Christ remains the epic hero of your life. Watch the glory of his victory on your behalf. Look to him and his strength in your times of trouble.
How do you start an epic? When Homer set out to formulate his Iliad and Odyssey his opening words sounded so incredible that many of the great works of Western Civilization followed suit. He begins the Iliad with these timeless words, Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος. “Rage, O goddess, sing of the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The line warns the listener to watch out. Terror will cast its shadow over the battles of men. The rage of Achilles will move gods, cause consternation between allies and ultimately defeat great enemies.
Homer’s Odyssey begins with a similar theme. Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ. “Sing to me of the man, O Muse, the man of twists and turns.” As Achilles' rage hovered over the Iliad and the battle for Troy, the machinations of the clever Odysseus would drive the narrative of the Odyssey. Odysseus’ intellect would get him past a giant cyclops. His clever plans would see him avoid beasts and sirens on his journey home to Ithaca.
Homer’s epics remain timeless because they appeal to very human desires. Who wouldn’t want their fiery rage to make the world stop? What person wouldn’t want their intellect to get them out of every predicament? Homer’s poems appeal us because they place us in the midst of a glory we think we can achieve.
According to the Greeks, there were nine muses who poured out their inspiration on people. They believed that the creativity behind music, dancing, drama, and history all originated from these different inspirational goddesses. But do you know which muse was chief among them all — the one the Greeks revered the most? She was Calliope, the muse of epic poetry.
They believed Calliope flooded Homer’s mind with heroic verses of manly wrath and clever twists and turns. She chanted about the great boasts of men like Achilles and the power they seemed to carry. She tempted lowly men with the thought of earning godly positions. She sang about the bows of warriors like Odysseus and how they won back a kingdom. She lures us into the underworld where men and women can peer into a deep, unknown, frightening realm.
Most of all, the Greeks loved Calliope because she appealed to their desire for glory. In her songs the proud are raised up. The lowly are turned to ash. It is by strength that one prevails. And perhaps, if you try hard enough, that could be you.
Compare those grandest epics of Western literature to God’s epics of 1st and 2nd Samuel. At first there seem to be quite a few similarities. The Iliad and the Odyssey speak of events that supposedly took place around 1200 BC. 1 Samuel begins around 1100 BC. Homer’s epics and God’s Word both describe epic battles won through divine power. Wrath powers through the Iliad and the books of Samuel. Innovative ideas fuel the wanderings of men in Homer’s works and God’s scripture. Humans display cruelty in both. Glory and power, death and ashes all make appearances with great regularity.
And yet at every turn, God seems to purposefully take the epic themes of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and subverts them in 1st and 2nd Samuel. It all starts at the beginning. Instead of opening 1 Samuel with the Homeric rhythmic structure known as dactylic hexameter, the Lord begins it with Hebrew prose. God doesn’t start us on the battlefield, but in the home. The subject isn’t a king or a great warrior, but a lowly forgotten wife.
But as we saw in the last chapter, life came from the Lord. The human problem was fixed by a divine solution. No payment was required. The Lord poured out his love on Hannah. She miraculously gave birth to the son she asked for.
Then the Lord poured forth his inspiring words on Hannah. She sang a song greater than any muse could write. And that song would form the themes of God’s epic, the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. The Hebrew prose switches to Hebrew poetry. But the style isn’t epic poetry. It is psalm-like. Hannah sings the praises of the true God with a thankful heart. Throughout all of it, the glory remains God’s.
My heart rejoices in the Lord!
In the Lord, my horn is raised high” (1 Sam. 2:1).
Where Achilles’ wrath boiled over and the cleverness of Odysseus was exulted, Hannah begins her song by rejoicing in the loving and compassionate Lord. While the heroes of epics strive to raise their own horn high in self-aggrandizement and glory, Hannah gives all credit to the Lord for her blessings.
The opening verses of epics always name the heroes; Hannah refuses to name herself in her song of praise. Instead she continues to name the true God, the Lord. It is a direct subversion of every human epic. Hannah song says, in effect, “This is God’s epic. He is the hero. He saved us. He saved me.”
In this way, Hannah’s song becomes our song. As much as we would like to live a powerful life like Achilles, our wrath destroys us and others. Our Odysseus-like intellect cannot save us. Like Hannah, we have only one hope for salvation: the Lord. That’s what Hannah sings about next.
My mouth is opened wide against my enemies,
because I find joy in your salvation (1 Sam. 2:1).
Like Hannah, we can tell our enemies that they are defeated. It wasn’t by our strength. We didn’t construct a Trojan horse to find our way to victory. Salvation comes from the Lord. With that salvation comes joy. The joy of faith is profound. It shines forth even on the darkest days. It remains calm even when the storms of life swirl around us. No matter how bleak your life looks, your salvation has still been won by the Lord. Hannah goes on to share why.
