Ark of the Covenant - Bible History Online
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samuel Summary and Overview

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samuel in Easton's Bible Dictionary

heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly prayed to God that she might become the mother of a son. Her prayer was graciously granted; and after the child was weaned she brought him to Shiloh nd consecrated him to the Lord as a perpetual Nazarite (1:23-2:11). Here his bodily wants and training were attended to by the women who served in the tabernacle, while Eli cared for his religious culture. Thus, probably, twelve years of his life passed away. "The child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men" (2:26; compare Luke 2:52). It was a time of great and growing degeneracy in Israel (Judg. 21:19-21; 1 Sam. 2:12-17, 22). The Philistines, who of late had greatly increased in number and in power, were practically masters of the country, and kept the people in subjection (1 Sam. 10:5; 13:3). At this time new communications from God began to be made to the pious child. A mysterious voice came to him in the night season, calling him by name, and, instructed by Eli, he answered, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." The message that came from the Lord was one of woe and ruin to Eli and his profligate sons. Samuel told it all to Eli, whose only answer to the terrible denunciations (1 Sam. 3:11-18) was, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good", the passive submission of a weak character, not, in his case, the expression of the highest trust and faith. The Lord revealed himself now in divers manners to Samuel, and his fame and his influence increased throughout the land as of one divinely called to the prophetical office. A new period in the history of the kingdom of God now commenced. The Philistine yoke was heavy, and the people, groaning under the wide-spread oppression, suddenly rose in revolt, and "went out against the Philistines to battle." A fierce and disastrous battle was fought at Aphek, near to Ebenezer (1 Sam. 4:1, 2). The Israelites were defeated, leaving 4,000 dead "in the field." The chiefs of the people thought to repair this great disaster by carrying with them the ark of the covenant as the symbol of Jehovah's presence. They accordingly, without consulting Samuel, fetched it out of Shiloh to the camp near Aphek. At the sight of the ark among them the people "shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again." A second battle was fought, and again the Philistines defeated the Israelites, stormed their camp, slew 30,000 men, and took the sacred ark. The tidings of this fatal battle was speedily conveyed to Shiloh; and so soon as the aged Eli heard that the ark of God was taken, he fell backward from his seat at the entrance of the sanctuary, and his neck brake, and he died. The tabernacle with its furniture was probably, by the advice of Samuel, now about twenty years of age, removed from Shiloh to some place of safety, and finally to Nob, where it remained many years (21:1). The Philistines followed up their advantage, and marched upon Shiloh, which they plundered and destroyed (compare Jer. 7:12; Ps. 78:59). This was a great epoch in the history of Israel. For twenty years after this fatal battle at Aphek the whole land lay under the oppression of the Philistines. During all these dreary years Samuel was a spiritual power in the land. From Ramah, his native place, where he resided, his influence went forth on every side among the people. With unwearied zeal he went up and down from place to place, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting the people, endeavouring to awaken in them a sense of their sinfulness, and to lead them to repentance. His labors were so far successful that "all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." Samuel summoned the people to Mizpeh, one of the loftiest hills in Central Israel, where they fasted and prayed, and prepared themselves there, under his direction, for a great war against the Philistines, who now marched their whole force toward Mizpeh, in order to crush the Israelites once for all. At the intercession of Samuel God interposed in behalf of Israel. Samuel himself was their leader, the only occasion in which he acted as a leader in war. The Philistines were utterly routed. They fled in terror before the army of Israel, and a great slaughter ensued. This battle, fought probably about B.C. 1095, put an end to the forty years of Philistine oppression. In memory of this great deliverance, and in token of gratitude for the help vouchsafed, Samuel set up a great stone in the battlefield, and called it "Ebenezer," saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7:1-12). This was the spot where, twenty years before, the Israelites had suffered a great defeat, when the ark of God was taken. This victory over the Philistines was followed by a long period of peace for Israel (1 Sam. 7:13, 14), during which Samuel exercised the functions of judge, going "from year to year in circuit" from his home in Ramah to Bethel, thence to Gilgal (not that in the Jordan valley, but that which lay to the west of Ebal and Gerizim), and returning by Mizpeh to Ramah. He established regular services at Shiloh, where he built an altar; and at Ramah he gathered a company of young men around him and established a school of the prophets. The schools of the prophets, thus originated, and afterwards established also at Gibeah, Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho, exercised an important influence on the national character and history of the people in maintaining pure religion in the midst of growing corruption. They continued to the end of the Jewish commonwealth. Many years now passed, during which Samuel exercised the functions of his judicial office, being the friend and counsellor of the people in all matters of private and public interest. He was a great statesman as well as a reformer, and all regarded him with veneration as the "seer," the prophet of the Lord. At the close of this period, when he was now an old man, the elders of Israel came to him at Ramah (1 Sam. 8:4, 5, 19-22); and feeling how great was the danger to which the nation was exposed from the misconduct of Samuel's sons, whom he had invested with judicial functions as his assistants, and had placed at Beersheba on the Philistine border, and also from a threatened invasion of the Ammonites, they demanded that a king should be set over them. This request was very displeasing to Samuel. He remonstrated with them, and warned them of the consequences of such a step. At length, however, referring the matter to God, he acceded to their desires, and anointed Saul (q.v.) to be their king (11:15). Before retiring from public life he convened an assembly of the people at Gilgal (ch. 12), and there solemnly addressed them with reference to his own relation to them as judge and prophet. The remainder of his life he spent in retirement at Ramah, only occasionally and in special circumstances appearing again in public (1 Sam. 13, 15) with communications from God to king Saul. While mourning over the many evils which now fell upon the nation, he is suddenly summoned (ch.16) to go to Bethlehem and anoint David, the son of Jesse, as king over Israel instead of Saul. After this little is known of him till the time of his death, which took place at Ramah when he was probably about eighty years of age. "And all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah" (25:1), not in the house itself, but in the court or garden of his house. (Compare 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Chr. 33:20; 1 Kings 2:34; John 19:41.) Samuel's devotion to God, and the special favour with which God regarded him, are referred to in Jer. 15:1 and Ps. 99:6.

