The Bible Book

112

F

or nearly 300 years, the

tribes of Israel had been

loosely governed by a series

of leaders, called “judges,” sent by

God. It had been a chaotic period,

as the Israelites found themselves

in repeated skirmishes with the

other clans vying for control in the

region. Time after time, God had

raised up a judge to restore order

and bring military success.

Over the lifetime of Samuel,

this tumultuous situation changed.

Samuel was no mere bystander to

this great transition; he was God’s

prophet, who was entrusted with

the messages and actions that

would lead to the greatest king

Israel ever knew: King David.

God answers Hannah

Even before his birth, Samuel is

promised into God’s service. His

father Elkanah has two wives,

Hannah and Peninnah. While

Peninnah has given birth to many

children, Hannah, his favorite

wife, has none, which causes her

great distress. Each year, when

the family goes to Shiloh, where the

Ark and the Tabernacle are kept,

Hannah cries out to God to enable

THE PROPHET SAMUEL

Elkanah and his wives Hannah

(left) and Penninah (right) portrayed

in a miniature from an illustrated

manuscript produced in Utrecht

in approximately 1467.

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

1 Samuel 1:1–25:1

THEME

Obedience to God

SETTING

c. 1150 bce The Tabernacle,

which is at Shiloh at the

beginning of Samuel’s story,

and then moved to Samuel’s

hometown, Ramah.

KEY FIGURES

Samuel Begins as Eli’s

prodigy in the Tabernacle,

and quickly becomes God’s

mouthpiece to the Israelites.

Eli Priest at the Tabernacle

recognized as a judge by the

Israelites. Eli’s two sons are

known troublemakers.

Saul Israel’s first king, who

turns away from God’s ways.

David Israel’s second king,

whose legacy as Israel’s

greatest national leader

remains to this day.

her to bear a child. One year,

Hannah prays with great fervor

and weeping, vowing that if God

hears her prayer, she will dedicate

the child to the service of God.

The priest, Eli, notices Hannah

praying as he stands in the

doorway of the sanctuary. When

she tells him she has been praying

because of her “great anguish and

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Eli questions Samuel after one of

the boy’s visions in this 19th-century

illustration. Most depictions of the two

highlight Samuel’s youth and vision in

contrast to the blind and elderly Eli.

grief,” Eli blesses her: “Go in peace,

and may the God of Israel grant

you what you have asked of him”

(1 Samuel 1). God does respond to

Hannah’s prayer, and when she

gives birth to a son, she calls him

Samuel —“heard of God.”

When Samuel is around the age

of 4, Hannah takes him back

to the priest Eli at Shiloh and

dedicates him to God’s service as

she has promised. She leaves him

to be educated and trained by Eli.

Samuel and Eli

The early verses of Samuel’s story

describe how he grows both in

stature and favor with God and

His people. Samuel’s exemplary

behavior is in marked contrast

to that of Eli’s own sons, who

steal the offerings worshippers

bring to God at Shiloh.

God plans to use Samuel to

bring the old leadership of Eli and

his sons to an end and establish a

new period of devotion to God. One

night, while Samuel is asleep in the

Tabernacle, he is woken by a voice

calling his name. Thinking it must

have been Eli, Samuel runs to Eli’s

bedside, ready to serve his master,

but Eli says he has not called out.

Back in bed, Samuel hears his name

called again, so once again runs to

Eli. A second time, Eli sends him

back to bed; he had not called.

After a third call summons

Samuel to Eli’s bedside, Eli realizes

that the voice Samuel is hearing

must be God’s. He instructs Samuel

to respond with the words “Speak,

Lord, for your servant is listening”

if the voice calls again. Samuel’s life

had begun by God responding to

Hannah calling out to him for a

child; now God is calling that child

to become a prophet. When God

calls again, Samuel answers exactly

as Eli has advised.

Eli’s rule ends

God tells Samuel that the time for

Eli and his sons to lead is coming

to a close. Sure enough, during

the next clash with the Philistines,

Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas are

killed, and the Ark of the Covenant,

which the Israelites had taken with

them to the battlefield as a symbol

See also: David and Goliath 116–17 ■ The Wisdom of Solomon 120–23 ■ The Suffering Servant 154–55 ■

The Prophet Jeremiah 156–59 ■ The Prophet Ezekiel 162–63 ■ The Prophet Micah 168–71

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS

of God’s presence and protection,

is captured by the Philistines.

On hearing of these calamities,

the aging Eli falls off his chair,

breaks his neck, and dies.

By this time, the Israelites

recognize Samuel not merely as

Eli’s successor, but as someone

even more important—a prophet,

through whom God spoke to ❯❯

History of the Books of Samuel

Telling the Israelites’ story from

the end of the era of the judges

to the final days of King David’s

reign, Samuel is split into two

books. Although Samuel 1 and 2

both bear his name, the prophet

only appears as a key character

in the first 16 chapters of

1 Samuel. After Samuel anoints

Saul as king, Saul’s story takes

up the rest of 1 Samuel. The only

subsequent mentions of Samuel

are before his death in 1 Samuel

25:1 and as a ghost summoned

by a medium on behalf of King

Saul in 1 Samuel 28. David’s

reign takes up all of 2 Samuel

and continues in 1 Kings.

In the original Hebrew Bible,

1 and 2 Samuel were one book,

but this was split into two in

Greek and Latin versions due

to the book’s length. It is likely

that the account was compiled

from a variety of sources in the

time of Israel’s later kings, after

around 600 bce, to remind

Israel’s rulers that they must

remain faithful to God if they

want to rule well.

The Lord was with

Samuel as he grew up ...

all Israel from Dan to

Beersheba recognized that

Samuel was attested as

a prophet of the Lord.

1 Samuel 3:19–20

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