Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
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Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
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And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
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And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 7:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 7:6 They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
- Acts 13:20-21 After these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
- Judges 2:16 Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
- Judges 3:10-11 Yahweh’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. The land had rest forty years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
- 1 Samuel 12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.
- 1 Samuel 12:11 Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety.
- 1 Samuel 25:1 Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 7:15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days…
1Sa 7:15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
Ver. 15. And Samuel judged Israel.] Being a mixed person, a prophet and a judge, as among the heathen, Anius was
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“ Rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos. ” - Virg.
Saul was the ordinary judge, and Samuel the extraordinary.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For though Saul was king in Samuel’s last days,…
For though Saul was king in Samuel’s last days, yet Samuel did not then quite cease to be a judge, being so made by God’s extraordinary call, which Saul could not destroy; and therefore Samuel did sometimes, upon great occasions, though not ordinarily, exercise the office of a judge after the beginning of Saul’s reign; as 1Sa 11:7; 15:32,33. And the years of the rule of Saul and Samuel are joined together, Act 13:20,21.
Quest. How doth the office of a judge agree with Hannah’s vow, whereby she devoted him to a perpetual attendance upon the Lord’s service?
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Answ. This was not inconsistent with her vow, which consisted of two branches; the one more general, that he should be given or lent to the Lord all his days, 1Sa 1:11,28, which she faithfully executed, leaving him wholly to the service and disposal of the Lord, who thought fit to employ him in this way; and if any thing therein was contrary to that vow, could undoubtedly dispense with it, as being his own right only: the other more particular, that
no razor should come upon his head; nor doth it appear that this part was violated; or if it was, it was done by Divine dispensation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his…
And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Not only before Saul was made king, but afterwards; for though he had not the exercise of the supreme government of the nation, yet he might act as a judge under Saul, and hear and try causes brought before him, and execute justice and judgment; and as a prophet he taught and instructed the people, and reformed abuses among them; and besides, he held and exercised his extraordinary office, to which he was raised up of God, and even took upon him to reprove Saul himself, and to kill Agag. The Jews say (q) he judged Israel thirteen years only, eleven by himself, and two with Saul; but his government must be much larger, his with Saul is reckoned forty years, Act 13:21.
(q) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 13. p. 35. Midrash Tillim apud Abarbinel in loc. Kimchi in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Samuel judged - For though Saul was king in…
Samuel judged - For though Saul was king in Samuel's last days, yet Samuel did not cease to be a judge, being so made by God's extraordinary call, which Saul could not destroy; and therefore Samuel did sometimes, upon great occasions, tho' not ordinarily, exercise the office of judge after the beginning of Saul's reign; and the years of the rule of Saul and Samuel are joined together, Acts xiii, 20, 21.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Samuel judged Israel all the days of…
Verse 15. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.] Samuel is supposed to have lived one hundred years; he did not begin to judge Israel till he was about forty years of age; and if he was one hundred years of age when he died, he must have been a judge sixty years, and consequently filled that office during the whole of Saul's reign. But that he had been dead before Saul's last battle, is evident from the transactions of that king with the witch of En-dor, and probably not long before. Samuel was the prophet of that time; declared the will of the Lord, and frequently directed both the civil and military transactions of the kingdom. Samuel seems, in many respects, to have been considered the governor of the people, while Saul was only looked on as the general of the armies.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 7:15. Samuel judged Israel, &c. — For though…
1Sa 7:15. Samuel judged Israel, &c. — For though Saul was king in Samuel’s last days, yet Samuel did not cease to be a judge, being so made by God’s extraordinary call, which Saul could not destroy; and therefore Samuel did sometimes, upon great occasions, though not ordinarily, exercise the office of judge after the beginning of Saul’s reign; and the years of the rule of Saul and Samuel are joined together, Act 13:20-21.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Samuel judged Israel ... - The repetition of the…
Samuel judged Israel ... - The repetition of the phrase in 1Sa 7:16-17, in connection with Samuel’s circuit, is a proof that it is his civil judgeship which is meant. The military leadership of course belonged to Saul, when he became king.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Life; as sole judge for twenty years, (Gordon; Du…
Life; as sole judge for twenty years, (Gordon; Du Hamel) and conjointly with Saul till he died, almost 100 years old, a year or two before the unfortunate king. Saul put him on a level with himself; (chap. xi. 7.) and he continued to be regarded as the oracle of Israel ever since he was about forty years old; (Calmet) or he did not long survive the election of the new king, (Menochius) as Tirinus, Sanctius, &c., reduce his reign to two years, allowing thirty-eight to Samuel, so that both filled up the space of forty years, Acts xiii. 20. The life of Samuel, on this supposition, will not much exceed sixty, and he must have come into power in early life, chap. xii. 2. (Haydock) --- This verse is no proof that the present book was written long after Samuel’s time. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. All the days of his life — Though…
15. All the days of his life — Though Saul superseded him in the government, and was recognised as the anointed king of Israel, yet Samuel never lost his influence over the people; and for him Saul ever had the profoundest reverence. So he actually executed the office of judge to the day of his death. See note at the beginning of chap. 12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his…
15. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life] This, like the statement of 1Sa_7:13, must be understood with qualifications: for (a) Samuel in his old age made his sons judges (1Sa_8:1): (b) Saul was made king a considerable time before Samuel’s death. But it does not contradict the subsequent history. Clearly his sons supplemented but did not supersede their father’s judicial office; and Samuel retained a civil and religious authority even after Saul had become the military leader of the people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) And Samuel judged Israel all the days of…
(15) And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.—The influence and supreme power of Samuel only ended with his life. For a very long period—probably for at least twenty years after the decisive battle of Eben-ezer—Samuel, as “judge,” exercised the chief authority in Israel. The time at length arrived when, convinced by clear Divine monition that it was best for the people that a king should rule over them, Samuel the seer, then advanced in years, voluntarily laid down his high office in favour of the new king, Saul; but his influence remained, and his authority, whenever he chose to exercise it, seems to have continued undiminished, and on momentous occasions (see, for instance, 1Sa_15:33) we find king and nation submitting to his counsel and expressed will.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain SAMUEL"S CONDUCT AS JUDGE (vers. 15-17).
