 |
| Painting by Jan Victors |
By Bob Campbell, Reporter
• Odessa American
ODESSA, TEXAS - Somewhat like the strongman Samson, the prophet Samuel was dedicated to God’s service before he was born.
Childless, Samuel’s mother Hannah had promised she would give her son to God if he would only grant her one, and when he was child she left him with the priest Eli to be raised at the tabernacle in Shiloh, north of Jerusalem.
The story is very meaningful to the Rev. William Mark Bristow, whose late mother Dorothy did the same things.
“My mother couldn’t have a child and she read that story in First Samuel and prayed, ‘Lord, if you give me a son, I will give him back to you.’” said the Rev. Bristow, pastor of Parker Heights Christian Church in Odessa and Grace Fellowship Church in Monahans.
“The last conversation I had with her, I was preparing to go to Indonesia, but she was dying of cancer and I said, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go.’ “And she said, ‘I gave you to the Lord and I’m not going to take that back now. You go preach and I’ll see you on the other side.’”
Having made arrangements for his mother’s funeral, Bristow was on his way when he learned she had died.
Reviewing the story of Samuel in the two Old Testament books that the prophet wrote in the 11th Century B.C., Bristow said Samuel’s life was less dramatic than Elijah’s or Elisha’s, but he was vitally important to Israel, anointing the kings Saul and David.
“First Samuel 3:19 says none of his words fell to the ground,” the pastor said. “That means everything he said in a prophetic sense, speaking for the Lord, came to pass.
“I see somebody who was all business for the Lord. As a child, he slept in the Holy Place with the Lamp Stand, the Table of Showbread and the Incense. The Holy of Holies was the next room.
“Eli was a big, fat man and to keep him from having to walk uphill and downhill, the people dug a tunnel from Eli’s house over to the tabernacle.
“One night Samuel is sleeping and he hears a voice calling him. He thinks it’s Eli, but it happens two more times and he figures out that God is calling him and says, ‘Yes, Lord, here am I.’ Then Samuel gets his instructions and follows them all his life.”
Bristow said the people and their leaders needed Samuel to guide them “because they didn’t have the in-dwelling Holy Spirit that a believer has today with Jesus’ teachings.
“They needed the prophet because the average Joe couldn’t hear from God in that day,” he said.
The Rev. Aubrey Jones, pastor of Chapel Hill Baptist Church, said Samuel “united the house of Israel, those tribes, in a way that nobody had done since Moses and Joshua.
“Most of the judges prior to that time were local,” the Rev. Jones said. “They would only lead a couple of tribes, so Samuel was unique, helping the Israelites to recognize themselves as a nation. He was just gifted by God.”
Jones said the prophet was also unusual in that he saw visions, which were uncommon in that day. “The Lord spoke to Samuel and said Eli’s house would end because his sons were wicked and Eli had not stopped their wickedness,” the pastor said.
“Hophni and Phinehas were sleeping with women in the tabernacle. When they went out with the army and the Ark of the Covenant, they were killed and the Ark was captured by the Philistines. When the word got back to Eli, he fell out of his chair and broke his neck.
“Samuel was still a young man, but over time he became a high priest, a judge and a leader. He traveled from the north to south every year so the people could bring their problems to a godly leader.”
Asked what kind of a man Samuel was, Jones said ...
• Read the rest of this OA report ...
No comments:
Post a Comment