Hannah's Song

11052 words long.

Published on 2024-04-13

Note: This article both summarizes and amplifies ideas first expressed in the chapter "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew. That is the final chapter and thus concludes in setting forth the most important ideas in that book. I consider discovering the meaning behind the words of the Prophetess Hannah to be one of the most important revelations to spring from all my years of studying the Bible. Of all the words in the Bible touching on the subject of God's wisdom, hers may be the most profound.

One Wise Woman

Everyone wants to be the greatest. Yet how can you become the greatest at something unless you know who holds the current title? That is why we keep lists. The Guinness Book of World Records is the bible for people of ambition. We Christians have our own Bible, which tells us that Solomon was the wisest man who every lived (besides Jesus, according to Matthew 12:42). Good luck beating him out!

Isn't it curious that the Bible never tells us who was the wisest woman of all time? We have the words of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs, but she is not a real person (or so we think). She could be one of the Seven Spirits of God given in Isaiah 11:2, but that either makes her an angel or a facet of the Holy Spirit.

If we could call up Solomon, would he know? Oh dear...

Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher,

while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things—

which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found.

One man among a thousand I found,

but a woman among all these I have not found.

- Ecclesiastes 7:27-28

Solomon couldn't find ANY wise women!

Can we do better? First, we need to have a way to measure her wisdom. Let's assess what was unique in the contributions given by several wise men, then see if any women come close in offering anything comparable.

From my study of Ecclesiastes, I discovered a seven-part Growth Pattern. This pattern of Solomon's, distilled from the twenty-eight times of Ecclesiastes 3, describes the phases of life that all people go through from birth to maturity. It also speaks prophetically about the rise and fall of civilizations. Pretty cool, eh? (See Peace, like Solomon Never Knew for details, or elsewhere on this website for a summary.)

From my study of Matthew and Job, I discovered a seven-part Harvest Pattern, taught by Jesus through his parables. It teaches us how to overcome obstacles and reap a spiritual harvest. It also has prophetic ramifications and governs the order of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

While not the wisest, Moses was very wise. He gave us the Ten Commandments. In Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace, I showed how the plagues and commandments define the structure for God's acts of judgment against a series of world empires. They also prophesy the cadence of God's judgments against Israel and the Church. Furthermore, those commandments govern the organization of material in the Gospel of Matthew. (See the chapter "Matthew and the Law of Christ" in Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace for evidence to support this, as well as the following assertion.) Lastly, the Growth and Harvest Patterns each fit within the commandments, snug as a bug in a rug.

Collectively, Moses, Solomon and Jesus gave us the principal prophetic patterns that frame Lady Wisdom's House. Is there a lady out there who is in their league?

Yes!

Her name is Hannah.

A Woman of Sacrifice

Hannah was not on my radar until shortly after I discovered the Pillars of Wisdom. I was seeking additional supporting evidence to bolster my claims. Thus I searched the Bible for every mention of the word pillar to see if they had anything to add or subtract from my ideas. This led me to Hannah. Her short prayer of ten verses is uplifting, indicates great faith, but never conveyed to me the ring of significance and gravitas that I found in an Isaiah or Jeremiah.

Truth be told, I never appreciated how wise Solomon was until after years spent deciphering his words. I knew of Solomon's wisdom by reputation, not by experience. My conclusion was humbling:

You cannot appreciate how wise someone is unless you possess like wisdom.

Though I am not as wise as Solomon, I am now much wiser than I was when I was younger. As my wisdom has grown, so too has my estimation of how great and subtle are the words of that king. This is no different from my attitude towards Hannah. She appears in only two chapters, 1 Samuel 1-2.

In the first chapter, we learn that Hannah, like Job, suffers a sovereign affliction. It says that the Lord had closed her womb. Like Job, she also endured scorn for her condition, from her husband's other wife. The distress that this caused could have embittered her, destroyed her faith and made her lash out. Instead, by her suffering her true self was revealed and perfected. She prayed. She fasted. She wept before the Lord. She offered a double sacrifice. Then she made a vow.

And she vowed a vow and said,

“O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed

look on the affliction of your servant

and remember me

and not forget your servant,

but will give to your servant a son,

then I will give him to the Lord

all the days of his life,

and no razor shall touch his head.”

- 1 Samuel 1:11

Can you imagine a powerless woman going up to her husband and saying that she has just made a unilateral decision. She is going to become a surrogate mother, give the baby up shortly after it is born, and not be paid a cent? That is what Hannah was promising God. Abraham was asked to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice, but at the last minute was given a ram to exchange for the life of his son. Hannah actually gave away her firstborn son. In my book, her faith was every bit as great as that of Abraham's.

In her prayer, Hannah, like Job, longs to be heard by God. In Job Rises: Thirteen Keys to a Resilient Life, I catalogued the many ways that a person can communicate with God or God talk back in response. Two powerful ways are suffering and sacrifice. Suffering is one way that God communicates great wisdom to us, but it only works if you retain your faith; only by faith can you hear what God is saying. Sacrifice is one way that we speak to God. It demonstrates our loyalty, resolve and sincerity.

Hannah went above and beyond. I would not have understood this about Hannah had I not had my own miraculous experience of healing with God. Just as God sealed up Hannah's womb, He took away all hearing in my left ear for a month in 2005. He led me to read Exodus 4, where it says that God makes people deaf. Once I realized that it was God's will that I be deaf in that ear (and possibly lose hearing in my other ear), what did I do?

I trusted God. I believed that He had a good plan for me, whether to heal me or not. Sitting in the doctor's office, I felt peace. My body was damaged but I left that office with a heart that was whole. In an act of surrender, I also stopped praying for God to heal me.

Two days later my hearing returned. Compare this to Hannah's story:

Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved,

and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be

a drunken woman. And Eli said to her,

“How long will you go on being drunk?

Put your wine away from you.”

But Hannah answered,

“No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit.

I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink,

but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.

Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman,

for all along I have been speaking out of my

great anxiety and vexation.”

