Samuel The Prophet
Feature 2 – June 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine
Samuel The Prophet
In these pages we desire to reflect on the person and ministry of Samuel the prophet. We should start with his mother, Hannah, whose name means “grace” – which is what God’s people need in a special way when things deteriorate.
The worsening condition of Israel, even many years before Hannah was born, is summarized in the book of Judges. There we read about seven periods of failure, especially regarding the nation’s leaders. Yet the book shows God’s grace giving revivals and restoration in different ways and contexts. This theme makes Judges relevant, even encouraging, for us today.
Judges is followed by the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. Those two books show God preparing His people to have a king over them. Regarding a king, His desire was revealed in Deuteronomy 17:14-15 (ESV), which says, “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you.” This will be fulfilled when the Lord Jesus will reign as King.
Hannah’s husband Elkanah, a name meaning “God has purchased,” was a Levite (1 Chr. 6:26,34) who was linked to God’s service among the people of Israel. At the time, that service was centered at a place called Shiloh, meaning “rest,” where the tabernacle had been set up under Joshua’s leadership (1 Sam. 1:3; Josh. 18:1). Decline was taking place there as well, leading to grave failures because of the high priest Eli’s two ministering sons. They were guilty of flagrant immorality (1 Sam. 2:22) and also robbed God of what was due to Him by taking the best of the offerings for themselves. Their behavior caused people to despise God’s service, including the sacrifices that were brought to honor Him (vv.12-17).
During these years, Hannah was deeply exercised to have a son whom she would train for the Lord, that he might serve and honor Him at Shiloh. She was, however, not able to conceive and have children, for which reason her husband may have taken an additional wife. That practice was not uncommon in those days, but from the beginning it was not God’s plan (see Gen. 2:24).
Abram had done the same thing as Sarai, his wife, had a condition like Hannah’s. However, God intervened and gave them a son, Isaac (Gen.16–21). Similarly, after years of waiting and praying, Hannah and her husband had a son, whom she called Samuel. Appropriately, his name means “heard of God” or “asked of God.” When the right time had come, Hannah took her young son to Shiloh to serve the Lord there in submission to the high priest (1 Sam. 1:24-28). It is touching to read Hannah’s song of praise and worship (2:1-10), while her son served the Lord in Shiloh (v.11).
Lessons From Samuel’s Early Ministry
The character of young Samuel and the quality of his life and service was in marked contrast to Eli’s sons, who were facing judgment (vv.27-36). Hannah’s great desire was that her son, in the deteriorating environment of that day, would minister to the LORD in faithfulness – and that is what young Samuel did. He ministered to the LORD, realizing His presence, wearing a linen ephod, and before Eli the high priest, who seemingly noticed the contrast with his own sons (2:11,18, 3:1-9).
What a beautiful example for young parents! Let us be encouraged to carefully read the beginning of 1 Samuel while asking the Lord to show us lessons we may learn from the details these chapters provide. Hannah’s commitment and prayers had an impact on her son, who became a man of prayer (7:5, 8:6, 12:19-23). From his childhood, Samuel was a servant trained to care for God’s interests. Taught in God’s school, he became God’s spokesman, or prophet, teaching His people “the good and the right way” (12:23).
God answered Hannah’s prayers, and her young son Samuel became a faithful servant. In view of this we notice the significance of Samuel’s being girded with a linen ephod (2:18). In Scripture, linen speaks of purity in position and practice (see Lev. 16:4). It points to the One – the Lord Jesus – who always walked undefiled even though He was surrounded by those who were marked by impurity. This, sadly, was the situation with which young Samuel was confronted, facing the evil conduct of Eli’s sons. But Hannah’s son had been trained to abstain from evil, seeking, instead, to honor God. Because of his God-honoring conduct, Samuel was able to serve God in a manner that befit Him. May we follow Samuel’s example and that of his mother!
Lessons From Samuel’s Further Ministry
Even during those days of decline, God was at work, first in Hannah, then in Samuel, and later in the hearts of “men of valor” (1 Sam. 10:26). Samuel instructed God’s people concerning the rights and duties of the kingdom (v.25), to honor the king whom Lord had chosen for them (v.24): Saul. Soon the Ammonites on the other side of the river Jordan attacked Israel. This triggered a response, organized by Saul, leading to a great defeat of Israel’s enemy (11:11). Samuel then led Israel to recognize and honor their new king.
