Samuel Prophet as King Maker and Conscience
How Prophet Samuel Creates Prophesy as Kingmaker and Conscience
The early prophetic books come to teach us the greatness of King David’s character and his lineage. They teach us why the humanity of his lineage will endure and enable us to hope for a human ruler who shares his positive qualities which are made all the more believable in light of his life challenges. The early prophet books of Joshua and Judges set the scene. The book of Joshua starts with the conquest of the land in an almost surreal idyllic setting where Joshua splits the Jordan river and God brings down the walls of Jericho with symbolic participation of the Israelites. We are a unified people under Joshua’s leadership, as God was with Moses, he is with Joshua. Turning the page to the book of Judges, we discover that in the land that Joshua had conquered the seven nations still dwell. The people who are unified, disperse each to their inheritance. Israelites worship other Gods and pay tribute to human kings. God’s presence is expressed by appointing a judge over a tribe or group of tribes. These judges express their deep wisdom by such activities as sleeping with a woman from the enemy even after she tries to kill him, or slaughtering tens of thousands of fellow Israelites. Our sages express our deep respect for these wise judges, as Samson in his generation, and as Yiftach in his generation.
Prophet Samuel Emerges upon Death of Mentor and High Priest Eli
The books of Samuels and Kings are stories about the lineage of King David until the exile by the King of Babylon. The book of Kings is written by Jeremiah as an explanation of why we are descending into exile and why we can hope to return to independence in the land of Israel. The book of Samuel is written by Samuel. It focuses on King David with the characters of the Prophet Samuel and King Saul as providing challenges that enable his true character to emerge. It introduces our structure of government observed by the Davidic dynasty. At the opening of the Book of Samuel, the high Priest Eli serves also as a prophet at times. A woman pledges her son to God. He son Samuel comes to serve the high Priest Eli and experiences prophesy. He emerges as the Prophet and judge after the triple death of Eli’s two sons and that of Eli.
Prophet Samuel Picks Successor and Creates Three Branches of Government
As he ages, the people are unhappy with the children of Samuel. His children are not following in his footsteps. The Prophet Samuel makes a very sharp change in Israelite history. Only Moses hand-picked a successor. None of the judges, from Joshua onwards had done so. Moreover, the prophet Samuel does what Moses never was allowed to do. The Prophet Samuel created three branches of government, the high priest, the prophet, and the king. The role of the high priest was known since the example of Aaron the first Cohen. Yet, during the period of Joshua we don’t see a consistent figure who functions as Joshua’s high priest. In the book of judges, the absence of the high priest is so glaring that the Rabbis in the midrash borrow a high priest from the Torah to provide a counterpoint to Yiftach’s actions.
Prophet Samuel: Books of Joshua and Judges
In the book of Joshua, Joshua communicates with God, including the appearance of an angel of the LORD. When calamity happens, the Israelites look to broken oaths in the name of the LORD as a potential cause. In the book of Judges, the wife of Manoach learns of the great mission for Samson from an angel of the LORD. Yet, like Deborah the prophet, that is more the exception to the rule in the book of Judges. When the Israelites are unified, the LORD dwells in our midst. The book of Judges is about how when there is no King in Israel, each man does what is right in his own eyes. The book of Samuel reintroduces the Prophet as a main character. Elazar, the high priest, and Moses, the prophet, both participated in the transition that enabled Joshua to emerge as the next ruler. Samuel emphasizes the role of the prophet as King-maker.
Prophet Samuel: Kingmaker of Saul and Davidic Dynasty — Crowns David During Saul’s lifetime
The prophet serves as the conscience of the King, the definer of boundaries for the King’s conduct, and the conduit for the word of the LORD to the King. It is a testimony to the character of the Prophet Samuel that he was able to imbue the role of the prophet with such force throughout Jewish history. Thus, while the book of Samuel is not primarily a poetic work of the same literary style as the later prophets, it serves to define the role of prophesy particularly as a counter role to the King. Later prophets in both the Israelite Kingdom and the Judean Kingdom draw from his moral authority that defines the prophet as kingmaker and rebuker of Kings. The prophet Samuel goes the extra step by anointing a second king and stripping the royal dynasty from the sitting King. Further, he lives to die of old age.