samuel in Smith's Bible Dictionary

was the son of Elkanah and Hannah, and was born at Ramathaim-zophim, among the hills of Ephraim. [RAMAH No. 2] (B.C. 1171.) Before his birth he was dedicated by his mother to the office of a Nazarite and when a young child, 12 years old according to Josephus he was placed in the temple, and ministered unto the Lord before Eli." It was while here that he received his first prophetic call. #1Sa 3:1-18| He next appears, probably twenty years afterward, suddenly among the people, warning them against their idolatrous practices. #1Sa 7:3,4| Then followed Samuel's first and, as far as we know, only military achievement, ch. #1Sa 7:5-12| but it was apparently this which raised him to the office of "judge." He visited, in the discharge of his duties as ruler, the three chief sanctuaries on the west of Jordan --Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpeh. ch. #1Sa 7:16| His own residence was still native city, Ramah, where he married, and two sons grew up to repeat under his eyes the same perversion of high office that he had himself witnessed in his childhood in the case of the two sons of Eli. In his old age he shared his power with them, #1Sa 8:1-4| but the people dissatisfied, demanded a king, and finally anointed under God's direction, and Samuel surrendered to him his authority, #1Sa 12:1| ... though still remaining judge. ch. #1Sa 7:15| He was consulted far and near on the small affairs of life. #1Sa 9:7,8| From this fact, combined with his office of ruler, an awful reverence grew up around him. No sacrificial feast was thought complete without his blessing. Ibid. #1Sa 9:13| A peculiar virtue was believed to reside in his intercession. After Saul was rejected by God, Samuel anointed David in his place and Samuel became the spiritual father of the psalmist-king. The death of Samuel is described as taking place in the year of the close of David's wanderings. It is said with peculiar emphasis, as if to mark the loss, that "all the Israelites were gathered together" from all parts of this hitherto-divided country, and "lamented him," and "buried him" within his own house, thus in a manner consecrated by being turned into his tomb. #1Sa 25:1| Samuel represents the independence of the moral law, of the divine will, as distinct from legal or sacerdotal enactments, which is so remarkable a characteristic of all the later prophets. He is also the founder of the first regular institutions of religious instructions and communities for the purposes of education.

