The book of 1 Samuel gives a history of Israel after the time of the judges. There is an emphasis on the kingdom of Israel. Though the prophet Samuel is not included in the book of Judges, his role is that of a judge. He is used to anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
The book opens with the birth of Samuel. He was a child born to a family who loved God. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, begged God for a son. Apparently, as many faithful Jewish mothers did, she asked that her son could be the Savior promised throughout Old Testament history. (Chapters 1-3)
As part of her promise to return the child Samuel to the Lord, Hannah took him to live with Eli the priest. Samuel grew up in the service of the God learning the Law from Eli. Though Eli seemed to teach Samuel well, his own sons brought grief to the family. The believed they knew a better way to serve the Lord and went against the requirements of God. Judgment followed in the house of Eli and upon the nation of Israel. (Chapters 4-6) The Philistines defeated the Israelites and the Ark of the Covenant was captured. Later it was restored to Israel. These chapters belong to the judges.
Samuel rose to be a prophet in Israel and judged the nation (Chapter 7). However the nation begged for a king. Samuel was hurt by the fact that the nation would rather have a king than be led by a prophet of God. God consoled him in that Israel was not rejecting Samuel as a prophet, but God as a ruler. (Chapter 😎 (Book of 1 Samuel)
God consented to give them a king and Samuel anointed Saul (Chapters 9, 10). While Saul passed his first year as king in apparent obedience to the leadership of Samuel and God, he quickly began to do things in the way he saw fit. God rejected Saul from being king because he took on the role of the priests as well (Chapter 13). Later the kingdom was stripped from his family because of disobedience to the Lord (Chapter 15).Saul was thirty years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel forty two years. Saul disobeyed Samuel’s instructions before the battle against he Philistines. Samuel rebuked Saul in 1 Samuel 13:11-14.
Saul and his army defeated the Amalekites and totally destroyed all the people with the sword. Everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed, but Saul disobeyed the Lord when he was unwilling to destroy everything completely. But Saul…spared Agag (king of the Amalekiites) and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good. (1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless they utterly destroyed). Samuel came to Saul with a word from the Lord. 1 Samuel 15:10-23. Saul ceased to be an instrument of God’s rule over His people.
It should be understood that it was always God’s intent to have a king over His people. As far back as Genesis 49:10, it had been stated that the ruler would come from the tribe of Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” The problem at this time was the people wanted a king before God wanted to give them one. They wanted a king because they did not trust In God their protector. In that sense, Saul was an abortion to God’s plan. David (of the tribe of Judah) was the first king of God’s plan.
It is hard to grasp what went through Hannah’s mind as she brought her young boy to Eli the priest, knowing she must give him up. Samuel, too, would find it heart-wrenching to leave his mother at such a tender age. We imagine there were both visible weeping and suppressed emotions. Samuel would not have a normal life; Hannah would not be a normal mother. A consecrated life is not normal as the world sees it.
However, the supreme source of Hannah’s joy is not in Samuel but in God who answered her prayer. At the end of the prayer recorded in the second chapter, she includes prophetic testimony: “He [God] will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Samuel 2:10, NIV). Samuel was to have a part in this fulfillment for he would be God’s instrument in anointing both Saul and David in due course. Samuel would form the bridge, the transition from God’s theocracy through judges (deliverers) to God’s theocracy through kings (subordinate rulers). In a sense, Samuel was the last of the judges, although he is also referred to in Scripture as a prophet (Acts 3:24; 13:20). When he delivered the Israelites from the Philistines, he was doing the work of a judge (1 Samuel 7:3,5,13).
Every year Hannah would make the pilgrimage with Elkanah. There she got to visit Samuel, though the visit was short. She gave him a new robe to replace the robe of the previous year. Thus his mother remembered him year by year as he grew. In one visit Eli blessed the parents, “May the Lord give you children,” for having given up Samuel. This prayer was answered with three sons and two daughters. “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it” (Proverbs 10:22, NIV). Surely, Hannah was richly repaid for any short-term sorrow she may have felt.
