What does it mean that "by strength shall no man prevail" (1 Samuel 2:9)?

Hannah next ascribes to God almighty power: "For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them." This is a poetic figure of speech, though none the less forceful for that. Who but He whose "strength is infinite" could suspend and sustain this globe in its circuits as if it had no more weight than "the small dust of the balance?" as it is beautifully expressed in Job 26:27, "He hangeth the earth upon nothing." In His wisdom, grace, and power, He is able to keep us without falling: "He will keep the feet of His saints," she confidently says O child of God, weak, failing, and needing much mercy, rejoice in this which our Saviour has said: "They shall never perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). And may the certainty of this make you, not more careless in your walk, but the more careful not to grieve such love; for if He keep the feet of His saints, His eye is upon them to see every misstep they make, and observes when they wander into forbidden paths.

His justice is the next attribute noticed: "The wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail." The judgment of the sinner is sure, though God bear long with him in his rebellion and unbelief. "Where is the God of judgment?" men ask to-day, as they unbelievingly asked of old (Mal. 2:17). We answer, He is bearing long with man's impenitence, but His Word declares He "will by no means clear the guilty!" His righteousness is one of His many glories; even the gospel of His grace declares it (Rom. 1:17). "It is," as another has aptly expressed it, "the rectitude of His nature His infinite agreement with Himself, and the equity of His government and judgment in the administration of both." Puny man would thwart the execution of His judgments; but though they join hands to resist the purposes of God, though they bind themselves with an oath, as it were, to keep the earth for themselves in their pride, at the exclusion of God's Christ, its rightful Heir, "by strength shall no man prevail." "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished" (Prov. 11:21). "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them."

The main theme of Hannah's song, the great principle presented in it, is the sovereign grace and power of God, who abases the proud and the one who puts his confidence in the flesh, and who lifts up the weak and powerless, “for the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, and He has set the world upon them.” On His grace and power He has established the entire order of created things. Israel, miserable and fallen, and a faithful remnant that was poor and weak, needed to know these things and to learn that everything depended on Him alone, that He alone could keep the feet of His saints, silence the wicked, bring all man's strength to nothing, break all His adversaries and, lastly, give strength to His King and raise up the horn of His Anointed, for He intervenes in Israel's favor by giving strength to His Christ. He does not give strength to His people, but to His Anointed. He raises up the King on whom everything depends, the pivot of all things, the only means of sustaining a relationship between Himself and His people.

Moreover, not only is there a glorious inheritance before the people of God, but they are kept by the power of God for the inheritance. "He will keep the feet of His saints." In their own power they cannot stand against "the wicked" and "the adversaries of the Lord," for "by strength shall no man prevail." In the Lord's safe keeping they need not fear, for He will silence the wicked and brake in pieces His adversaries (9, 10; cf. 1 Peter 1:3-5).

Verse 8 speaks of the Lord's lifting up the poor and the beggar from the lowest degradation to make them inherit the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth are established by the Lord alone, the world being upheld by the might of His power. He can do as He pleases, and He pleases to exalt the humble. But as well as saving by His matchless grace, He also keeps the feet of His saints (v.9) preserving them from the snares that worldlings cannot avoid. In fact, the wicked, who loudly now proclaim their own honor, will be utterly silenced in darkness, for the strength of human flesh cannot prevail, but will be totally reduced to weakness. Nor will this be all when the judgment of the Lord falls, it will break His adversaries to pieces, His voice thundering out of heaven to strike terror in their hearts. Neither will there be any isolationism at that time: the whole earth, to its limits, will be affected.

Nothing of the kind, says Hannah: "He will keep the feet of his saints." True, she says, "And the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail." Cheer up, my soul! these are weighty words — they are the words of this day of grace, during which God is gathering the church for the throne of glory in the heavens.

The "young men" have "overcome the wicked one." Here there is energy of faith. It is impossible to be in any energy, that is of the Spirit, and not be brought into conflict with Satan; and, if there is this energy, there will also be the overcoming. But this supposes the death of the flesh. There is a vast deal of energy without the subduing of self, and all that is not energy with Satan. It is there we fail, and let Satan in. There is a certain turning-point with the soul, when it has come to a knowledge of itself - that there is not anything good in the flesh, that not anything of self can overcome evil, that by strength shall no man prevail, we learn to say, "When I am weak, then I am strong." When the soul has learned to distrust self, there is no haste in what it does; it has to do with God. One true-hearted Christian will see evil, and seek to remedy or overcome it with all vigour and energy, while another, more deeply taught of God, takes the trouble to humble himself, and goes to God about it, before he begins to work against it. God will accomplish all His will, and the true-hearted saint, going to work in a good deal of his own energy, is sometimes blessed in his work, and afterwards gets humbled, it may be with chastening, and blessed in separating between the flesh and the Spirit.