SAMUEL"S CONDUCT AS JUDGE (vers. 15-17).
Vers. 15, 16. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. As long as Samuel lived there was no clear]imitation of his powers as shophet compared with those of Saul as king. In putting Agag to death (1Sa_15:33) he even claimed a higher authority, and though he voluntarily left as a rule all civil and military matters to the king, yet he never actually resigned the supreme control, and on fitting occasions even exercised it. It was, however, practically within narrow limits that he personally exercised his functions as judge in settling the causes of the people; for Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh were all situated in the tribe of Benjamin. Both Bethel and Mizpah were holy spots, and so also, probably, was Gilgal; and therefore we may conclude that it was the famous sanctuary of that name, (see 1Sa_11:14) and not the Gilgal mentioned, in 2Ki_2:1 2Ki_4:38. For this latter, situated to the southwest of Shiloh, near the road to Jerusalem, had no religious importance, and would not, therefore, attract so many people to it as one that was frequented for sacrifice. Probably, too, it was upon the occasion of religious solemnities that Samuel visited these places, and heard the people"s suits.
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Vers. 15-17. (RAMAH, BETHEL, GILGAL, MIZPAH.)
Samuel the judge.
The "judges" of Israel were deliverers from oppression, leaders in war, perpetual dictators in national affairs, and supreme arbiters in judicial matters. "All that was greatest in those times was certainly due to them, and some of their names shine eternally like bright stars in the long night of a troubled age" (Ewald, "History"). Of these judges Samuel was the last and greatest. His superiority appears in
1. The character he possessed. He was free from the vices into which some of the most distinguished amongst them fell, and surpassed them in the virtues they exhibited. He had higher conceptions of God and his law, held more intimate communion with him, and was altogether of a nobler type of human excellence. His constant aim was to do the will of God; he was upright in heart and life, humble, patient, generous, and full of disinterested zeal and holy energy in seeking the true welfare of men. In these respects he approached as nearly, perhaps, as any of the servants of God under the old covenant the perfection of him who was "without sin.
2. The method he pursued. As he effected the deliverance of Israel not by the sword, but by "the word of God and prayer," so he continued to make use of the same means as the most effective in preserving their liberty and increasing their strength and happiness. His method was moral rather than physical. He taught them "to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God". (Mic_6:8) His policy was one of peace, and he relied on God to restrain the aggression of surrounding nations, and afford protection against their attacks. Nor was his trust misplaced.
3. The work he accomplished. Idolatry, which was rebellion against theDivine King, was banished. The principles of the theocracy were confirmed. Order, justice, and peace were established; and closer unity prevailed among the tribes, based upon their common loyalty to their King. "This was the great achievement and crowning point of his service to Israel and the God of Israel; the scattered and disunited tribes became again a nation. The rival tribes Ephraim and Judah make common cause against the common enemy, and the more distant tribes do not seem to withhold their allegiance" (Milman). The labours of Samuel as judge are here summed up in a few sentences, suggestive of some things wherein he was an instructive example to rulers, statesmen, magistrates, and "all that are in authority." Notice
I HIS SUPREME CONCERN FOR RELIGION. Samuel was first a prophet, then a "faithful priest," finally a ruler and judge. "His judicial work not only proceeded from the prophetical, but was constantly guided by it. For we may presume not only that he gave legal decisions with prophetical wisdom, but also that, in general, he conducted the affairs of the people as a man who had the Spirit of the Lord" (Nagelsbach). At the different places to which "he went from year to year in circuit Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah he probably taught the word of God and offered sacrifice, combining his prophetic and priestly with his judicial work. At Ramah he built an altar to the Lord, "testifying thereby the power from which alone be could receive either the authority or wisdom to judge." The position of Samuel was peculiar, and his work unusually comprehensive; but it may be observed of every good civil magistrate that
1. He is qualified for his office by his possession of reverence for God. "Hethat ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God". (2Sa_23:3) He feels his responsibility to the supreme King and Judge, by whose providence he has been placed in authority, and has constant regard to his will.
