Kingdom Authority

Samuel

This story begins with a Levite who lived in the land of Ephraim named Elkanah.(1 Samuel 1:1 and 1 Chronicles 6:26-33) Elkanah has two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah has no children but Peninnah has both sons and daughters. Elkanah is a righteous man who 1SA 1:3 … would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were priests to the Lord there. Hannah is distressed because she is constantly harassed by Peninnah for not having any children and Hannah goes before the Lord at the temple and pours out her heart to God. Eli the priest was sitting by the doorpost of the temple and could see Hannah as she prayed and wept bitterly before the Lord. Hannah was not praying out loud but in her heart so her mouth moved but no sound came out. Eli assumes that she is drunk and confronts her about it.

 

Eli passes judgment upon this woman before investigating the facts and chastises her for what he assumes is happening. I had already stated earlier that the priesthood is not inherently prophetic and should never be considered as such. The prophetic calling and the priesthood are two separate callings which can sometimes function together. We don’t see prophetic ability at this time with Eli but just assumption. Eli may have seen similar things happen in the past which ended up being drunkenness but he should never have assumed it was the case here.

 

It is important that this be fully understood because we humans have a great tendency to think the worst and never investigate the facts that we confidently put forth about people. We can know little or nothing about someone and act like we know who they are and what they do because of what we may see with our eyes and falsely assume to be the case, even like Eli. Our judgments can pigeonhole someone just because we think inaccurately about certain situations. It was a blessing that Eli approached Hannah instead of just trying to avoid an unpleasant confrontation.

 

Hannah explains what is actually transpiring and wants Eli to understand that she is not a worthless woman but one who fears God. Eli responds to Hannah’s explanation by saying, 1SA 1:17 …"Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him." Was it Hannah’s petition and faith that caused the answer to manifest or was it Eli’s agreement with Hannah? Maybe Eli’s prayer alone was the deciding factor for this prayer to be answered. Why does it matter? When we have spiritual authority our assumptions can help or hinder other people’s destiny. The most important fact is that the prayer was answered regardless of what conditions were involved. The importance of looking at this situation more closely is that Eli represented the priesthood. He actually had positional authority to make sacrifice and bring petitions to God on behalf of Israel. If he had any part in seeing Hannah’s petition coming to pass his assumption about her being drunk could have prevented her from seeing God answer her prayer. This assumption did however prompt Eli to confront Hannah which may not have happened otherwise. 

 

We must not neglect this truth about authority. When we fill a position, that position carries the right to release and the right to bind up. Many people mistakenly assume that being placed in the position automatically supplies the needed wisdom and authority to fulfill that position, but this is far from the truth. This however does not stop us from making a mess for God and the people of God. Had Eli not openly confronted Hannah for being drunk she would not have been able to set him straight and he would not have declared a blessing for her petition’s answer. How many times do we stop God from answering people’s prayers because of our own assumptions and inaccurate judgments? Eli’s boldness or indignation whichever it was causes him to understand the truth about this woman who is pouring out her soul to God. This understanding gives him an opportunity to agree with the woman’s prayer, realizing his judgment about her was wrong.  

 

The family leaves the following day and returns to their home. Sometime after returning home, 1SA 1:19 … Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. God causes her petition to be fulfilled and she gives birth to a son who she names Samuel.

 

Elkanah was a man who yearly went to make a sacrifice and pay his vow and when it was time for him to go again Hannah tells him that she will not go until her son is weaned. This was not only an issue with the child being too young to travel but also one of dedication. Hannah was going to present Samuel before the Lord and he would not be returning home with his family. This was no small thing for Hannah to do. Samuel was her only child and there was no guarantee she would have another. This was part of her petition and vow she made to God. 1SA 1:11 And she made a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy maidservant and remember me, and not forget Thy maidservant, but wilt give Thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head." God had remembered Hannah and now she was determined to fulfill her oath to God.

Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him to Shiloh and presented him to God. Samuel stayed in Shiloh while his mother and father went home. 1SA 2:11 … the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. v12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord In the preceding verses we notice several interesting things. The first is that Samuel was being trained as a priest even though he was not a descendant of Aaron. It is true that Samuel is a Levite whose heritage pointed to Kohath but not through Aaron. (see 1 Chronicles 6) It would also seem that Eli trained Samuel yet failed with his own sons, who it is stated, were worthless men and did not know God. Faith is not genetically passed on in the family tree. It is interesting to note that while we had seen blessing and curses being passed on within the family authority it is still an individual’s choice and not a guarantee. Eli’s sons could have pulled from their father’s righteousness and ended up even greater men of God than their father but instead went the opposite way. Free will trumps any family histories whether good or bad. To even further emphasize this we will see Samuel’s sons, like Eli’s, will choose to be wicked instead of godly.   

 

Hannah by faith gave God Samuel as fulfillment of the oath she made. There was no guarantee that she would ever have another child but her gratitude for God’s blessing her with Samuel was enough. God honored Hannah for her faith and dedication by giving her more children, 1SA 2:21 And the Lord visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. In today’s world it may seem unthinkable (and illegal) to abandon your child even as Hannah did but God takes oaths seriously as should we. We need to be faithful to our oaths as well as to God.

 

Eli’s sons treated the temple offering with contempt and they were sexually immoral. In his old age Eli hears about all that his sons have been doing and tries to intervene but to no avail. Eli warns his sons that transgressions between men are dealt with by God but there is no one to intervene between God and man. Eli’s warning is not heeded because God intended to put his sons to death.

 

It would seem that Eli did not know what his son’s were doing until he heard it from the people. It is possible that Eli chose not to believe what he was hearing at first but then after hearing it enough realized that it was true and then confronted them concerning their actions. It was not God who informed Eli but the people. 1SA 2:24 "No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the Lord's people circulating. If Eli was prophetic he would not have had to wait for the grumblings of the people to get back to him before he knew what his sons were doing. This is evidence that the priesthood is not inherently prophetic. We even see God sending a “man of God” to Eli to prophesy his and his son’s destiny. This man tells Eli that his lineage will all die in the prime of life and his two sons will die the same day. God gave Eli an opportunity to resolve this issue before he sent the man to prophesy destruction to him and his family. Being the father of these boys carries family authority but he is also the elder priest giving him positional authority over his sons. If Eli had carried out disciplinary action against his sons it is possible that they may not have had to die. It is most likely that they still would have died but at least Eli would have been able to avoid the generational curse that was now released upon his family. Eli made a fatal mistake in not recognizing that he stood in two separate roles in relationship to his sons. He was their father and as such there comes a point when you cannot force things upon your children. You reason with them in hope that they will choose the right and better way. Eli was not just their father but also their boss when it came to ministry at the temple. 1SA 2:29 'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?' v30 "Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, 'I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever'; but now the Lord declares, 'Far be it from Me-- for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. v31 'Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house. v32 'And you will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all that I do good for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever. v33 'Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar that your eyes may fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life. He should have exercised his authority and disciplined them for their error; not doing this is what resulted in the generational curse upon the family. God did not just choose one man for the job as His priest but a family of men. Once one of the men failed to this degree all subsequent men suffer. The job as priest was meant to continue on from one generation to the next and as such the failure is also carried on to succeeding generations.   

 

Now we need to understand that the “man of God” who came and spoke to Eli was not under Eli’s authority nor was he necessarily a recognized prophet in the land. All that we can really say about the man was that God sent him to deliver a message to Eli and that he was recognized as a man of God. We don’t even know if Eli accepted the word he spoke as coming from God until Samuel confirmed it. God tells Samuel, 1SA 3:13 "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. v14 "And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." We should be shocked by what God told Samuel. God is not playing around. Eli had an opportunity to resolve the problem but failed to take action and every person born to that family will die an early death. What are we not saying or doing that may cause a similar curse to come upon our family? Eli could have avoided this curse for all the generations after him if he had the courage to offend and discipline his kids. This is a steep price for the family to pay because of Eli’s lack of action. This however does display family authority and its importance.