Then Eli answered,

“Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition

that you have made to him.”

And she said,

“Let your servant find favor in your eyes.”

Then the woman went her way and ate,

and her face was no longer sad.

- 1 Samuel 1:13-18

Without dream or vision, angelic visit, miracle or theophany, Hannah believed. She ended her fast and was no longer sad. She walked away from Shiloh with the same peace that I had when I left my doctor's office. That is the measure of Hannah's faith.

A Woman of Power

When a person endures great suffering and yet holds fast to God in faith, they receive a power from on high that can transform the people around them. I first learned this lesson from Janet Sullivan, a member of our church who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. I visited her at her nursing facility in Somerville, MA. I have never seen someone in such physical pain. Mere months away from death, she held fast to her faith. Right up until the end, she bore witness to Jesus Christ when friends and family visited her. All she asked of me when I visited was that I read to her from the Bible. Like Job, God's words were more precious to her than anything else in this world. After I left her place the first time, I was overcome with weeping. I have never cried so hard as I did for that poor woman.

But she was not poor! A half hour after I left her, as I walked over the BU Bridge near my church, joy flooded my soul. It remained for a whole week. At her funeral, one of her friends said something with which we all agreed. "When you were with Janet, it was like the Holy Spirit was pouring out of her."

The day I met Janet Sullivan, I was delivered from ten years of depression. A suffering, faithful Christian is like a broken jar of perfume; they fill the whole house with their aroma. It was this insight, learned by Janet's example, that unlocked a huge part of the book of Job for me. It solved the mystery of whether Elihu spoke for God or himself. You see Job was another broken jar of perfume. The Holy Spirit poured out of Job and into Elihu, enabling Elihu to prophecy the truths that would comfort Job.

For I am full of words;

the spirit within me constrains me.

Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins ready to burst.

I must speak, that I may find relief;

I must open my lips and answer.

- Job 32:18-20

Can't you just feel the power of the Holy Spirit stirring within him, impossible to be contained? That is the power that flows out of the suffering but faithful soul. And what power did the Lord grant Job in the end? As near as I can tell, Job was the first person in history to whom God gave the authority and power to forgive sins. On top of that, Job's book is believed to be older than Genesis, the first book of the Bible to be written. All that God gave to Job.

With all that as background, what did God give Hannah?

For one, he gave her the wisdom to raise a righteous son. After Samuel was weaned, she delivered him into the care of Eli to live at the temple in Shiloh. What kind of a father was Eli? God took the lives of his two sons because they were selfish and profane, disgracing the office of priest entrusted to them. Any good character that Samuel learned, he learned from his mother Hannah. To the Jews of that time, a child may be weaned anywhere from age two to five. So Hannah had Samuel for no more than five years. So great was her love and example of faith that her influence remained with him the rest of his life.

Lady Wisdom says in Proverbs, "By me kings reign." Samuel would anoint first Saul and then David to the kingship. Without Hannah's faith and sacrifice, there would be no prophet Samuel.

After Hannah gave away her son, she could have mourned her loss the rest of her days. She could have retreated into melancholy, regretting her decision. Instead she uttered ten verses so subtle, I doubt I will ever plumb their depths of profundity and power...

A Woman of Prophecy

In the verses that follow, I have added section headings. There is a story behind the words that I chose, which we shall get to soon. In what follows, Hannah speaks of seven reversals, of a world turned upside down. What few realize is that it is her words of power that changed the world. They are God's words and God's power, but he gave them to her and she made them her own. After you read them, I will explain how these words take the kernels of wisdom from Moses, Solomon and Jesus and weave them into a single fabric. That means that Hannah spoke out words whose wisdom equals the sum of the wisdom of those three men's words.

That makes Hannah one of the two wisest women who ever lived. (Have I hooked you yet?)

Introduction

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.

² “There is none holy like the Lord:

for there is none besides you;

there is no rock like our God.

³ Talk no more so very proudly,

let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the Lord is a God of knowledge,

and by him actions are weighed.

First Reversal: Security & Preparation

⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken,

but the feeble bind on strength.

Second Reversal: Ability & Plowing

⁵ Those who were full

have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry

have ceased to hunger.

Third Reversal: Stability & Planting

The barren has borne seven,

but she who has many children is forlorn.

Fourth Reversal: Amity & Pouring

⁶ The Lord kills and brings to life;

he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Fifth Reversal: Opportunity & Plucking

⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low and he exalts.

Sixth Reversal: Community & Producing a Harvest

⁸ 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.

Interlude

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,

and on them he has set the world.

Seventh Reversal (a chiasm): Loyalty & Peace

⁹ “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.

¹⁰ The adversaries of the Lord

shall be broken to pieces;

against them he will thunder in heaven.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;

he will give strength to his king

and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

- 1 Samuel 2:1-10

The Big picture

What is the big picture? In a riddle, Hannah prophesied the existence of the seven pillars of wisdom before six of them had been written. Her prophecy was delivered a century before Solomon wrote Proverbs, where they are finally named explicitly. You don't see it?

In verse 5, we have "The barren has borne seven." This verse is close to the heart of Hannah. She was "the barren" and now she is not, praise God! Seven means completeness, an overflowing harvest of children. From this part of Hannah's riddle we get the number seven.

We know that the second half of verse eight is significant because it breaks pattern. It interrupts the seven reversals of fortune, falling between the sixth and the seventh. In verse 8 we read, "For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world." From this part of Hannah's riddle we get the pillars. From Proverbs we know that it is upon wisdom that God established the heavens and the earth. Wisdom is their foundation. Thus by appearing just before the seventh reversal and because of the emotional connection of Hannah to the verse about the barren bearing seven, we have the seven pillars of wisdom.

The Introduction

If a little wordplay was all it took to match Hannah's prayer to the seven pillars of wisdom, her words would be curious, but not profound. The above connection that I found to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom is merely what drew me in. Once I made the initial connection, the deeper meaning tumbled out.