2. His personal piety pervades his public activity. The one is not separatedfrom the other, but is its animating spirit, and thereby he seeks to afford in his judgments a reflection of the perfect judgments of God.
3. His highest desire, knowing that "righteousness exalteth a nation," is to see the people all righteous. That end, he is persuaded, cannot be attained by force; but, as a godly man, he ever seeks it by moral means; and, in his public capacity, he endeavours to do something towards it by restraining the violence of the wicked and protecting the good in their labours "unto the kingdom of God.
II HIS FAITHFUL ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. In the theocracy the laws were already given, and Samuel"s judicial work consisted in arranging for their proper administration, in which he doubtless availed himself of the method formerly appointed, (Deu_16:18-20) reserving to himself the proper interpretation and application of them in more difficult and important cases. For this purpose he went to different centres of the land at stated thnes, and "judged Israel in all those places." He has been not inappropriately called the Hebrew Aristides. Like him, the]faithful magistrate
1. Strives to bring justice within easy reach of every man.
2. Administers it wisely, impartially, fearlessly, without respect of persons (Exo_18:21, Exo_18:22; 2Ch_19:5-7; Jer_22:3)
3. Devotes himself disinterestedly and diligently to the common weal. (1Sa_12:3) "The Hebrew judges were not only simple in their manners, moderate in their desires, and free from avarice and ambition, but they were noble and magnanimous men, who felt that whatever they did for their country was above all reward, and could not be recompensed; who desired merely to be public benefactors, and chose rather to deserve well of their country than to be enriched by its wealth" (Jahn, "Hebrews Com.," sect. 22).
III HIS WISE PROVISION FOR EDUCATION. During the period of his judgeship Samuel appears to have established one or more "schools of the prophets," in which he taught young men sacred knowledge, and, in connection with it, reading, writing, and music, thus preparing them to give instruction to the people, which the Levites had failed to do. (1Sa_10:10 1Sa_19:20) So a wise statesman, seeing that "for the soul to be without knowledge is not good," and that "the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," adopts proper means for the education of the young, the diffusion of knowledge, and the advancement of the race. (Psa_78:5-8) "Education is the debt which one generation owes to another" (J.S. Mill). The schools of the prophets "were hearths of spiritual life to Israel. Their aim was not to encourage a contemplative life (like the cloisters), but to arouse the nation to activity. Every prophetic disciple was a missionary" (Hengstenberg).
IV HIS CONSISTENT CONDUCT AT HOME. "And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he built an altar unto the Lord" (ver. 17). There, also, he continued his judicial labours. The faithful magistrate, whilst he does not allow his public duty to interfere with proper attention to his duty to his own household, seeks to make the latter helpful to the former. He exemplifies in his private life the conduct he openly commends to others, and "walks in his house with a perfect heart". (Psa_101:2) Though he be not a Nazarite, he is simple, self-denying, and unostentatious in his habits; and though he be not wealthy, he is kind to the poor, hospitable to friends, (1Sa_9:24) and liberal towards the Lord. (1Ch_26:28: "all that Samuel the seer had dedicated He recognises the presence and claims of God in his home, sanctifies it by prayer, (Job_1:5) endeavours to make it a centre whence holy influences emanate to all, and does all things to the glory of God. (1Co_10:31) "The indispensable basis afforded by the home and its eternal sanctity no superior religion and legislation should seek to destroy, or even to disturb; and, on a comprehensive survey, we cannot fail to recognise that there is no other ancient nation in which, during the days of external power, domestic life remained for a long period so vigorous; and, secondly, during the gradual decline of the external power, became so little weakened and corrupted as was the case with Israel" (Ewald, "Antiquities").
V HIS LONG CONTINUANCE IN OFFICE. "And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life" (ver. 15). "Simple words, but what a volume of tried faithfulness is unrolled by them!" He pursued his course till he was "old and gray headed" (1Sa_12:2) nearly twenty years from the victory of Ebenezer. The appointment of a king relieved him of a portion of the burden; but he still continued to exercise his prophetic office, and, "as last judge, he held in his hands the highest control of the theocracy and the kingdom." He devoted his last years to the training of youthful disciples for future service; and when at length he died, "all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah". (1Sa_25:1) His protracted labour was an evidence of his public spirit, indomitable energy, and efficient service, and the principal means of raising the nation to its subsequent power and glory. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And Samuel judged Israel all the darts of his…
1Sa_7:15-17
And Samuel judged Israel all the darts of his life.
