If you are following the chronological chart, we are entering the time of the kings of Israel, beginning around 1,000 B.C. Eli and Samuel are the last two Judges of Israel. Eli dies and God uses Samuel to relate to Saul as the first king.
1 & 2 Samuel provide God’s Story of Israel from the period of the last two judges (deliverers and temporary rulers), Eli and Samuel, to the last years of David, the nation’s second king – roughly one hundred years. It is the story of God and the nation’s leaders.
God established in Israel the purest theocracy, and had placed the symbol of His presence, the ark, at Shiloh. Through its repeated spiritual failure Israel was gradually made conscious of the need of outside deliverance. Although Samuel as their last judge was the greatest of all judges, Israel’s leaders found a way to reject him and ask for a king, “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).
- His name means ascent, high, i.e. ‘Jehovah is high’.
- Descendant of Ithamar, the fourth son of Aaron.
- High priest served by the young Samuel.
- Civil judge for 40 years.
- Age at Death: 98.
- 1 Samuel 1-4.
Eli exercised the office of high priest in Shiloh at the time of the birth of Samuel. For the first time in Israel, Eli combined in his own person the functions of high priest and judge. He acted as a civil judge after the death of Samson (1 Samuel 4:18), and judged Israel for forty years, recorded in 1 Samuel 4:18: Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
There are few recorded incidents in Eli's life; the main interest of the narrative is in the other characters associated with him. Attention is given mostly to Samuel. In Eli's first interview with Hannah (1 Samuel 1:12), she is the central figure; in the second interview (1 Samuel 1:24), it is the child Samuel. When Eli next appears, it is as the father of Hophni and Phinehas. The two sons, both priests, took meat from sacrificial animals before they were dedicated to God. They also slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (1 Samuel 2:22, NIV). This earned for them the title “men of Belial” (or “worthlessness”). God pronounced divine judgment on Eli because of his lack of reverence for God, demonstrated by failing to discipline his sons. Eli administered no stern rebuke to them, but only a gentle rebuke of their greed and immorality. Thereafter, he was warned by a nameless prophet about the downfall of his house, and of the death of his two sons in one day (1 Samuel 2:27-36). This message was later confirmed by Samuel, who had received this word directly from Yahweh Himself (1 Samuel 3:11).
Sharing:
- It never says that Eli was under the influence of God’s Spirit.
- Eli’s sons not only ‘slept with the women’, but they slept with those women who were ‘serving’ the Lord!
- Eli sort of confronted his sons because he knew about their conduct, but he only went so far as to tell them that they were making him look bad.
- Eli didn’t train his sons, but he trained Samuel; God was in control of this relationship as He prepared Samuel for a ministry.
- Eli died ‘sitting down on the job’; we don’t have any other pictures of priests sitting down.
- The time of the Judges shows how Israel, and then the Levites, and then the priests, became corrupted. This shows how bad things became, but God remained faithful.
- Samuel’s sons did the same things, which show that a father’s righteousness is not transferable; faith is not genetic. Many great men of God have wayward children and family problems. We can have ‘bad’ families, and then have one member come to God and change the generations to come. We don’t need to carry guilt over what our own children do, for they are responsible for their own choices. We should remember that as parents we are called to do what is best for our children.
- We should remember that raising children in a Christian family offers the opportunity for a Christian heritage to be passed on.
- His name means asked of God or heard of God, found in 1 Samuel 1:20: So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”
- Father: Elkanah, Levite (1:19-20), of Ramathaim-zophim, on the mountains of Ephraim.
- Mother: Hannah.
- Brothers: 3 unnamed.
- Sisters: 2 unnamed.
- Sons: Joel, Abijah.
- Prophet and priest, anointed both Saul and David as king.
- 1 Samuel 1-16; 19:18-24; 25:1; 28.