There is no one holy like the Lord.
Yes, there is no one but you,
and there is no rock like our God (1 Sam. 2:2).
Greek gods were anything but rocks. They changed their minds all the time. One minute Zeus could be on your side, granting you superhuman strength. The next minute he could be working against you to such an extent that you couldn’t do anything. In the Iliad, Zeus’ ambivalence remains about why the Trojan War lasts as long as it does.
Hannah’s song reminds you that your God isn’t ambivalent. The Lord is holy. There is no one like him. He remains your unchanging, unmovable rock.
Do not talk so high and mighty.
Do not let proud words come out of your mouth,
because the Lord is a God who knows.
By him actions are weighed (1 Sam. 2:3).
In book 8 of the Iliad, Zeus stood over the battlefield. As the Greeks fought the Trojans below, Zeus held his golden scale to reveal which side would be fated to win. In Greek mythology, even Zeus had to acquiesce to fate.
The Lord doesn’t need scales to find out what fate has decided. The Lord himself decides what happens! By him, actions are weighed, Hannah sings. He hears the words of the proud and mighty. Your God is a God who knows. While that might sound terrifying for us sinners, in Christ, who has taken our sins away, God’s perfect knowledge is a blessing. He knows what you are going through. He understands your hurt, your struggle. He knows how best to strengthen you when you are overwhelmed. He knows how best to end your grief.
The bows of powerful warriors are broken.
Those who were staggering are now armed with strength.
Those who once were full now hire themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are satisfied (1 Sam. 2:4-5).
Bows and arrows played prominent roles in the lives of epic heroes. Every Greek who listened to the Iliad knew that the mighty Achilles would eventually be struck in the heal by an arrow and die. Odysseus would finally return to his hometown of Ithaca and win back his throne by shooting an arrow through the rings of 12 axes. Mighty warriors shot their bows with ferocity.
The true God breaks the bows of even the most powerful warriors. Then, in a great and loving reversal, God strengthens the feeble and feeds the hungry. A thousand years later, Mary would sing the same truth in her Magnificat, “He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53). The Lord continues to strengthen and feed you, both physically and spiritually through his word and sacraments.
Hannah then sings how God has done this for her personally.
Yes, the childless woman has given birth to seven children,
but she who had many children is weak with sorrow (1 Sam. 2:5).
The true God, in all of his glory and with all of his power looked upon Hannah, a grieving, forgotten soul, and blessed her with the new life of a child. And that led her to sing the theme of her song and one of the great themes of all of scripture.
The Lord puts to death, and he makes alive.
He brings down to the grave, and he raises up (1 Sam. 2:6).
Often in Hebrew poetry the theme of the song is found in the very middle. Hannah’s theme remains one of the most important and profound themes in all of scripture. Your God is a God who has defeated death. He has brought you life. The power of death and life is greater than the power of any Greek god. In Christ, your Lord has won the victory over eternal death and won for you eternal life.
The Lord makes some people poor, and he makes others wealthy.
He brings some low. He raises others up.
He raises the poor out of the dust.
He lifts up the needy from the garbage pile.
He makes them sit with nobles.
He gives them a glorious throne as a possession.
The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord.
He has set the world upon them (1 Sam. 2:7-8).
God had raised Hannah up from the lowly, ash-ridden garbage pile and placed her on a glorious throne. This is what your loving God does with glory: he gives it to his lowly people. You don’t need to earn it through feats of strength. It is yours by his grace.
He will guard the feet of his favored ones,
but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness,
because a person does not prevail by his own strength.
Those who oppose the Lord will be broken to pieces.
He will thunder against them in the heavens.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king.
He will raise up the horn of his anointed one (1 Sam. 2:9-10).
These concluding words of Hannah almost make it seem as if she is standing on the sandy beaches of Troy, looking up at the great warriors as they attempt to achieve personal glory on the battlefield. The words Hannah sings sum up their Sisyphus-like attempts perfectly. Those who attempt to use their strength to rise up against the Lord will be put to silence in darkness.
The Lord wins the battle. The Lord judges the earth. But most of all, the Lord defeats death and makes alive through his anointed one. The term “anointed one” can refer to a king. Saul would be called the “anointed one.” So would David. But these were imperfect men. Their role as king pointed ahead to the King of kings, the Anointed One, Christ! He would defeat sin, Satan, and death on the cross. He would bring himself down to the grave and be raised up again on Easter Sunday.
Christ remains the epic hero of your life. Watch the glory of his victory on your behalf. Look to him and his strength in your times of trouble. And sing with Hannah, heart rejoicing in your Lord, your Anointed One.
