1 Samuel 2 is a story of contrasts. It describes Hannah’s joy in the Lord’s gifts and how she was supporting her son Samuel’s faithful worship of the Lord. On the other hand, Eli did nothing to stop his sons from doing evil. So Hannah and Elkanah were blessed with more sons and daughters while Eli’s sons died and the priestly duties were taken away from his family.

The chapter begins with Hannah’s prayer of joy and praise of God after Samuel was born. What a difference this is from her sad and desperate prayer for a son! Hannah’s prayer might remind us of another mother’s prayer of praise for a son many years later. Remember Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1:46-55 when the angel Gabriel told her that she was to be the mother of the Lord.

Eli, the High Priest, had grown so old that his sons Hophni and Phinehas were doing his priestly duties. However, Hophni and Phinehas didn’t love God and disobeyed His laws. They took the best part of the meat offerings for themselves before the meat had been properly sacrificed, and took advantage of the woman who worked at the gate of the sanctuary.

Their corrupt behavior is contrasted with the wholesome ministry of the young boy Samuel who followed the Lord and did right to those who came to worship. He wore a simple tunic (called an ephod) that Hannah brought to care for him each year as he grew.

Eli heard about his sons’ wrongdoings, and he pleaded with them to stop. But they did not change their ways and he did nothing to punish them. Then, a messenger from God came with a message of doom for not only Eli’s two sons, but for his whole family.

As Anita Dole describes the situation, in her "Bible Study Notes":

"This is a picture of a state in which worship is degraded by being used for self-interest and self-exaltation,… In 1 Samuel 2:17 quoted above, there is the suggestion of the harm which such a state does to others as well as to ourselves. Many people are turned against the church by the self-seeking and hypocrisy they see in some of its members. Our duty to keep our worship sincere and to live according to the teachings of the church is not for our own salvation alone. The Lord's service requires of us constant watchfulness and ever-renewed devotion." (Anita Dole, Bible Study Notes, "The Birth of Samuel", © 2001 by The Swedenborg Foundation.)

Let’s look at the contrasts again. On one side are Hannah and Samuel who are faithful to the Lord. Hannah praises Him for the wonderful gifts that He provides, especially the gift of her son. This story reminds us that all children are gifts from God. Our children don’t belong to us. Instead, they are always God’s children, and we have been blessed to care for them for a time and help them grow.

On the other side are the sons of Eli, who profaned what was holy because they loved themselves and didn’t love and follow God.

This story is a message about true worship. True worship comes from humbly loving God with all our hearts. (See Arcana Coelestia 1153:2.)

2534. 'For he is a prophet' means that thus it was to be taught. This is clear from the meaning of 'a prophet'. One reads the word 'prophet' many times in the Word, and in the sense of the letter it means those to whom revelation is given, and also - abstractedly from persons - revelation itself. But in the internal sense that word means one who teaches, and also - abstractedly - doctrine itself. And because, as has been stated, the Lord is doctrine itself, or the Word which teaches, He is called 'a Prophet', as also in Moses,

Jehovah your God will raise up a Prophet like me from the midst of you, from your brothers; Him shall you obey. Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.

The words 'like me' are used because the Lord was represented by Moses, as He also was by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and many more. And because people awaited Him it is therefore said in John,

When the people saw the sign which Jesus had done, they said, This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world. John 6:14.

[2] Since the Lord in the highest sense is 'the Prophet' and 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy', Revelation 19:10, 'a prophet' therefore means in the internal sense of the Word a person who teaches, and also - abstractedly - doctrine, as becomes quite clear from the following places: In Luke,

You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High. Luke 1:76.

Zechariah said this in reference to his son, John the Baptist, who was not the prophet but one preparing the way by teaching and preaching the good news about the Lord's Coming, as he himself says,

They asked him, What are you? Are you Elijah? But he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? He answered, No. Therefore they said to him. Who are you? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. John 1:21-23.

[3] In Matthew,

Many will say on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? Matthew 7:22.

Here it is evident that 'prophesying' means teaching. In John,

You must again prophesy over many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. Revelation 10:11.

'Prophesying' stands for teaching. What 'peoples', 'nations', 'tongues', and 'kings' mean has been stated and shown in various places. In the same book,

The nations will trample the holy city for forty-two months, but I will grant My two witnesses to prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11:2-3.

Here also 'prophesying' stands for teaching. In Moses,

Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. Exodus 7:1.

Here 'prophet' stands for one teaching or saying what Moses would have to say. In Joel,

I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Joel 2:28.

'They will prophesy' stands for they will teach.

[4] In Isaiah,

Jehovah has poured out over you a spirit of sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your heads, the seers, He has covered; and the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a sealed book which men give to one who is able to read, saying, Read this, now; and he will say, I cannot, for it is sealed. Isaiah 29:10-11.

Here 'the prophets' is used to mean those who teach truth, and 'the seers' those who see truth. Their heads are said to be 'covered' when they know no truth at all and see none at all. Because in ancient times those who taught were called prophets, they were also called 'seers', for 'seeing' meant understanding, 2150, 2325. The fact that they were called 'seers', see 1 Samuel 9:9; 2 Samuel 24:11. They were also called 'men (vir) of God' because of the meaning 'man' carried, dealt with in 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517. The fact that they were called 'men of God', see 2 Kings 1:9-16; 4:7, 9, 16, 21-22, 25, 27, 40, 42; 5:8, 14, 20; 13:19; 23:16-17.

[5] That 'prophets' means in the internal sense those who teach is clear in the whole of Jeremiah 23 and the whole of Ezekiel 13, where prophets are referred to specifically, and also in many other places where they are mentioned. This also explains why 'pseudoprophets' means those who teach falsities, as in Matthew,

At the close of the age many pseudoprophets will arise and lead many astray. False Christs and false prophets ¹ will arise and will show great signs, and will lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22.

No others are meant here by 'pseudoprophets' and 'false prophets', nor likewise by the pseudoprophet in Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10.

[6] How much the internal sense of the Word is obscured by ideas that have been conceived from the representatives of the Jewish Church becomes clear from the fact that every time a prophet is mentioned in the Word the idea of prophets like those who lived in those times immediately springs to mind, an idea which impedes greatly any discernment of what is meant by them. But the wiser anyone is, the more easily is an idea conceived from such representatives banished. For example, when the temple is mentioned, people who are more wise in their thinking do not envisage the temple in Jerusalem but the temple of the Lord; when Mount Zion, or simply Zion, is mentioned, they do not envisage a location in Jerusalem but the Lord's kingdom; and when Jerusalem is mentioned, they do not envisage the Jerusalem situated in the tribe of Benjamin and Judah but the holy and heavenly Jerusalem.

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