 

The day after God tells Samuel what he is going to do to Eli’s family, Eli forces Samuel to tell him everything. Samuel tells Eli all that God had said and we now see Eli confirming the word as coming from God. 1SA 3:18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him." It is possible that Eli did not recognize the word the man spoke as being God but now that Samuel heard the very same thing from God Eli accepts it as God. When we are sent to speak a word to someone and they don’t seem to receive it we should not be concerned, for God has ways to confirm a word.

 

1SA 2:26 Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men. This scriptural testimony points to Samuel’s future ministry. It would not be enough for Samuel to just have favor with God and not people, or with people and not God. Samuel would be the last of the Judges that would lead Israel. While I did not look at the judges that preceded Samuel I will use Samuel as the representative for the others. We see other confirmations about Samuels character and ministry in these next two verses, 1SA 3:19 Thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail. v20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. Samuel moves into a very interesting position as priest, prophet and judge. We must understand that Samuel was a prophet as well as a priest and we should strive not to confuse the boundary between both of his callings. It was already stated that the priest and prophet have very similar callings and yet very different. Both priest and prophet represent God. The priest make atonement so that men can approach God while the prophet informs men of God’s desires which, if followed, allow men to approach God.

 

Once Samuel is ready for the job of judging Israel, God sets up circumstances that will remove Eli and his sons from their office. These circumstances are war with the Philistines. The armies of Israel are defeated before the Philistines which result in about four thousand men died. (1 Sam 4:10:1) The elders are now worried because they don’t understand why God allowed them to be defeated. To the eldership it would seem God is no longer protecting Israel. Instead of the elders trying to find out what sin is in the camp which caused the loss of God’s protection, they instead think that if they bring the Ark of the Covenant to the fight they will have the edge needed to win the battle. So Hophni and Phinehas come from Shiloh with the Ark of the Covenant. 1SA 4:5  And it happened as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. v6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. v7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. These Philistines knew the stories about how Israel destroyed Egypt and probably many other nations but they had no idea that Israel’s own God was standing against Israel.

 

These enemies of Israel were afraid and thought that certain death awaited them because God is now in the camp while the Israelites thought that because the ark of God was in the camp they would surely succeed in victory. The Philistines go head to head with Israel again and thirty thousand Israeli foot soldiers are killed by the Philistines. This battle ended with not just the death of all these men but the ark was captured by the Philistines. Among the dead were Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. A man runs to Eli to inform him of the situation about his two sons as well as the news about the ark, which causes Eli to fall over breaking his neck, and so Eli dies. God’s judgment against Eli and his sons did not end with Eli’s death. Phinehas’ wife was pregnant and went into labor at the bad news of Eli and her husband. She died in labor, giving birth to her son Ichabod. God accomplished the transfer of priestly responsibility from Eli to Samuel in one day.

 

God permitted the Philistines to rout Israel and kill thirty four thousand men and capture the ark but He was not going to allow them to think that Israel’s God was not God. The Philistines place the ark next to Dagon and two days in a row they find the image of Dagon their god fallen over before the ark. The second day Dagon loses his head and hands and all the Philistines experience tumors which the people attribute to having the ark in their territory. The ark represents the presence of God on the earth. Christians are now the ark of God or His presence on the earth. God’s presence among the Philistines brought judgment to their false god and the people as well. We should recognize that we carry the presence of God, and that presence brings blessings and curses along with it. 1SA 5:7 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god." This by far is one of the greatest Old Testament testimonies of a New Testament reality. These Philistines having won a great battle are now being trifled with by God’s presence which rests upon the ark. This opposition is so strong that they call together the Lords of the Philistines to discuss what they should do with the ark. The hand of God was on these people so heavily that they feared for their lives. 1SA 5:8 … "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath." And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around. v9 And it came about that after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. v10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it happened as the ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us, to kill us and our people." We Christians are the ark of God. We may not fully appreciate this fact but if we would start seeing ourselves as having God’s presence in us and on us we will change things just by our presence alone. This concept is not wishful thinking but a reality.

