Welcome to Summer Bible Study

Tonight’s study will be on Samuel.

The Birth of Samuel

•Samuel is the son of Elkanah

•The mother is Hannah.

•Samuel had two wives: Hannah and Peninnah

•Peniniah was able to bear children.

•Hannah was not able to bear children.

Comment by Hertzberg

•“Polygamy was practiced. The close association of wives is particularly likely to lead to discord if one of the two is childless, the most bitter misfortune possible for an Eastern woman.”

Jealousy Among Wives

•Read I Sam. 1.6-8

Power of Prayer

•Read I Sam. 1.20

The Name Samuel

•The name Samuel means “heard of God” according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary.

•The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says the name Samuel means “name of God” or “his name is God.”

Time Period of Samuel’s Life

•The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says that Samuel lived in the eleventh century B.C.

•This is from 1100 B.C. to about 1000 B.C.

•Moses flight from Egypt was about 1275 B.C.

•This is the age period in which the monarchy of Israel is established.

Samuel as a Nazarite

•Samuel’s mother (Hannah) vows that Samuel will be a Nazarite.  I Sam. 1.11

•Nararite vow was supposed to be for a life time or a specified period of time-30,60,100 days.

•The name Nararite comes from the root word to separate.

•It refers to one who is separated for the purpose of divine service.

Other Nararites

•Samson

•John the Baptist

Nazarite Requirements

•Abstain from alcohol (remain sober to serve God and renounce worldly pleasure)

•No hair cuts (long hair a symbol of strength)

•Not to touch the dead (contact with the dead is unclean)

The Boy Samuel Given for Service

•As soon as Samuel is weaned, he is taken to Shiloh and offered to Eli the priest for dedicated service to the LORD.

•Hertzberg comments: “children in the East are often suckled by their mothers for several years (three years in II Macc. 7.27) ….”

The Presentation of Samuel

•At the presentation to Eli, elaborate offerings are made.

•Hannah recalls her prayer request.

•Samuel is dedicated for his whole life.

•Read I Sam. 1.27

Read

•Read I Sam. 3.1

Ministered before the LORD

•To  minister before the LORD is to serve the LORD

•The terms “priest” and “minister” are used interchangeably in the OT.

•Often to minister refers to specific religious duties of a priest.

Question

•What specific duties do you think Samuel engaged in?

Question

•In what sense do you think we, as NT believers, are called to minister to the LORD?

Word is Rare & Visions lacking

•A spiritual famine was happening.

•Visions: “a technical term for divine revelation mediated through a seer” (Frank Gaebelein in Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

Question

•Why do you think there was a spiritual famine in the days of Samuel?

Question

•What about today? Is there a spiritual famine today?

The Call of Samuel

•Read I Sam. 3.2-14

The Call of Samuel

•Happened at night while Samuel was on duty tending the candles of the lamp stand.

•Samuel was not able to discern that it was God calling three times.

•He got advice from Samuel and finally figured out that it was God calling.

Questions

•Are there times, like Samuel, we do not know that it is God speaking to us?

•Why does this happen?

Question

•How does God speak to us today?

The Words Spoken to Samuel

•God tells Samuel that disaster is about to befall Eli and Eli’s sons.

•Disaster would also come to Shiloh and to the central sanctuary.

Samuel Shares the News

•Read I Sam. 3.15-18

House of the LORD

•I Sam. 3.15 mentions doors and the house of the LORD

•During the wanderings in the wilderness, the tabernacle and priest quarters were tents.

•However, when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the tabernacle probably remained a tent structure and the priests were built permanent house structures. (Keil-Delitzsch)

Sharing the Bad News

•Sharing the revelation or the coming judgment on Eli and his sons was a turning point for Samuel.

•We might want to say that he went from being the boy Samuel ministering before the LORD to the Man of God, the prophet.

Question

•How do our youth know today when the transition has been complete from a boy to a man, a girl to a woman?

Words Falling to the Ground

•“The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and let none of his words fall to the ground.”

•This is another way of saying that God left no word spoken by Samuel go unfulfilled.

•His role as prophet was validated in all Israel.

Samuel, the Prophet

•“The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. And Samuel’s word came to all Israel” I Sam. 3.21

The Disaster Comes

•I Sam. Chapter 4 records the disaster.

•The sons of Eli die.

•Eli dies.

•The Ark is captured by the Philistines.

Question about Disaster

•“As go the people of God in their relationship to God, so goes the nation. September 11, 2001 was God speaking to His people. He was saying that we have sinned. God was announcing that he was beginning to withdraw His hedge of protection on our land.”

•Henry Blackaby in Chosen to be God’s Prophet Workbook: Lessons from the Life of Sammuel.

•Agree or disagree with this statement?

The Ark is Missing

•The Ark will be out of Israel’s hands for 20 years.