• The prayer has ten verses. Each verse matches its corresponding commandment ala the Law Pattern, and in one case, matching Exodus plague. (I did not notice that concordance until I wrote this article.)
• The seven reversals match the seven phases of the Solomon's Growth Pattern. The name of the growth phase is the first word after the colon in the label for each reversal.
• The seven reversals also match the seven phases of Jesus' Harvest Pattern. The name of the Harvest Phase follows the ampersand in each reversal label.
• The seven reversals also correspond to seven eras of history, each lasting 480 years, beginning with Samuel's birth ca 1080 BC. They prophesy an important event in each era.
• The interlude corresponds to an eighth era of history lasting 120 years, an era that saw a marked improvement in the lot of women.

The three patterns, Harvest, Law and Growth, show up twice. First they are identified in the introduction, then laid out in detail in the reversals (or in the case of the Law pattern, the entire prayer).

The Harvest. Verse 1 says, "I rejoice in your salvation". In Matthew, Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest. Whether sending workers out into the harvest, or sending angels with nets, or sending disciples out with the Great Commission, Jesus is all about bringing in a harvest of souls. He is the savior and this verse tells us that the savior and his Harvest Pattern are here.

The Law. Verse 2 says, "There is no rock like our God." The Law is the foundation of Lady Wisdom's House, the bedrock which protects it from the storm. The Ten Commandments were carved upon tablets of stone. Then there are the words "there is none besides you". This echoes the commandment in Exodus 20:3, which says, "You shall have no other gods before me." This tells us that the Law Pattern is here.

Growth in Wisdom. Verse 3 says, "for the Lord is a God of knowledge". This explicitly focuses us on wisdom, Solomon's specialty.

The body of the prayer has seven reversals, signifying a struggle, even a war. The introduction describes the combatants in three opposing pairs.

1. The first pair of adversaries are Hannah's own heart, which is "in the Lord" and her enemies, whose hearts are not. When she says that her "horn is exalted", that brings to mind the trumpets blown to announce a charge.
2. The second pair of adversaries are the Lord God, who is like a rock, and what? Nothing! Nothing can oppose him for there is "none holy like the Lord".
3. The third pair of adversaries are proud, arrogant talkers on the one hand, and the "God of knowledge" on the other. The declaration "by him actions are weighed" carries us into the body of the prayer, where God's actions of exalting the weak will be compared to the actions of those who oppose him. The seven reversals are like the scales God uses to weigh all men's deeds.

I completely overlooked the introductory verses in my analysis in Peace. When solving riddles, it is not wise to overlook anything.

Hannah Understands the Law

The weighing of actions spoken of in verse 3 speaks to the very function of Law. Now consider its particulars.

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Verse	Commandment	Connection to Hannah's Prayer
1	No other Gods	Hannah prays, "My heart exults in the Lord... I rejoice in your salvation." She had no place in her heart for any God but her savior. The preamble to the Ten Commandments reminded the Israelites that God brought them out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. They had only one savior and so did Hannah.
2	No idols	Hannah prays, "There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God." Pagan fools worship statues made of rock, but theirs is the wrong rock.
3	No vain speech	Hannah prays, "talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." No verse of her prayer better captures its commandment than this!
4	Keep the Sabbath holy	Hannah prays, "the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength." The sabbath is about entering God's rest. Rest helps you become strong and recover from the hard labors of life. God gives us the sabbath so that we may bind on strength.
5	Honor father & mother	Hannah prays, "The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn." God honored Hannah by enabling her to become a mother.
6	No murder	Hannah prays, "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up." God's punishment for murder is death, here executed without hesitation.
7	No adultery	Hannah prays, "The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts." This says nothing about sexual sin, yet consider what Peter said. "They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!" (2 Peter 2:14) Greed is spiritual adultery. The rich in Hannah's words are committing the adultery of greed.
8	No theft	Hannah prays, "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." How many of the needy got that way because the powerful stole from them?
9	No lying	Hannah prays, "the wicked shall be cut off in darkness". The ninth plague on Egypt was the plague of darkness. Darkness symbolizes the lies that make people stumble like they are in the dark, while light symbolizes truth that shows the way.
10	No coveting	Hannah prays, "against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth." Where in the Bible does God thunder the most? In Exodus, Job and Revelation. This speaks of the final judgment. While covetousness is not named explicitly, Romans, Ephesians Colossians and James single out covetousness as the prototypical form of idolatry. It shows up last on many lists, indicating that it forms the core of our rebellion.

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When it occurred to me to check whether the commandments line up with Hannah's prayer, I expected to not find a match. A quick internet search did not turn up anyone else making this connection. What are the odds that something so strikingly simple as this for the structure of her speech has never been seen before? I spent hours analyzing this prayer a few years ago and never spotted it. How happy am I that God showed this to me!

What can we take away from this? Hannah firmly believed that the basis of her hope was God's law. His law is His bond. It is His promise. She saw that law not as a set of constraints, but as the liberating force that it really is. Oh, how wonderful is her great cry of relief! The barren has borne seven! How marvelous that it lines up with the command to honor your father and mother. She saw that we do not honor our parents alone. God steps in alongside us and brings honor to parents by his love and grace. His grace made Hannah, whose name means grace, into a gracious mother who poured her heart into loving a son whom she could not keep. And God still honors mothers today, just as he did Hannah long ago.

Hannah Understands Motherhood

When you look at the whole prayer, not skipping the introduction, you also see how Hannah weaves in the metaphor of pregnancy. Yes, she speaks of the barren woman bearing seven, but it goes beyond that one verse. If we look at the structure of the prayer, there are changes at these positions:

• between the third and fourth verses we go from oppositions to reversals
• in the middle of the eighth verse, between the sixth and seventh reversals, we have the interlude about the pillars of the earth
• the ninth and tenth verses form the final reversal, a chiasm

We can compare this structure to the course of a pregnancy.

