The Prophet Series: Samuel

It is near the end of the eleventh century B.C. and almost four hundred years after Joshua's conquest of the land. We find Israel in dire straits. The nation has degraded spiritually and the priesthood is corrupt and defiled. During the time of the judges, the last 400 years, certain tribal lands had fallen into apostasy and were severely disciplined by God. God appointed judges in these areas who set about to deliver those lands and the people in them repented. But now we see the various tribes acting like independent republics and this disunity has made them weak. The spiritual patriotism of the nation had been worn out by constant turmoil and invasion. The degeneracy of the people at this time was extreme. God's influence was seldom felt. Visions as communication from God were terribly infrequent. The Levitical offerings were only ritual and had lost all semblance of reality. The high priest, Eli, cared more for his sons than he did for God, and his two sons were fully corrupt. They would take from the offerings what did not belong to them, robbing what belonged to God. Thus was the spiritual state of the land when God sends His first prophet.

At this time a righteous woman named Hannah was barren and she prayed to the Lord that if she had a son he would be dedicated as a priest unto the Lord for his entire life. The Lord heard this prayer and Samuel was born, and in His graciousness Hannah was given five more children after Samuel, whose name likely means "heard of God." Samuel served the Lord in the Tabernacle at Shiloh as soon as he was weaned. His special duty was to put out the sacred candlestick and open the doors at sunrise and this was the way his childhood passed.

According to Josephus, Samuel was twelve years old when God first called to him. In a comical scene the innocent lad was sure it was Eli whose voice he heard and God had to call him four times before He received a proper response. God's first revelation to him was the doom of Eli's apostate house. Many more communications would come and soon the young man became famous in Israel, for the voice of the Lord was finally being heard again at Shiloh and only to this one young man. People from all over Israel came to hear him and the words from God spoken to him spread throughout the whole land. The word of God was alive again in Israel due to the faithfulness of God who will not abandon His people and through a young man who was faithful to Him. Samuel must have felt truly blessed and keenly excited, but little does he know of the burden that will lie upon him as the leader of such a people who reject the way of God and prefer the way of the world.

Eli was the judge for the people and after his death Samuel was too young to fill this duty. Because of this, the record of his young adulthood is not afforded us, but he appears again in the narrative twenty years later. During this time the word of God through him must have had some impact since we read, 1SA 7:2 And it came about from the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim that the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

When the time was right Samuel set about the work of a prophet of Israel and warned them. He exposed their sin of idolatry and gave them the ultimatum that seems to come from the lips of every prophet after him. If they would return the Lord with all their heart and remove the blind and dumb idols from among them, then God would deliver them politically from the plight of the Philistines. 1SA 7:3-4 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone.

The judges of the past had been promoted to political power through their military courage and talents, but Samuel was raised to the lofty station of judge through the gift of God's word that was given to him as a prophet. It was clear that the sword and the spear were not going to deliver Israel, but that the word of God would. Samuel was inaugurated as judge of Israel at Mizpah in the presence of many of the people of Israel. This alarmed the Philistines who decided to attack them immediately. As usual the people feared and they begged Samuel to cry out to the Lord for them. He offered a burnt offering, the offering of redemption, and God sent a very unusual thunderstorm upon the Philistines, which may or may not have been accompanied by one of God's favorite artillery - the great big hailstone, and they, in confusion, fled and were subsequently pursued by the Jewish men of fighting age. The cities and lands that they had taken from Israel over the past few decades were again occupied by Israel and because of Samuel the Philistines ceased to be a problem until his death.

Samuel is now the leader of Israel and she has returned to worshipping the Lord. This lasted for about twelve years, but then, as these elect of God so often do, they grew complacent with Samuel's successful leadership and they lusted for a king of the same type as other nations. This broke Samuel's heart, and not because he desired to be the only one in charge, but because he knew that the people of God had once again rejected God.

Samuel married and had two sons. He commissioned his sons as judges on the southern frontier, and right before his eyes he witnessed them repeat the degeneracy of the sons of Eli. 1SA 8:3 His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. Too often this is the heartache of the righteous when they watch their children fully commit to the way of the world. Corrupt parents see nothing wrong with equally corrupt children, but to the follower of Christ, it is a deep inner pang.

Samuel had grown old and the elders of Israel saw no one that was qualified and capable of filling his office. They feared that after his death, Israel would be thrust into the anarchy of inter-tribal division and rivalry. The Amorites east of the Jordan seemed to be building themselves up militarily and they feared a war without a leader. Fear was compounded by fear and heaped upon with more fear. Did not God provide Samuel? Would He not provide another leader for Israel? Were not His promises still good, that if they followed the Lord that He would deliver them from all their enemies and that His word would deliver them from themselves? But rather than think rationally on the foundation of faith in God's word, the elders assembled at Ramah and set about finding their own solution to the seeming vacancy that Samuel would leave behind. They demanded a king.

