Samuel, Israel's Last Judge

Lesson #17

I Samuel 1-10

      The Lord blessed a woman named Hannah with a baby boy. She had promised God that if He would give her a son that she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life. Hannah named her son Samuel.

     When Samuel was weaned from his mother, she took him to the house of the Lord. He lived there with Eli the priest.

      Eli and his two sons were priests in the Lord's house. Sadly, Eli's sons behaved badly and, although Eli tried to reason with them, he did nothing to restrain them from their horrible conduct and allowed them to continue serving as priests.

     In those days, the Lord was not frequently speaking with people as He had in earlier times. One night, though, after the boy Samuel had gone to bed, the Lord called to him. Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Eli said he had not called Samuel. He told the boy to go back to bed.

     Again, the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel returned to Eli saying, "I am here. You called me." Once again, Eli denied calling the young boy and sent him back to bed.

     The Lord called a third time, and Samuel went to Eli saying, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli realized the Lord was calling Samuel. He instructed the boy to go back to bed and if He calls again, answer, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears."

     Then God spoke to Samuel and told him of His plans to punish Eli and his sons because of their unfaithful ways toward Him. The next morning at Eli's insistence, Samuel revealed to him all that God had said. Samuel grew and was recognized as a prophet of God. He led Israel for a long period.

     During Samuel’s leadership and because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God allowed the Philistine army to overcome Israel. The enemy took away the ark of God and placed It in the temple of their idol god Dagon. The Philistines discovered that during the night the idol Dagon had fallen on its face, before the ark of the Lord. They replaced it only to find it on its face again the next morning. That time the idol’s head and the palms of both hands were broken. Then the Lord struck the Philistines with tumors.

     The Philistines decided to send the ark of the Lord to another of their towns where the people were also struck with tumors. That town sent gifts and the ark of the Lord back to Israel on a cart drawn by two milk cows. The Israelites were happy to see the returned ark and Samuel told them the Lord would deliver them from the Philistines, if only they would be faithful. 

     God and Samuel were sad when the Israelites asked for a king like their neighboring countries. God didn’t want Samuel to feel rejected but said Israel was really rejecting God’s reign over them. God instructed Samuel to anoint the young man Saul as Israel’s first king.