Samuel, many roles

Who is he?
1. A prophet
2. A Judge
3. A priest
4. A leader [political]
samudzudza@gmail.com 1

A prophet
 1 Samuel 3:1–21
 God’s audible call to Samuel marked the beginning of a
new era in Israel. Up to this point, the primary revelation
to the people had been through the priesthood.
 But with Samuel’s call, God began a new day of revealing
His word through prophets.
 One of the greatest achievements of Samuel’s long ministry
was the spiritual renewal he led that brought Israel back to
the exclusive worship of God.
 The people had been engaged in idolatry for many years—
and the nation reached a low point when the Ark of the
Covenant was captured by Israel’s archenemies, the
Philistines.

A prophet
 His role as a prophet was so all embracing that being a
judge was required by his status.
 He received a call just like the prophets.
 He was commissioned by YHWH.
 He had to function as a prophet in all that he did.
 development of the role of seer/nabi: 1 Sam.9 –
relationship to prophetic bands, etc

Samuel
 But with Samuel’s call, God began a new day of revealing
His word through prophets.
 The nation’s weak spiritual condition, and the decadent
nature of Eli’s high priesthood, are indicated by the fact
that a word from God was “rare” in those days. So rare, in
fact, that Samuel thought he was hearing Eli’s voice
 Although the nature of the prophecy Samuel received
meant devastating judgment for Eli, he accepted it as the
Lord’s will.
 Meanwhile, Samuel continued to receive God’s message
and spread it throughout all Israel, which recognized
Samuel as a man of God.

As a judge
 The term, “Judge,” refers to those God given, Holy
Spirit raised leaders that were all divinely anointed
for the benefit of the nation of Israel
 The word translated as “Judge” could also
legitimately be translated as Deliverer, Leader, or
even Saviour.
 Samuel was judge in Israel during the transition
between those dark and rough days that the book
of Judges portrays so starkly, and the introduction
of the first king that Israel had pleaded for, begging
Samuel to, “negotiate with the Almighty,”
 Samuel was the very first prophet to address the
entire nation of Israel in the land of Israel.samudzudza@gmail.com 5

‘Samuel was the founder of Old
Testament prophecy.’
 Those who support this view generally do so because they
believe that the need for prophets would arise only at a
time when Israel had a monarchy, because prophecy is a
political institution tied to the court (e.g. Gad and
Nathan).
 The role of Samuel as a seer; and the editorial note in 1
Samuel 9, which traces the development of prophecy in
the person of Samuel, through seers.

Explain how Samuel shows the characteristics of a
prophet of the time.
 Credit call (though not in required passages)
 Roeh - seer
 Man of God
 Respected
 Found at the shrines; Shiloh, Ramah, Gilgal, Mizpah
 Able to deal with trivial matters such as lost donkeys
[Expected payment]
 Also involved in anointing of king, Involvement with
national/political issues.

Characteristics of Sam as a prophet
 May also refer to Sauls meeting with the nebiim which is
part of this narrative
 Nabi Groups
 Travelling around the shrines
 Use of music and other stimuli
 Prophetic rapture / ecstasy.
 Speaking the word of the Lord
 Standing up against the authorities of the time
 Involvement with symbolic actions
 Communication with God

A prophet
 Samuel as war leader / historical details about the
Philistines
 Samuel as adviser to Saul, and rejecting Saul’s
disobedience: developmental role in instigation of court
prophecy. It was Samuel’s painful duty to rebuke Saul for
his rashness in acting as a priest, and in his disobedience to
God in the matter of the Amalekites.
 The multiplicity of Samuel’s roles as seer-in- transition-to-
prophet, cultic functionary (found at cultic centres), judge,
intercessor, king-maker, king-breaker
(enthroner/dethroner), and so forth.

 One of the greatest achievements of Samuel’s long
ministry was the spiritual renewal he led that brought
Israel back to the exclusive worship of God.
 The people had been engaged in idolatry for many
years—and the nation reached a low point when the
Ark of the Covenant was captured by Israel’s
archenemies, the Philistines.

Victory-war leader
 Samuel told the Israelites that the Lord would deliver
them if they discarded their many idols and turned to
Him.
 The people responded, and God answered with blessing as
Samuel interceded for Israel. The change was immediate,
as God caused the Philistine army to be confused and
easily routed by the Israelites.
 Israel took back many of their cities and drove the
Philistines out of their region. Samuel raised an
“Ebenezer,” or “stone of help,” in honour of God’s blessing.
 Samuel also continued to judge Israel as a true “circuit
rider” who went from city to city to carry out his ministry.

Enthroned/dethroner
 Samuel was distressed by the people’s request, for he
knew that it represented a lack of faith in God’s
kingship. But God told Samuel to fill the request and
anoint Saul as Israel’s first king.
 God’s choice of Saul did not necessarily mean that Saul
was the perfect man for the throne—as it became clear
when Saul failed the Lord. But Israel insisted on
having a king, and there was jubilation at Saul’s
coronation.

 Samuel recounted events from the past in which Israel
had failed to listen to God’s appointed leaders and
suffered for it.
 He declared that God would remove His hand from
the people if they turned back to idolatry, or if their
king was evil.
 The best thing the nation could do at this point was to
stay faithful to God and refuse to worship idols.

A question to answer
 Assess which was the most important of the many
roles played by Samuel in ancient Israel.
 ‘Without Samuel, prophecy would never have begun;
without Elijah, prophecy would have died.’ How far do
you agree?