When Samuel heard it he spent the day fasting and spent the night sleepless. The change from a republic under God to an aristocracy deeply bothered Samuel, for they were rejecting God as their King. Faith that waits to see what God will do seemed to them too unstable and chaotic, but they saw stability in a monarch who would pass on his crown to his progeny in the manner of other nations. If they were given a king he would have sons or nephews that would follow after him and thus erasing those pesky unknowns surrounding succession. It was also a slight against Samuel who had ruled them so capably as the first prophet/judge. It was as if they said, "You were ok as a prophet and judge over us Samuel, but we've decided to go in another direction."  

Samuel did what any man of God should do - he went to God in prayer. 1SA 8:7-9 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day —  in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods —  so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them."

Per God's command, Samuel warned them about what was sure to be the future for them and their children under a monarch - tyranny, loss of property, loss of sons to his wars, loss of daughters as his servants, taxes, etc., and that they would cry out to the Lord one day asking for God to remove the tyrant and their peril at his hands but the Lord will not listen. The people respond to this like they did at Sinai in the wilderness and for the past four hundred years; they simply did not listen. 1SA 8:19-20 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

They again assemble as Mizpah and the lot falls to Saul as king. God gave them what they asked for - tall, dark, and handsome, and the people shouted, "Long live the king." At this time, though he will live on and continue to serve Israel, Samuel gives them his farewell address. In this solemn speech he reminds them of his own integrity and warns them that now, both they and their king must follow the Lord God or feel His swift and severe discipline. It is the day of the wheat harvest and as a parting gift, Samuel asks God to send a great thunder and rain storm, and he does not hide his motivation for doing this. 1SA 12:17 Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king."

After the great storm the people understand that they have sinned against God but still they are stuck with a king. At the end of his farewell address, Samuel doesn't storm off but turns to the people in grace. Samuel, as the great man of God that he is, knows that he must continue to warn Israel and pray for them. 1SA 12:20 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. Discipline never means the absence of God but the providence of God in which mercy is always shown. The people have made a grave decision, yet they can still follow God's law with the added consequence that their king must also follow. Saul will not, as will be the case for a great majority of Israel's kings.

Samuel would continue to judge Israel out of his love for her due to his love for God. But the situation is greatly changed, for he must judge while beside him Saul holds office as king. This creates a conflict of interest because Saul is not faithful to God or to Samuel, who technically is still in charge over and above the new king, after all, it was Samuel who anointed and appointed him. Soon after taking his office Saul went to war against the Philistines. They took their position and Saul took his, but Saul was to wait for Samuel to come before him and the people's army and offer the burnt offering and the peace offering signifying that Israel's victory, as well as all mankind's, was due to the redemption and reconciliation wrought by the Messiah. This was only to be offered by the spiritual leader and priest of Israel, but Saul grew impatient and offers the sacrifice himself, as if he were a priest as well as a king. Directly after Saul's offering Samuel appears and calls Saul a fool and promises that his kingdom will end and it will be given to a man after God's heart.

Not long after, Saul has the opportunity to show his repentant heart in a command to put the Amalekites under the ban. He was to destroy them and everything they owned, but instead of obedience a similar scene unfolds in which Saul takes it upon himself to alter the command of God and spare the best livestock and Agag the Amalekite king. Samuel again confirms that Saul had lost his kingship, but Samuel is a true man of God who loves God's people Israel and he mourns for Saul. 1SA 15:35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death; for Samuel grieved over Saul.

In his final act Samuel is sent by God to the city of Bethlehem to set apart the youngest son of Jesse, David, the great king of Israel and the father of the future Messiah. God's choice stands in such contrast to the will of the people, but His ways are not man's. Samuel is blessed to anoint David whose Son would sit on the throne of Israel forever. The twelve year old lad who first heard the voice of God and innocently thought it was the voice of man is, in his final days, after a long career of striving with God's elect but stubborn people, graced out with confirming Israel's greatest king and one of her greatest heroes of faith. 1SA 15:35 Now the Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.

The faithful believer sent by God as his vessel of honor to do His work will have a life full of blessing, but he will also be beset by adversity and heartache. The irony, which is really not so since it is daily experienced by God, is that the vessel of God loves God's people with all his heart, yet he is so often spurned and rejected by them. He must not look to the people for thanks or praise, but only to God whose will he must do. His rewards are great, but they are from God and Him alone. Samuel is a clear and wonderful example of this; the first prophet/judge of Israel.

The epilogue of a man's life usually does not come after his death, but in Samuel's case it does. His final scene in the scripture could be a forerunner to Greek comedy/tragedy. The tragedy is that Saul to whom God will not reveal guidance or power, in his last gasp of hope, resorts to obtaining the services of a witch diviner to whom he petitions to bring up Samuel. Saul wants advice and his selfishness runs so deep that he desires Samuel to ascend up from his rest from toil in Paradise to serve Saul once again. God amazingly allows this. The comedy is that this is the first time that the witch has ever successfully performed that which she is famed for, and she screams in fear. We can picture Samuel at rest and lounging in Paradise, sharing war stories with all the other heroes of faith in Israel and then receiving the first and last summons in this place. Samuel was justly perturbed and revealed to Saul that if the Lord had rejected him then summoning Samuel would make no difference, and then Samuel lends his final prophecy. 1SA 28:19 Moreover the Lord will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.

With the love of learning,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries