The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
The verse belongs to Hannah's song of praise after God granted her heart's desire and highly favored her. It was uttered by inspiration as a public acknowledgment of divine mercy and loving-kindness out of gratitude, sounded forth before the assembled people even though Hannah was naturally retiring and timid. After uttering this triumphant praise, she quietly returned home to Ramah, leaving the child Samuel to minister in the house of God under the care and instruction of Eli the high priest. In its immediate setting, the words answer the proud boastings of an insolent and contentious woman.
The verse means that the Lord rules over human circumstances and controls human affairs, with power to make people poor and to make them rich and to bring them low and to lift them up. It belongs with the surrounding declarations that the Lord kills and makes alive and brings down to the grave and brings up, that He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the refuse heap to seat them among princes and give them a glorious throne to inherit because the foundations of the earth belong to Him and He has set the world upon them, that He guards His faithful ones while the wicked are silenced in darkness since no one prevails by human strength, and that He shatters His adversaries, thunders against them from heaven, judges to the ends of the earth, and gives strength to His king and exalts His anointed ruler. The principle taught is the humbling of the proud and the exalting of the humble through this divine reversal of human conditions.
As part of Hannah's prophetic song, the reversal points beyond the present to the destruction of God's enemies and the complete and final triumph of His faithful servants and redeemed people. The verse is prophetic of David who would reign as king over Israel and of Christ the Messiah as the Lord's anointed. Applied to leadership, it means God can humble rulers who exalt themselves above divine law, and He can still use people in positions of responsibility if they repent and are converted.
The verse belongs to Hannah's song of praise after God granted her heart's desire and highly favored her. It was uttered by inspiration as a public acknowledgment of divine mercy and loving-kindness out of gratitude, sounded forth before the assembled people even though Hannah was naturally retiring and timid. After uttering this triumphant praise, she quietly returned home to Ramah, leaving the child Samuel to minister in the house of God under the care and instruction of Eli the high priest. In its immediate setting, the words answer the proud boastings of an insolent and contentious woman.
The verse means that the Lord rules over human circumstances and controls human affairs, with power to make people poor and to make them rich and to bring them low and to lift them up. It belongs with the surrounding declarations that the Lord kills and makes alive and brings down to the grave and brings up, that He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the refuse heap to seat them among princes and give them a glorious throne to inherit because the foundations of the earth belong to Him and He has set the world upon them, that He guards His faithful ones while the wicked are silenced in darkness since no one prevails by human strength, and that He shatters His adversaries, thunders against them from heaven, judges to the ends of the earth, and gives strength to His king and exalts His anointed ruler. The principle taught is the humbling of the proud and the exalting of the humble through this divine reversal of human conditions.
As part of Hannah's prophetic song, the reversal points beyond the present to the destruction of God's enemies and the complete and final triumph of His faithful servants and redeemed people. The verse is prophetic of David who would reign as king over Israel and of Christ the Messiah as the Lord's anointed. Applied to leadership, it means God can humble rulers who exalt themselves above divine law, and He can still use people in positions of responsibility if they repent and are converted.