Samuel was indeed a Levite, even though he descended from an ancestor who is described as an Ephraimite in 1Sam 1:1. Not only was Samuel a Levite priest who wore the Ephod, but he was also a prophet. The importance of the Ephod is stated by God Himself in 1Sam 2:27 “Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father's house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israelto be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence.’” It was the right only of the Levite Priesthood to wear this garment. Samuel wore the Ephod (V14) from the moment he entered the priesthood under the auspices and tutelage of Eli – a direct descendant of the appointed Levite Priesthood of Aaron.
It’s very clear that Samuel is of the linage of Levi and this is clearly shown in the Bible, but we’ll get to that shortly.
God chose to strip away the priesthood from Eli and his family because of the ungodly conduct of his sons. He made this known to Eli through Samuel while he was a mere child. ISam 3:11 “And the LORD said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family - from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’” Samuel told Eli all that the LORD had said to him (V18).
At this appearance of the Lord Logos – later to be called the Lord Christ – Samuel gained fame throughout Israel as both a priest and a prophet (1Sam 3:19-21). God makes it very clear that the priesthood is to be taken from Eli and his sons, and God also makes it clear that Samuel is His chosen instrument for the priesthood. Not only was Samuel born by a miracle through his formerly barren mother Hannah, but he was also dedicated from birth to the Levite Priesthood. Throughout his life, and from early childhood, Samuel proved to be faithful and obedient to God and trained in all aspects of the Levite Priesthood.
To further clarify that Samuel was a priest and prophet, there was a time when Saul prepared a sacrifice to God while he waited for Samuel to arrive to make the sacrifice. When Samuel’s arrival was delayed, Saul went ahead and made the sacrifice himself (1Sam 13:9-10). It was a serious mistake and Samuel duly told him (V11) and further reiterated that his kingdom would not endure. Only a Levite priest could make that burnt offering to God and Saul knew it. It was a costly mistake for Saul. It should be noted that not only was Samuel a priest and a prophet, but he was also a king-maker through the appointment of God.
God chose Moses, a Levite, and Aaron his brother, to rescue the House of Israel from Egypt. Moses was protected from birth just as Samuel was. Both had their destiny mapped out as soon as they were born. This was to be true of many other Levites, including John the Baptist.
Being a prophet doesn’t indicate that someone is a Levite, since Joseph the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, was a prophet, but not a Levite. Nor does being a Levite mean that all Levites are prophets, though a disproportionate number of prophets were Levites. As a matter of fact, Moses foretold of another prophet, just like him, arising at a later time. Deut 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” God confirms this: V17-18 “The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my Name, I myself will call him to account.” There was a prophet just like Moses who arose at the time of Christ. In fact, this prophet was appointed to precede Jesus and to prepare the way for Him. The former was a Levite, and the latter, a Jew from the Tribe of Judah. Yet both shared the same ancestral linage, and their mothers were cousins. At least one of Mary’s recent forebears had to be a Levite for them to be cousins. Both the parents of John the Baptist were Levites (Luke 1:4-6), both descended from Aaron, and both kept God’s Commandments blamelessly (same verse
He was the last of the Judges and one of the greatest law-givers and administrators that God raised up for Israel. He came to the nation at a time of crisis and the nation took him to its heart. He served his people well and faithfully but at the end they rejected him in favor of a king who oppressed and betrayed them. During Samuel's span of power he brought his people back to God and lifted them to the heights of faith, but before he died he saw them in grievous apostasy and once more under the sovereignty of their enemies. In his life he ruled the nation but at the end he was gathered to his fathers in obscurity. Yet he lit a torch that was never put out. He spent his last years teaching a handful of youngsters who continued in the spirit of his life after that life was spent. He passed on the torch and in after years the work of Samuel blossomed and bloomed afresh.
