Life and Times of Samuel the Prophet, Chapter 15, His Crowning Act

<p>Introduction Samuel! What memories rise up at the mention of this name — redolent with all that is lovely and dear to the Christian's heart — a name honored of God, and coupled in His Word with that of Moses and Aaron, and David (Psalm 99:6;&nbsp;Jeremiah 15:1;&nbsp;Hebrews 11:32). We love Samuel because he loved and honored God. Jehovah had said by the man of God immediately preceding Samuel, "Them that honor Me I will honor" (1 Samuel 2:30), and this word was fulfilled to a marked degree in the career of Samuel, into whose instructive life we are about to look. This will appear in detail as we proceed in our study. Suffice it to remark here, that through all the changes of times and government in Israel during his long life, from the rule of the Judges, including his own, to that of the kingdom under the unhappy Saul, he was held constantly in honor, even in his retirement from public life in Ramah; and at his death, he was universally mourned, and honored with a national burial (1 Samuel 25:1). Samuel has been called "The Israelitish Aristides," but the comparison reflects honor on the Athenian rather than on the Hebrew. He was the first of the "successional prophets" (Acts 13:20;&nbsp;3:24) though Moses, and even Abraham, were prophets before him (Psalm 105:15;&nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:18). His name,&nbsp;heard,&nbsp;or&nbsp;asked, of God,&nbsp;is strikingly indicative of one of the chief characteristics of his godly life of intercessory prayer, in which he sometimes, like his great Antitype, continued all night (1 Samuel 15:11;&nbsp;Luke 6:12). He ever stood inflexibly firm for the word of God, as witness his prompt execution of Agag; and from his lips have come down to us the words were spoken on that occasion, which has meant so much to the people of God ever since: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). Yet we find that he was not devoid of tenderness; his mourning for the rejected Saul betokens a heart of more than ordinary sensitiveness (1 Samuel