Samuel.
The venerable figure of Samuel forms the living link between two great and very diverse stages in the history of ancient Israel. He was the last of the judges (Acts 13:29), he was the first of the prophets (Acts 3:24). Not that there were no prophets between Moses and Samuel ( 4:4; 1 Samuel 2:27), but from his time the prophetic gift and office took that leading place which belonged to it down to the days of Malachi. As judge, Samuel's administration brought to a close the period of anarchy recorded in the Book of Judges; as prophet, he was commissioned to choose and anoint the first King of Israel; and, on Saul's proving himself utterly unable to understand his position as the Lord's servant, and thus unfit to reign, to declare his deposition, to anoint David, and probably to train him for his high office, and to promise to the seed of David an eternal throne and kingdom. The life and character of Samuel present at least three grand lessons and lines of thought (to be treated in different discourses).
I. SAMUEL AN EXAMPLE OF A CONSECRATED LIFE. A consecrated childhood the preparation for one of the noblest, purest, grandest, and most useful lives history records. When we think of Samuel, the image that most naturally rises to our view (as Dean Stanley observes) is not of the aged ruler and seer, with his unshorn grey locks on his shoulders (1 Samuel 1:11; 1 Samuel 12:2), but of "the child Samuel" (1 Samuel 1:27, 1 Samuel 1:28; 1 Samuel 2:11, 1 Samuel 2:18, 1 Samuel 2:21; 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 1 Samuel 3:19). Excepting the holy Child Jesus, there is none other in Scripture whose childhood and early piety, consecration, and inspiration are thus prominently recorded. The whole life is of a piece. "Wild excesses in youth are often followed by energy, by zeal, by devotion. We read it in the examples of Augustine, of Loyola, of John Newton … But it is no less certain that they are rarely, very rarely, followed by moderation, by calmness, by impartial wisdom … whatever else is gained by sudden and violent conversions, this is lost. Whatever else, on the other hand, is lost by the experience of evil, by the calm and even life that needs no repentance, this is gained …. Samuel is the chief type, in ecclesiastical history, of quiet growth, of a new creation without conversion". To such a childhood, the keynote of which was "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth," the grey-headed saint could look back in his public appeal to the nation (1 Samuel 12:2-5). Seldom has so great a life been so blameless. This view of Samuel's life and character appeals:
1. To the young. You may neglect or throw off the fear and love of God, faith and prayer and duty, and yet be converted and saved, like the poor prodigal; but you will have flung away life's morning, robbed God of the firstfruits of life, forfeited the honour and happiness that crown a consecrated life, and the right to say with St. Paul, Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16; Acts 26:4, Acts 26:5; 2 Timothy 1:3.
2. To parents. Samuel was consecrated to God by his mother's faith and prayers before he had any knowledge or choice.
3. To teachers of the young. The teacher who has trained one Samuel has richer reward and higher honour than one who has crammed a hundred prize winners.
II. SAMUEL AN EXAMPLE OF THE POWER OF PRAYER. His name, "Heard of God" (q.d. granted in answer to prayer), was the memorial of his mother's brokenhearted supplications (1 Samuel 1:11, 1 Samuel 1:26, 1 Samuel 1:27). The first thing recorded of his childhood is that he "worshipped the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:28), "ministered to the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:11, 1 Samuel 2:18; 1 Samuel 3:1). His brief prayer (most of the mightiest recorded prayers are brief), "Speak; for thy servant heareth" (2 Timothy 3:10), contains the very concentrated spirit of prayer, the open ear of faith, the loving heart of obedience. Therefore it is not wonderful that Samuel's prayers had great power (1 Samuel 7:8, 1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 12:17, 1 Samuel 12:18, 1 Samuel 12:19, 1 Samuel 12:23). Prayer was his refuge in trouble (1 Samuel 8:6; 1 Samuel 15:11). The text specially commemorates him "among them that call upon his Name." The truth of the necessity, duty, and value of prayer, and of the fact that God does indeed answer prayer, is one in which the teaching of the Old and New Testament Scriptures is most completely and emphatically one. The Christian could not afford to dispense with this witness—loses much if he does not constantly feed his faith on it. Promises of prayer, and commands to pray, are even fuller and more emphatic (if possible) in the New Testament; but the Old Testament backs these up with the experience of two thousand years; and nearly two thousand years more have supplemented this experience, and tested and verified these promises. If there is a truth verified by human experience, it is this—that God hears prayer (John 16:23, John 16:24; James 5:16).
III. THE RELATION OF RELIGION TO NATIONAL LIFE. Christians make a tremendous mistake when they suppose they may neglect the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament Scriptures unfold a fuller gospel, richer promises, a clearer manifestation of Divine love, a world embracing message. But in the history of ancient Israel lessons were taught, experiments made, problems solved for the Church and for mankind in all ages. God will not either repeat or unteach them. Woe to us if we despise them, especially in an age in which the Christian Church is so loudly called to face the social, national, and international problems of today!
1. National life and well being need religion as their only secure foundation. Samuel, as prophet judge, not a military leader, like Othniel or Gideon, but a judge because he was a prophet, represented God in relation to Israel, and Israel in relation to God (see 1 Samuel 7:2-15). All the miseries which befell Israel during the centuries from Joshua to Samuel were from one cause—their provoking the Lord. When deliverance followed repentance, the monument set up was not a military trophy of their prowess, but a religious memorial (1 Samuel 7:12). The special relation of Israel to God, constituted at Sinai, was doubtless unique, but the underlying principles are good for all time, all nations (Proverbs 14:34). Life, private or public, is alone securely founded on truth. Righteousness—q.d. justice, good faith, temperance, purity, doing as you would be done by,—this is the sure basis of national well being. And the only safeguard is true religion.
2. Yet Law is impotent to maintain true religion or spiritual life. The experiment was bound to be tried. A universal religious society, like the Christian Church, was in earlier ages alike inconceivable and impossible. The national form of the Church was the only practicable. The history of Israel is the history of the failure of this experiment.
3. Where the Law failed, what can the gospel do for national life? Christianity brought to an end the national pre-eminence of Israel, putting all nations on a level; but much more—substituting, as the supreme rule of life, for public law personal obedience to Christ (Isaiah 44:3-5; Hebrews 8:7-13). There are four possible relations of the Church to the State.