•The Philistines return it to the Israelites.

Loss of Ark-Time of Grief

•“It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiritah Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD.”  I Sam. 7.2

•The people experienced sincere remorse at the loss of the Ark.

•This led the people to seek the LORD.

Question

•Is it possible for people to have grief about their loss of spiritual things in their lives?

Repentance

•Read I Sam. 7.3-4

Baal and Ashtoreth

•Both were chief gods of the Canaanite religion.

•Baal was the god of the land and was called upon to bring good crops and harvest.

•Ashtoreth was the goddess of love and fertility.

Sexual Rituals

•Often immoral sexual rituals accompanied the worship of these gods.

•The worship of these gods and their shrines were especially abominable to the LORD due to the sexual rituals.

Questions

•What would God be calling us to repent from as a nation today? As a church?

Ebenezer

•In thanks to God for the victory over the Philistines, Samuel sets up a stone.

•He names the stone “Ebenezer.”

•Ebenezer means “stone of help.”

Samuel’s lifetime

•“Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines.” I Sam. 7.13

•The work of deliverance begun against the Philistine oppression by Samson was continued by Samuel.

Amorites

•The Amorites were also a threat.

•“And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.” I Sam. 7.14

•Perhaps a treaty was signed by Israel and the Amorites during Samuel’s time.

Samuel as a Father

•Samuel’s sons did not follow in the ways of the faith.

•“But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.”

• I Sam. 8.3

His sons

•The sons were judges in a near by town.

•The town was about 75 miles away from were Samuel was living.

•The sons were in Beersheba and Samuel was in Ramah.

•Joel and Abijah accepted bribes and denied others justice.

Samuel’s Sons

•“Ironically, Samuel’s two sons were as wicked in their own way as were Eli’s two sons.”  Frank Gaebelein

Question

•How should a Christian parent or parents handle the situation of a son or daughter not following in the ways of the Christian faith?

The People Demand a King

•The nation came to Samuel and demanded a king.

•Samuel warned the people that having a king would mean a rough life.

•But, the people still insist on a king.

•God tells Samuel to grant them a king.

•I Sam. 8

The Demand

•“The demand for a king is “a desire not in itself wrong but sullied by the motivation behind it.”  Frank Gaebelein

•The real motivation was to be like other nations with a king.

•A king is expected to create and maintain a strong military and use the military to win battles and conquer other nations.

The Demand

•The demand for an earthly king is to replace the heavenly king (The LORD).

•This sin is evident in that the people reject the words of Samuel and thus reject the words of God.

According to Samuel

•Having a king meant:

–“corvee” or forced labor.

–Horses (not acceptable by Deut. 17.16)

–Conscription into military service

–Seizure of property

–People becoming slaves

–Oppression

question

•If you were God (Ha! Ha!), would you grant or deny the request of the people for a king? Explain your reason for your choice.

Samuel Anoints Saul King

•“Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him saying ‘Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?” I Sam. 10.1

Samuel Tells the Nation

•Samuel tells the nation that it sinned against God by choosing to have an earthly king.

•I Sam. 10

Samuel’s Final Message

•I Sam. 12

•He lived an honest life.

•He recalls the deliverance God brought.

•He recalls Israel not following his advice and taking on a monarchy.

•He says that if the people and the king obey and follow God’s ways, all will be fine. But if no obedience, then the LORD would be against the people and the king.

Samuel Rebukes Saul

•I Sam. 13

•Saul gets impatient and offers sacrifice in a priestly role.

Samuel Rebukes Saul Again

•This time Saul takes booty from the conquered Amalekites.

•Saul was supposed to destroy everything.

•Samuel says to Saul: “You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel.”

•I Sam. 15.26

A New King

•Samuel anoints David as king.

•I Sam. 16

Samuel’s Death

•“Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.” I Sam. 25.1

Samuel Appears Again

•Samuel appears again after his death.

•Saul goes to the witch (medium) at Endor.

•The spirit of Samuel appears to Saul while at the residence of the witch (medium) at Endor.

Consulting the Dead

•This practice is clearly forbidden in Scripture.

•Saul, himself, even made this practice forbidden in the land.

•Christians or even non-Christians should not engage in this practice.

•Why? I believe it is Satanic and empowered by demonic forces.

Comment

•“We must assume that the narrative was uncanny for the compiler, because here we have a report of something which is improper, namely a glimpse into the inaccessible land of the dead. Nevertheless, the local saga has been incorporated into the train of events surrounding Saul and David because here once again the will of God could be proclaimed from the mouth of Samuel, namely that Saul’s time was past and that David’s time was coming.”  Hertzberg, OT Library I & II Samuel

Final Words

•“As priest, judge, prophet, counselor, and anointer of Israel’s first two rulers, Samuel takes his place as one of ancient Israel’s greatest and most godly leaders.”

•Frank Gaebelein