• Verse 1: My heart exults in the Lord. Hannah is overjoyed to conceive.
• Verses 1-3: The first trimester. These verses do not have reversals (like labor pains or baby movements). During this trimester, women cannot yet feel the baby move.
• Verses 4-5: The second trimester (reversals one to three). Hannah says, "the feeble bind on strength". Now she feels the baby, as the quickening comes between the 16th and 25th week, but as early as the 13th week. She feels alternately happy and "forlorn" (verse 5), as it is an emotional time.
• Verses 6-8a: The third trimester (reversals four to six). Hannah says, "The Lord... brings to life."
• Verse 8b: Hannah gives birth to Samuel. As a great and faithful prophet, he would grow up to be one of the "pillars of the earth", "sit with princes" and "inherit a seat of honor".
• Verse 9: Hannah recovers during the post partum laying-in period. "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones" sounds like Samuel's father protecting his newborn son, even tickling his toes.
• Verse 10: Samuel grows up and fulfills his destiny. First to "judge" the people. Second, to "exalt the horn of his anointed" when he anointed two kings over Israel, Saul and David.

From this analysis, we see that Hannah has interpreted her pregnancy as giving birth to a new age for her people. Her son would help the nation transition from a group of tribes ruled by judges to one nation ruled by a king. This is the near term prophecy that we can see in her words. I overlooked this crucial, basic layer of meaning when I wrote of my initial findings two years ago. The metaphor of pregnancy unifies the whole prayer, which means that if there is a second, long-term prophecy to be found here, it must also bring in the whole prayer.

Defining A Prophetic Clock

In Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace, I set forth hermeneutical rules for discovering and interpreting a prophetic clock. Among those principles are these. The riddles in the text should:

• Identify the historical event that defines when the clock begins.
• Identify how many time periods are in the clock.
• Identify how long each time period lasts.
• Have a unifying theme.

We have already seen that there are two unifying themes:

• The Ten Commandments
• The birth of a nation

The combination tells us that the new nation will be a theocracy.

Start Year. What about the start year? That is where I went wrong in my previous book. Starting with verse four, I matched prophecies correctly to history but skipped over the first three verses. Why? Part of the pattern that I found in her prayer matches Solomon's Growth Pattern. There was nothing in the prayer to suggest that it should start with Solomon's Temple (960 BC) or the Creation, so the logical place to start was with the birth of Samuel, ca 1080 BC. However, now that we see the Ten Commandments as part of the structure, we have evidence that points to an earlier start. The more appropriate start for the clock is with the Exodus, when those commandments were given.

According to my calculations, the Exodus occurred in 1447 BC. Despite my best efforts, I may be off by a few years. To keep the numbers round and to align it with dozens of other spiritual clocks from my books, we shall start this clock in 1440 BC.

Number of Periods. Clocks that use Solomon's times, depending on whether they are divided into seven, fourteen or twenty-eight eras, usually have periods whose duration is 480, 240 or 120 years, respectively. In my previous analysis, it seemed sensible to respect the peculiarity of the prayer's structure. It broke pattern between the sixth and seventh reversals, with the interlude that speaks of the pillars of the earth. I concluded then that there were eight periods. If we now add in the first three verses, we will get eleven periods.

Duration of Periods. Now in Ecclesiastes, Solomon used fourteen pairs of opposites. Such opposites resemble the reversals in Hannah's prayer. However, because the interlude does not have a reversal, it seemed right to make it a different length of time from the rest. If Samuel was born about 1080 BC, then if the extra period for the pillar is 120 years, not 480 years as for the reversals, the end of this clock would synchronize with the end of Solomon's clock. It turns out that this extra 120 era is one of the most eventful eras in the history of the church: the missionary era of 1800-1920 AD, when the abolition movement began to root out slavery and women began to be granted more rights, including the right to own property separate from their husbands (starting with New York State in 1848 AD) and the right to vote (1920 AD).

It fits. If we also make the first three verses into shorter periods of 120 years, they also fit.

There is a good subjective reason why the periods that are parts of reversals last longer than the others. Once that baby starts kicking, those months seem to drag on forever!

Clock Definition. To summarize, we have a prophetic clock with these broad features:

• Starts in 1440 BC near the Exodus.
• Has eleven periods.
• The first three periods last 120 years each.
• The first six reversals last 480 years each, or 240 years per each half a reversal.
• The interlude with the pillars lasts 120 years
• The seventh reversal lasts 480 years
• The clock ends in 2400 AD (though the last period might be cut short by Jesus' return)

The seventh reversal is a chiasm, meaning it follows an A-B-B'-A' pattern. The first and last parts are about the good, while the second and third parts are about the wicked. That means that we really have two reversals here. Instead of adding more time to the clock, these last two verses go into greater detail about the same era. As we shall see, the seven reversals correspond to seven quartets of times from Ecclesiastes 3. Thus the last reversal is for the times to love, to hate, for war and for peace. That quartet has the pattern good-bad-bad-good, just like verses 9 and 10 with their pattern of reversals.

Hannah's Prophetic Clock

It is now time to reveal Hannah's extended prophetic clock. The first three verses are not prophetic; they are backwards looking. They anchor Hannah's calendar in the past, going back to the Exodus, showing that what follows is a continuation of God's unfolding plan.

Before the clock, here is a review of the Harvest and Growth Patterns.

• Each Harvest Phase also matches a Bible book (its corresponding Pillar book)
• Each Harvest Phase matches one of the Seven Spirits of God named in Isaiah 11:2
• Each Growth phase is built from four times taken from the poem in Ecclesiastes 3
• Each Growth phase lasts seven years in a typical person's life

These patterns apply literally to individual people and figuratively to nations, the church and whole civilizations. So just as Hannah is describing the growth of a baby within, she is also prophesying the birth and growth of our civilization.

