1 Samuel 2:1
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. 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.
The outburst of rejoicing came at the moment Hannah gave Samuel to serve, and then she went back quietly to her home at Ramah while the child remained to minister in the house of God under the care and instruction of Eli the high priest. The utterance was given under the Spirit of inspiration, and although she was by nature retiring and timid she voiced it aloud in the assembly of the people in praise to God.
God had answered her prayer, granted the desire of her heart, and highly favored her, and in response she gave Him public credit for her deliverance and victory and for His mercy and loving-kindness. There was no vain triumph of self in her exultation, for she rejoiced not in Samuel and not in her own prosperity but in the Lord and in His salvation. That thanksgiving after answered prayer stands as instruction for all who receive answers to prayer to return praise and thanks to God for His loving-kindness.
As the horn serves some animals as a weapon of attack and defense, her horn exalted in the Lord declares that her strength, honor, and deliverance were lifted up by God and came from Him, while her mouth enlarged over her enemies denotes confident speech and triumph over them. The utterance opens a prophetic song that looks forward to David who would reign as king of Israel and to Christ the Messiah, the Lord's anointed. Its rejoicing over enemies first meets the proud boastings of an insolent and contentious woman, and it reaches beyond personal deliverance to declare the humiliation of the proud and the exaltation of the humble, the destruction of the enemies of God, and the complete and final triumph of His faithful and redeemed servants.