Samuel, the Last Judge

The Bible records Samuel as the last judge of Israel and a prophet after the nation was established. Not only that, he was also a priest, and a great military strategist, politician, and religious leader.

Samuel’s parents were a devout couple who went to the sanctuary in Shiloh every year. His father, Elkanah, whose name means “God has possessed” or “God has created,” belonged to the Kohathite clan of the tribe of Levi, being a descendant of Korah. They lived in Ramathaim-Zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, was initially childless; Elkanah had another wife named Peninnah. On one occasion, they went up to Shiloh, and Hannah prayed in the sanctuary, vowing that if the Lord granted her a son, she would dedicate him as a Nazirite, to serve God all his life. The Lord heard Hannah’s prayer and granted her request. She had no other children until she dedicated Samuel to God, after which God blessed her with more children.

Samuel is one of the three main characters in the Book of Samuel. Through him, God led the people to turn back to Him, rescuing the Israelites from the chaos and darkness where “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25), and also freeing them from the oppression of the Philistines. God also used him to anoint the other two main characters, Saul (1 Samuel 10:1) and David (1 Samuel 16:13), as kings, ushering Israel from the period of the Judges into the era of the monarchy. The name “Samuel” itself means “His name is God” and also sounds like “asked of God” (1 Samuel 1:27) and “given to God” (1 Samuel 1:28). Therefore, using “Samuel” as the book’s title aptly shows that God is the sovereign ruler of history.