Samuel I

The first book of Samuel is a story that demonstrates the importance of being faithful to God and not questioning him. Eli and his family die because they are not good priests. A “man of God” (2:27) chastises Eli for his and his family’s behavior and tells him that God has decided that his sons will die on the same day because of this. Saul is a good military leader, but he is unsuccessful in the end because he did not obey God.

Seemingly weak people become great leaders when they follow God’s orders. Samuel seems unimportant when described as “a mere boy with a linen ephod fastened round him” (2:18). Yet he becomes a priest and the leader of Israel. David is also an unexpected choice as a replacement for Saul. He is the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, so we would expect one of the older sons to be chosen. But when he fights the giant Goliath, he is victorious. This happens because he has God’s blessing. When Goliath mocks him, David replies, “You have come against me with sword and spear and dagger, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the god of the ranks of Israel which you have defied” (17:45). God is much more important than physical strength. If you have gone against God like Goliath, you will eventually meet your downfall even if you seem powerful.

When God tells Samuel to choose David and not any of Jesse’s other sons to become king, he says, “Pay no attention to his outward appearance… The Lord does not see as a mortal sees; mortals see only appearances but the Lord sees into the heart” (16:7). God is saying that he can see the true character of a person and knows who will make a good leader. This seems like a contradiction, because God is also who chooses Saul in the beginning. If God really can see “into the heart”, he would have known that Saul would turn out to be a bad king.