After the disastrous defeat of the Israelites by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-11), Samuel does not appear again in history for a period of twenty years. During most of this time the Ark of the Lord rested in Kiriath Jearim, and all the house of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord (1 Samuel 7:1-2). Samuel, who had learned that loyalty to Jehovah was necessary for Israel’s deliverance from its foes, issued a proclamation exposing the sin of idolatry and urging commitment to the Lord. He summoned the tribes to assemble at Mizpah to spend a day in penitence and prayer. At this assembly Samuel was recognized as judge (1 Samuel 7:3-6).
Sharing:
- The Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God in Israel. When the Hebrews left Egypt, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night represented His presence.
- God did not wipe out the Philistines when they possessed the ark. He was showing His power to others and not only to Israel. The Philistines saw God’s power and learned that Israel’s God was the one true God.
- When they returned the ark to Israel, it is obvious that God was in control by directing the ‘stupid’ oxen to their destination.
Given to the nation of Israel in answer to Hannah’s prayer (1 Samuel 1:11), Samuel was himself a man of prayer. The nation assembled to hear him pray, recorded in 1 Samuel 7:5: “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” When the people in their ingratitude and sinful impatience rejected him and asked for a king, this truly great man did not take revenge but, having denounced the sin, answered, “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right” (1 Samuel 12:23, NIV). He said this because he knew that for the sake of His great name the Lord would not reject His people (1 Samuel 12:22).
Sharing:
- An indication that we are not praying is that we do not love our neighbor.
- How old was Samuel when his mother brought him to Eli? It seems that he was very young because it says that it happened when he was “weaned”. In the ancient Near East this was likely around the age of three years. It could mean that it was when he was prepared for what this was like in the outside world.
It should be no surprise to us that Israel wanted an earthly king. Think back to:
Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49:10 (NCV):
“Kings will come from Judah's family;
someone from Judah will always be on the throne.
Judah will rule until Shiloh comes,
and the nations will obey him.”
Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24:7 (NCV):
“Israel's water buckets will always be full,
and their crops will have plenty of water.
Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be very great.”
Moses’ prediction in Deuteronomy 17:14:
“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me…’” Moses takes this further and tells Israel: “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you…” (Deuteronomy 28:36).
“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me…’” Moses takes this further and tells Israel: “The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you…” (Deuteronomy 28:36).
Several factors contributed to Israel’s demand for a king:
Judges 21:25: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The nation was oppressed by neighboring nations and was politically disunited, unstable, and morally corrupt (1 Samuel 2:17-36).
1 Samuel 8:7-9 (NIV): Samuel, a godly judge, prophet, and priest, had made judges of his two sons who perverted justice, thus making them unworthy to lead Israel (1 Samuel 8:1-3). The elders in Israel used this to seek a king to govern them. This displeased (means ‘to see the evil in something’) Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
1 Samuel 8:20 (NIV): “Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” They imitated the surrounding nations, rather than seeking God’s leader for them because they were forgetting that Israel’s strength was to be unlike the other nations.
Sharing:
- Samuel had exposure to Eli’s responses to his sons, which may have had an effect on how Samuel related to his sons; this may have been the only way he knew how to relate to sons.
- It was a sad time in the history of Israel. As 1 Samuel 3:1 says, “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days.”
- Why does it seem so long before God stepped in to do something about a country that was coming apart? It may be that God was showing Israel that they couldn’t do it on their own.
The Lord told Israel through Samuel that a king would take from them. The cost would be high. There would be forced labor and taxation of a tithe (ten percent). The king and his court had to be supported, so he would take their sons and daughters, their property, their harvests, and their flocks and herds. Their choice young men would serve in the army as well as in the king's fields. Their daughters would cook and bake for the king. He would take their property and part of their harvest in order to feed the officials and servants in the royal household (1 Samuel 8:10-22).
Pleasing the Lord was not Israel’s priority; what they wanted was visible protection against their enemies: someone to judge them and fight their battles, someone they could see and follow. The progression of their demands is obvious:
- 1 Samuel 8:6: The elders said, "Give us a king…”
- 1 Samuel 8:19: The people refused to obey Samuel, and they said, “No, but we will have a king…”
Sharing:
- The world always looks for a king – a deliverer!