 

The Philistines had the ark for seven months when they called their priests and diviners to discuss how they were going to send back the ark. By this time the Philistines knew that retaining the ark would result in more confusion, sickness and death. The counsel of priests and diviners were to not send it back without sending a guilt offering along with it. We see some real wisdom coming to the Philistines leadership. 1SA 6:6 "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go, and they departed? God’s fame had spread throughout the lands and people knew what had happen to Egypt. The people may not have believed it in the beginning but once God’s hand against them is realized they knew the reality of the God of Israel.

 

Israel believed that what differentiated them from other nations was God’s literal presence that rested upon the ark. This ark represented the power and presence of God. Eli did not fall over backwards and die because of news of his sons, but of losing the ark. The ark represented God in the midst of his people. True authority is represented by anyone who realizes that they are the ark of God. God’s presence is in us and on us even as Paul said, 2CO 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. v7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. If we are born again, blood bought, we have God dwelling in us and as such are possessors of real authority. This is true regardless of age, sex, race and position. Because this is the foundation of New Testament authority we need to realize no one is without authority. Christians may not all have the same job but every Christian has a job to accomplish. Every job carries its own authority to accomplish the task, yet the base is the same, Christ in us. We need to begin to deemphasize those above or below our position and focus more on accomplishing our respective jobs.    

 

Many times we second guess what we know to be true and wonder if things happened by God’s will or by chance and so it was with the Philistines. They place the ark upon a cart and hitch two cows to it and allow them to go at their will. The Philistines reasoned that if the cows go toward Beth-shemesh then it was God who afflicted them. If the cows go another way then is must have just been chance that these travesties occurred while having the ark in their presence. The cows take the ark up to Beth-shemesh.

 

The Philistines realized that the ark was nothing to mess with but the people of Beth-shemesh had not learned this lesson. The people of the town were reaping their wheat when they saw that the ark was on a cart being pulled by cows. The people burned the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering. While the people were happy to see the ark of God they also treated it with contempt. While under their care some men decided they wanted to look and see what was in the ark. This transgression claimed 50,070 men. 1SA 6:19 And He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. The people should have known not to casually deal with the ark. Did the Levites open the ark to find out what the Philistines put into it and then let the men of Beth-shemesh take a look inside? I can understand wanting to look inside the ark but it seems hard to believe fifty thousand men standing in line just to look inside. Even if all fifty thousand men did not look inside the ark, God has ways of removing the wicked. Does this fifty thousand include the thirty four thousand that died in the war with the Philistines? Whether it is another fifty thousand or it includes the thirty four thousand from the initial war, God allows a great slaughter to happen in Israel. This is so shocking to the people that they make a declaration, 1SA 6:20 … "Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?" They discover having the ark is dangerous and costly and do not know who will be able to manage it. Men of Kiriath-jearim come to take the ark and consecrate Eleazar to keep it.

 

Samuel was calling Israel to return to the Lord and all Israel gathered at Mispah to seek God. It is here we see a statement about Samuel Judging Israel, 1SA 7:6 And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. The Philistines heard about this gathering in Mispah and they decide to attack Israel. The men of Israel are afraid of the Philistines and ask Samuel to pray to God on their behalf. God heard Samuel’s prayer and sent thunder to confuse the Philistines and the men went out from Mizpah and struck down the Philistines. 1SA 7:15 Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. v16 And he used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. We have seen that Samuel was confirmed throughout Israel as a prophet, now we see him set up as a judge, and under Eli he was established as a priest. This is quite a set of callings bestowed upon Samuel; Prophet, Priest and Judge. With each calling comes a different dimension of authority that enables Samuel to fulfill them.

