King Saul rips Samuel’s robe after Saul’s failure.

The first half of the book of 1 Samuel focuses on the transition from the time of the judges to the first king of Israel. It begins with the story of a barren woman named Hannah who promises God that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord for His service. The priest Eli sees Hannah praying and sends her away with the promise that God would answer her prayer. She gives birth to a son named Samuel. When Samuel is a young boy, she takes him to Eli at the temple, where he hears God calling his name. He receives his first revelation from God that Eli and his family would be cut off from the priesthood because of the sin of Eli’s sons. During the time of Eli and his sons, Israel loses the ark of the covenant to the Philistines. God curses them and they return it to a town in Israel.

Samuel leads the nation of Israel as God’s representative for many years, but his sons act wickedly. The people reject Samuel and his sons as their leaders, demanding a king. God tells Samuel not to take it personally; they are rejecting God as their king, not Samuel. God instructs Samuel to anoint Saul of Benjamin as the king of Israel. Saul leads the nation as king but has many failures in following the commands of the Lord. He was impatient in waiting for Samuel and offered a sacrifice to God. He made a rash oath that his warriors couldn’t eat anything during the day of battle, causing his army to be weak and nearly costing him the life of his son Jonathan. Finally, when he defeated the Amalekites, Saul was supposed to destroy them, but he kept the king alive and many of the choice livestock. It is interesting that during this discussion with Samuel, Saul refers to Yahweh as “the Lord your God,” rather than referring to Him as “the Lord my God.” Therefore, God regretted making him king. This section closes with Samuel never seeing Saul again and God’s regret over Saul.

During the time of the judges, there was no king. God raised up a godly young man named Samuel to lead the people as His messenger. Yet the people of Israel rejected Samuel and demanded a king. Samuel was upset about this, but God told him that the people were not rejecting Samuel but were rejecting God as their King. He told Samuel to make Saul of Benjamin king over Israel. As king, Saul saved the people from some of their enemies, but he was not very good about following God’s commands. Once, he was to impatient to wait for God’s prophet Samuel to offer the sacrifices and did it himself. Another time, he foolishly made a vow that his army couldn’t eat any food during a day of battle, weakening his army and nearly costing him the life of his son. The last problem was when God told Saul to eliminate the Amalekites, but Saul kept their king and the best of their livestock alive. Because of this, God removed his favor from Saul and Samuel would never see Saul again.

God had raised Samuel to be His messenger to the people. Scripture says that he “grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people” (1 Samuel 2:26), a phrase also used with Jesus. Samuel was to lead the people on God’s behalf, but the people rejected Samuel and insisted on a king. God assured Samuel that the people were not rejecting Samuel but were rejecting God as their king. In fact, the people even agree that Samuel had not done any wrong against them in chapter 12. This was an encouragement to me. When it feels like someone is rejecting me when I am proclaiming the truth of God’s Word to them, they are not rejecting me. Rather, they are rejecting God. Instead of becoming hurt or mad at them, I should have pity for them and pray that they would turn to God.