“The holy ones of the Most High will procure the kingdom and will possess the kingdom forever and ever.’” Daniel‬ ‭7‬:‭18‬ ‭“Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], you prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will restore double your former prosperity to you. [Ps. 40:2; Isa. 40:2.]” Zechariah‬ ‭9‬:‭12‬ ‭ The scope of vision five is broader; it presents not just the prelude judgment but the whole reversal pattern of heads cast down and heads lifted up. It declares that the lofty world-mountain’s fate is to be flattened into a plain (4:7a), then immediately adds the victorious announcement that the messiah-figure (Zerubbabel) will bring forth the capstone in completion of God’s house of glory (4:7b). Satan’s Esagila-Olympus will fall and the true Har-Magedon of the Lord’s Anointed will lift up its head.The saints praise God as the One who lifts up their head-horn. “My horn is exalted in the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:1). “You, O Lord . . . are the lifter up of my head” (Ps. 3:3[4]). “You [O Lord] have lifted up my horn like that of the unicorn” (Ps. 92:10[11]).God is also praised as the one who exalts the horn of the Messiah. ”[The Lord] will give strength to his king; he will lift up the horn of his anointed” (1 Sam. 2:10; cf. Pss. 89:17,18[18,19]; 148:14). Psalm 110 celebrates this eschatological event. It is Messiah’s head that is exalted in victory (v. 7b), whether we understand the subject of the action to be Yahweh, swearer of the oath (vv. 1,4) or Messiah himself, David’s Lord (v. 1), recipient of the sworn appointment as priest-king forever. And either way it is the Lord who lifts up the head. This psalm displays the full pattern of the great reversal, for the Lord’s striking down heads in his wrath against the nations (v. 6) is the precursor to the lifting up of his own head in glory (v. 7).Verses 9–10 extend the theme of reversal to the entire cosmos. God will keep his faithful ones but will cut off the wicked. No might can save man from God’s justice. The Lord will judge “the ends of the earth” and “he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” In Hannah’s praise, God’s redemptive reversals culminate in the exaltation of an anointed king (literally, “his messiah” [מְשִׁיחוֹ]). The capstone of God’s work in bringing Hannah’s personal reversal and Israel’s national reversal is an eschatological reversal in which God’s justice and salvation are poured out on the nations, and his Messiah is given royal victory. In summary, Hannah’s hymn sets Samuel’s readers on a trajectory in which God exalts the humble, humbles the exalted, proves his sovereignty, and establishes his anointed king. It is no coincidence that a similar hymn closes out Samuel’s book by praising “the Rock” (2 Sam 22:32), who saves “a humble people” and brings down “the haughty” (22:28). Brevard Childs was right to point out how these two hymns act as bookends of Samuel’s work. In this light, the theme of reversal forms an inclusio around Samuel’s narrative that tells of Davidic exaltation.Glorification | The Final Frontier Going Boldly Where The Last Man has Gone Before! Decrease time over target: PayPal or Venmo @clastronaut Cash App $clastronaut