We do well to heed the story of this man's life. We also hold a torch; a torch of truth that it is our duty to hold aloft while we live, and when our failing hands can carry it no longer, to pass it on to younger and eager hands outstretched to receive it. This truth which we hold as a stewardship, is not ours alone; it was passed to us from those of former years, as a heritage to be guarded and amplified and passed on to our successors. The work of God goes on in generation after generation, and nothing that we have is ours selfishly to enjoy and cast to the ground when the time comes that we can possess it no longer.
There is a strong parallel in our own time to the early days of Samuel. Once again the lamp has burned low in the Temple of God, and Eli has gone to sleep. Once again the people are sorely in need of instruction and guidance. Once again the word of the Lord has come to some who have been ready to give up all worldly interests and aims in order to serve God in His Temple and await His word. Once again such have gone forth into the world with the message of salvation and have done a work such as the world had not seen for many generations.
Temporarily, it may be, but none the less definitely, the enemies of righteousness have been checked and the truth made known to the people. But Samuel in his turn has become old and the glories of past days are slipping away. Who is to take the torch ? Upon whom is the mantle of Samuel to descend, and continue the proclamation of this glorious truth in the world of men? For there is still a message to proclaim. Those who are disappointed or perplexed, because the establishment of the Kingdom has not come at so early a date as they may have expected must not lose faith. The Plan of God is still being wrought out on time. The fact that we are not able correctly to discern the time makes no difference to that. And in times of uncertainty we do well to study the lives of those ancient stalwarts who, with so limited knowledge, must have found the purposes of God an even greater enigma than we do, and yet triumphed in faith and completed their course with joy.
Samuel was a leader and a prophet, a man of action and vision, utterly and completely consecrated and surrendered to the service of God. That was the secret of his success and that is the secret we have to know if we also would remain steadfast to the end. He went about his work with the serene confidence of a man who habitually walked with God and knew without a shadow of doubt that the work he was doing was God's work. In that confidence was the driving force behind the work he did.
There are many examples in the Old Testament of such men who gained "a good report through faith ". Daniel, Isaiah, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, were all men of action, vigorous, positive action, but they were all visionaries. While their hands were set to the plough their eyes were fixed on the heavens and there they saw visions of God. It is noteworthy that so many of these men pledged their lives to God in their early youth and were almost immediately called to serve Him. That should be a pointer to us, not to despise the aspirations of our younger brethren to serve their Lord effectively but rather to realize the immense potentialities in a young life fully surrendered at so early a stage, and to do all in our power to assist it. There is more than a passing fitness in our Lord's reference to new wine and old wineskins in this connection. It is quite possible that some among the younger generation can receive and assimilate some elements of unfolding Truth peculiar to this generation which most of the older ones could
never accept and are not expected by our understanding, all-wise Lord to accept. In such a case it is clearly the duty of the older ones to view with tolerant understanding the endeavors of those who must perforce tread a somewhat different path because they live in a somewhat different world.
The life of Samuel was a hard life; his victories were not easily won. That he was able at the end to turn his back upon all that his prowess had won him and live contentedly teaching his handful of students in a quiet country retreat says much for his strength of character. But then, Samuel knew something of the end from the beginning. He knew that all his mighty works, wrought in the heyday of his physical maturity, must be as nothing compared to the spiritual legacy he must leave behind him if he was to be truly faithful. With nearly all of Israel apostate from the faith and most of his life's work already in ruins he knew full well that in the hearts and minds of those few " sons of the prophets " reposed the real hope of the future. So he taught them in the same serenity of mind in which he had once led Israel against the Philistine hosts, and conquered, without any weapons save his faith, and his people's faith in God.The story of Israel's varied fortunes in their many wars with the Philistines in Samuel's day is an object lesson in itself. It was when Samuel was quite young and still attendant on the High Priest Eli that the great disaster came. Israel lost her greatest glory, the Ark of the Covenant. The word of Samuel had already begun to go out to Israel, but quite evidently as yet there was no real heed being given. When the fortunes of war began to go against Israel they gave way to superstitious beliefs and took the Ark into battle with them in the hope that God would not suffer the indignity of losing the symbol of His presence into the hands of the unbelievers. But God did. Can there be a more telling example of the utter disregard the Most High has for form and ceremony? If Israel no longer had faith in Him, the sacred Ark was no longer a symbol of any value, and its capture by the Philistines was a matter of indifference to Him. So the first Philistine war ended in disaster for Israel, the death of Eli, last High Priest of the line of Ithamar and twenty years of utter hopelessness and dejection on the part of the Lord’s people.
