Horn of Salvation

Some writing from Advent season of last year:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."- Psalm 18:2

 

The use of the word horn in this context refers to strength.  Horns are seen throughout the old testament in many different settings.  As instruments of praise, and vicariously as weapons, they were used by Joshua’s army as they marched around Jericho.  The altar in the temple was fashioned with four horns: one at each corner.  Horns were used to contain oil for anointing.  In this passage, Zecharias, a priest, is “filled with the Holy Spirit” and prophesies:

 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant.” -Luke 1:68

Elizabeth was barren and her fertility was a gift from God as well as a sign of what was to come: the Messiah.  We find this imagery earlier in the bible, in a similar case of infertility.  The story of Elkanah and Hannah.  Hannah pled for God to open her womb and He eventually did.  In her song of thanks, found in I Sam 2:1-10, she says “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high.  My mouth boasts over my enemies for I delight in your deliverance…He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

What is so interesting about the parallel between these two stories is what the birth of each of these people (Samuel and Jesus) meant for the nation of Israel.  In both stories, God’s priesthood was established but something more was desired.  Samuel ushered in the time of Israel’s kinship;  whether this was good or bad is a different story.  John the Baptist, through Elizabeth and Zecharias ushered in the Kindgdom of Heaven through Jesus the Messiah.

In both instances, the horn is a perfect symbol to both represent what already is and what is to come.  The horn as part of the altar and as an instrument of worship and anointing symbolizes the priestly aspect of things, while in both references the word is used to depict strength.  In both of these passages the speakers are longing for something that is absent and they desperately desire.  They need God to come through in his strength.  So a different picture is needed to illustrate what horn means in these contexts.  

The best way to describe this is very plainly as a fierce, violent, masculine strength.  Like horns that bud from a young buck, this strength is the bite behind the bark.  Any animal in the wild can do serious damage once it has grown its horns and has broken them in.  And this is the symbol we see as Jesus being our king, coming to do battle and wage war against those that have oppressed us.  The same thing was desired in Samuel’s day.  Downtrodden Israel wanted a valiant king to wage war against its enemies.  God provides this in both instances, but it isn’t quite what Israel expected and God doesn’t deliver quite how they wanted him to.  But what better way to physically depict this budding strength than in the birth of a baby boy?  "Boaz" (the name of my second son), in Hebrew, means “strong and swift”.  The horn of salvation that God is to us is so firm and solid, but like anything in life with true depth and meaning, this takes time to grow and mature.  God is our strength when we don’t even see it or recognize it.  Young bucks will someday grow horns and be fierce in battle with others.  One day Boaz will be a towering giant, but not now.  But the times we don’t recognize are the times that God is at work; sustaining and strengthening us so we’ll be prepared when we eventually realize we need it.