Samuel and His God

Chapter 1: Introduction

chapter 1 Introduction The prophet Samuel’s story is told mostly in the first sixteen chapters of the book of 1 Samuel. Beginning with Samuel’s birth in the first chapter, 1 Samuel goes on to describe how Samuel grows up as servant to the priest Eli, whom he eventually replaces as the primary mediator between Lord1 and Israel. Under Samuel’s leadership the people of Israel—who at this point have no other formal leader— enjoy relief from foreign attackers. But when Samuel grows too old to lead the people himself, they ask him to appoint a king. Lord tells a reluctant Samuel to comply. Samuel anoints Saul, who has some promising early successes but eventually loses Lord’s support. After Samuel has communicated this news to Saul, Lord sends Samuel to anoint David. The rest of 1 Samuel is primarily about David and Saul, with Samuel mentioned only a few times. He makes his final appearance as a ghost, summoned by Saul, who declares that on the morrow, “Lord will give Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines” (1 S 28:19; this and all subsequent biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated). I first paid serious attention to the biblical character Samuel when a student asked me to preach on 1 Samuel 3 at his ordination. The student, whose great passion was ministry with children, had chosen the chapter because in it Lord calls to the young Samuel as the boy sleeps in the temple. Since my student mostly wanted to show that even a very young person can be called by God, he trimmed the reading to leave out God’s actual message to Samuel in 3:11–14, a message formulated to “make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle” (3:11). Now this student, who had been my teaching assistant, knew full well that I do not think problematic verses should be clipped from readings (as they so frequently are in church Bible lessons). If people have a problem with something in the Bible, I think they should talk about it rather than proclaiming respect for the Bible while censoring—if not downright misrepresenting—it. Furthermore, in my experience people grow far more by wrestling with difficult passages than by lingering over old favorites. The ordinand was, I am sure, not at all surprised when I began my sermon with the omitted verses, in which Lord says, “On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever” (3:12–14). 2 samuel and his god It is not hard to see why these verses were left out. They are rather sobering from the standpoint of ministry to children. The target of Lord’s condemnation, Eli, is not some stranger to Samuel. Eli is the person to whom Samuel’s mother, Hannah, brought her child as soon as he was weaned, fulfilling an earlier vow that if she conceived she would dedicate her child to Lord (1 S 1). While his mother had reportedly visited him once a year, bringing a new robe for him each time (2:19), it was Eli who cared for and taught Samuel. Their closeness shows when Eli addresses Samuel as “my son” in 3:6 and 16. How does the young Samuel feel when he hears Lord’s declaration of punishment against Eli? What is he thinking as he lies in the temple during the long hours after his visitation until dawn (3:15)? Is this really the story we want to use to teach children that God may have something to say to them? In commentaries and preaching resources on the chapter, interpreters asserted Eli’s corruption and the deservedness of Lord’s punishment with a vehemence that looked for all the world like “protesting too much.” For instance, a popular online commentary, David Guzik’s Enduring Word Media, comments that Lord’s word was rare (3:1) “probably, because of the hardness of heart among the people of Israel and the corruption of the...