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The prophet judge
In the hopeful emergency of Israels lamenting after Jehovah, Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel; and the clear, bright word, and the wise act of that and subsequent days, show him to us as worthy to be a prophet of the Lord, and a judge or ruler of a great people. Great soldiers have been admired for the way in which they have seized the black and bloody opportunity of a crisis in a battle in order to plunge into more successful carnage; but what better is that than the sharks swift and well-timed whirl and dash at its almost escaping prey? How much loftier and demanding what higher gifts and power is the act of him who sees and grasps the opportunity of raising a nation from its almost ruin, and even before the delivering time has come sees the flower of hope blooming among the ruins? Such was Samuels act in this passage; and such in our own day the hope and deed of Cavour and Victor Emmanuel, who foresaw and made possible the growth of united Italy, at a time when the priests and soldiers had brought the Italy of history to a degradation that only soldiers and priests know the way unto. It is of the greatest importance that we should understand Samuels arrangements for the national recovery, and apply the principles involved as piously and intelligently as we can
1. Notice, then, that Samuels first great act in his character of prophet-judge was to call the people to a thorough religious and moral cleansing: religious in that they were required to disown the idolatry that was in their lives and opposed to the worship of Jehovah; and moral in that the worship of Baal and Astarte was licentious, degrading; vicious in society as well as profane before their God. Samuel required this of them as well as lamenting after the Lord. Israel needed the true worship of the pure God. Purity of heart, temperance of spirit, chastity of body, righteousness to one another; these things, aimed at for the love of God, are His true worship; these were the true ways of putting from them the false and foul idols that God abhorred. So we have to learn. Mourn after God; be penitent and contrite; but aim after Godlikeness as well. Mourn over your sins, but show the true contrition that seeks to be like God; that says, I will arise and go to my father. Remember that the invader was in the land; the polluters of the sanctuary still in the sacred places. A soldier patriot might have earned renown by military expeditions and dashing raids into the conquered territory; but the dark day of soldier-judges was gone. There was now a man leading who preferred his countrys purity to her prosperity, and would have rather seen his nation die than have her prosper with the work and wages of iniquity. Therefore he called them to a national purifying. But the call of Samuel is intended to be to us. For it is not the only duty of a nation to summon its armed bands and squadrons in times of national peril, or international anxiety. Nor is it less than profanity to send armies forth invoking the God of battles, forgetting that before the barbarity of man shed human blood in war, God was a God of purity, and is to be remembered in war and strife, and before conflict and carnage, as the God of righteousness, who will require unjustly or heedlessly shed blood at the hands of those who have poured it out to cry unto Him from the ground.
2. Samuels next great act as a prophet-judge was to summon the people to a great prayer assembly. So distinctly did he put the duty of consecration to God before all things that, instead of military deliberations, instead of holding a great council of war, he said to them, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. But this mighty act of penitence and prayer was rudely disturbed. Like the royal and prelatic dragoons, that rushed down the mountain side against the meetings of the Scottish Covenanters, to stain the heather with their blood, the Philistines marched swiftly to Mizpeh against their defenceless tributaries. Evidently the Israelites had made no military preparation; and all seemed to threaten that the meeting for prayer and purification would end in a horrible massacre, like many similar meetings in Christian times. The only brave heart there was Samuels. The best man was the most courageous. Penitence led to prayer, prayer to victory, and victory to praise. Such is our souls sure way. The prominent feature of the day in connection with Samuel is one that repeatedly shows itself in his life, and that is his character of intercessor. He prayed hopefully when all was gloomy and foreboding, and he did so not because or when he could do nothing else. He did not act as we so often do; he did not make prayer a last resource, but first and foremost he cried unto the Lord. It was for prayer that he assembled the people, and it was while he was uttering his peculiar cry of earnest intercession that the voice of the Lords thunder was heard. Nor, in thinking of Samuels prayers and the peoples penitence and their efficacy, must we forget the instructive contrast there is between this day of unexpected triumph and the day of battle at the same place; when, notwithstanding the presence of the ark and all the Divinely ordained accompaniments of its mystery when it led the armies of Israel, there was nothing but disaster, disgrace, and death. Under Samuel, without the ark, or priest, or any symbol of the presence of God, Israels enemies were destroyed and the penitent people delivered. The difference was in the penitence; in the setting of their hearts towards the Lord in contrition and prayer. Ichabod was the word that ended the day of trusting in the ark; but Ebenezer crowned the day of penitence and prayer.
