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CHAPTER 4 : Samuel as Prophet - The Gathering at Mizpeh - Battle of
Eben-ezer; Its Consequences - Samuel's Administration - The Demand
for a King. (1 SAMUEL 7, 8)
PERHAPS the most majestic form presented, even among the heroes of Old
Testament history, is that of Samuel, who is specially introduced to us as a man of
prayer (Psalm 99:6). Levite, Nazarite, prophet, judge - each phase of his outward
calling seems to have left its influence on his mind and heart. At Shiloh, the contrast
between the life of self-denial of the young Nazarite and the unbridled self-
indulgence of Eli's sons must have prepared the people for the general
acknowledgment of his prophetic office. And Nazarite - God-devoted, stern,
unbending, true to his calling, whithersoever it might direct him, - such was ever the
life and the character of Samuel!^62
It needed such a man in this period of reformation and transition, when all the old
had signally failed, not through inherent weakness, but through the sin of the people,
and when the forms of the new were to be outlined in their Divine perfectness.^63
The past, the present, and the future of the people seemed to meet in his history; and
over it the figure of the life-Nazarite cast its shadow, and through it the first voice
from the prophetic order was heard in Israel.
The sanctuary, destitute of the ark, and tended by a decrepit priesthood, over which
the doom had been pronounced, had apparently fallen into utter disregard. The ark,
carried captive into Philistia, but having proved a conqueror there, had indeed been
restored to Israel, but was rather a witness of the past than the symbol of present
help. The only living hope of Israel centered in the person of Samuel. Although,
since the death of Eli, no longer attached to the sanctuary, which indeed his mission
to a certain extent set aside, his spiritual activity had not been interrupted. Known
and owned as prophet, he closely watched, and at the proper time decisively directed
the religious movement in Israel. That decisive hour had now come.
Twenty years had passed since the return of the ark - a period, as we gather from the
subsequent history, outwardly of political subjection to the Philistine, and spiritually
of religious depression, caused by the desolateness of their sanctuary, and the
manifest absence of the Lord from among His people. It was no doubt due to the
influence of Samuel that these feelings led them towards the Lord. In the language of
Scripture, they "lamented after Jehovah."^64 But this was only preparatory. It was
Samuel's work to direct to a happy issue the change which had already begun. His
earnest message to all Israel now was: "If with all your hearts you are returning to
Jehovah," -implying in the expression that repentance was primarily of the heart, and
(^)