And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.
Hannah prayed, and said. Praise and prayer are inseparably conjoined in Scripture (Colossians 4:2; 1 Timothy 2:1). This beautiful song was her tribute of thanks for the divine goodness in answering her petition. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord, х qarniy (H7161); Septuagint, keras (G2768) mou (G3450)]. Allusion is commonly supposed to be here made to a peculiarity in the dress of Eastern females, still to be found in the districts about Lebanon, which seems to have obtained anciently among the Israelite women, that of wearing a tin or silver horn on the forehead, on which their veil is suspended. Wives who have no children wear it projecting in an oblique direction; while those who become mothers forthwith raise it a few inches higher, inclining toward the perpendicular; and by this slight but observable change in their head-dress make known wherever they go the maternal character which they now bear. This view of the origin of the custom; however, has been called in question; and strong proofs are adduced to show that, as anciently used, it was totally different from that worn by the Druses and the Maronites in modern Syria. It was the recognized symbol of power and strength before the Israelites entered into the promised land (Deuteronomy 33:17); it was used by men as well as women; and there is a beauty and dignity in all the Scripture allusions to it which are totally inapplicable to the unnatural and ungraceful head-dress of the Druse females.
Moreover, the term by which the Druse horn is designated is 'tantur,' the head-covering; whereas the Hebrew 'keren' has no reference to the head (see Osborn's 'Palestine, Past and Present,' pp. 86, 87).