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No.	Book / Spirit	Harvest Phase	Growth Phase / Times
1	Psalms Lordship	Preparation	Security be born, die, plant, uproot
2	Job Wisdom	Plowing (of Suffering)	Ability kill, heal, tear down, build up
3	Proverbs Understanding	Planting	Stability weep, laugh, mourn, dance
4	Song of Songs Counsel	Pouring (the Holy Spirit)	Amity scatter stones, gather stones, embrace, refrain
5	Ecclesiastes Might	Plucking	Opportunity seek, give up, keep, throw away
6	Matthew Knowledge	Producing (a harvest)	Community tear, mend, be silent, speak
7	Revelation Fear of the Lord	Peace	Loyalty love, hate, war, peace

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The following table will spell out the years for each of the eleven time periods in Hannah's Baby Clock, the corresponding verses and historical events that are referenced by the prophecy. For the seven reversals:

• the matching Growth Pattern phase will be given and tied to the passage
• the matching pillar book will be connected to the passage, and quoted if relevant

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Era	Year Range	Verses	Events
1	1440-1320 BC	v1	My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. In the Book of Joshua, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho blowing horns, ca 1407 BC.
2	1320-1200 BC	v2	for there is none besides you In Judges 5, in the story of Deborah we read The mountains quaked before the Lord, showing that no rock is as strong as the Lord. We also read about the terrible preceding time of anarchy, "When new gods were chosen" (Judges 5:8). The people forgot that there is none beside Yahweh. there is no rock like our God In Judges 6, fire miraculously came up from the rock to consume Gideon's sacrifice when the angel of the Lord visited him, ca 1201 BC.
3	1200-1080 BC	v3	Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth... Jephthah's rash vow in Judges 11 ca 1115 BC cost him his daughter. "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." And she said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth..."
4	1080-600 BC	v4	The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. First Reversal: SECURITY for the weak. The mighty have weapons and the feeble do not. This describes security and insecurity at their most basic. Matching pillar book: PSALMS A Psalm conforming to Solomon's twenty-eight times is Psalm 102: Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. (Psalm 102:25) The first thing that a pillar needs is to be built upon a strong foundation and this Psalm says that foundation was laid by God. In the Harvest pattern, this is called the Preparation phase. Psalms also speaks directly about what will happen to “the bows of the mighty” of verse 4: The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. (Psalm 37:14–15) Prophetically, Israel oscillated between periods of security and insecurity. The bows of Israel and Judah were broken during this era. Israel fell to Assyria in 722 BC. Then Josiah was killed by the Babylonians at the Battle of Megiddo in 605 BC and the first wave of prisoners were exiled. This spelled the end of Israel's security. Yet in the middle of this chaos, an unnamed Jewish girl who was enslaved by the Syrians chooses to love her enemy, the man who captured her, the Syrian general Naaman. She tells him of the Prophet Elijah, who would heal this enfeebled leper that he might be strong again.
5	600-120 BC	v5a	Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Second Reversal: ABILITY for the impoverished. The impoverished often lack the skills necessary to support themselves, hence are forced as in verse 5 to “[hire] themselves out for bread”. They lack ability. Matching pillar book: JOB A person who must work for starvation wages suffers like Job. Job confessed his inability to save himself from his troubles (in Job 6:11-13). In the Harvest pattern, Job unquestionably matches the Plowing phase of suffering. Prophetically, the Jews endured much poverty during this era. They even faced genocide at the instigation of Haman. How was Haman stopped? Queen Esther threw a banquet, the opposite of hunger. The former queen, Vashti, was now hungry, and the Jews who were to die, were instead filled with joy. Also during this era, the Septuagint, symbolically the bread of God’s word, was completed. Jesus may have told his disciples to pray 'Give us this day our daily bread', but it was Job who first called God's Word his bread: I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. - Job 23:12 The Septuagint was in Greek, meaning that God's words would now begin to go out to the Gentile world, people who never had access to God's Word before, and now would cease to hunger. Sadly, the Jews, who were once full, would now for a long time hear no more from God via prophets. This fulfills the words of the prophet Amos: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water. but of hearing the words of the Lord. - Amos 8:11
6	120 BC-360 AD	v5b	The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. Third Reversal: Emotional STABILITY for the anguished. On one trip to the temple in 1 Samuel 1:12–16, though Hannah prayed silently, the anguish of her heart made her lips move, thus the insensitive priest ridiculed her for being drunk. Then by God’s grace she bore a child and knew joy. The capsized ship of her emotions was righted and she began to experience emotional stability. Matching pillar book: PROVERBS What connects it to Proverbs? When we need a pillar to stabilize us, our emotional life needs it most. It is in Proverbs 9 that the Seven Pillars of Wisdom are named, so it corresponds to Hannah’s (and our) deepest need. This reversal corresponds to the Planting Harvest phase. In Hannah’s case, what was planted was the seed that became her firstborn son. Prophetically, this speaks of two miraculous births that occurred in the corresponding era. Barren Elizabeth gives birth to a great prophet in her old age, John the Baptist. Then the virgin Mary gives birth to our savior. On the flip side, the ones who had many children became forlorn. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem twice, then lost their empire to the growing influence of the Christians. This verse also matches the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not kill. This was the era when they killed Jesus. Hannah didn't miss a thing.
7	360-840 AD	v6	The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. Fourth Reversal: AMITY of marriage. Matching pillar book: SONG OF SONGS Prophetically, the words of this reversal make sense, with several sacks of Rome, the Plague of Justinian, the Muslim conquests and Iconomachy. It includes the start of the Dark Ages, and Sheol is the realm of darkness. However they would seem to have nothing to do with friendship and romance, the life growth phase of amity. Of course, by making Rome a Christian empire in this era via the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, it was like a marriage between church and state. A second connection is found in the conclusion of Solomon’s great love poem: as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. Death and the grave are overcome by love. In the Harvest Pattern, the Song of Songs corresponds to the Pouring phase, where the Holy Spirit deals with our emotions. The poem even refers to water when it says “Many waters cannot quench love”. It is interesting that the twenty-eight times have two sections devoted to emotional growth: first to master the basics, second to deploy them to foment romance and fashion strong families. Each of the twenty-eight speaking parts in Song of Songs corresponds to one of Solomon's times. The brilliance of this love poem is that in fifteen of the times, the speaker is speaking words or advocating actions that contradict the corresponding time. They run exactly opposite what is called for. That is the challenge for young people in love. The demands of life and reason are opposite to the desires of the heart. Unruly passions are tough to master.
8	840-1320 AD	v7	The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. Fifth Reversal: OPPORTUNITY of wealth. Once again the prophetic connection is easy. The church's charitable endeavors provided a modest safety net for the poor. The Medieval Warm Period and improved farming techniques made many rich, added ten years to lifespans, and doubled the population, right up until the Great Famine of 1315–1317 brought that to a halt, laying the groundwork for the devastating Black Plague that came on its heels. Matching pillar book: ECCLESIASTES Ecclesiastes speaks of purpose and work more than any other topic. This is the Pruning phase of the Harvest Pattern, where God faces us with opportunities, worthy and unworthy, to test us and to train us to seize the right opportunities and reject the wrong. The Second Council of Lyon (1274) recognized four main mendicant orders: the Order of Friars Minor (aka Franciscans), Carmelites, Order of Preachers, and Augustinians. A leader among them was Saint Francis of Assisi, one whom the Lord made poor through the devotion of voluntary poverty. Concerning women. Saint Anselm exalted them in philosophical terms, while the new ideas of chivalry attempted to cause society to treat women with more respect in practical ways.
9	1320-1800 AD	v8a	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. Sixth Reversal: A COMMUNITY of church denominations. Matching pillar book: MATTHEW The connection between Hannah’s words and the life growth phase of community is clear. By lifting “the needy from the ash heap”, God improves their standing in the community, promoting equality. By making them “sit with princes and inherit a sear of honor”, the Lord goes further. Matthew is focused on the Harvest phase and on preparing a community of harvesters: the church. Prophetically, this era saw the creation of something counterintuitive. Instead of just the Roman Catholic Church, following the Reformation God created a community of churches, the many denominations. The phrasing in Hannah’s prayer is interesting. She does not say “sit as princes” but “sit with princes”. This era ended with the birth of democracy, where people who are not royal, not princes, wield the authority of princes as democratically elected officials. Even though the apex of Christian missionary activity would occur in the next period, this era saw the spread of the gospel to the Americas and the creation of the first para-church overseas mission organizations. It also saw the rise of notable Christian queens regnant, accelerating God's plan to raise up women, the neediest of the needy.
10	1800-1920 BC	v8b	For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. All of a sudden, Hannah breaks the pattern, saying something without a reversal. This is our clue that around 1800 AD, something remarkable would happen (and span a period of a different amount of time, not 480 years like the others). What does it mean to be a pillar? Revelation 3, where God offers to bless any who conquer, says “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” This blessing was offered to the Church of Philadelphia, representing the faithful missionary church. As shown in the chapter "Seven Churches for Seven Eras" in Peace, like Solomon Never Knew, that church was active in 1800 AD. Around this time William Carey called upon the church to dedicate itself to completing the Great Commission to take the gospel to the nations, directly quoting Matthew in his charge. Before John, before Jesus, and before Solomon, powerless Hannah prophesied when God would cause His word to go out to the whole world in power! What is more, this was the first era in which women went out as missionaries in large numbers, the first when women were ordained as ministers, and when the first American woman graduated from seminary.
11	1920-2400 BC	v9-10	“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. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Seventh Reversal: LOYALTY to the anointed king. Matching pillar book: REVELATION When Hannah says, "against them he will thunder in heaven", she uses an analogy that comes up seven times in Revelation, and is named the voice of the seven thunders. The life growth phase of loyalty is unmistakable in Hannah’s song. God is loyal to his faithful ones (the church) and his Son (his anointed). Hannah contrasts this in verse 10 with “The adversaries of the LORD” who demonstrate the opposite of loyalty, which is hostility. Prophetically, this speaks of the time of darkness that will come at the end of time. The days of darkness were announced by Solomon three times in his final chapters. Such a time was affirmed by Jesus, who spoke of the darkness as the time when no man can work. The cutting off of the wicked is the final judgment which happens upon Christ’s return, as described potently in Revelation, but summarized by Hannah.