By transgressions, such as Adam's, the creature assumed strength independent of God; and therefore, in restoring him, God must teach him that He alone is sovereign, and that all creature strength must fail. And this is the lesson which the law and the gospel together teach; for the law, testing man, shows the vanity of confidence in flesh; the gospel, revealing God, shows the safety of trust in Him. And the mystery of the two wives teaches the same. Hagar had strength in the flesh, but her seed was not the heir. Leah had strength and title in the flesh, yet her son did not excel, but lost the birthright. Peninnah had strength in the flesh, but no child of hers delivered Israel out of their misery and oppression. On the other hand, all blessing and honour lay with the children of promise. Isaac caused laughter, and was he in whom Abraham's house was established. Joseph got the birthright, and, as soon as he was born, Jacob spoke of returning to his inheritance, for "if children, then heirs." Samuel filled the mother's heart and lips with a song, and was nourished up till he lifted Israel from the dust, regained the glory out of the hand of the enemy, and raised the stone of help in the midst of the camp. And all these things teach us, as the law and the gospel teach us, that "by strength shall no man prevail." The rich are sent empty away, the bows of the mighty are broken, but the poor handmaid is remembered, and she that was barren bears seven.

Some may say, Oh, that is a very dangerous doctrine. What! is there danger in the words and unchanging, love of Jesus? Suppose a person is a professor, and yet practising sin, is such an one safe and sure to be saved at last, and inherit the throne of glory? Jesus says, “And they follow me.” Is practising sin following Him, the holy and the true? But what says the mother of Samuel? “The wicked shall be silent in darkness.” And how terrible that silent darkness of never ending despair. Is it then that some have more strength to endure than others? No, “For by strength shall no man prevail.” No, the deeply important question is this, Are you one of His saints, one of His holy ones? If so, He has strength to keep your feet. And His love is as great as His power.

First, the soul learns, that, looking to the LORD for help, he will be kept amidst all dangers. In days when we may be faced with sudden dangers, working desolation, how good to be encouraged by the word, "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being moved" (Prov. 3:25-26). If we take our eyes off the LORD, and get occupied with the passing prosperity of the wicked, we may have to say, like the man of Psalm 73, "My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped." Looking to the LORD, and rejoicing in the LORD, we shall be able to say, with Hannah of old, "He will keep the feet of His saints … for by strength shall no man prevail" (1 Sam. 2:1, 9).

Hence the Spirit of God is clearly launching out here into a much greater than Samuel, and into consequences far deeper than the blessing of Hannah's soul, though it need scarcely be said that for this very reason what was immediate was so much the better secured. The bright vision of a Christ and of His kingdom as superseding the failure of man had thus a vital link with what she then had passed through. Hannah was much more rightly guided than Eli. The Holy Spirit deigns, in the wondrous love of God, to incorporate a poor simple woman's experience in Israel about a child that was born to her with His own glorious counsels in Christ as to Israel and all the earth. And does it not give dignity to the believer to know that a little cup of trial we have here may be thus filled with the grace of Christ Himself? "They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren has born seven: and she that has many children is waxed feeble." "The barren has borne." Hannah has her own circumstances before her; but the language even here goes out beyond her experience. Literally indeed she did not bear seven; but we see how far the Spirit of God can linger over the actual one whose birth awakens all the rest to faith. The "seven" means clearly divine completeness, which we never can have on this side of Christ. "Jehovah kills, and makes alive: he brings down to the grave, and brings up. Jehovah makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, and he has set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed."

It is clear to the spiritual mind that the Spirit of God is going a long way beyond the child of Hannah here. Samuel was to be among priests; he was not destined for the throne. But had he been, there is a strength and height of purpose here which far transcends an ordinary sovereign. In fact nothing but Christ can meet what is here in the mind of the Spirit of God. "He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail." Hannah had learnt her lesson from God; but the lesson was yet to be taught in a still more impressive and ample manner, never to be forgotten. "The adversaries of Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them." It is clear that this looks onward to a greater day, even to the day of Jehovah Himself. "Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed." Only Christ can meet what is required by all the words.