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| Prophet Samuel |
The story of how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt is a long one, and is full of
adventures. Even after the people had
reached the land of their ancestors, they could not live in peace, for they had
to fight to gain control of their country.
Gradually, they managed to spread our over the land of Canaan
In Ramah, not far from Jerusalem ,
there lived a man named Elkanah. He had
two wives, which was not uncommon in those days; one named Peninnah, had
children, but the other named Hannah, had none.
Each year the whole family went up to Shiloh ,
where the Tabernacle was placed, to offer sacrifices; and each year Hannah felt
sadder and sadder because she had no children to take with her. Penninah was not kind about it and used to
tease her, so much so that Hannah often wept.
One year Hannah went unhappily into the house of the Lord of
Shiloh, and prayed to God that He would send her a son, “I will dedicate him to
You for his whole life,” she said.
Eli, the old priest there, saw her distress and her lips
moving, and thought at first that she must be drunk. But when he went up to her, Hannah told him
of her trouble. “Go in peace,” said Eli,
“and may God answer your prayer.”
God did. In due
course Hannah had a fined baby boy, whom she named Samuel. As soon as he was old enough, Hannah
fulfilled her promise and took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh . “Do you still
remember me, Eli?” Hannah asked Eli.
“This is the child whom God sent to me in answer to my prayer. I have brought him here to dedicate him to
the Lord.”
So Samuel became a helper to old Eli, and Eli was very glad
of his aid. He did have two sons of his
own, but they were worthless and dishonest men who had no respect for God or
His house.
Every year Hannah came and saw Samuel, and brought him a new
robe; and God blessed her further by sending here three more sons and two
daughters.
Time passed and Eli grew old and was almost blind. He slept in his own room in the Lord’s house,
while Samuel slept near the Covenant Box in the Sanctuary.
One night, after Samuel had fallen asleep, he was suddenly
awakened by a voice calling, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Thinking it was Eli, Samuel got up and ran to the old
man. “Here I am,” Samuel said. “You called me.”
“No, I did not call you Samuel”. Eli said. “My son, just go back to bed and
sleep again.”
Samuel obeyed, but before long he heard the voice again,
“Samuel!”
Again he got up and ran to Eli, but Eli said, “I did not
call, my son; go and lie down again.”
Samuel did so, and the voice called him a third time, and
Samuel, feeling puzzled, went again to Eli.
By now, Eli had begun to understand that it was the voice of God who was
calling Samuel. So he said to the boy,
“Go back and if you hear the voice again, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening’.”
Samuel returned to bed, and sure enough, the voice called
again, “Samuel! Samuel!”, and Samuel replied as Eli had told him. Then God gave Samuel a sad message. He told him that Eli’s family would have to
suffer punishment because of the wickedness of Eli’s sons.
Samuel stayed in bed until morning, when he got up and
opened the doors of the house of the Lord.
At first he was afraid to tell Eli of God’s message, but Eli asked him,
and Samuel told him everything.
Eli looked sad, but said, “He is the Lord, He will do what
He knows is best.”
Samuel grew up to be a prophet, a fine man who preached
God’s word. Not everyone listened,
however; there were still many who worshipped idols and refused to obey God’s
Laws.
One day, when Samuel as an old man, the people went to him
and asked him to appoint a king over them.
Samuel prayed to God for help.
Now, there lived a rich man named Kish , who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and
he had a handsome son named Saul. Saul
was a head taller than most other people, so he was easily noticed in a
crowd. It so happened that Kish ’s donkeys had wandered away and were lost; so Kish said to Saul, “Take
one of the servants and go and look for those donkeys.”
Saul and the servant set off, and walked from about three
days, but still they did not find the animals.
Finally Saul said, “Let’s go back, or my father will worry about us, as
well as the donkey.”
“Wait a moment,” said the servant. “There is a holy man living in this area; let
us just see if he can help us.” So they
set off for the town in which the holy man lived.
The holy man was none other than Samuel, and on the day
before, God had told him that he would send a man whom Samuel was to anoint
King of Israel. When Samuel saw Saul coming
towards him, God said to him. “This is
the man I am referring to.”
