lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,
To make them sit with princes,
And inherit the throne of glory:
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
And he hath set the world upon them.
He will keep the feet of his holy ones;
But the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;
For by strength shall no man prevail.
They that strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
Against them will he thunder in heaven:
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
And he will give strength unto his king,
And exalt the horn of his anointed (I Sam. 2:1-10)

By the Spirit of God Hannah* was enabled to discern in her own experience an application of the great principles of God's government of the world. Professor Delitzsch has most accurately stated the case in the following words: "She sees in her elevation from disgrace to honour the wonderful power of God, which humbles the high and exalts the lowly; for that is the manner of the true poet, to idealize his experiences, that is, to place them under a universal point of view, and to behold the great in the small, the whole in the individual, the essential in the accidental."--Messianic Prophecies, p. 75.

Hannah's own experience was only the starting point from which the Spirit led her through the entire course of human history to the final consummation of the present age. As she in vision was escorted through the centuries, she beheld the mighty workings of God among men, who humbles the proud, dethrones the wicked, and raises up the lowly. Her vision closed with the final and complete overthrow of the wicked and the permanent establishment of the messianic kingdom. This panoramic view of history, especially as it relates to Israel, is most beautifully expressed in Keil's Commentary on the Books of Samuel.

"This psalm is the mature fruit of the Spirit of God. The pious woman, who had gone with all the earnest longings of a mother's heart to pray to the Lord God of Israel for a son, that she might consecrate him to the lifelong service of the Lord, 'discovered in her own individual experience the general laws of the divine economy, and its signification in relation to the whole history of the kingdom of God' (Auberlen, p. 564). The experience which she, bowed down and oppressed as she was, had had of the gracious government of the omniscient and holy covenant God, was a pledge to her of the gracious way in which the nation itself was led by God, and a sign by which she discerned how God not only delivered at all times the poor and wretched who trusted in Him out of their poverty and distress, and set them up, but would also lift up and glorify His whole nation, which was at that time so deeply bowed down and oppressed by its foes. Acquainted as she was with the destination of Israel to be a kingdom, from the promises which God had given to the patriarchs, and filled as she was with the longing that had been awakened in the nation for the realization of these promises, she could see in spirit, and through the inspiration of God, the king whom the Lord was about to give to His people, and through whom He would raise it up to might and dominion" (p. 29).

A casual glance at the facts concerning the private life of Hannah (I Sam. 1:1-28) indicates that she was bowed down with sorrow because of the taunts and persecutions of Peninnah together with the reproach which she endured at the hands of her neighbors. With an undaunted faith she went to the sanctuary of God at Shiloh and poured out her bitter complaint to her Lord. In answer to her earnest petition He gave her a son whom she in turn presented to Him for life service. On this occasion her heart overflowed with joy as she dedicated the darling of her heart to the Lord.

The following study of this hymn of praise will reveal the fact that Hannah with her long, bitter experience of barrenness and reproach, which finally terminated in the joys of deliverance, typified Israel whose age-long persecutions will culminate in "the day of Jacob's trouble" from the throes of which Messiah will deliver her. This principle finds many applications throughout the Tenach. One may verify this conclusion by investigating the lives of many of the outstanding leaders of Israel. In fact, the entire history of the Chosen People is but a great fabric of providential circumstances into which the Lord constantly wove the events of the lives of His faithful heroes in order to typify the future course and final deliverance of His people.

The poem naturally divides into four strophes. The first consists of verse 1:

"And Hannah prayed, and said:
My heart exulteth in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord;
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;
Because I rejoice in thy salvation."

"God manifests Himself as holy in the government of the kingdom of His grace by His guidance of the righteous to salvation (see Ex. 19:6). But holiness is simply the moral reflection of the glory of the one absolute God." The God of Israel is the only true God--beside Him there is none other (2 Sam. 22:32).

He is צּוּר Rock. Throughout the Tenach the Lord constantly used this symbol in referring to Himself. Among all peoples a rock is thought of as firm, unchanging, and enduring. Hence it is natural that they should use this symbol to express the idea of His immutability. Among the many places where this symbol appears, the following passages may be mentioned: Deuteronomy 32:4,15; Psalms 18:2.

