1 Samuel 2:9

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

Hannah uttered these words when she left the child Samuel to minister in the house of God under the care and instruction of Eli the high priest, after which she quietly returned to her home at Ramah. They were sung after God granted the desire of her heart, as a public acknowledgment of divine mercy and loving-kindness in gratitude. Though retiring and timid, Hannah spoke by inspiration with her voice heard in the assembly sounding forth God's praise.

The song first answers the proud boastings of an insolent and contentious woman. By keeping the feet of His saints, God preserves and guards the way and steps of His faithful people and guides them. He guards and guides the steps of His faithful people, preserves the faithful, and assures those who follow Christ that He will guide and keep them.

The wicked shall be silent in darkness, meaning God's wicked enemies are broken, destroyed, and brought to silence. By strength shall no man prevail, meaning human strength cannot secure victory or prevail against God. This keeping belongs to the Lord's wider power to kill and make alive and to bring down to the grave and bring up, to make poor and make rich and to bring low and lift up. It belongs also to His power to raise the poor from the dust and lift the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory because the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and He set the world upon them, and to break His adversaries to pieces, to thunder on them from heaven, to judge the ends of the earth, and to give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed.

As part of Hannah's prophetic song, the verse is prophetic both of David who would reign as king of Israel and of Christ the Messiah, the Lord's anointed. It means the proud are humbled and the humble are exalted, and it points to the destruction of God's enemies and the complete and final triumph of His redeemed people. The fate of Eli's sons illustrates its warning: their wickedness and Eli's failure to remove them from office brought God's judgment, while God honors those who honor Him.

Believers can trust His guidance without knowing what lies ahead, like a child trusts a guide, because He leads them in the way they would choose if they could see the end and understand the purpose of their lives. He guides, sustains, and keeps from going astray those who follow Christ on the sometimes difficult and wearisome path toward heaven and eternal life. They can go forward with rejoicing and childlike trust in His loving guidance, confident the path leads to the home Christ has prepared for those who love Him.

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