3. Samuels next great act as a prophet-judge was to consolidate the reformation and prosperity by systematic righteous judgment. He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. He was too wise not to know, and too devout not to remember, that a land left with only a military success, and rejoicing chiefly over the damage done to its political rivals, would ever be a temptation to itself, and would expose itself more and more to the perils of raillery ambition and adventure. History is full of instances of this. Ambition will govern the military nation, and avarice the commercial, with little regard to the God of justice in either. But by judging for God, witnessing regularly to the presence of Gods law as he went through the various districts, Samuel prevented the peoples penitence being only fugitive, as the morning cloud and as early dew, and guarded against the perils of their enormous deliverance from foreign oppression. Concentrate the truth of this on the smaller range of your own private lives and personal development. For it is possible that penitence, if only fleeting, and the great kindnesses of God may be made the occasions of greater condemnation. And this grace of knowing the Lord and the revelations of Himself to His earnest souls are not spasmodic, interjectional, and unreliable; for His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall came unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Consolidate your penitence into piety, your thankfulness for deliverance into earnest devotion and regular good doing. Go, round your nature, and set everything and every power to the acquirement of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (G. B. Ryley.)
Samuel the Judge
Samuel is a splendid model of sanctified authority. Even as Mount Gideon towers in rugged, regal grandeur above that broad tableland on which the fortunes of the Jewish monarchy were afterwards unrolled, so his strong pure character towers in magnificent sublimity above the fickle, selfish age in which he lived. He was the highest type of a ruler. There are two kinds of authority, that which is sustained by force of arms, and that which is held by force of character. Samuel had the latter; the former is hard to get and hard to keep. It is the possession of tyrants. We have had in these later days a striking illustration of these two kinds of power in the Czar of Russia and the late ex-Emperor of Brazil. A certain writer in commenting on the life of the former says: No one in the world is so grand a monarch, and yet no one in the world today is more wretched. He knows that the spirit of Nihilism is abroad throughout his vast domains, he fears to see in every face the look of an assassin. Turn now to the other picture, Dom Pedro, for many years the loved and trusted emperor of the Brazilian people, the friend of the oppressed, the emancipator of the slave, the patron of the arts and sciences, who was willing when his people had become, through his own generous influence and training, ripe for a republican form of government, to abdicate his throne and to go uncomplainingly into exile. His was an authority resulting from character. He held a throne within a throne which could not be touched or overthrown by the vicissitudes of a progressing civilisation. The influence of the last of the Brazilian emperors, like the influence of the last of Israels judges, will be felt throughout successive, generations. The authoritative power of a strong, continuous character is a fact familiar to us all. Samuel ruled by virtue of what he was in himself, and he was what he was because of his early training and continuous growth in character. I would like to say a few words about this continuity of righteousness. As a rule the men and women who have the strongest influence in the world today are those whose moral characters have been built up from their youth time. I do not wish to say anything that shall discourage those who have emerged from the wild excessses of youth into a manhood comparatively strong and influential. I think of men like Augustine, and John Bunyan, and John Newton, and John Gough, who, having emerged from the fiery furnace of dissipation, went about among their fellow men and, despite the awful scars upon their characters and the smell of fire upon their garments, wielded a mighty influence for good and exercised a moral authority in the world which might have been impossible had they, like Timothy and St. Anthony and Edward the Sixth of England, led lives of unbroken righteousness. And yet these men may be regarded as exceptions to the general law of influence. The wild oats theory is all wrong, the assertion that you must be a profligate and a prodigal before you can be a prince among men is devils gospel. I have no doubt that the devil over-reaches himself and cheats himself, but in any transaction between you and him he is longer-headed than you are. If you give him a mortgage on your life in the early days, he will be pretty sure to get out of you double the face of your note before he gets through with you. Many a reformed man, many a converted man, is obliged to lament today, as Job did, because the iniquities of his youth possess him. The sin is forgiven, but the disabled body, the weakened will, the impaired influence, the thought of those who have been led astray by his example, must abide with him. Chaucer, the bright herald of English song, a man of surpassing abilities, failed to be the power that he might have been because of his early sins. He cried out repeatedly On his deathbed: Woe is me that I cannot recall and annul these things; but, alas! they are continued from man to man and I cannot do what I desire. I had a letter from one of these unfortunates only a few days ago. He has for many years been yielding to temptation. Again and again he has striven to break away from the thraldom of his past life, but as yet in vain. He says: I have been on a disastrous downhill slide for the past few weeks; nothing wrong other than dissipation, which ought to be a criminal offence, particularly for me. Sinning and trying to repent seems to be my lot. Why cannot I be saved? The difference between a character that has grown up into a matured strength from early goodness and purity and that which results from some sudden and violent conversion after years of weakening excesses is like the difference between the stalactite and the icicle: they look much alike, they are formed by the same forces of nature; but the one is many years forming, and the other grows in a night-time. Keep the icicle under right conditions of temperature and it remains, like the stalactite, solid and beautiful; but change those conditions, put the two together under the burning heat of the sun, and the creation of a night time will molt away, while the deposit of many years will be strong and solid still. The prince among men who is the greatest moral power in the world today, the man who can do the most in moderating and guiding the passions of his fellow men, who is best able to help the weak and encourage the faint, and who impresses his character upon the age in which he lives, is the man who, like Samuel, can look back through middle age and youth and childhood upon a life which has been clean and true. (C. A. Dickinson.)