Several times אֶבֶן stone occurs. What is its significance? In Isaiah 8:13,14 the following quotation is found: "The Lord of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." In this statement the Lord specifically calls Himself both אֶבֶן a stone and צּוּר a rock. Since He does not mix His figures and symbols, we may be positive that stone אֶבֶן likewise is a symbol of God in those passages where it occurs without rock צּוּר. For instance, it appears alone in Psalm 118:22, "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner," and in Isaiah 28:15,16, "Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; . . . therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste."

In verse 3 Hannah exhorted those exulting over her humble condition and persecuting her to cease their arrogancy and proud boasting. She knew that one's attitude toward God and man together with his conduct determines the Lord's attitude and actions toward him. "With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect; With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward" (Ps. 18:25,26). God can and does brook a certain amount of boastfulness. Nevertheless the limit of His endurance is finally reached. "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation" (Ex. 34:6,7). When, however, His indignation is aroused, He takes things into His own hands and deals with those involved upon the basis of their just deserts. At the same time, He knows who are His faithful servants and how to protect them during the outpouring of His wrath.

"The Lord is a jealous God and avengeth; the Lord avengeth and is full of wrath; the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: the Lord hath his way in the whirl-wind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him. But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness" (Nahum 1:2-8).

The passage just quoted is a statement of the general principles upon which the Lord acts in His dealings with humanity. But when the arrogancy of man reaches the point of a general disregard for the Lord and His holy Word and of a prevailing blasphemous attitude such as is foretold in Psalm 2, "The Lord will go forth as a mighty man; he will stir up his zeal like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout aloud; he will do mightily against his enemies" (Isa. 42:13). The result of His warfare against the proud sinners of earth is seen in the following graphic description.

"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For there Shall be a day of the Lord of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant imagery. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away. And men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth. In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isa. 2:10-22).

In the third line of verse 3 Hannah declared that the Lord is a God of knowledge, דַּעוֹת, knowledge, is in the plural number and conveys the idea that the Lord is omniscient. This fact is clearly taught in Psalm 139. Isaiah had to remind his fellow countrymen constantly that their innermost thoughts and their lives were like an open book before the Lord. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking. Why sayest thou, 0 Jacob, and speakest, 0 Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding" (Isa. 40:26-28).

"The bows of the mighty men are broken;
And they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;
And they that were hungry have ceased to hunger:
Yea, the barren hath borne seven;
And she that hath many children languisheth.
The Lord killeth, and maketh alive:
He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.
The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich:
He bringeth low, he also lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,
To make them sit with princes,
And inherit the throne of glory:
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
And he hath set the world upon them" (I Sam. 2:4-8).

This verse of our passage is also to be taken literally as well as in the sense presented above. A number of examples occur in the sacred Tenach. For instance, the judgment of God fell upon Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and others because of their rebellion. The slaying of 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army also illustrates this statement. The second part of the line, "He maketh alive," may be illustrated by those whom Elijah and Elisha restored to life. A further illustration is seen in the case of Hezekiah to whom the Lord granted an extension of fifteen years of life beyond his allotted time. The second line of this couplet, "He bringeth down to Sheol¹ and bringeth up," forms a commentary on the first. In many instances the judgment of God fell upon the disobedient and rebellious and swept them down into Sheol. In a few cases the Lord brought certain ones up from Sheol. Samuel's coming up to rebuke Saul is an illustration of this statement. Those whom Elijah and Elisha raised from the dead also corroborate this doctrine. Their restoration to life was and is a pledge and guarantee of the great future resurrection. Isaiah sounded the same glorious note: "Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead" (Isa. 26:19).

Footnotes:

* Upon a priori grounds alone the destructive critic has denied to Hannah this song and has tried to find an historical niche of a later date in which to place it. Since there is neither internal nor external evidence indicating that it should be denied to her and assigned to a later author who composed it in celebration of an entirely different occasion, we are logically bound to accept the prima facie testimony of the context and to recognize her as the human authoress.

¹ In the Tenach the place to which the soul went upon death is uniformily called Sheol. Among the many instances of its mention the reader may note the following: Gen. 37:35; Num. 16:20; Deut. 32:22, Job 3:1-19; Isa. 14:3-11.

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