PROPHET AND LAST JUDGE OF ISRAEL · THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL

Samuel. Judged Israel all his life from Ramah, and anointed its first two kings.

LED ISRAELi

Not given "Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life"; no number of years is given

TRIBE

Levi in 1 Chronicles 6; his father is called an Ephrathite of mount Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1)

IN THE LINE

15th of 15

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“The LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground"; all Israel "knew that Samuel was…”

PROPHETS

Samuel himself · The company of the prophets

THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL: 15 RULERS MOSES → SAMUEL

THE CYCLE

Forgetting, oppression, a cry, a deliverer, rest

  • 1 · FORGOT GOD Israel had "strange gods and Ashtaroth" among them; at Samuel's word "the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only". 1 Samuel 7:3–4
  • 2 · OPPRESSED: THE PHILISTINES The Philistines had taken the ark and Israel's cities; when Israel gathered at Mizpeh, their lords went up against them. 1 Samuel 4:11 1 Samuel 7:7 1 Samuel 7:14
  • 3 · CRIED OUT Israel fasted and confessed "We have sinned", and begged Samuel "Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us". 1 Samuel 7:6 1 Samuel 7:8
  • 4 · DELIVERED As Samuel offered a lamb, "the LORD thundered with a great thunder" on the Philistines; "they came no more into the coast of Israel". 1 Samuel 7:9–13
  • 5 · REST Scripture does not say.

ACCESSION

How Samuel came to power

  • Hannah named him Samuel, "Because I have asked him of the LORD", and lent him to the LORD at Shiloh. 1 Samuel 1:20 1 Samuel 1:24–28
  • "The child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest." 1 Samuel 2:11 1 Samuel 2:18
  • The LORD called him by night: "Speak; for thy servant heareth." 1 Samuel 3:4–10
  • "The word of Samuel came to all Israel." 1 Samuel 4:1

SUCCESSION

Before and after

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

What Scripture says of him

  • "The LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground"; all Israel "knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD". 1 Samuel 3:19–20
  • He went yearly in circuit to Beth-el, Gilgal and Mizpeh, and judged Israel at home in Ramah. 1 Samuel 7:15–17
  • At the end, he asked the people to witness against him, and they answered "Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us". 1 Samuel 12:3–5
  • "God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you." 1 Samuel 12:23
  • Later Scripture sets him beside Moses as one who called on the LORD and stood before him. Psalms 99:6 Jeremiah 15:1
  • Peter counts the prophets "from Samuel"; Paul says God gave judges "until Samuel the prophet". Acts 3:24 Acts 13:20
  • "The acts of David the king ... are written in the book of Samuel the seer." 1 Chronicles 29:29
  • His sons, made judges in Beer-sheba, "walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes". 1 Samuel 8:1–3

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

THE LAND

Ramah, his home and the places of the story

The tribes of Israel · tribe of Levi in 1 Chronicles 6; his father is called an Ephrathite of mount Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1). Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

THE NATION

What the nation did

  • Israel "did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only". 1 Samuel 7:4
  • No later Passover was like Josiah's "from the days of Samuel the prophet". 2 Chronicles 35:18

PROPHETS

Prophets of the reign

  • Sa Samuel himself “And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.”
  • Th The company of the prophets At Naioth Samuel stood "as appointed over them".

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

THE PHILISTINES

AMMON

Nahash, king of Ammon

AMALEK

Agag, king of Amalek

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE'S OWN NUMBERS

No years given

Scripture gives no length for Samuel's judgeship and no year BC. Twenty years passed between the ark's return and the assembly at Mizpeh (1 Samuel 7:2).

