Would women have even been taught to read in those days?
Hannah’s prayer in I Sam 2 was the prayer of a woman who had given birth to a healthy son after years of barrenness. I would not be surprised if some version of her prayer was not said by all women in thanksgiving for pregnancy or childbirth.
I try to remember that men wrote the Gospels – men who were not there when Mary conceived, who did not see what Joseph dreamed, who did not hear the angel speak. God inspired the Truth of the Gospels, but the men who wrote still had to choose the language and the words.
The Gospel writers were no doubt familiar with Samuel and Hannah’s prayer – and would probably have loved drawing the reader/listener to the book of Samuel to read the prophesies.
Maybe a listener would hear the Magnificat and remember Hannah and how her son was given to the Temple, how he was the last of the line of Judges, and the one to anoint the first kings of Israel. Those are good connections. It would foreshadow that Mary’s Son would be important, someone who would usher in change for Israel.
