The story of Samuel starts before he was born. His mother Hannah was distressed about not being able to conceive a child. In desperation, she prayed to the Lord and vowed that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to God as a Nazirite (see Numbers 6:1-8). In time she and her husband were indeed enabled to conceive and she gave birth to Samuel. Hannah kept her vow and brought Samuel to the Tabernacle in Shiloh and left him in the care of the priest Eli. Bible scholars don’t agree on how old Samuel was but many suspect that he may have been about 3 – 5 years old (1 Samuel 1:21-28). Samuel’s parents would return annually to the tabernacle to make their required sacrifices. Hannah would always bring along a little robe for her son Samuel and Eli would pray a special blessing for her.
Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home.
1 Samuel 2:20
Hannah did go on to have three other sons and two daughters. Samuel grew close to the Lord and became a priest and a great spiritual leader in Israel. He is recognized as both the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. In this way, the life of Samuel provided leadership during an important transition in the development of Israel from scattered tribes to a united monarchy.
Samuel’s father was Elkanah, a Zuphrite (1 Chronicles 6:35 cf. 1 Chronicles 6:16-28 which confirms him as a Levite). The spiritual state of Israel during the times of the judges was usually poor except for when a godly judge was ruling. But the judges’ influence was mostly local in their geographic area and did not extend to all the tribes and never over the whole nation. Apparently Elkanah and Hannah were an exception to the rule and they both appeared to be a godly couple and remained devoted followers of the Lord. Their son Samuel grew up in the Tabernacle and even there Eli the priest had issues with keeping God’s standards. His natural sons were a menace and Eli failed to deal with them appropriately. On the other hand, Samuel was privileged to have fellowship with the Lord and the Lord spoke directly to him. Samuel relayed the first prophecy he received to Eli the Priest who raised him. It was especially difficult because the prophecy foretold Eli’s demise due to his poor performance as a father and leader.
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”
Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
“What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
1 Samuel 3:1-21
The Adult Career of Samuel
Samuel served as a priest (1 Samuel 2:18) and was a great man of faith (Hebrews 11:32).
In time Samuel must have married though we don’t know who his wife was. We do know he had two sons but he apparently did not do a good job of raising them just as Eli, his father figure, did not do a good job in raising his biological sons. Samuel’s plan was that his sons would continue serving as judges and carry on the family legacy. The Israelites had reason to not trust Samuel’s sons (1 Samuel 8:1-3). They rejected his sons and pleaded for a king instead.
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
1 Samuel 8:1-5
Though Samuel did not initially accept the idea of anointing a king for Israel, the Lord counseled him to proceed anyway no matter how unpleasant the results would be (1 Samuel 8:6-21). Samuel did have the privilege of anointing the first king over Israel. Saul, a Benjaminite, was tall and handsome (1 Samuel 9:2) and was chosen based on those external traits. Saul reigned for 42 years (1 Samuel 13:1).
Saul was not a good king for many reasons but things came to a head when he offered sacrifices to the Lord instead of waiting for Samuel to come and do it as he should have. When Samuel arrived he rebuked Saul and told him that his reign was doomed and that the Lord would seek out a man after his own heart instead. David was chosen but not because of outward appearances that pleased people like Saul. David was chosen by God because he had a good heart.
Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.
“What have you done?” asked Samuel.
Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”
“You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
1 Samuel 3:7-14
In a strange turn of events, Samuel anointed David as King but Saul did not give up his reign. So there was a period of about 15 years that David was the anointed king of Israel but Saul was the reigning king who refused to give up his throne and even attempted to have David killed. David waited patiently and eventually Saul was distraught and fell on his sword when the Philistines were about to capture him. Then David reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah for about seven years and eventually reigned over the entire nation. So David reigned as King for a total of 40 years.
Samuel From Beyond Death
Samuel died during this period when there were two kings, the anointed one and the reigning one. King Saul was preparing to battle against the Philistines again and was scared, depressed, and unsure about what to do. He so earnestly desired the advice he used to get from Samuel that he consulted a medium to contact Samuel from the dead. It worked! But Samuel rebuked him and it was in that following battle that Saul died.
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”
“There is one in Endor,” they said.
So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”
But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”
Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”
Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
“Bring up Samuel,” he said.
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.”
“What does he look like?” he asked.
“An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”
Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.
When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do. Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some food so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.”
He refused and said, “I will not eat.”
But his men joined the woman in urging him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the couch.
The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left.
1 Samuel 28:3-25
So the Biblical story of Samuel begins before he was born and doesn’t end until after his death. He was a faithful servant of the Lord and did many great things for the nation of Israel. Though he initially resisted the notion of a king, the Lord explained that the people were not rejecting him, but the Lord. God assured Samuel that it was okay to anoint a king for them. Samuel obeyed.
Summary
Perhaps one of the most famous exchanges in Samuel’s life was the one he had with King Saul. Saul was disobedient to the Lord and Samuel called him out on it. The lesson for us to take to heart is that obedience to God’s Word must always be our top priority.
But Samuel replied: ‘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’.
1 Samuel 15:22
Part of Saul’s disobedience included the fact that he allowed the Philistine King Agag to live. He held him in chains, but failed to destroy him and all their animals as he had been instructed (1 Samuel 15:3). When Samuel arrived, he not only rebuked Saul for his lack of obedience, he took care of the unfinished business and executed King Agag himself, likely by beheading him. This was one of the most stunning events recorded by a prophet or a priest, let alone someone who was both.
But Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among women.”
And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.
1 Samuel 15:33
Of the many things we can learn from the story of Samuel, the most meaningful one may be from the time that Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to select one of his sons to be anointed king. Jesse had eight sons and Samuel knew it would be one of them but didn’t know specifically which one. When the eldest son Eliab was presented, he must have looked like the obvious choice. He wasn’t. God did not choose the firstborn son of Jesse and he did not choose the strongest or most sophisticated. He chose the one with a good heart and David, the youngest of them all, rose above all his brothers and became a great king of Israel. That is an important lesson for us to keep in mind when we are tasked with selecting someone to play an important role in our lives. Whether we’re choosing a friend, a spouse, a pastoral candidate or someone in a political office, we must look past outward appearances and stated promises and look at their heart – just like God does.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
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New International Version (NIV)
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