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Objections

Specificity. One objection to the above associations is that all times in history will display variations of these reversals. The answer is that the eras associated with these reversals are the ultimate, definitive examples of these themes.

• First era. The Exodus will go down as the most obviously miraculous salvation of a people in history until Christ comes again.
• Fourth era. The creation, rise and fall of the Kingdom of Israel is the premiere event of the era of the first reversal and the most prominent subject of prophecy beside the promise of a messiah.
• Fifth era. The silencing of the prophets between the time of Malachi and the birth of John the Baptist is the distinctive feature of the second reversal.
• Sixth era. The birth of a new prophet to an aged, barren woman and the miraculous virgin birth of the messiah in a barren, conquered land are the principle events in the era of the third reversal, and the most significant event in all history.
• Eighth era. Through his vow of poverty in this fifth reversal, Saint Francis of Assisi embraced the life of one whom "the Lord makes poor" and led the way for people to renounce worldly wealth for the kingdom of God.
• Ninth era. Enabling the powerless to "sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor" via representative democracy as a result of the American Revolution during the time of the sixth reversal certainly turned the world upside down.
• Tenth era. The establishment of many "strong pillars of the earth", the Protestant churches, in the era of the interlude, via a massive, worldwide missionary enterprise and the abolition of slavery were the most revolutionary events of that or any era.
• Eleventh era. When the Lord returns to "judge the ends of the earth" as his Father "[exalts] the horn of his anointed" at the end of the seventh reversal, that will be the most glorious event in all of history.

It is evident that Hannah's rough sketch of history touches on the most prominent features of God's plan for the ages.

Mismatch. Do Hannah's two-part reversals really match Solomon's four-part pairs of reversals? This is a feature of her wording that is easily overlooked. A few of Hannah's reversals are actually four-part, using parallelism. How do hers line up against Solomon's?

