Samuel: the Man of God

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Samuel was regarded in his day as a man of God (1 Sam 9:6-10), and rightly so. Matters were critical in Israel when he appeared upon the scene. When Moses laid down his charge, the priesthood was established as the link between the Lord and His people, the civil and military leader held only the second place. “He shall stand before Eleazar, the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord” (Num. 27:18-2118And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; 19And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. 20And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. 21And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. (Numbers 27:18‑21) JND). But in the person of Eli, the priesthood had utterly broken down. Although personally a pious man, he permitted iniquity of the gravest kind in those nearest to himself (1 Sam. 3:1313For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. (1 Samuel 3:13)). “His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” To the ruin of all, natural affection predominated in his mind rather than faithfulness to the Lord.
The people were as wrong as their high priest. Those were the days when “there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:2525In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)). The closing chapters of the book of Judges reveal to us the appalling conditions that prevailed in the land.
Nor were things right in the household from which Samuel sprang. His father was a Levite, descended from Korah, whose children were so mercifully spared from destruction in the day of their father's rebellion (Num. 26:1111Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not. (Numbers 26:11)), and who were afterward made doorkeepers and singers in the house of the Lord. Such grace should have filled their hearts with the deep gratitude to God, and should have disposed them to be devoted to His will. But what do we find? Elkanah “had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah” (1 Sam. 1:22And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. (1 Samuel 1:2)). Did he not know better than this? It bred unhappiness in the home, reminding us of the unrest in Abraham's surroundings when he took Hagar in addition to Sarah.