The LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”1 Sam 3:10
In the hill country of Ephraim there was a man of Ramathaim Zophim named Elkanah; his wife Hannah had no children (1 Sam 1:1-2). “This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies in Shiloh” (1 Sam 1:3). At Shiloh Hannah prayed and wept, and vowed: “if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life” (1 Sam 1:11).
“The LORD remembered her” (1 Sam 1:19). She bore a son, “and she named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked him of the LORD’” (1 Sam 1:20). When the child was weaned she brought him to Shiloh and said to Eli: “Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD” (1 Sam 1:28). From then on, “The child served the LORD before Eli the priest” (1 Sam 2:11). His mother “made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year” (1 Sam 2:19). For these things, see Hannah’s lessons.
At that time, “the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know the LORD” (1 Sam 2:12). “The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with the LORD and also with men” (1 Sam 2:26).
“The LORD’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then” (1 Sam 3:1). One night the LORD called Samuel, and three times he ran to Eli; then “Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child” (1 Sam 3:8). The fourth time, “Samuel said, ‘Speak; for your servant hears’” (1 Sam 3:10). The LORD told him of the judgment to come on Eli’s house (1 Sam 3:11-14); the next day, “Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him” (1 Sam 3:18).
“Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Sam 3:19). “All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD” (1 Sam 3:20).
Later Israel fought the Philistines, and “God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain” (1 Sam 4:11). When Eli heard that the ark was taken, he “fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died”; “He had judged Israel forty years” (1 Sam 4:18).
“The LORD’s ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months” (1 Sam 6:1); then it came back to Kiriath Jearim. “From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long—for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD” (1 Sam 7:2). Samuel told them to put away the foreign gods (1 Sam 7:3-4), and gathered them at Mizpah. The Philistines came up, and the children of Israel “were afraid of the Philistines” (1 Sam 7:7); “Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him” (1 Sam 7:9). He set up a stone, “and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘The LORD helped us until now’” (1 Sam 7:12).
“Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life” (1 Sam 7:15). “He went from year to year in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places” (1 Sam 7:16). “His return was to Ramah, for his house was there” (1 Sam 7:17).
“When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel” (1 Sam 8:1); “His sons didn’t walk in his ways” (1 Sam 8:3). The elders came to Ramah and asked him: “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Sam 8:5). “But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ Samuel prayed to the LORD” (1 Sam 8:6). The LORD said: “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them” (1 Sam 8:7). Samuel told the people how a king would rule over them (1 Sam 8:11-18), “But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel” (1 Sam 8:19). The LORD said: “Listen to their voice, and make them a king” (1 Sam 8:22).
Saul, the son of Kish the Benjamite, went out looking for his father’s lost donkeys and came to Samuel. “When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, ‘Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! He will have authority over my people’” (1 Sam 9:17). “Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head, then kissed him” (1 Sam 10:1). Samuel gathered the people at Mizpah, and “All the people shouted and said, ‘Long live the king!’” (1 Sam 10:24); he “told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD” (1 Sam 10:25). Later “All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal” (1 Sam 11:15).
At Gilgal Samuel said to all Israel: “I have walked before you from my youth to this day” (1 Sam 12:2), and asked them to bear witness. “They said, ‘You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand’” (1 Sam 12:4). The LORD sent thunder and rain at wheat harvest, and the people asked Samuel to pray for them (1 Sam 12:17-19). Samuel said: “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam 12:23).
A psalm remembers him: “Samuel was among those who call on his name. They called on the LORD, and he answered them” (Ps 99:6).
Samuel had told Saul to wait for him seven days at Gilgal (1 Sam 10:8). “He stayed seven days, according to the time set by Samuel; but Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him” (1 Sam 13:8), and Saul offered the burnt offering himself (1 Sam 13:9). Samuel said: “You have done foolishly” (1 Sam 13:13); “The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14).
Later, at the LORD’s word, Samuel sent Saul against the Amalekites (1 Sam 15:1); “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle … and were not willing to utterly destroy them” (1 Sam 15:9). The LORD said to Samuel, “It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king”, and “Samuel was angry; and he cried to the LORD all night” (1 Sam 15:11). He went to Saul and said: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22), and “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you” (1 Sam 15:28). Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD in Gilgal (1 Sam 15:33), and then went to Ramah. “Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned for Saul” (1 Sam 15:35).
The LORD said to Samuel: “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite” (1 Sam 16:1). Samuel said: “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me” (1 Sam 16:2). He went to Bethlehem as the LORD said, and “The elders of the city came to meet him trembling” (1 Sam 16:4). Among Jesse’s sons, “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers”; “So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah” (1 Sam 16:13). For these things, see David, Lesson 1.
Later, “David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him” (1 Sam 19:18).
“Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah” (1 Sam 25:1). The passage mentions it once more: “Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city” (1 Sam 28:3).
Peter, speaking to the people in Solomon’s Porch in the temple, said: “Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, also told of these days” (Acts 3:24).
Paul, speaking in the synagogue at Antioch about the history of Israel, said: “After these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet” (Acts 13:20).
The letter to the Hebrews, speaking of witnesses of faith, says: “What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets” (Heb 11:32).
1 Samuel It begins with his parents’ household before he was born; his story runs to his death in chapter 25, and the book continues to the death of Saul.
5 lessons, for personal study or small groups. Leader guide →
Scripture: World English Bible.