In Ecclesiastes 3, there are good times and bad times. Sometimes the "good" time comes first, sometimes last. Since they come in pairs of opposites, there are four possible sequences:

• Bad to good, bad to good
• Bad to good, good to bad
• Good to bad, good to bad
• Good to bad, bad to good

In Solomon's poem, here are how the good and bad times of the seven quartets are arranged:

1. Good, bad, good, bad
2. Bad, good, bad, good
3. Bad, good, bad, good
4. Bad, good, good, bad
5. Good, bad, good, bad
6. Bad, good, bad, good
7. Good, bad, bad, good

Hannah uses parallelism in three of her reversals, the fourth, fifth and seventh.

• Fourth: Bad, good, bad, good. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
• Fifth: Bad, good, bad, good. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.
• Seventh: Good, bad, bad, good. “... guard ... his faithful ones, ... wicked ... cut off in darkness, adversaries ... broken to pieces; ... exalt ... his anointed.”

The fifth and seventh reversals in Hannah's prayer match the schema in Solomon's poem, but the fourth has the sense of the third and fourth reversed. Isn't that an inconsistency?

No. The negative and positive connotations found in Solomon's poem are opposite what you find in history. "A time to scatter stones" sounds negative, but this corresponds to the era when the Church overcame Rome, in an event prophesied by Daniel:

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand,

and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay,

and broke them in pieces.

- Daniel 2:34

Rome was the legs and feet of the statue. Thus the scattering of stones is the shattering of this empire by God's people into many pieces, a very good time. Conversely, the time to gather stones is the building of the next beastly empire in God's series, the seventh empire of Revelation, the Islamic Caliphate.

Thus in the three reversals where Hannah uses parallelism, her schema of ordering good and bad events matches the corresponding quartets of times in Ecclesiastes. What about the pairs? Do the orderings of the pairs divide history appropriately? The most important pair is the third reversal, "The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn." In that reversal the order is "good to bad". If we divide the period in two, the 240 years of the first half runs from 120 BC to 120 AD, when Jesus was born, lived, taught and died for our sins. That is very good and matches the miraculous birth of Hannah's words. The second half runs from 120 to 360 AD. The forlorn of that era are the Romans, who despite heavy persecution of the Christians, saw their own emperor Constantine embrace the new faith. Considered this way, Hannah's clock situates the birth of Christ to within a generation; that event fell less than a decade from the midpoint of that period from 120 BC to 120 AD. Her words were precise. That is wisdom.

Theme. When I started adding new historical connections to verses 1-3, my inner critic concocted a another objection. There did not seem to be any connection to the themes of the prophetic clock, the law, childbirth or the growth pattern. The choice of the cited passages from Joshua and Judges appeared arbitrary. I merely looked for verses that included matching words or phrases. Then I stepped back, looked them over again and was delighted.

• For verse 1, the conquest of Jericho would not have been possible without Rahab, the woman who protected the Israelite spies and became ancestor to David and Jesus.
• For verse 2, the glory for the victory over Sisera went to two women, Deborah and Jael. Because of them, it tells us that the wombs of the Israelite women were safe from being violated by their enemies. (See Judges 5:30)
• For verse 3, Jephthah the Judge makes a foolish oath that costs him his daughter. The courage, sacrifice and dignity belong to a girl whose name we never learn.
• For verse 4, the love of a Jewish slave girl for her enemy restored the health of a leprous Syrian general.
• For verse 5a, the bravery and tact of Queen Esther saved the Jews.
• For verse 5b, two women, barren Elizabeth and virgin Mary, give birth miraculously to prophets, just as Hannah did.
• For verse 8a, many notable Christian queens regnant arose to "sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor." They ruled Portugal, Spain, England, Austria and Russia.
• For verse 8b, women participated extensively in the Church's missionary enterprise. The first American woman was ordained as a minister during this era: Antoinette Brown Blackwell. Thus women began to take their places as pillars - leaders - in the church.

A Voice for Women

Hannah spoke for those without a voice, for all women who have suffered in silence throughout history.

The words of Jephthah's daughter are poignant:

So she said to her father,

“Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months,

that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity,

I and my companions.”

So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed,

she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.

And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her

according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man,

and it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel

went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite

four days in the year.

Jephthah's daughter never married, never had children, never raised a family. Her womb was barren. By this reference to that foolish vow, Hannah joins with the other daughters of Israel in remembering a brave and faithful girl.

Taken together, these references to Israel's past and future celebrate the courage, faith, humility and dignity of its noblest women. Truly Hannah was a prophetess in service of Lady Wisdom.

Wiser than Hannah?

Is there a woman in the Bible who was wiser than Hannah?

By direct Biblical statements, no. By logic and inference, maybe. To investigate this question, we need to know the sources of wisdom. Then we can compare those sources to the life stories of people to see who both had access to superior sources of wisdom and availed themselves of that wisdom. If we assume that all wisdom comes from God, that means all human wisdom arises via communication between humans and God, whether directly or through intermediaries, like wise parents, the written Word, or angels.

In Job Rises, I catalogued over a dozen ways that people can legitimately communicate with God that Job either personally practiced or was aware of. To those we may add being taught in person by the incarnate Jesus, which Job could not experience but which the Apostles could and did. Of these many means of communication, some are more associated with wisdom than others. Here are the principal means associated with some Biblical figures.

• For Job, it was words about God taught to him by his parents and wise elders, things learned from his suffering and theophany (hearing God speak directly).
• For Hannah, it was prayer, suffering and sacrifice, for she sacrificed her firstborn son, Samuel.
• For Solomon, it was prayer (for God directly granted him wisdom after he prayed for it), dreams (for that prayer was uttered while in a dream), and sacrifice.
• For Daniel, it was suffering, as he endured the lion's den, dreams, careful study of the words of the prophets, and angelic visitation.
• For the Apostles, is was being taught directly by Jesus, but also visions, such as the ones seen by Peter (concerning Cornelius), John (which gave us Revelation) and Paul (on the Damascus road).