However, God allowed the people to become disappointed with King Saul. Even though he was prominent in comparison to the people, he failed in various ways, as detailed in 1 Samuel 12–15. By God’s grace, Samuel still led Israel to a revival, reminding them of God’s faithfulness over the years despite all their failures (1 Sam. 12). Chapter 13 summarizes failures with King Saul and the people, but Saul’s son Jonathan shined in chapter 14 as a bright light because his faith in God sparked a great victory over the Philistines. Yet, despite that victory, the overall picture was gloomy because of Saul’s spiritual and moral failures. The Lord put one more test before Saul in which he miserably failed because of his disobedience and disregard of God’s rights. God then sent Samuel to inform Saul about God’s rejecting him (1 Sam. 15), even though He allowed him to continue his reign for quite some time.
Against that dark background we learn that God had been preparing a young man to become the king after His own heart: David (1 Sam. 16). The LORD had been training him while he was feeding his father’s sheep and fought the attacks of the lion and the bear (17:34).
Samuel was a faithful prophet and servant of the LORD, yet he needed correction and adjustment because of his disappointment about Saul. God, therefore, told His servant Samuel to accept the fact that He had rejected Saul and had found a new king, one of Jesse’s sons, in Bethlehem, the “house of bread.” God sent Samuel there to anoint this new king while the family and the guests were gathered to eat of the sacrifice, the heifer Samuel had brought with him (1 Sam. 16:2). This meal was a peace offering, of which all could eat who were ceremonially clean (read Lev. 7). It was provided by the heifer, offered as a sacrifice. Those who had sanctified themselves were invited by Samuel to come along, while Samuel hallowed Jesse and his sons (1 Sam. 16:5).
However, the prophet still had to learn more lessons. These lessons are important for us today – for all believers who care about God’s rights and His people. Tremendous differences exist between then and now, yet we also must learn similar lessons of obedience, commitment, love of the Lord and His people. May we be ready to participate in the peace offering God has prepared for today, namely the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 10–11; consider Heb. 13:10-16).
More lessons are spelled out in 1 Samuel 16:6-13, which God’s servant had to learn. God told Samuel that He had chosen one among Jesse’s sons to be anointed as king. Out of his eight sons, God had chosen one, according to His heart. The firstborn, Eliab, meaning “my God is father,” was the first one Samuel thought the LORD had chosen to be His anointed (1 Sam. 16:6). But the LORD said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (v.7). The second son, Abinadab, “my father is a willing giver,” passed before Samuel, but the LORD made it clear to His servant that this one was not His choice (v.8). The third one, Shammah, was not accepted either (v.9), nor was any of the other sons that followed those three (v.10). What now?
“Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here’” (v.11). Jesse obeyed. After David came, we find out that he was “ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome” (v.12). To Samuel, “the LORD said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he’” (v.12). Samuel obeyed, and “took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward” (v.13). Samuel then went to Ramah, where he lived. In divine irony, God allowed David to be trained in Saul’s service and marry his daughter Michal, even though she also resisted God’s grace and never bore David a child.
Apart from anointing Saul and later David, Samuel was viewed like Moses as an intercessor for the nation of Israel: “The LORD said to me, ‘Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My heart would not turn toward this people’” (Jer. 15:1). Samuel also was likened to Moses and Aaron as priests (Ps. 99:6). Only by grace did Samuel, a Levite, function as a priest, for he was not of Aaron’s descendants. We see this in the life of David as well. Samuel and David, or Samuel’s service, are mentioned together often (1 Chr. 9:22, 11:3, 26:28, 29:29). Much later in Israel’s history, King Josiah’s celebration of the Passover was described as something that had not been observed “since the days of Samuel the prophet” (2 Chr. 35:18). All of this indicates the important role Samuel had in the nation of Israel. However, Samuel’s sons failed to maintain the standards their father had followed (1 Sam. 8:1-3). Samuel passed away after a long life of faithful service (25:1).
Lessons And Consequences
The prophet is referred to three times in the New Testament (Acts 3:24, 13:20; Heb. 11:32). Peter, in Acts 3, declared, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to Him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that Prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up His Servant, sent Him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (vv.22-26).
Near the end of Saul’s history of failures, God overruled even when King Saul wanted to consult a medium, which is evil. The medium was surprised by God’s intervention, as He allowed Samuel to speak to Saul from the invisible world. Even this medium was not used to that, as the common activity was for a demonic spirit to speak pretending to be the dead person who was asked to be consulted. But God allowed this remarkable intervention as a last testimony to Saul (1 Sam. 28). How solemn! Sadly, Saul did not repent. He soon perished in a battle with the Philistines, by ending his own life (1 Sam. 31). Let us draw a lesson from Saul’s life: God is patient, but He cannot be fooled!
By Alfred Bouter