1 Samuel easily falls into two parts:
- Samuel, the Last Judge (1-7)
- Saul, the First King (8-31)
Elkanah had two wives. Peninnah, had children, while his other wife, Hannah, had no children. The rivalry between them made Hannah miserable. The Lord had closed her womb (1 Samuel 1:5), not as a form of punishment but to control His plans.
Sharing:
- Elkanah was a ‘fathead’, claiming to be as good as ten sons (1 Samuel 1:8); he was arrogant!
- It’s impossible to treat more than one wife the same. There is always a favorite.
- God’s Story up to this time does not have a specific command against polygamy, but every time we read about it, the story is bad. The first record of polygamy recorded in Genesis shows a man who murdered others.
- God’s requirements from the beginning are clear in God’s Story: one man for one woman. God never uses the word “wives” for one man.
- Noah had one wife as a righteous man; God started over with humanity.
- “Lord of hosts” (1 Samuel 1:3) is the first time this title for Yahweh in God’s Story. The title expresses the Lord’s sovereignty over all earthly and heavenly powers.
Elkanah would go to Shiloh annually to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts (1 Samuel 1:3). This title of God occurs here for the first time in the Old Testament. It expresses the Lord’s sovereignty over all earthly and heavenly powers.
Hannah also attended the house of the Lord and prayed while she wept bitterly. She made a vow: “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come on his head (1 Samuel 1:11.WEB). Hannah saw herself as the Lord’s servant, born to fulfill God’s pleasure, so she did not seek a child purely for her own satisfaction or focus on the need for someone to care for her in her old age. She was willing to dedicate her child to Yahweh solely for God’s service. After two or three years Samuel was weaned from his mother, Hannah was required to make a sacrifice to fulfill her vow. Samuel was brought to the house of the Lord in Shiloh to minister to the Lord before Eli the priest. Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 reveals much of Yahweh’s attributes:
Holy: | None as holy as Yahweh (see Exodus 15:11). |
Sovereign: | None besides You (See Deuteronomy 4:35). |
Omniscient: | God of knowledge (see 1 Samuel 16:7). |
Omnipotent: | Kills and makes alive; brings down to the grave and brings up (see Deuteronomy 32:39). |
Provider: | Makes poor and makes rich (see Deuteronomy 8:17-18); brings low and lifts up. |
Protector: | Guards the feet of His saints (see Deuteronomy 31:8). |
Stronghold: | Those who oppose Yahweh will be shattered; thunder against them from heaven (1 Samuel 7:10). |
Judge: | Will judge the ends of the earth (see Genesis 18:25). |
King of kings: | Give strength to His king (Numbers 24:7). |
Every verse of her prayer begins with Yahweh and focuses on Him. She begins with adoration and worship, and continues by rejoicing in the Giver, and not the gift.
Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground (1 Samuel 3:19, WEB), so that two rebellious brothers and a passive father did not prevent Samuel from being known as a prophet of Yahweh (1 Samuel 3:20, WEB).
Sharing:
- Hannah’s prayer reminds us that God was not lost during bad times. It expresses everything we need to know about God; it gives a full picture.
- Hannah’s prayer focuses on Yahweh as Helper, Holy, Judge, and He makes some rich and some poor.
- Hannah cared for her children as God cared for Israel.
- This God has always been the same God!
In his address at Saul’s coronation as king, Samuel reviewed all the righteous acts of God, and then gave them a reminder of God’s blessing if they obey, and a warning against forsaking God: “If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers” (1 Samuel 12:14-15).
The account of Saul begins in 1 Samuel 9. As he wandered into the village of Ramah in pursuit of a lost herd of donkeys, Samuel confronted him with the message that he was the one for whom all Israel longed (1 Samuel 9:20) and told him in 1 Samuel 10:1: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance?” Saul is not acknowledged as king, but simply prince or captain.