Samuel the Ruler
Other books--the works of great men and possessed of great merit--have been written for the use of princes in training for a throne; but in preference to all such, were we a princes tutor, we should select the Bible; and for a pattern for rulers him whose name stands at the head of this chapter. America boasts her Washington; England her Hampden; Scotland her Wallace; Greece and Rome their patriots or patriot-kings; but among the few illustrious men whose deeds shine in the annals and whose names are embalmed in the heart of nations, where, in all history, sacred or profane, is there one so eminently fitted to rule as Samuel--who presents such a remarkable combination of mental power, the purest patriotism, and the highest piety?
1. He was a patriotic ruler.
(1) His object was not the possession of power--that for which so many kings and statesmen have had recourse to the meanest devices. How basely did Henry IV desert the sacred cause for which, his white plume dancing in the thick of the fight, he had often led his followers to battle! And from him who embraced Popery to win Paris, and, with its gay capital, the kingdom and crown of France, to such as by bribery have purchased meaner offices, what sacrifices of conscience, and virtue, and truth, have been offered at the shrine of power! The crimes which some have committed to gain it have been without a parallel, unless those which others have committed to retain it. Unlike that grand old Roman who threw up the helm of the state and retired to plough his paternal acres, how many has the world seen clinging to power as a drowning man to a plank; and to retain possession of it, resorting to the most dishonourable and vilest means! For this purpose, once and again the sword of Joab was plunged into the heart of a rival; to prop up his throne, Charles I, in Stratford, gave the neck of a devoted friend to the headsmans axe; to secure their places and appease an angry crowd, a British ministry cast an admiral of the fleet to the mob, and hanged him up before the sun; and Richelieu, a cardinal of the Church, and chief minister of France, arranged that her armies should suffer an ignominious defeat--scrupling not, rather than that he should lose his place, that thousands of his gallant countrymen should lose their lives, and cement with their blood the tottering fabric of his power. In the crooked policy they have pursued to gain or to retain place and power, what base things have great men done, and what bad things good men! A finer contrast to the general character of the princes and statesmen, and, whether they occupied a high or a low place, of the rulers of this world, we cannot imagine than that which Samuel presents. Place, honour, and power sought him, not he them. He became the judge of Israel, or its ruler, at the call of God; and when, without respect to his grey hairs and long years of honourable, successful service, an ungrateful country called him to resign his office, like the sun which looks largest at its setting, he never seems so great, so grand, as in the last scenes of his public life.
2. His object was not his own personal aggrandisement. Letat, cest moi (The State, it is I), said Louis XIV to one who happened to speak in his presence of the interests of the State. A striking picture that of one who, though called the great, was an incarnation of the worst passions of human nature--of selfishness, pride, heartless cruelty, insatiable ambition, and abominable lust!--a truer picture, though drawn by his own hand, than any left by Bossuet, or Massillon, or the other flatterers of a bloody tyrant and ruthless persecutor of Gods heritage. We meet with no such scenes under the rule of Samuel. Unlike those that had preceded, or were to follow, the sword slept in its scabbard all the days of Samuel--that great battle excepted which inaugurated his reign, and was won by his prayers. Under his government--Samuel himself the highest example of it--piety flourished; the stream of justice ran pure; the rights of all classes were respected; private property was safe; and the public burdens, pressing lightly, were easily borne by a prosperous people. I can fancy, when old men described the happy and quiet life they led in the good days of Samuel, how many felt that when their fathers clamoured for a king, on that occasion, as old Bishop Latimer said of another, the vox populi was rather the vox diaboli than the vox Dei--the voice of the devil than the voice of God.