Distinguishing Marks of False Prophecy and False Prophets
 Jer 6:13 ; Jeremiah 26:7-8 Jeremiah 26:11 Jeremiah 26:16 ;
27:9 ; 28:1 ; Jeremiah 29:1 Jeremiah 29:8 ; Zech 13:2 )
 False prophets prophesied lies ( Jer 6:13 ; 27:14 ; Zech 13:3 ),
 deceived the people with their dreams ( Jer 29:8 ),
 prophesied by the alleged authority of Baal ( Jer 2:8 ; 23:13
),
 threatened the lives of the true prophets ( Jer 26:7 ),
 and dared to speak when they had not stood in the council
of Yahweh and received a word directly from the Lord ( Jer
23:18 ).

Marks of false prophets
 Typically, their prophecies promised peace when there was
no peace to be had ( Jer 6:14 ; 8:11 ; 14:3 ; 23:17 ; Jer 28:2 Jer
28:11 ; Ezek 13:10 ; Micah 3:5 ),
 Their visions were drawn out of their own hearts ( Jer 14:14 ;
23:16 ; Ezek 13:2-3 ; 22:28 ).
 Some false prophets used magic ( Eze 13:17-23 ), others
appeared to use divination, soothsaying, witchcraft,
necromancy, and sorcery, which were all forbidden arts and
practices in the classical passage that set forth divine
revelation in contrast to such practices ( Deut 18:9-13 ).
 The false prophets gave the people what they wanted to
hear and thereby placed "whitewash”

Jeremiah and false prophets
Jeremiah condemns the pseudoprophets on four grounds:
 (1) they are men of immoral character (v. 14"they commit
adultery and live a lie");
 (2) they seek popular acclaim with their unconditional
pledge of immunity from all imminent disasters (vv. 17-
22);
 (3) they fail to distinguish their own dreams from a word
from God (vv. 25-29); and
 (4) they are plagiarists who steal from one another words
allegedly from the Lord (vv. 30-39). Rather than having a
"burden" from the Lord, they themselves were another
burden both to the Lord and to the misled people!

False prophets’ theology
The theology of the false prophets was characterized by
the following:
(1) a selective appeal to the Davidic/Zion and Sinaitic
covenants as a type of fire insurance against any
threatened calamity;
(2) (2) an exclusive teaching of hope/salvation with no
attention given to any potential adversities for lack of
obedience to God's Word;
(3) (3) a constant appeal to what the masses wanted to
hear as a basis for promoting their own power and the
status quo. This list is very similar to the four charges
that Jeremiah brought in 23:9-39.

The Criteria for Testing False Prophecy.
The loci classici for determining true from false prophecy
are Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:15-22.
 (1) he must be Jewish ( Deut 18:18 );
 (2) he must speak in the name of the Lord ( Deut 18:19-
20 );
 (3) what he says must come to pass, the most proximate
fulfillments being the validators of the more distant
predictions ( Deut 18:21-22 );
 (4) he must perform signs, wonders, or miracles that
accompany his words ( Deut 13:1-2a ); and
 (5) his message must conform to what God had revealed
previously ( Deut 13:2b-5 ).samudzudza@gmail.com 19

Moses
 Moses’ status as a prophet from:
 his call and commission
 miraculous power in delivering the slaves
 intercessory functions
 use of prophetic formulae
 fearlessness in executing Yahweh’s commands
 mediation of the Sinai covenant as binding on future
prophets
 the Deuteronomic assessment of Moses as a prophet /
the incident with the 70 elders, etc.

Moses also exercised a variety of
other functions a political role through his negotiations with the
Egyptian pharaoh
 legal function in connection with the (Mosaic) Law
[law-giver])
 a cultic role
 a leadership role in connection with most of his
activities
 from war-leader

Moses was more …
 Moses was more than a prophet because of his
multiple roles.
 Some might argue that these roles arose naturally
through the nature of his call and the circumstances
under which he exercised his prophetic
responsibilities.
 because there is so much evidence of intense editorial
activity in connection with the OT portrait of Moses,
which is idealized (unrealistic) and anachronistic
(out-dated) (e.g. Numbers 11), Moses’ real role can no
longer be described accurately.

the importance of Elijah in the development of Old
Testament prophecy.
 treat this in terms of the story of Elijah, showing his
connections with Sinai/Horeb, and with the themes of election,
covenant, salvation, law, revelation of God, and so on.
 Elijah reviving contact with God and vision;
 Carmel (etc.) for the importance of theophany/restoration of
Yahweh-worship against foreign gods;
 Naboth’s vineyard for the dealings with the king and the drive to
restore Yahwism;
 his ability to work miracles;
 the nature of his translation to heaven;
 transfer of his prophetic ability to Elisha;
 messianic associations in later Judaism;
 relationships with the authorities of his day;
 sense of failure and isolation resurfaces in later prophets,
although some will argue that this is seen insamudzudza@gmail.com 23

Elijah
 Operated when Jezebel was in charge (Ahab’s wife)
 Brought her own Baal prophets and no more allow the
worship of YHWH,
 She introduced child sacrifice
 Killed the prophets of YHWH and His followers
 Elijah came in to challenge her and pronounced the
drought that was going to come in the land.
 There was drama at Mt Carmel to determine the true God.
(He overtook Ahab’s chariot)
 Was threatened by Jezebel and he fled to Horeb (Mt of the
Lord where Israel had a covenant with God.

Samuel, many roles

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