samuel in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

SAM'UEL (heard of God), the son of Elkanah and Hannah, was a celebrated Hebrew prophet, and the last of their judges. He is one of the purest and noblest characters in the O.T. history. While he was a child he officiated in some form in the temple, and was favored with revelations of the divine will respecting the family of Eli, the high priest, under whose care and training his mother had placed him. 1 Sam 3:4-14. See Eli. After the death of Eli, Samuel was acknowledged as a prophet, and soon commenced a work of reformation. Idolatry was banished, the worship of the true God was restored, and Samuel was publicly recognized as a judge in Israel. Residing on his patrimonial estate in Ramah, he made annual circuits through the country to administer justice until his infirmities forbade it, and then he deputed his sons to execute this duty. They proved themselves unworthy of the trust, and so general was the dissatisfaction of the people that they determined on a change of government. To this end they applied to Samuel, who, under the divine direction, anointed Saul to be their king, and Samuel resigned his authority to him. 1 Sam 12. After Saul was rejected for his disobedience in the matter of Agag, Samuel was instructed to anoint David as king, after which he returned to Ramah, where he died. 1 Sam 25:1. See Saul. First and Second Books of, are called also the First and Second Books of Kings. They bear Samuel's name, perhaps because he wrote the history of his own times as given in the First Book, and therefore the entire work went under his name. But it is more probable that the name was in consequence of Samuel being the hero of the first part of the history, and that the author belonged to a later period. The Hebrew is singularly clear and pure from Aramaisms. The two books are thus analyzed in Lange's Commentary: 1st part: Samuel's life and work as judge and prophet. 1 Sam. 1:1-7. 2d part: Saul, chs. 8-31:(1) Founding of kingdom, his appointment, chs. 8-15; (2) His fall. Chs. 16-31. 3d part: David. 2 Samuel: 1st part: David king over Judah only, 2 Sam. 1-5:5. 2d part: David king over all Israel. Chs. 5:6-24. These books formed only one in the Hebrew canon. They are the antecedents to the books of the Kings, but are not from the same hand. "In Kings are many express references to the Law; in Samuel, none. In Kings the Exile is often alluded to; it is not so in Samuel. The plans of the two works vary. Samuel has more of a biographical cast; Kings more the character of annals."