Joel; his name has dropped out of 1 Chronicles 6:28

Keil (1872)

Keil holds that the name of the firstborn, Joel, is missing from the verse, as 1 Chronicles 6:33 and 1 Samuel 8:2 show. The site's person data likewise attaches 1 Chronicles 6:28 to Joel.[13]

Vashni, as the KJV prints it

The KJV translators' reading of the verse

The KJV renders the verse as a name, "the firstborn Vashni". 1 Chronicles 6:28

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 26

1 Samuel 1 1 Samuel 2 1 Samuel 3 1 Samuel 4 1 Samuel 7 1 Samuel 8 1 Samuel 9 1 Samuel 10 1 Samuel 11 1 Samuel 12 1 Samuel 13 1 Samuel 15 1 Samuel 16 1 Samuel 19 1 Samuel 25 1 Samuel 28 1 Chronicles 6 1 Chronicles 9 1 Chronicles 26 1 Chronicles 29 2 Chronicles 35 Psalms 99 Jeremiah 15 Acts 3 Acts 13 Hebrews 11

PASSAGES · 17

1 Samuel 1:1–4:1 1 Samuel 7:2–13:15 1 Samuel 15:1–16:13 1 Samuel 19:18–24 1 Samuel 25:1 1 Samuel 28:3–20 1 Chronicles 6:22–28 1 Chronicles 6:33–38 1 Chronicles 9:22 1 Chronicles 26:28 1 Chronicles 29:29 2 Chronicles 35:18 Psalms 99:6 Jeremiah 15:1 Acts 3:24 Acts 13:20 Hebrews 11:32

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture gives no number of years for Samuel's judgeship and no year BC.
  • In 1 Samuel 12:11 (KJV) Samuel names himself among the deliverers; Keil reports that the Syriac, the Arabic and one Greek manuscript read Samson there.
  • Samuel is never called king; he gave up his place to Saul but went on judging and prophesying (1 Samuel 12:1-2; 7:15).

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • Chronicles places Samuel ("Shemuel") in the Levite line of Kohath, as father of Joel and grandfather of the singer Heman. 1 Chronicles 6:22–28 1 Chronicles 6:33–38

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 276–286 (chronology of the judges).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 322–323 (Judges 5:25–27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 357–358 (Judges 8:27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 373 (Judges 10:3–5).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 387–394 (Judges 11:34–40).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 398 (Judges 12:8–10).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 156–157 (Joshua 15:13–19).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 208 (Joshua 19:50).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), pp. 17–18 (1 Samuel 1:1).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), p. 39 (1 Samuel 2:27–36).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), p. 56 (1 Samuel 4:18).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), pp. 117–118 (1 Samuel 12:11).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Andrew Harper, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Chronicles (1872), pp. 123–124 (1 Chronicles 6:28, Hebrew 6:13).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Andrew Harper, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Chronicles (1872), p. 165 (1 Chronicles 9:22).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 2 (1872 printing) (1872), p. 87 (Exodus 18:24–27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 3 (1871 printing) (1871), pp. 71–72 and note (Numbers 11:24–30).
  • George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers (International Critical Commentary) (1903), pp. 113–115 (Numbers 11:25–29).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 3 (1871 printing) (1871), p. 499 (Deuteronomy 33:4–5).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. xxxvii–xlii (Introduction §7, Chronology).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. xxviii–xxix (Introduction, the Minor Judges).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 27 and notes (Judges 1:13).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 66–67 (Judges 2:9).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 107–108 (Judges 4, the two accounts).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 113–114 (Judges 4:5).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 231–232 (Judges 8:27).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 274–275 (Judges 10:4).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 302–305 and note (Judges 11:39).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 310 (Judges 12:8).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 311 (Judges 12:13–15, on 1 Samuel 12:11).
  • Edward Mack, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, "Chronology of the Old Testament" (1915), section VII (From the Disruption to the Exodus).
  • S. R. Driver, The Book of Exodus (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1911), p. xxx (Introduction §4).
  • James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. III (1906), §617, p. 264 (Merneptah's Hymn of Victory).
  • Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, vol. 1 (Genesis to Deuteronomy) (1706), on Deuteronomy 33:5.
  • Julius Wellhausen, tr. J. S. Black and A. Menzies, Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), ch. VI (Chronicles), §III.2.

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