Everything about Samuel Bible totally explained
Samuel or
Shmu'el (
Hebrew:
שְׁמוּאֵל,
Standard Šəmuʼel Tiberian Šəmûʼēl) is an important leader of
ancient Israel in the
Book(s) of Samuel in the
Hebrew Bible.
His status, as viewed by
rabbinical literature, is that he was the last of the
Hebrew Judges and the first of the major
prophets who began to prophesy inside the
Land of Israel. He was thus at the cusp between two eras.
According to the text of the Book(s) of Samuel, he also selected/anointed the first two kings of the
Kingdom of Israel:
King Saul and
King David.
Name
According to,
Hannah was the mother of Samuel and named him in memory of her requesting a child from God and God listening. However, this position is disputed by some
textual scholars who consider that the passage originally referred to Saul, and was later doctored. For the suggested etymology of the passage to work for the name Samuel requires it to be translated as
Heard of God ('Shama', heard; 'El', god/
El (a god)), or possibly as a sentence "God has heard", with "Shama" as the verb and "El" as the subject.
Saul on the other hand means
asked, and so certain scholars think an
anti-monarchial editor changed the narrative so that Saul would no longer appear to have a divinely appointed birth.
Another conceivable translation of Hebrew (
Shmu'el in Hebrew) is
Name of God (from
Shem, meaning
name), a reference to the
Tetragrammaton. However, in some contexts,
Shem can also mean
son, and hence
Samuel might mean
son of El or
son of God (translating
El). While
son of El (or
Name of God) could imply that Samuel is a cipher for
Yahweh (considered by some
Biblical scholars to have been a son of El, in the
Canaanite pantheon), the term
son of God was simply a generic term for someone who was seen as particularly holy (in particular a senior priest), and hence may only have been a description not his name.
National prophet, local seer
Some authors see the biblical Samuel as combining descriptions of two distinct roles:
- A seer, based at Ramah, and seemingly known scarcely beyond the immediate neighbourhood of Ramah (Saul, for example, not having heard of him, with his servant informing him of his existence instead). In this role, Samuel is associated with the bands of musical ecstatic roaming prophets (shouters - neb'im) at Gibeah, Bethel, and Gilgal, and some traditional scholars have argued that Samuel was the founder of these groups. At Ramah, Samuel secretly anoints Saul, after having met him for the first time, while Saul was looking for his father's flock, and treated him to a meal.
- A prophet, based at Shiloh, who went throughout the land, from place to place, with unwearied zeal, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting the people to repentance. In this role, Samuel acted as a (biblical) judge, publicly advising the nation, and also giving private advice to individuals. Eventually Samuel delegates this role to his sons, based at Beersheba, but they behave corruptly and so the people, facing invasion from the Ammonites, persuade Samuel to appoint a king. Samuel reluctantly does so, and anoints Saul in front of the entire nation, who had gathered to see him.
Textual scholars suggest that these two roles come from different sources, which later were spliced together to form the Book(s) of Samuel. The oldest is considered to be that which marks Samuel as the local
seer of Ramah, who willingly anoints Saul as King in secret, while the latter is that which presents Samuel as a national figure, who begrudgingly anoints Saul as King in front of a national assembly. This later source is generally known as the
republican source, since here, and elsewhere, it denigrates the actions and role of the monarchy (particularly those of Saul) and favours religious figures, in contrast to the other main source - the
monarchial source - which treats the monarchy favourably. Theoretically if we'd the
monarchial source we'd see Saul appointed king by public acclamation, due to his military victories, and not by
cleromancy involving Samuel. Another difference between the sources is that the
republican source treats the
shouters as somewhat independent from Samuel rather than having been led by him . The passage in which Samuel is described as having exercised the functions of a (biblical) judge, during an annual circuit from Ramah to
Bethel to
Gilgal (the
Gilgal between
Ebal and
Gerizim) to Mizpah and back to Ramah, is thought by textual scholars to be a redaction aimed at
harmonising the two portrayals of Samuel.
Samuel then went into retirement, though he reappears briefly in the two accounts of why Saul's dynasty lost divine favour (parts of and ), essentially acting, according to scholars, as the
narrator's mouthpiece. Apart from being the individual who anoints
David as king, a role Samuel is abruptly summoned to take, he doesn't appear any further in the text until his own death at his hometown
Ramah (), where he's buried (cf.,, and ). According to classical rabbinical sources, this was at the age of fifty-two.
Samuel's death, however, isn't completely the end of his appearance in the narrative. In the passage concerning Saul's visit to the
Witch of Endor, ascribed by textual scholars to the
republican source, Samuel is temporarily raised
from the dead so that he can tell Saul his future. Although Christian interpretations of this event portray the Witch and Saul as having been frightened by his appearance, and Samuel as having been composed, classical rabbinical sources argue that Samuel was terrified by the ordeal, having expected to be appearing
to face God's judgement, and had therefore brought Moses with him (to the land of the living) as a witness to his adherence to the mitzvot. Samuel is also described by the Rabbis as having been extremely intelligent; he argued that it was legitimate for laymen to slaughter sacrifices, since the
Halakha only insisted that the priests
bring the blood (cf, Zebediah 32a). Eli, who was viewed negatively by many Classical Rabbis, is said to have reacted to this logic of Samuel by arguing that it was technically true, but Samuel should be put to death for making legal statements while Eli (his mentor) was present.
Christianity
On the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day is August 20. He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the
Calendar of Saints of the
Armenian Apostolic Church on
July 30.
For
Evangelical Christians he's considered to be a Prophet, Judge, and wise Leader of Israel. He is a great example of how commitments to the Lord are fullfilled.
Islam
In
Islam, Samuel is regarded as a revered
prophet who is mentioned in the
Quran at Chapter 2 Verse 246: "Hast thou not turned thy vision to the Chiefs of the Children of Israel after (the time of) Moses? They said to a prophet (That was) among them: 'Appoint for us a King, that we May fight in the cause of God.' He said: 'Is it not possible, if ye were commanded to fight, that that ye won't fight?' They said: 'How could we refuse to fight in the cause of God, seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?' But when they were commanded to fight, they turned back, except a small band among them. But God has full knowledge of those who do wrong." The Quran refers to him as a knowledgeable prophet (as mentioned in the above verse) who holds an argument with the Israelites, who asked of him to appoint a king for them for they'd otherwise fail to fight in the cause of God.
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