It was during that twenty years that Samuel came into his own. With the death of Eli he stepped into the place of authority, and although he could not be invested with the dignity of High Priest, he was in practice both sacred and secular ruler of the people.
One wonders why the Ark of the Covenant was not restored to its place after its recovery from the Philistines. According to 1 Sam. 6 and 7 it was in the Philistines' land only seven months but after its recovery it remained in the house of Abinadab of Kirjath-jearim until the reign of King David. The blessings and the favor of God was upon the house of Abinadab during that time. The Israelites had no regards for it. It is probable that the Philistines destroyed Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood in the days of Eli, after the capture of the Ark, and with there being no officiating High Priest and Israel as often as not under the heel of alien powers, it seems that the Tabernacle service, together with the Day of Atonement sacrifices, fell into disuse for a considerable number of years. That was the price the people paid for their presumption in taking the Ark of God into battle before them as though in itself it had power to deliver.
The "twenty years" of 1 Sam.7.2 cannot be the time the Ark was at Kirjath-jearim for that period would not extend to David's reign. It seems more reasonable that it indicates the period during which the people languished under Divine disfavor. Gradually, under Samuel's leadership, they awakened to a sense of their apostasy and undone condition. So at the end they returned to the Lord and 1 Sam.7 is the account of their return.
That provoked the second Philistine war. The change in the hearts of the children of Israel was remarkable. The same enemy; the same invasion, the same threat, but this time there was no suggestion of taking the Ark before them into battle. They had learned their lesson. This time they said to Samuel (v.😎 "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines". And, of course, God heard. The Philistines were routed without Israel having to lift a finger in their own defense. Samuel offered a burnt offering, and cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him. That was all. It was on this occasion that Samuel set a great stone and called it ‘Eben-ezer’, signifying "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us ", and gave us thereby a word and a theme that we have used constantly for each other's comfort and encouragement in these later years.
Samuel was now an old man. The time had come for his mantle to fall on other shoulders. The people loved and respected Samuel, but they wanted a king. "They have not rejected you" said the Most High to His faithful servant "but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." So Samuel anointed the young man Saul, and saw his own authority pass to the man of Israel's choice. God gave Israel a man that was like their own heart. They wanted a king before the appointed time. It was birth in rebellion; trying to birth the kingdom too soon. It was an abortion. God real king was in the making; it was David. He saw the man prove unworthy of the anointing and heard the Divine sentence of rejection. Therefore in the fullness of time he anointed another young man, one after God's own heart, the youth David. He was not destined to see David as king. Samuel finished his days at length with his own life-work completed but God's work in the nation still unfinished. But he passed on his mantle to those young hearts who surrounded his death-bed.
Perhaps that is one great lesson we all have to learn. Though we live a hundred years twice told, we can do no more than finish our own life's work. The work of God in the world will still remain unfinished and will still be going on. We may, each of us, make our individual contribution toward that work and the contribution we have made, be it great or small, will have made some difference to God's great work. We shall have been co-workers together with Him. But after our own little time of activity is ended, there will be others to continue the work and play their part too in the accomplishment of the Divine Plan. God grant that we individually may be faithful to our calling and before our own end comes, pass the flaming torch to one younger and newer in the race who is waiting to pick it up and follow in the path which we have trod.
