Samuel: Priest, judge, prophet
In the period following the leadership of Moses and Joshua, ancient Israel was ruled by judges and guided by prophets. Foremost among these early luminaries was Samuel. His birth had come about in answer to his mother’s prayer, and she had honored her promise to devote him to God’s service. When he was a small boy serving in the Temple under the priest Eli, he heard four audible divine calls that sealed his future ministry (see First Samuel, chapters 1 and 3).
Samuel became the successor to Eli as well as the last of the Hebrew judges and first of the great prophets—and he led Israel from a loosely organized tribal system to a centralized monarchy. When the people requested a king to govern them, God charged Samuel to choose Saul (see I Samuel 8:4, 5, 22; 9:15–17). And when Saul disobeyed God, Samuel followed God’s direction to anoint David as future king (see 15:1–9; 16:1–13).
Many centuries later, future spiritual pioneer Mary Baker Eddy—then about eight years of age—received a divine calling similar to Samuel’s (see Mary Baker Eddy, Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 8–9). Mary’s mother counseled her to reply as young Samuel had: “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” As an adult, Mrs. Eddy wrote: “To-day, if ye would hear His voice, listen to His Word and serve no other gods. Then the divine Principle of good, that we call God, will be found an ever-present help in all things . . .” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 152).
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