2. Samuel was a pious, as well as patriotic, ruler. It would appear that in the rudest times of old an altar always rose near the throne; and that an indispensable part of every palace was the chapel, where he to whom others knelt, knelt to God; and learned to remember that there was One above him whose throne overshadowed his; at whose mercy seat kings had to seek for mercy; whose laws were to form the rule, and his glory the chief end of their government. Simply the vicegerent of God, and no king, Samuel had no place in Israel; the palace, if such it could be called, was the tabernacle, where God dwelt within the curtains of the holy place, No armed guards protected the person, nor gorgeous retinue attended the steps of Samuel. No pomp of royalty disturbed the simple manner of his life, or distinguished him from other men; yet there rose by his house in Ramah that which proclaimed to all the land the personal character of its ruler, and the principles on which he was to conduct his government In a way not to be mistaken, Samuel associated the throne with the altar; earthly power with piety; the good of the country with the glory of God. He judged Israel, it is said, all the days of his life, and went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgah, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all these places; and his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there, it is added, he built an altar unto the Lord. That altar had a voice no man could mistake. In a manner more expressive than proclamation made by the voice of royal heralds with painted tabards and sounding trumpets, it proclaimed to the tribes of Israel that piety was to be the character, and the will of God the rule, of his government. What an example Samuel presents to our magistrates, our judges, our members of parliament--to all entrusted with authority, and how should all who love their God and country pray that every post of honour and of public trust may be filled with a man of the type of Samuel! Religion is the root of honour; piety the only true foundation of patriotism; and the best defence of a country, a people nursed up in godliness--of such virtue, energy, and high morale, that, animated with a courage which raises them above the fear of death, they may be exterminated, but cannot be subdued. It, is not, as some allege, our blood, with its happy mixture of Celtic, Saxon, and Scandinavian elements, but the religion of our island--our Bibles, our schools, our Sabbaths, our churches, and our Christian homes--which, more than any and than all things else, has formed the character of its inhabitants; and to that more than to the genius of its statesmen, or to its fleets and armies, Britain owes her unexampled prosperity, and the peace that has brooded for a hundred years unbroken on her sea-girt shores. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The judge in circuit; or, religion in business
In every State much depends on the proper administration of justice, and it is of the first consequence to sustain it incorrupt. It is with the body politic as with the individual. Regard must be had to those secondary laws which influence health and contribute to our fitness for discharging ordinary duties. If we pay no respect to the laws of diet, exercise, and ventilation, by which health is conserved, we become unable to perform our business, the internal economy is deranged, and all the members of the body suffer. In society there are principles that regulate order and prosperity, which cannot with impunity be set aside. If the administration of justice be neglected or perverted, liberty and religion must seriously suffer. But when religion is revived, it is of vast moment to bring all civil affairs under its purifying influence. Without this, religious ceremonies would serve as cloaks for sin, and liberty excuse licentiousness. It was, therefore, the great business of Samuel, when by Gods blessing he had godliness recovered and national order re-established, to free the judgment seat from corruption, and to make it a respect and a dread through all the land. The civil government of Israel was peculiar. It had its origin from God, and was as much a Divine institution as the Church itself. Jehovah was their lawgiver and king, both in Church and State. Church and State being co-extensive in Israel, the Levites acquired a large share in the administration of justice. In the days of David, we read that six thousand of the Levites were officers and judges (1Ch_23:4), in addition to the number employed in the tabernacle service. Members of the State were subject to the law of the Church, and the members of the Church were citizens. Religious error was criminal in civil law. Idolatry was treason, for God was their king. Offences against society were subject to ecclesiastical censure, and cut off the guilty from the congregation of the Lord. The two forms of government were mutually helpful and interdependent. The revival of piety purified the State, and spiritual officers led rulers to reform. Samuel was a Levite, and was devoted to the sanctuary by the circumstances of his birth. But he also discharged high civil offices on account of the position into which he was providentially raised. He officiated as a priest, and he ruled as a judge. Samuel was an upright and godly judge. There is a danger of separating the official from the personal character, and whenever this is done the individual is seriously injured. There have been good men who have been bad judges, and bad men who have made respectable judges. There is another danger to which a judge is exposed, when he is tempted to indulge personal feelings while seated where impartial judgment should be given. It is recorded of Aristides, one of the brightest names in ancient Greece, and a man to whom his contemporaries awarded the title of the Just, that when he was a judge between two private persons, one of them declared that his adversary had greatly injured Aristides. He thus hoped to awaken the personal feelings of the judge against his opponent and secure a verdict favourable to himself. But the just judge replied, Relate rather what wrong he hath done to thee, for it is thy cause, not mine, that I now sit judge of. Private feelings may, however, sometimes be tried severely. When Brutus had to occupy the seat of justice and his two sons were placed at the bar charged with treason against the State, it was trying for the patriot to set aside the parent, and for duty to act against affection. But the majesty of law prevailed over the emotions of kindred, and the spectators are said to have gazed more at the judge than on the culprits on that august occasion, and to have regarded the scene as a most illustrious exhibition of moral heroism. Party feeling is another danger to which judges are exposed. When Richard Baxter had to bear the coarse ribaldry and unjust judgment of Jeffreys, it was evident that party feeling ruled the decision of that wicked man. A judge should be upright, and