Established as Prophet in Israel
“Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men” (1 Samuel 2:26, NIV). This reminds us of Luke’s comment that Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52, NKJV). Such is a sanctified life. Others do notice it.
In chapter three the Lord spoke to Samuel who may have been twelve at this time (Josephus, Antiquities 5, 10, 4). We are informed that in those days the word of the Lord was rarely heard and there were not many visions. Therefore, when the Lord spoke to Samuel, neither he nor Eli immediately recognized that the Lord was calling. Not until the third call did Eli recognize the Lord wanted to communicate with Samuel, and he gave Samuel instruction on how to respond. So it is with us: the Lord wants to communicate his word but we are slow to respond. “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10, NIV). This is the state we get ourselves into when the word of the Lord is rarely heard. We need to read it daily to have its influence current in our lives.
On the fourth call Samuel answered and the Lord told him shocking news unfavorable to Eli and his house. Previously, a man of God had told Eli that his sons and his line would be cut off from being priests because of the sons’ contemptible treatment of the priesthood responsibilities. Now the Lord affirmed this to Samuel, who feared telling Eli such depressing news. Upon Eli’s strong command Samuel told him everything. This was the beginning of Samuel’s career as a prophet of the Lord. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet, for his words proved true, passing the test of Deuteronomy 18:21,22.
In fulfillment of the prophetic words the Ark was captured in battle, Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers, and Phinehas and Hophni, sons of Eli, were killed. The news of the Ark’s capture overcame Eli and he died in a fall at the age of 98. Eli had judged Israel forty years (1 Samuel 4:18).
The Philistines had a bad time with the Ark. First, Dagon was broken in a fall before the Ark. Then the people were afflicted with tumors and disease from an abundance of rats. Moving the Ark to successive cities only proved the supposition that the God of Israel was in the plague on the people, for the plague followed the movement of the Ark.
Established as Judge in Israel
It was thought prudent to send the Ark back to Israel. So the Philistines loaded it onto a new cart, hitched up two untried cows that had recently given birth, added a guilt offering of gold replicas of the tumors and rats, and sent all on their way with no driver. The cows headed straight for Israel, which convinced the Philistine rulers that the possession of the Ark was the cause of the plague. After a short stay in the town of Beth Shemesh, because of the death of seventy citizens on looking into the ark, it was sent to Kirjath-jearim where it was kept for twenty years. It is at this time that Samuel is reintroduced (1 Samuel 7:2,3). He took a reformer’s position and the people rid themselves of their Baals and Ashtaroths, idols that they superstitiously worshipped. They repented and turned to serve the Lord only: “And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh” (1 Samuel 7:6).
What followed was a great victory over the Philistines, their long-time oppressors, in answer to prayer. The Lord scared the enemy into panic with loud thunders. The Israelites rushed down from Mizpah, created a great slaughter and recaptured lost territory, even from Ekron to Gath. To memorialize this occasion Samuel took a great stone, set it up where the battle took place, and named it Ebenezer, “stone of help.” The Israelites, when they went that way, would see it and recall the Lord’s help over the Philistines. Many Christians have “Ebenezer” experiences, times we are helpless and the enemy comes in like a flood. We are down, discouraged, and overwhelmed, but then we call on the name of the Lord for help and he responds with a providential leading that restores our hope and confidence in him to give us the victory. At these times we want to set up “stones of help” in our minds, remembrances, so that we recall the Lord’s care and compassionate love as we continue our Christian walk.
Samuel continued to judge Israel all the days of his life and intended that his sons, Joel and Abijah, judge Israel after him. He even appointed them judges when he was old, but they perverted justice and took bribes. Israel clamored for a king, which displeased Samuel and the Lord, but the Lord granted their wish, and after explaining what difficulties life under a king would mean, Samuel was sent to anoint Saul the first king of Israel.