One feature that all these people had in common was respect for godly parents or elders. Solomon was raised by David. Jewish tradition holds that David used his acrostic poems, like Psalm 119, to teach Solomon his ABC's. The Book of Proverbs is structured as a father's advice to his son, but also has a chapter with a mother's advice to her son, King Lemuel. Likewise, Daniel would not have acted as he did in the land of captivity had not his parents taught him the Law and Jewish customs.

The importance of enduring suffering was illustrated by Job and affirmed by Solomon:

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

- Ecclesiastes 7:4

From these exemplars, is seems that the most important sources of wisdom are:

• direct, new revelations from God (angelic visitation, theophany, or walking with Jesus)
• suffering and voluntary sacrifice
• prayer
• careful attention to God's previous revelations (the Bible)

It is difficult to order them from most to least important. The greater, more information rich sources are generally only open to those who endure suffering and make great sacrifices. Solomon's example is peculiar. His wisdom sprang from respecting his father, King David, and offering a great sacrifice (at the temple dedication), but not his own suffering. His wisdom depended more upon God's grace than anything else. Thus I would say that God's unilateral, unconditional grace is the first and greatest source of wisdom.

With these criteria in hand, we can make a determination. Who was counseled by prophets? Who spoke with angels? Who walked with Jesus? Who endured great suffering, was persecuted by kings, forced into exile, and endured the scorn of neighbors? Who mourned a loss greater than any other person in history besides Jesus? Who "found favor with God"?

The Blessed Virgin Mary.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising

of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed

(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),

so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

- Luke 2:34-35

The sword that pierced Mary was watching her Son be executed on the cross, seeing the spear pierce his side and his blood pour upon the dirt. In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. As the infinitely holy God and savior of mankind, Jesus is the most precious man in the universe. No other mother in all of history ever lost a child of infinite value.

• If suffering produces wisdom in the faithful, no other woman could ever receive as much wisdom from that source as Mary did.
• If obedience produces wisdom, no other woman was ever called upon to obey such a strange command as to bear a child for God.
• If accepting the words of the prophets produces wisdom, they warned her about what would come and she remained steadfast.
• If heeding the advice of angels produces wisdom, she (and Joseph) listened and went into exile, then returned, like Abraham who left his country for God.
• If walking with Jesus and hearing his teachings produces wisdom, Mary was there not for three years but for his whole earthly life.
• If God's unmerited grace produces wisdom, then we have this:

“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.

- Luke 1:46-49

Hannah offered her son to serve in the temple, but Mary was called upon to make a much greater sacrifice.

Hannah prophesied the coming of the messiah, but Mary gave him life, nursed him, taught him, protected him and told him when it was time for his ministry to begin.

You may decide whom you think was the wisest woman ever to live, but I think the answer is clear. What do you think? Can we get the Guinness Book people to rule on it?

What will Tomorrow Bring?

Hannah nailed the past. Her words qualitatively and quantitatively mapped out important events in salvation history. According to the schema that governs her prophecy, when do we live? Ours is the era of the seventh reversal and the ninth and tenth commandments. This is the Loyalty phase of Solomon's Growth Pattern.

We live at the close of "a time to love". "A time to hate" is knocking on the door, with "a time for war" and "a time for peace" to follow. That means a time of great persecution against Christians, Jews and lovers of the truth is almost here. Already, crowds of Hamas supporters march in cities across the globe calling for a new Holocaust against the Jews. How will events unfold? Hannah's prayer spells things out, phrase by phrase, in verses 9 and 10.

A TIME TO LOVE

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones..

The primary fulfillment of this word is the rescue of the Jews from the Holocaust and the establishment of a new Israel. I say primary because Hannah was an Israelite and we must not be so proud as to forget that the promises of God were to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. Secondary applications are the continued worldwide spread of Christianity during the 20th century up until today and stopping both Fascism and Communism from prevailing.

A TIME TO HATE

... but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

The Ninth Commandment is to not bear false witness against your neighbor. The words of this second quarter of the seventh reversal speak to that commandment. The ninth plague against Egypt was the plague of darkness. Darkness symbolizes ignorance and lies. In this era, hatred of the Jews, of Jesus, and of the truth will blind the people of this world. Lovers of God will continue to walk in the light. The wicked will have the might. They will control:

• government
• military
• education
• science
• business
• media

However, the wicked will not be able to overcome the church, because they will be undone by their own lies.

• Their government policies will impoverish, causing revolts
• Morale and competence in their armed forces will crumble and they will lose wars
• Their teachers will turn out idiots who only know false ideologies, not useful skills, while Christian parents turn elsewhere to educate their kids
• Scientists whose papers do not support the current trendy madness will lose funding, so scientific progress will grind to a halt
• Businesses run on dishonest principles will fail
• Technological means to circumvent anti-Christian censorship will expose the lies people are being fed, undermining their authority

It will not be because of our own might that victory will come to the Church. God will turn factions of liars against each other as He has in the past. It will be like the crisis in third century Rome, when dozens of civil wars so destabilized the empire that they were unable to effectively persecute Christians.

A TIME FOR WAR

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven.

The wicked will find their champion, the Antichrist. As the world's actions against Christians shift into high gear and draw upon demonic supernatural power, so will God multiply miracles to resist them and protect His Church.

A TIME FOR PEACE

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

The final bowl judgments will be poured out upon the world. Then the anointed, Jesus Christ, will descend to claim the victory.

In ten verses, Hannah captured most of human history. We need to listen to her and take her words to heart. In the days to come, we will need them to survive. We need to believe that when Hannah says the Lord will give food to the hungry, children to the barren, power to the weak, a voice to the disenfranchised and a savior for the oppressed, these are not happy thoughts and toothless sentiments. They are like the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down from Mount Sinai.

They are carved in stone.

You may ask, "What is that stone good for?" I'd say it would make a good foundation for a house.