Samuel brought to the judicial seat a character fitted for the high office he had to discharge. The altar was beside his bench and his home. The profession of his faith was beside his robe of office. The believer was in the judge. He connected the official with the personal so intimately that he could not be a godly man without also being at the same time an upright judge. Nor has he stood alone in the lives of judges. Sir Matthew Hale was a man after Samuels pattern. Under the power of godliness and familiar with the word of God, he sought to evidence the principles of religion in the practice of his profession. When he was an advocate, he would not plead a cause, if he were convinced of its injustice; and when he rose to the bench and was Chief Baron of the Exchequer he was noted for the impartiality of his decisions. A peer of the realm who had a case in court once called upon him to give him private information, that he might have fuller understanding of it when it was brought up for judgment. Sir Matthew is reported to have said that he did not deal fairly to come to his chamber about such affairs, for he never received any information of causes but in open court, where both parties were to be heard alike. The duke complained to the king; but his majesty observed, that he believed he would have used himself no better, if he had gone to solicit him in any of his causes. Sir Matthew feared God and regarded man, but his integrity of righteous action was not to be sacrificed. Samuel did not forget whose law it was which he dispensed, whose worship he observed, whose altar was at his house. After the fatigue of official duty, the exercise of devotion at the family altar was sweet refreshment. Before entering upon the anxieties of judgment or the vexation of litigation, domestic worship was his best preparation. Amidst the difficulties of the conflicting cases before him he would remember the altar, and seek wisdom requisite for the occasion from the Lord most high. Secular engagements did not pervert his godliness, or lead him to neglect family worship. He could come from the strife of tongues to the peace-speaking blood, and approach with humble faith the altar of his God. That is not a complete house which is without an altar. It may have a hearth to warm, and accommodation to suit the body, but it has not that which likens it, as it links it to heaven. You may have a respectable business, and conduct it well, and yet want what blesses it--a domestic altar. A house without an altar lacks its brightest ornament, its clearest light, its best principle, and its sure consecration. But where the altar is in the house it has a safety lamp. Numerous have been the testimonies to the value of the domestic altar. (B. Steel.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 1Sa_7:15. “And Samuel Judged Israel.” “We must regard Samuel’s…
1Sa_7:15. “And Samuel Judged Israel.” “We must regard Samuel’s judging as a directing and ordering, in accordance with the above act of repentance, of the inner affairs of the people, who were by that religious act inwardly again purified. It consisted both in the administration of right and justice according to the law of the Lord, and in government proper, in the wise carrying out of measures that looked to the good of the people. During Saul’s life he kept unchanged the position of a prophet, who employed the authority of the Divine will for the direction of the national life—the mediating priestly position between God and the people; but he also, as last judge, held in his hands the highest control of the theocracy and the kingdom.” (Erdmann).
1Sa_7:16. “Bethel.” “A well-known city and holy place of central Palestine, twelve miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Sichem, where its ruins still lie under the scarcely altered name of Beitin.” (Smith’s Bib. Dictionary.) “Gilgal.” At least two places in ancient Palestine were so named, one in the Jordan valley, between that river and Jericho (Jos_4:19), and one south-west of Shiloh, now called Jiljilia (1Ki_2:1). It is impossible to decide which is the place here mentioned. Dr. Erdmann says, “The question must be decided in favour of the former, for the reason that Samuel would certainly choose for such assemblies the place that was consecrated by its historical association and religious importance.” Keil rather leans to the opinion that it was the modern Jiljilia.
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1Sa_7:17. “Ramah.” See note on 1Sa_1:1. “There he builded an altar.” Another instance of Samuel’s deviation from the Levitical law. See note on 1Sa_7:9.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 8. Samuel Exercising His Office and His Failure
8. Samuel Exercising His Office and His Failure
CHAPTERS 7:15-8:3
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1. Samuel the Prophet-Judge (1Sa 7:15-17)
2. His failure (1Sa 8:1-3)
Samuel’s activity as the great prophet-judge is now seen. He had a blessed circuit of ministry, which has its spiritual lessons for us. He first visited Bethel (the house of God). Judgment must begin there. When Jacob was obedient to the divine call “Arise and go up unto Bethel,” he buried the strange gods, the household gods under the oak of Shechem. So the evil things must be put away. Then came Gilgal (rolling). There the reproach of Egypt was rolled away (Joshua 5). This is what we need, to be freed from the world, dead to it and the world dead to us. Mizpeh (watch tower) was his third station. This is our constant need to be on our guard and watch against the foe, as well as look upward and forward from Mizpeh to that blessed home where He is and which we shall surely share with Him. This is represented in Ramah (heights) where Samuel had his home. But there is failure. Samuel makes the mistake in making his sons judges. Because he was a judge and prophet and had success in it, his sons are to follow him in the same capacity. God does not work by succession, nor does He transmit gift and power from father to son. The so-called “apostolic succession” and traditional authority is an invention and one of the greatest factors in the corruption of Christianity. The Lord alone can call to service and give gifts for the ministry. Joel and Abiah were judges in Beersheba, but walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. And this opened the way for the introduction of the monarchy in Israel.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 went on a circuit
went on a circuit
traveled from place to place in a rough circle
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He decided disputes
Disputes are arguments or disagreements between two or more people.
translationWords
judge
life
Bethel
Gilgal
Mizpah
Ramah
altar
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:15 judge for the rest of his life: Once…
7:15 judge for the rest of his life: Once Saul became king (ch 10), Samuel’s role was more judicial than military.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.