She Glories In The Power Of YHWH And In His Coming King (1 Samuel 2:9-10).
“He will keep the feet of his chosen ones,
But the wicked will be put to silence in darkness,
For by strength will no man prevail,
Those who strive with YHWH will be broken to pieces.
Against them will he thunder in the heavens,
YHWH will judge the ends of the earth,
And he will give strength to his king,
And exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Hannah finishes her words with an expression of confidence in the fact that YHWH will keep the feet of His chosen ones, while disposing of the wicked who will be put to silence in darkness. They will end up in Sheol. For no man can prevail by his own strength, which is why His chosen ones need Him to keep their feet from failing, while the unrighteous will end up in darkness and those who strive with Him will be broken in pieces. Indeed He will thunder against them in the heavens. Again we can compare David and Saul.
The word for ‘chosen ones' means ‘those who are the objects of His covenant love'. It refers to those who walk in faithful response to His covenant, and therefore enjoy His covenant love.
The final three lines may simply represent a general expectation. YHWH will rule over (judge) the ends of the earth, and in that role will give strength to any He appoints as king, and exalt the power of any whom He sets aside and anoints. But it is far more likely that it has in mind the expectation of God's world wide rule, when He will be the ‘Judge' of all the earth and establish and give strength to the promised king of Genesis 49:10 and exalt his power as His ‘anointed' (the one whom He has set apart for His service). It should be noted that the fact that YHWH has established him as king would necessarily be seen as signifying that he would be anointed. That was what happened to kings at this time (Judges 9:8). Thus ‘His anointed' simply means ‘His appointed King'. The words bring out that even at this stage after the vicissitudes of the Judges period Israel still had great expectations. Then they had had no king and it had been reflected in how they had lived. Every man had done what was right in his own eyes. But Hannah knew that as Abraham's descendants they were intended to bring blessing to the whole world (Genesis 12:3), and be a kingdom of priests to an earth that belonged to YHWH (Exodus 19:6; compare Deuteronomy 10:14). Thus in the future a kingship was envisaged, a kingship in which the king would rule wisely under YHWH (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). That was partly why God had brought them back to Canaan and given them their own land, so that they might minister to the nations. So she was confident that one day Shiloh would surely come and would triumphantly gather the peoples to him so as to bring it all into effect (Genesis 49:10). It was then that God would establish His rule over the nations.
This certainly found part fulfilment in the accession and triumphs of David. Indeed many must have thought of him as Shiloh. But the writer is careful at the end of his book to remind us that there were great deficiencies in David's rule (2 Samuel 24). He wants us to recognise that the future yet awaits a greater David Who will establish His everlasting kingship (2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16).