The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 88

III. HE SUBMITS TO THE sovi<:nEIGNTY OF Gon. ·• Let him do what seemeth him· good." 1. Very reverently and humbl.'/ (1 Pet. v. 6). It is vain to contend against him. 2. Freely and clteerf11lly; not hecn11se he cannot be effectually resisted, bnt because what he does is right und goo<l ; the spontaneous surrender and sacrifice of the will. • 3. .Entirely. "The will of tlie Lord be done" ( Acts xxi. 14). IV. HE CONFIDES IN THE GOODNESS o~· Gon. ·' Good." "Good is the word of tl,e Lord" (2 Kings xx. 19). Eli could not have spoken as he did unless he believed that-(1) God is merciful and gracious; (2) in wrath remembers mercy, mitigating the force of the storm to all who seek shelter in his bosom; and (3) "out of evil still educes good" (Rom. viii. 28). Let us be thankful for the surpassing motives and influences afforded to us under the gospel (2 Cor. iv. 17; Heh. iv. 15; xii. 10, 11 ; Rev. xxi; 4; xxii. 3).-D. • Ver. 19-iv. 1. (SHILOH.}--Samuel t!te prop!tet. "A prophet of the Lord" (ver. 20). "A prophet was a man who drew aside the curtain from the secret counsels of Heaven. He declared or mnde public the previously hidden truths of God; and, because future events might chance to involve Divine truth, therefore a revealer of future events might happen to be a prophet. Yet, still, small was the part of a. prophet's functions which contained the foreshadowing of events, and not necessarily any part of it" (De Quincey, 'Confessions/ p. 27). The greatest of prophets, and more than a prophet, was Moses (Num. xii. 6-8; Deut. xviii. 15; xxxiv 9). After him a prophet arose at rare intervals .. With Samuel, who was second only to Moses, a new prophetic era began. He was called to a permanent prophetic work ; a type of the future line of the prophets which he virtually founded, and " set for all time the great example of the office of a p_rophet of the Lord." "In Samuel-Levite, N azarite, at the sanctuary of Shiloh, prophet, and destined founder of a mightier pro- phetic power-were united from the first all spiritual gifts most potent for the welfare of the people, and under his powerful control stood the wheels on which the age revolved. . . . He was truly the father of all the great prophets who worked such wonders in the ensuing centuries" ( Ewald. See 'Davison on Prophecy ; ' ' Fairbairn· on Prophecy; ' 'Prophecy a Preparation for Christ,' by the Dean of Canterbury). The summary of his prophetic activity here given leads us to consider- !. HIS QUALIFICATION. ".And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him" (ver. 19). "And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh (ver. 10): for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord" (ver. 21 ). 1. The possession of a holy character, which was the general condition of prophetic endowment. At the time of his call Samuel entered into a higher knowledge of God, and a closer fellowship with. him than he had before; he gradually advanced therein, and his character became more and more perfect. " Equable progression from the beginning to the end was the special characteristic of his life." "The qualifications which the Jewish doctors suppose necessarily antecedent to render any one habilem ad prophetandum are truly p1·obity and piety; and this was the constant sense and opinion of them all universally, not excluding the vulgar themselves" (John Smith, 'Se!. Disc.' p. 250). 2. The revelation to ltim of the Divine word-by voices, visions, insight, intuition, inspiration (ver. 7). "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved (borne along as a ship by the wind) by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. i. 21). The communications of God to men have been made in many w,iys (by dreams, by Urim, by prophecy), and one communication foithfolly received and used has prepared the way for another. How lon·g nfter the Loni first appeare,! to Samuel he "appeared again" to him is not stated. 3. The conviction oj its Divine origin, amounting to absolute certainty, und impelling him to speak ,rnd act in accordance with the revelation he received. • 11. His VOCATION. "And the word of Samuel cume to all Israel" (eh. iv. 1). He had not only to receive the word from God, but also to utter it to men. He was a 11pokesman for God, a messenger or interpreter of the Divine will. 1. T!te nature and purpose of his vocation were-(1) Tlie communication of doctrine; the tea~hi11g of moral and spiritual truth; the declaration of the mind and will of the invisible nnd eternal King, with special reference to the requirements of the time in which he lived. He was a witness of the presence an<l government of Jehovah, his 11ature and o2  84 Tim FlHSl' BOOK OF SAMUEL. [CH. Jll, 1-21.