In our Biblical Quest so far, we’ve seen that God has called on leaders to help His chosen people weather all kinds of circumstances: leaders to help establish them in their faith, liberators from enslavement, the giving of the Law, famine, wilderness wandering, the finding of their Promised Land, and leaders in fierce battles there. We’ve seen patriarchs and matriarchs, like Abraham and Sarah, priests, prophets, battle leaders and warriors, and judges. But one thing we have not yet seen is a king, because God has been their King. In 1st Samuel, we are first going to see a unique leader chosen by God, the priest, prophet and king-maker Samuel.
We first see the unusual birth story of Samuel, the result of his mother’s fervent prayer in her infertility. She dedicates the little boy to the service of the Lord, and he serves the old priest Eli, whose own priestly sons are scoundrels. We see the corruption of Eli’s sons clearly: they take the best of the meat sacrifices for themselves, before God can receive the offerings, and they act out sexually with the women who serve in the tabernacle. Contrast Samuel’s miraculous birth, and the statement in 1 Sam 2:26, that he ‘continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people’ puts Samuel in a category with Jesus himself: Luke 2:52 says that Jesus ‘grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.’ So this is an unusual boy, especially in a time when ‘the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.’ 1 Sam 3:1.
God Himself calls Samuel to his life’s work in 1 Sam 3. He tells Samuel that Eli and his family will no longer be in God’s favor. Samuel grew up to proclaim God’s word as a prophet for all Israel 1 Sam 3:20. As Eli and his sons die, Samuel is there to lead God’s people, as they fight the Philistines and then, as they clamor for a king ‘such as other nations have.’ 1 Sam 8:5. Both Samuel and God are displeased, but God tells Samuel, ‘It is not you they have rejected, they have rejected me as their King.’ 1 Sam 8:7. Samuel tells them solemnly all that a king will require of them, but he sets about to find the people of Israel a king. Saul is chosen King three times over: God points him out to Samuel in 1 Sam 9:17, then he is filled with the Holy Spirit in 1 Sam 10:6 and finally, he is chosen by lot in the presence of all the people in 1 Sam 10:20-24. But there are troubling signs even in this auspicious beginning for Saul: he hides among the baggage in 1 Sam 10:22, shy and overwhelmed by the prospect of kingship. And then God’s blessing is removed from Saul and his family. In 1 Sam 13:8-14, Saul becomes nervous when Samuel does not arrive to make a sacrifice and bless his warriors before a battle with the Philistines, and Saul himself wrongly takes on priestly duties in Samuel’s place. By so doing, Samuel tells him his kingdom will not endure. God’s people will need another king. Even though Samuel is old and ready to lay down his duties, he will have to search out a new King.