Samuel

1 Samuel 7:15-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all these places. Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel, and built there an altar to the Lord.

OK, gotta admit.  I have a partiality to Samuel, so we just might see him more than once.

By the time these few passages occur, a LOT has happened in the book of I Samuel.  The Philistines took the ark of the covenant, Eli lost his sons and died, and the Israelites got the ark back!   OK, well, you just have to read the action for yourself.

In the meantime, between the lines, the little boy who God called - the boy whose mother relinquished him to serve the Lord - grew up.  And he became a judge of Israel.

Now, the Israelites had judges - not kings.  And that will become the sore point of the rest of Samuel's story.  Because the Israelites want a king, not a judge.

Politics, in other words, has always been an issue.

Now I have always thought of Samuel as a prophet more than a judge.  But I think it is important to note that he is in fact the leader that God has chosen for his people.  Samuel is more than a priest or a prophet.   He is the leader God wants for his people.

And yet...wait and see what he will do.  The people will cry for a king.  And Samuel ultimately will be the one who will help them get one.  More than one, actually.

What I've always loved about Samuel is that he doesn't let his own position of judge and any power than might give hold sway over him.  He gives up being a judge to his sons and in the end, becomes the voice for his people to God when they insist on a king - even though he knows the folly of the idea.  As with all Biblical characters, Samuel is not perfect.  But he is loyal.  And he is wise.  Wise enough to judge a people, and yet know when to step aside.

I couldn't cut and paste all the first eight chapters of I Samuel here.  But read them.  See who this man Samuel is.  This leader who got two whole books of the Hebrew Scriptures!

Good and gracious God, help us to see and trust in true leadership when it is put before us.  In these days of ideology and polarization, it often is hard to spot a true leader like Samuel.  Help us to know them when we see them.  Amen.