part0041

The Prophet Samuel had been one of the true heroes in the history of Israel. He had been the son of Elkanah and Hannah. But he had actually been born to them under some very special circumstances. Hannah had not been able to bear children. So she had made an earnest plea to the Lord. I Samuel 1:11 says, "And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life , and there shall no razor come upon his head." God had known Hannah's heart. He had been pleased by her prayer. So He had answered her prayer by giving her a son. I Samuel 1:20 which was quoted above says that she had named him Samuel because she had asked for him from the Lord.

The Lord is always pleased when those people that have received Him as Savior commit their lives to Him and trust in Him. Therefore, just a few months after Samuel had been born, Hannah had taken him to the temple just as she had vowed and had left him with Eli. I Samuel 1:26-28 says, "And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD . And he worshipped the LORD there." For the priest Eli, receiving the child had been a very special blessing because his own two sons had not been very good priests.

In fact, they had been very corrupt. So the child Samuel had given Eli the opportunity to have a very positive, godly influence on him in a way that he had not been able to have with his own sons. On one occasion, for example, Samuel had gone to sleep for the night. While in bed, he had thought that he had heard someone call his name. Thinking that Eli had called out to him, he had gone to find out what he had wanted. But because Eli had not called to him, he had sent Samuel back to bed. That same scenario had then happened two more times. Finally Eli had realized what was happening. Therefore, he had sent Samuel back to his bed and had told him to answer the Lord if He called him again. Samuel had heard the Lord's call on his life again that night. So he had answered that call and had immediately gone into training to someday be a great spiritual leader of Israel.

However, based upon the discussions in chapter one of this text, one should understand that Samuel had probably only heard God speaking silently to him in his heart rather than out loud to his ears. That almost must be true because of Hebrews 11:1 which says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ." Since an audible, out loud voice would be evidence of God's existence no people can truly exercise their faith in Him if He has spoken out loud to them. At the same time, though, when God does speak silently to someone's heart, it can sound like a zillion megaphones to his or her ears. That truth was earlier pointed out in chapter seven of this text. Thus, as the future priest of Israel, Samuel would someday anoint both Saul and David to be the kings over Israel. In addition to that, he would also lead the children of Israel spiritually for many years.

So in the matter of Saul and David, Samuel would anoint both of them at different times in the future to be the kings of Israel. But he had not initially been in favor of Israel even having a king. I Samuel 8:1-5 says, "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel . Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways , but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations ." However, Samuel had not been pleased that the elders of Israel had wanted to replace his sons as judges over Israel with their own king. But the Lord had comforted him by revealing to him that the people had not really rejected him or his sons. In fact, I Samuel 8:7 says, "And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me , that I should not reign over them."

During that same time, Samuel had also somewhat angrily prophesied what the kings of Israel would eventually do in Israel. I Samuel 8:10-18 says, "And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day ."

So his words to them about their future kings had actually been fulfilled during the reigns of King Solomon in I Kings 4:21-28 and of King Ahab in I Kings 21:1-16. After having expressed them, the Lord had led him to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. However, because Saul had greatly angered Him in several different matters, God had next sent His prophet to the home of Jesse to where he had anointed David to be the king of Israel. But it would actually take David some fifteen or more years to finally rise to the throne. II Samuel 5:3-5 says, "So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron…they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years…." But that delay shows well the truth of Isaiah 55:6-8. Those verses say, "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways , saith the LORD." Thus, God has always had His own way of doing things. But most of the time, those ways are much different than how humans would have expected them.

In closing, Samuel had remained a significant prophet in Israel for a long time. But he had not lived long enough to see David actually become the king of Israel. I Samuel 25:1 says, "And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah . And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran." While that verse mentions David, though, he had not yet become the king.

Life Application : No matter how talented the person, human leaders that are not committed to the Lord are never as good for the people as those that are committed to Him. Therefore, a person should always seek godly leaders and if called upon be a godly leader.