Saul went up to Samuel and asked where the holy man
lived. “I am he,” said Samuel. “Come and eat with me; and don’t worry about
the donkeys, for they have been found.
The man the people of Israel
had wanted so much are you?”
“But I belong to the smallest tribe in Israel ---the
tribe of Benjamin,” said Saul, “and my family is not very important.”
Samuel took Saul and his servant inside, where there were
about thirty people, and they sat down to a meal. After this, Saul was given a bed for the
night---up on the roof where it was cooler.
Saul felt very puzzled.
Next morning, Saul and his servant were up early, ready to
be on their way; Samuel went to the edge of the town with them. There he said, “Tell you servant to go on
ahead.”
When the servant had gone, Samuel took a jar of oil and
poured in on Saul’s head saying, “The Lord has anointed you to be ruler of his
people Israel .” And he gave him a certain signs to prove it
was true.
King Saul began his reign well, and although there were some
people who did not at first respect him, when they found he was a good leader,
they began to obey him. Later on,
however, he became self-willed and arrogant, and did not live up to the high
hopes which people had of him.
Before long, the Philistines were again assembling to fight
the Israelites. They mustered a huge
army of war chariots and horsemen and countless soldiers, and many of the
Israelites were terrified and deserted Saul.
Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days for him to come, but
Saul though he knew better and when he saw the people scattering from him, he
began to offer a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel. As soon as he had finished, Samuel
arrived. He was displeased and told Saul
that this disobedience would cost him his kingship, and that God would find
another man to become in his place.
The battles against the Philistines went on, but Saul did
not continue to be a strong king, for he had disobeyed God’s commands.
Then God said to Samuel, “Take some oil and go to Bethlehem , to a man whose
name is Jesse, for I have chosen one of his sons to be the next king.”
Samuel was rather worried about this. “How can I go there, My Lord?” he asked. If Saul hears about the message, he will
surely kill me.”
“Take a calf with you,” said God, “and go there to offer
sacrifice. Then I will show you what best
thing you should do.”
Samuel did as God had instructed, and when the elders of the
town came out to meet him, he invited then to join in the sacrifice.
When he saw Jesse and his family, he particularly noticed
his son Eliab, and thought to himself, “Surely this is the man whom the Lord
has chosen.”
But God said to Samuel, “Do not just look at his appearance
or his height, because is not the man.
I, the Lord, do not see as men see.
Men look at the outward appearance, but I look at a man’s heart.”
Then Jesse brought out his son Abinadab, but Samuel knew
that he was not the chosen one either.
Seven of Jesse’s sons came out to Samuel, but the Lord did
not choose any of them. “Are all your
sons already here? “Is there anyone else whom I have not seen?”” asked
Samuel.
“There is only the youngest,” said Jesse, “but he is out
looking after the sheep.”
“Send and fetch him,” said Samuel, “for we won’t start the
sacrifice until he comes.”
So Jesse’s youngest son, David was brought in. He was a handsome youth, with beautiful eyes;
and God said to Samuel, “This is the one I have chosen; anoint him.”
Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed David in front of his
brothers who may have thought that this meant David would become Samuel’s
follower, and in time became a prophet like himself. God’s spirit came to David on that day, and
Samuel then returned to Ramah.
Meanwhile, evil forces had taken charge of Saul, who often
became depressed and even violent. His
servants thought it might help if he could be soothed with music, so they said,
“give us the order, sir, and we will find someone who can play the harp. Then when the evil spirit torments you, the
musician can play his harp and you will be all right again.” Saul agreed, and
asked for a musician to be brought to court.
One of the servants had an idea. “There is a man named Jesse in Bethlehem ,” he said, “and
he has a son who is a good musician. He
is also brave and handsome.”
“Go and bring him,” Saul ordered.
Messengers went to Jesse, and Jesse sent David to the king’s
court, with gifts of a young goat, a donkey laden with bread, and a leather
skin full of wine.
Saul liked David, and sent a message to Jesse to say how
pleased he was with his son. From then
on, whenever Saul felt tormented by the evil feelings, David was sent for and
would bring his harp and play it; and Saul would soon feel better again.
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