Some scattered thoughts:
1 Samuel 1:
“And Hannah prayed and said,
- “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD.
- My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation…
- The bows of the mighty are broken,
- but the feeble bind on strength.
- Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
- but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
- The barren has borne seven,
- but she who has many children is forlorn.
- The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.
- He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.
- For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world.
- “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
- but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.
- The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven.
Luke 1:
“And Mary said,
- “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
- for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
- For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
- for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
- He has shown strength with his arm;
- he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
- he [has] exalted those of humble estate;*
- and brought down the mighty from their thrones
- he has filled the hungry with good things,
- and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.””
*flipped with following line
In Mary’s song, structurally, we have two main sections, each capped by references to God’s mercy and faithfulness toward Israel. In the first, the focus is on the Lord’s strength and holiness, and on Mary’s place as the one experiencing the very social upheaval- the “humble” becoming “blessed”- described in section two.
And this blessing is itself a participation in the life and person of her unborn child. The reason the scattered are made strong and the humble exalted and the hungry filled is because the Lord himself becomes humble, hungry, and poor and is himself glorified. Mary’s blessedness is more an anticipation of her future union with her Son than her current union as his mother.
Mary clearly understands this is about more than her personal blessing. Israel cries out for mercy under the leadership of a corrupt priesthood (just like Hannah), among gentile oppressors (just like Hannah). The Lord, remembering his people, is fulfilling the promises he made to Abraham generations ago.
Peter Leithart:
Hannah means “favored one”…but her condition contradicts he name: How could the favored one be barren? In her barrenness, Hannah takes her place with the wives of the patriarchs. Sarah was barren, Rebekah was barren, Rachel was barren. In Genesis, the woman’s barrenness was not only an emotional or family problem but threatened the fulfillment of God’s promise of an abundant seed to inherit the land. Barrenness is significant ultimately because of God’s promise to raise up a “seed of a woman” to crush the serpent’s head… as long as Sarah was barren, the promise was not being fulfilled. Without a son, there is no future for Israel… Israel was Hannah, the favored one, of Yahweh. How indeed can the favored one be barren?
How can the favored one be barren? Because, says Leithart, Israel was unfaithful.
Hannah knows that only Yahweh “kills and makes alive (2:6)”
If Hannah hoped to rejoice as a mother of children, she knew she had to appeal to the only one who could bring life from the dead… Hannah’s prayer was an admission of her impotence, an acknowledgement that she could do nothing to open the closed door of her womb.
Just as Elizabeth’s son John is the final prophet who prepares the way for his cousin, so Elizabeth is the last in a long line of barren Israelite women. But Mary, the favored one, is not barren, but a virgin. Mary’s pregnancy is miraculous for precisely the opposite reason of Elizabeth and Sarah – not because she is too old to bear a child, but because she is too young.
Whereas Hannah’s song completes and fulfills her earlier cry for a son, Mary’s song is the the overflow of unexpected grace.
Elizabeth and her son are the end of the Law, the end of silence, the end of the empty womb. In her we hear the echo of the barren women, feel the hunger, the poverty, the humility of Advent.
Mary and her Son are the beginning of a new age, a new covenant, a new life. In Him we experience the presence, the immanence, the light, and the glory of Christmas.
Lernings 