Samuel, the last Judge of ancient Israel

Samuel is the key figure who concerned to the change of the regimes in ancient Israel from the rule of Judges to the rule of sovereign Kings. The life and deeds of Samuel can be found in a couple of books in the Old Testament, which are obviously attributed to his own name. Following is a summary from the contents of these books with some extra information:

‘Samuel was a Levite, the son of Elkanah and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-2, 20). At a very young age his parents took him to Shiloh and consecrated him to The Lord, serving under Eli the priest (1 Samuel 1:23-2:11).

Samuel was eventually chosen by God to succeed Eli because Eli’s sons had become corrupt beyond hope (1 Samuel 2:12-26, 3:19-21). The succession became final after the Israelites temporarily lost The Ark Of The Covenant, which had been carried from The Tabernacle in Shiloh into battle against the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-17). Eli’s sons were killed in the battle (1 Samuel 4:11), and Eli himself died when he was told the news (1 Samuel 4:17-18).

After becoming their leader, Samuel turned the Israelites away from their gross Idolatry, and led them to an overwhelming victory over the Philistines, who had been severely troubling Israel for over 40 years (1 Samuel 7:2-17).

The victory over the Philistines was followed by a long period of peace for Israel (1 Samuel 7:13-14), during which Samuel served as a “circuit judge,” going each year from his home in Ramah, about 20 miles north of Jerusalem, around the neighboring towns… (1 Samuel 7:16).

Samuel

Samuel established regular worship of The Lord at Shiloh, where he built an altar, and he established a school of the prophets at Ramah (1 Samuel 19:20).

When Samuel grew old, and (just as had happened with Eli) it became obvious that his sons fell far short of the integrity of their father (1 Samuel 8:1-3), the people demanded a king “such as all the other nations have.”(1 Samuel 8:5). They foolishly ignored the fact that they already had a King, Almighty God, guiding and protecting them. Reluctantly, but in obedience to The Lord’s instruction… Samuel then found himself as Israel’s “king maker” – he anointed Saul as Israel’s first king (1 Samuel 10:20-24), and after Saul proved himself to be unstable and unwise, Samuel anointed Israel’s second king – David (1 Samuel 16:13).

When Samuel died, he was buried in Ramah (1 Samuel 25:1).

2 Old Testament books are named after Samuel, with, it is generally believed, multiple authors.’ (http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/samuel.htm)

The full text with brief intro is available: http://wrex2009.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/samuel-the-first-prophet/