samuel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("asked of God".) Greek Theaitetus; or probably "heard of God". Last of the judges, first of the successional prophets (Moses was a prophet, Deuteronomy 18:15, but more a lawgiver; Acts 3:24, "all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after," Acts 13:20, shows Samuel was first of the succession); founder of the monarchy. He gives name to the two books commemorating the first foundation of the kingdom under Saul, and its firm establishment in David's person and line. Son of Elkanah of Ramathaim Zophim in Mount Ephraim, and Hannah. (See RAMATHAIM ZOPHIM; HANNAH.) The father, though sprung from Korah the Levite, lived in Mount Ephraim, and became incorporated with Ephraim. So the Levite in Judges 17:7 was "of the family of Judah" by incorporation. On the brow of the double summit of Ramathaim Zophim was the city of Samuel's birth and residence in after years, at its foot was a great well (1 Samuel 19:22). While sleeping in the sanctuary Samuel received his first call of God; "he did not yet know Jehovah," i.e. by personal revelation (1 Samuel 3:7, compare 1 Samuel 3:1; Acts 19:2). Only at the third call (compare Job 33:14), and by Eli's instruction, Samuel replied, "speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." With delicate consideration for Eli's feelings Samuel lay until morning shrinking from telling him Jehovah's revelation, and only at his solicitation told all. The gentleness of the child intensified the awfulness of the doom announced through him to the old priest. Henceforward all Israel, from Dan in the far N. to Beersheba, recognized Samuel as prophet of Jehovah, "for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord, and the Lord let none of his words fall to the ground." Twenty years elapse after the fall of church and state at the fatal battle of Ebenezer, and the destruction of Shiloh the seat of Jehovah's worship (1 Samuel 7:2-3, etc.). Then Samuel again appears and exhorts Israel, now lamenting after the Lord, to "put away" their idols and "Ashtaroth" in particular (each man besides general sins has his particular besetting sin), and to "return unto Jehovah with all their hearts." Gathering them at Mizpeh, Samuel poured water before Jehovah in confession of sin and in token of their consequent utter prostration and powerlessness (2 Samuel 14:14, inward dissolution through distress; Psalm 22:14; Psalm 58:7; Isaiah 12:3; John 7:37). Realization of our weakness is the necessary condition for receiving almighty strength (Isaiah 40:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). The people, hearing that the Philistine lords were come up against them, begged Samuel's unceasing intercessions. The Lord heard him (Psalm 99:6; Jeremiah 15:1). As Samuel was offering the burnt offering the Philistines drew near to battle; and Jehovah with a thunderstorm defeated them, and Israel pursued them to Bethcar. At the very spot where 20 years previously Israel was routed Israel set up the Eben-Ezer stone, commemorating victory over the Philistines by Jehovah's help (1 Samuel 7:7-14). (See EBEN-EZER.) The Philistines restored the cities and adjoining districts which they had taken from Israel, close up to Ekron and Gath, the cities of the Philistines; and the effect of Israel's victory on the Amorites was they kept peace with Israel (compare Joshua 10:6; Judges 1:34-35). He visited on circuit as judge Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, the three chief sanctuaries W. of Jordan. His home and judicial center was Ramah, where he built an altar. Strange to say, notwithstanding the awful warning in Eli's case of the danger of not correcting children, Samuel had two sons, Joel and Abiah, whom he made judges in Beersheba, and who unlike their father turned aside after lucre and bribes, and perverted judgment (1 Samuel 8:1-3). The father seems somewhat to blame in respect to them, the only blemish recorded of Samuel. This was the occasion of the Israelite elders requesting for a king. Displeased at the request, Samuel had one unfailing resource, he prayed to Jehovah. The Lord punished them by granting their desire (Psalm 106:15), which was a virtual rejection of Jehovah Himself, not merely of Samuel. Yet the Lord did not abdicate His throne over the theocracy. The king was but Jehovah's vicegerent holding office only on condition of loyalty to his Liege above; Israel, under the unfaithful Saul, at Nilboa by Bitter experience learned what a vain defense is a king reflecting their own unbelieving carnalism. In spite of Samuel's warning of the tyrannies of a king, Israel insisted on having one, "like all the nations," to "judge" them and "fight their battles." They preferred an arm of flesh to Jehovah's spiritual defense under Samuel. Samuel duly anointed SAUL by God's direction, and after Saul's victory over Nahash renewed the kingdom at Gilgal; here he appealed to the people as to his own past integrity in office, in times when bribery was too prevalent. The people attested his purity, from whence he has been named the Israelite Aristides. God by sending a thunderstorm in an unusual time, then May or June, declared both his integrity and the people's sin. Samuel assures them nevertheless God will forgive and bless them if loyal to Him, but otherwise He will consume both them and their king (1 Samuel 9-12). (On his title "seer", see PROPHET.) The people consulted him on every subject of difficulty (1 Samuel 9:6-10), and eiders trembled before his approach as the representative of superhuman power and holiness (1 Samuel 16:4-5). His characteristic spiritual work was unceasing crying to Jehovah at times, "all night," in intercessory prayer (1 Samuel 15:11; 1 Samuel 7:7-8); so the Antitype "continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). Also bold witness for God's law, which as prophet he represented, even before Saul when transgressing it. He maintained the supremacy of the divine rule above the secular at the very beginning of the kingdom. His sacrificing was not as a priest, but as a Levite and prophet especially called to do so by God, though not of the family of Aaron; a presage of the better dispensation wherein not those alone of one favored family or caste, but all, are privileged to be king-priests to God. Saul's sin lay not in his usurping the priest's office, but in disobedience to God as represented by His prophet (1 Samuel 10:8; 1 Samuel 13:8; 1 Samuel 13:15, on which occasion Samuel enunciated the eternal principle, "to obey is better than sacrifice," i.e. not that sacrifice was not required, for God ordained it, but it can never be made a cloak for neglecting the moral, spiritual end for which the positive ordinance of sacrifice existed.) Samuel tore himself from Saul, who desired his prophetic countenance before the people; his rending the garment symbolized the rending of Saul's kingdom from him. Samuel saw Saul no more, yet grieved for one whose self-incurred doom he could no longer avert, until Jehovah expostulated "how long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?" (1 Samuel 16:1, compare Psalm 139:21-22). Tender sympathy never led Samuel to give Saul public sanction; but now he is called on to anoint another in Saul's room, and to be of one mind with God in all that God does. Samuel founded "the schools of the prophets," to which belonged "the sons of the prophets," whose education, beside the law, was in sacred, vocal, and instrumental music and processions (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 10:10; 1 Samuel 19:19-20; 1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Chronicles 25:6). (See NAIOTH.) Here David fled as to his spiritual home. Then Saul, by sending messengers to take him from Samuel's very presence, virtually insulted the prophet, but was himself brought under the power of the Spirit. Here David learned the elements of that sacred and prophetic psalmody of which he subsequently became the great representative. Thus Samuel was his spiritual father and the originator of the religious schools of which our modern Christian universities are the offshoot. At his death (1 Samuel 25:1) all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his house at Ramah. frontRAMAH.) The "Acta Sanctorum" (Aug. 20) say his remains were translated front Judaea (A.D. 406) to Constantinople, and received with pomp at the pieter Chalcedon by the emperor Arcadius, and conveyed to a church near the palace of Hebdomon.