Saul would be uneasy until he knew what had become of the donkeys. So Samuel immediately established his reputation with Saul as a true prophet by telling him that the donkeys had been found, before Saul even mentioned them.
Because of inter-tribal enmity and political tension, the process by which Saul actually became king was rather extensive:
- First, Samuel privately anointed him (1 Samuel 9:27-10:1).
- Then he gave him a succession of signs to confirm the truth of Samuel’s words (1 Samuel 10:2-13). After Saul had been filled with the Spirit, he prophesied among the prophets, as Samuel had predicted. Since this incident was intended to be a sign, it was most likely a momentary prophetic ability rather than a permanent endowment.
- Consequently, Saul received a ministry of the Holy Spirit, which if he heeded, would have made him a young man mighty in war and an able monarch (1 Samuel 10:6, 9-13).
- Later Samuel called the nation together at Mizpah, and God publicly identified young Saul as king on behalf of the people (1 Samuel 10:17-25). Samuel reminded the people of the implications of having a king over them and then wrote his words down on a scroll that he deposited before the Lord. The people were left in no doubt about what their choice would mean for them, even as Samuel dismissed them to return to their towns. Some Israelites initially refused to accept this Benjamite ‘nobody’ (1 Samuel 10:27). Once Saul boldly and effectively delivered an Israelite city from the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:1-11), the entire nation enthusiastically acknowledged him as king (1 Samuel 11:12-15).
- After Saul delivered an Israelite city from the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:1-11), Samuel formally surrendered to King Saul the civil rule of the nation (1 Samuel 12:1-13). Yet he reminded the people that God was still the ultimate Monarch of Israel (1 Samuel 12:14-19).
We are not simply given a history of Saul’s reign, as much as we are given an account of the events that show his wrong attitude toward God that led to his rejection. His two grave errors took place during a war with the Philistines:
- 1 Samuel chapters 13-14: Saul took the credit for his son's victory at Gibeah in order to impress the people and get them to follow him. Then he thought a sacrificial vow would give him victory when his heart was not right with God!
- 1 Samuel chapter 15: God would give Saul one more chance to prove himself, this time by utterly destroying Israel's old enemies, the Amalekites. But Saul did not obey the Lord: he kept the best of the spoils for himself and failed to kill Agag, the king. As it was in war Saul had shown his strength, so it was in war he showed his weakness.
Three qualities of his self-willed character are shown by incidents that are recorded in his wars:
- Impatience (1 Samuel 13): Saul’s excuses for taking over the priestly duties did not take into account that obedience to God through the prophet Samuel was necessary in order to fulfill the basic condition of the theocratic kingship – God was King, and any earthly king was to obey the Owner of the nation! Samuel announced to Saul that his kingdom would not continue.
- Rashness (1 Samuel 14): Saul’s rash restriction that prevented his army from any rest and refreshment nearly cost Jonathan, his son, his life.
- Deceit (1 Samuel 15): In his failure to eliminate the Amalekites, Saul rather lied to Samuel about it rather than confess his neglect.
Although Saul continued as king of Israel, in God’s sight he had no kingdom: “I am grieved [sorry, GNB] that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was so troubled that he cried out to the Lord all that night (1 Samuel 15:11, NIV). Samuel said to [Saul], “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today and given it to someone who is a better man than you. Israel's majestic God does not lie or change his mind. He is not a human being — he does not change his mind” (1 Samuel 15:28-29, GNT). God was deeply troubled about Saul and the suffering and failure that would come on Israel because their king had turned away from the path of obedience.
In preparation for our next session, read the story in 1 Samuel 16-31 about God’s preparation of David to be king over Israel.
Sharing:
- Samuel’s address sounds like that of Moses and Joshua.
- Saul’s temporary ability to prophesy shows that he was able to receive God’s guidance. The sad story is that he neglected what God provided for him in order to be a good king.
- Samuel was always Saul’s prophet, and he tried to help Saul do what was right. He was saddened when Saul disobeyed.
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