 

Samuel’s life is little known from this time until God establishes a king for Israel but we know he was faithful to fulfill his responsibilities before God. There was one fault that Samuel had in relationship to his responsibility to raise his children. Even as Eli failed with his sons, so Samuel repeats the same mistake. 1SA 8:2 Now the name of his first-born was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in Beersheba. v3 His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. Holiness and commitment to God is not something that can be passed down or inherited from genetics but is a personal choice and decision. It would seem that we do not understand this and appoint pastor’s kids to the next generation of leaders in the church. Jesus knowing this tells a story asking who will love more, the guy that is forgiven little debt or the one forgiven a large debt. (Luke 7:41-43) Why we seem to feel more secure by having a religious person leading us over one who is less religious and maybe more committed to Jesus is beyond me. There is no doubt that when Jesus selected his disciples who would ultimately be apostles he did not choose them from the priest class.

 

Samuel having been established as a priest, prophet and judge over Israel displays a certain amount of authority that distinguishes him from many other godly men. His prophetic calling places him in league with Abraham and Moses and their prophetic calling. Samuel’s position as priest is the least significant of his callings. Being a judge, places him in a similar position as Moses. We have already seen that Moses stood as a type of Christ. Moses being a type of Christ was given the ultimate authority over the spiritual, judicial and political/military life of the nation. Moses had authority over every aspect of the nation of Israel and as such displayed a spiritual power that was not to be trifled with. In Samuel’s case, he had judicial power and authority as a judge along with spiritual power and authority as a prophet and served as a priest. Samuel in no way established new law or religious rite but upheld what was established by Moses. This being the case, Samuel’s power and authority was sufficient to accomplish the task God intended for him and yet not even close to the power Moses portrayed. Our spiritual power and authority is directly related to the job God has for us to do and really not much else. This means just getting a position of authority in the worldly sphere is lacking without our commitment to God and finding out what He wants us to do. If we read through the Kings (those after Solomon) we will readily see that some had more spiritual authority than others while having a similar physical (worldly) position. Spiritual authority is not limited to the religious aspects of life but also the judicial and political/military positions. Some of us may not want to grasp this concept thinking that it will devalue our calling and gifting. This concept actually raises those called to serve in judicial, political or military positions to a higher level. I believe there are hundreds and maybe even millions of people today with a like calling as Samuel’s. 

 

Samuel has grown old and the people approach him and ask that a king would be established over Israel. Evidently this upsets Samuel and he sees it as a rejection of his calling and gifting but God informs Samuel that the people are not rejecting him but God Himself. 1SA 8:7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. God explains to Samuel that they are doing what they have been doing ever since they came out of Egypt, which is rejecting God’s will. We should see this as evidence of God’s desire to reign over us in a similar way. Many people are content with filling empty positions of authority based on random choices. God prefers to raise up his own authorities as He sees fit.

 

God wanted to be the main authority within Israel. He allowed men freedom to make choices with little interference. God warns the people that a worldly king will have a desire to dominate and control their lives. God tells Samuel to inform the people of what this king will do and require. 1SA 8:11 And he said, "This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. v12 "And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. v13 "He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. v14 "And he will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. v15 "And he will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his servants. v16 "He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys, and use them for his work. v17 "He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. v18 "Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day." God tells the people that this king is going to control their lives and take things from them and they are ultimately going to complain about it. The people have already been required to give to the temple and to God but there was no evidence that the country levied a tax. Not only will there be a tax but a heavy burden placed upon the people to supply the king. God warns the people that this king will be of their choosing and not God’s responsibility when he goes astray. God clearly wanted the people to follow His voice not the voice of a king. The people however wanted to follow a worldly ruler, one which they could see and hear and not have to discern as speaking through the prophet, priest or judge.

 

Up to this point God intervenes when there was a need for a Judge to right the moral wrongs of the nation or when the nation needed a mighty man of valor to arise and defeat some enemy. God had been faithful in doing this through people such as Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and Samuel just to name a few. The people no longer want God to pick and choose their leaders but they want to have that ability. It is ludicrous to think we are wiser then God, but this is exactly what they are saying by wanting a king. 

 

The people of Israel react to this by saying, "No, but there shall be a king over us, 1SA 8:20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." Why are the people so bent on having a king? This change of events puts the nation in a time of transition. We should notice that even though God does not think it is what is best for Israel, God nonetheless allows Samuel to establish a king over Israel.