What Does it Mean to Lift Up Your Horn?
What does it mean to “lift up your horn” like in 1 Samuel 2:1a: “Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is lifted up by the Lord.”?
Answer
“Horn” first refers to one’s strength or power, as in an animal’s horn which is its power. Lift up your horn is a figure of speech to represent strength. It is used in many prophetic passages in Daniel, Ezekiel. Hannah’s strength is passive, meaning it came only through the Lord.
Hannah is delighting herself in the Lord throughout her song. This song is one of the earliest poems in the Old Testament that is Messianic in character. Mary, the mother of Jesus, follows suit in her song in Luke 1:46-47.
Resources Mentioned:
Daniel 8:7, 2 Samuel 22:1–4, Psalm 35:21, Isaiah 57:4, Luke 1:46-47
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