Comentario citado sobre I Samuel 2:10

And Channah prayed and said: She prayed before the Lord and gave Him praise and thanksgiving for the son that He gave her. And she prayed to the Lord that he would live and that he would be for the Lord. And Yonatan translated it [in the Targum] as, "And Channah prayed with a spirit of prophecy and said, 'Shmuel, my son, will be a prophet over Israel in the future, etc.'" And Yonatan also translated this song [to be] about the kings of the nations of the world and about the congregation of Israel. And about the verse, "There is no holy one like the Lord" (I Samuel 2:2), he said, "About Sancheriv, the king of Assyria, she prophesied and said." And about the verse, "Do not abound with speech" (I Samuel 2:3), he said, "About Nevuchadnetzar, the king of Babylonia, she prophesied and said." And about the verse, "The bows of the mighty are broken" (I Samuel 2:4), he said, "About the kingdom of Antiochus, she prophesied and said." And about the verse, "The sated, for bread" (I Samuel 2:5), he said, "About the sons of Haman, she prophesied and said." And about the verse, "The Lord kills, and gives life" (I Samuel 2:6) until, "O Lord, may His adversaries be shattered" (I Samuel 2:10), he spoke about the reward of the righteous in the Garden of Eden and the punishment of the wicked in Geihinnom. And in the verse, "O Lord, may His adversaries be shattered," she spoke [about] the judgement of Gog and Magog and the kingdom of our Messiah. But according to the simple meaning, Channah opened this song, with regards to those tranquil in the world and the proud ones; and about the humble ones of the earth and the lowly ones - that the Holy One, blessed be He, sees everything. So 'He brings down the proud and raises the lowly' - like the thing that was upon her and upon Peninah, her rival.

ראובן בכורי אתה, “Reuven you are my first-born.” As a first-born Reuven was entitled to three advantages over his younger brothers. He was entitled to all the privileges normally accruing to the first-born; he was entitled to be the family priest; and he was entitled to a position of authority including Royalty if and when his family would develop into a nation. He lost all three parts of what would have accrued to him by reason of his being the biological first-born due to his sin. He lost the ordinary privileges of being a first-born as Yaakov gave those privileges to Joseph. He lost the priesthood to Levi, and he lost his status as potential king of the Jewish people to Yehudah. This is the deeper meaning of Yaakov saying (verse 4) “water-like, impetuously-you cannot be foremost.” The expression פחז is used in that sense by our sages in Shabbat 88 where they quote a Gentile referring to the Israelites saying to G’d at Mount Sinai: “we shall do and we shall hear,“ ”you are still an impetuous nation referring with your mouth to matters your ears have not heard yet.”
Yaakov referred to the priesthood when he said יתר שאת, “foremost in rank.” Yaakov referred to the eventual status of Royalty when he said יתר עז, “foremost in power.” The expression עז denoting such power is found in Samuel I 2,10 ויתן עז למלכו as well as in Psalms 99,4 ועז מלך משפט אהב, “Mighty king who loves justice.”

REUBEN MY FIRSTBORN THOU ART.⁷⁵This is the order of the Hebrew words: Reuven b’chori atah. Ramban will transpose the order of the words for the purpose of deriving the meaning of the verse. The sequence of this verse is, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the first-fruits of my strength, the excellence of majesty, and the excellence of power,” and its purport is as follows: “You are the first-born of my might and the first-fruits of my strength when I was the excellence of majesty (se’eith) and position” — the expression being similar to that found in the verses: Shall not his excellency (‘se’eitho’) make you afraid?⁷⁶Job 13:11. When he raiseth himself up (‘mise’eitho’) the mighty are afraid,⁷⁷Ibid., 41:17. ‘mise’eitho’ meaning ascendancy and power — “and when I was at the height of strength (oz) for war” — the expression being similar to that found in the verses: And He will give strength (‘oz’) unto His king;⁷⁸I Samuel 2:10. And the strength (‘ve’izuz’) of battle.⁷⁹Isaiah 42:25.

ויתר עז SUPERIORITY IN POWER — meaning in royal rank, as is meant by עז in (1 Samuel 2:10) “And he will give strength (עז) unto His king”. And what caused you to lose all these?

the king’s seer, in words of God to raise the horn the horn of the prophecy, for he would prophesy for the king. A similar instance of this is (I Sam. 2:10): “... and raise the horn of His anointed one.”