From the Elder's Pen "Chosen Of God" 4/6/03 Past/Future Articles

 Today let us look back at a man who before he was even conceived was promised to God.  The mother keeping her promise carried the child at a young age to the temple to be trained in the service of Jehovah.  Most have guessed by now that the one under discussion is Samuel - one of the great men of God.  This noble life stands out brilliantly in an age of decline and of critical situations among God’s people.  Samuel was the man of the hour, raised up to speak the message of Jehovah to Israel when the ideals of the people were at a low ebb and needed to be brought back to the teachings of Moses and Joshua.
 The great leaders of Israel were men of piety and of holy exemplary character.  Thus far, there had been two such leaders – Moses and Joshua.   Now there is Samuel.  These men sustained the most vital relationship to the nation as the messengers of Jehovah for their guidance and instruction.  In his long career Samuel’s unblemished and godly life was a rare example to the people.
 Samuel was a Levite, the son of pious parents.  He was a child of prayer, given in answer to prayer and dedicated to God before he was born.  And when the time came, Hannah kept her vow and placed him in care of Eli to be trained in the service of the sanctuary.  It was to the boy Samuel that God communicated His judgment upon the house of Eli because of his responsibility for the waywardness of his sons and indifference to the claims of his office.  In the battle with the Philistines these indulgent sons agreed to bringing the ark of the covenant upon the field when the tide of battle turned against them and used the sacred chest as though some miraculous act would happen.
 With the loss of the ark and the fall of Shiloh the priest were scattered.  Samuel retired to Ramah and “there” says Sayce, “As a seer and prophet, and as one of the few literary men of the age, he became the center of all that was left of patriotism and national feeling in Israel.”  It became definitely known to Israel that Samuel was made a prophet of the Lord.  It was in the time of Samuel that prophecy became a continuous and organized institution, and the New Testament speaks of him as the first of a long line of prophets who foretold the days of the Gospel.  (Acts 3:24)
 About Samuel gathered a band of men who were called the “Sons of the Prophets.”  These groups were to be found at Samaria, Gilgal, Bethel, Raham, Shiloh, and Jericho that recognized him as their head.  To them was communicated “the word of Jehovah.”  We are a long way from Elijah and Elisha and the prophets of Judah and Israel, but it is here with Samuel that prophecy  as a continuous institution takes its rise.