Interactions with King Saul
The narrative continues with the establishment of Saul as king and Samuel’s admonitions to the people not to turn away from the Lord to useless idols but to serve the Lord with all their heart. Samuel’s words were backed up with power, for he called on the Lord to send thunder and rain in the dry season (1 Samuel 12:16-18). Their fearful response is a request for Samuel to pray for them, evidently for forgiveness in asking for a king. We can take Samuel’s reply to our own heart: “Far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away” (1 Samuel 12:23-25, NIV).
As children of the Lord, we have this same spirit of love for our brethren. We pray to our Father for the success of our fellow believers in prosecuting the Christian walk, that such be not overcome of sin, nor fall into the snare of the devil, but that each keep God and Christ in his focus and not make idols of wealth, amusements, education, career, and self. The duty of every Christian is to teach the way that is good and right and to worship the true King, the giver of every good and perfect gift, to whom should be rendered our greatest thankfulness for his character and benevolence. The Lord will not coerce his people into doing good, but will allow us, if we so choose, to persist in an evil course and to suffer the fruits of unrighteousness.
King Saul
King Saul started out well as humble and obedient, but shortly into his kingship he disobeyed greatly by offering the burnt-offering himself, evidently intending to make the fellowship offering too. Interrupted by the arrival of Samuel, his excuse was he couldn’t wait any longer with the army losing heart and deserting him and the threat of a Philistine attack (1 Samuel 13:8-14). We too need to wait on the Lord in matters that are not our prerogative to do. As a result Samuel had to take a strong position and rebuke Saul.
The loss for King Saul was tremendous: “Your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command” (1 Samuel 13:14, NIV).
Saul persisted in a progressively evil course. His next recorded interaction with Samuel is in chapter 15 where the Lord directed him, through Samuel, to totally destroy the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, NIV). Saul gathered a great army and wreaked destruction on the Amalekites but disobeyed in sparing Agag their king and the best of the animals. Saul also set up a monument at Carmel in his own honor.
When Samuel caught up with Saul, the confrontation was not friendly. Saul’s first excuse was that the soldiers spared the best of the animals to sacrifice unto the Lord; his second, “I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them” (1 Samuel 15:24, NIV). It is within this context that we have the oft-quoted words, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (1 Samuel 15:22,23). We see that the Lord lays a great premium on obedience; sacrifice is acceptable only when it follows obedience. We are informed that Samuel never visited Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him.
Anointing of David
What follows is Samuel’s anointing of David (chapter 16). Samuel was sent to Bethlehem, where Jesse and his eight sons resided. On seeing the eldest son, who evidently was striking in height and royal bearing, Samuel wrongly thought that this must be the Lord’s choice. But the Lord said, “I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORDlooks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV). Thankful we are that the Lord looks at the heart: the intentions, the character, and the thoughts. The choice went to the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons: “He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features” (1 Samuel 16:12, NIV). Few of us possess the physically striking appearance that calls forth respect and submission from our fellow man, but David had not only the fertile heart condition the Lord desired, but also pleasing features that would stand him well in the Lord’s providential development to leadership. With the anointing of David, the spirit of the Lord left Saul. This is the last we read of Samuel until chapter 25 where we are told that Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him.
A Faithful Judge
Samuel, a faithful judge of Israel from his youth until his death, a Nazarite all his life, a fully devoted, consecrated man who maintained his zeal and obedience to the Lord and was so recognized by the people. “I have been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the LORD and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? … You have not cheated or oppressed us, they replied. You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand” (1 Samuel 12:2-4, NIV).
Samuel’s faithfulness is attested in Hebrews: “What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about … Samuel … who through faith … administered justice, and gained what was promised” (Hebrews 11:32,33, NIV). Two aspects of Samuel’s judgeship are here emphasized: his faith in God and his obedience to that faith. Judged victorious, he is now waiting in the sleep of death for the faithful of the Gospel age to also gain the victory of obedience to Yahweh through faithful recognition of our role in Christ. May the memory of Samuel’s faithfulness be an inspiration to us as one of the great cloud of witnesses put forth in the Scriptures for our learning!
By Sandra Ann
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