The Story of Samuel

 •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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THERE is a beautiful story told in the Bible about a little boy, whose name was Samuel. He was one of the children of whom we read in God's Word, who were converted in their very early days. I am sure you will all like to know something about this little boy. His mother's name was Hannah, and his father's name Elkanah. They lived in a place called Mount Ephraim, which, if you look in a map of Canaan, you will see, not very far from the center of that country. A little way off from their home, there was a place called Shiloh, and there stood the tabernacle. It had been carried through the desert by the children of Israel, and put up at Shiloh, as God told His servant Joshua, in order that His people might go up there to worship Him, as He had told them. One time when they went up to Shiloh, Hannah prayed very earnestly that God would give her a little boy, which He did, and she called his name Samuel, which means, "Asked of God." I am sure his mother was very fond of her little Samuel, but she had told the Lord, that if He would give her a son, she would "give him to the Lord all the days of his life" (1 Sam. 1:22And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. (1 Samuel 1:2)), because she saw that some one was needed to do the Lord's work amongst His people.
When Samuel was a very little boy, she took him up to Shiloh with her one day, and after offering the usual sacrifice, she gave the little boy over to the care of Eli, the aged priest of God, and praised the Lord in a very beautiful song of thanksgiving: Then I suppose she kissed her little Samuel, and went away back to her home. And did she ever see him again? O yes. When the time came to go up to Shiloh to worship God, Hannah, his mother, would see her little boy. And do you know what she took up for him every year when she went? A little coat. Our picture shows the fond mother fitting it on. It is not the same as children wear here. It would be made of linen, and that band she is putting around him is the girdle. Though only a very little boy we are told that "Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod." I fear many boys and girls would rather have been out in the world seeing sights than there, but Samuel grew up before the Lord to be one of His most honored servants. But there is one thing I must not forget to tell you about him. He needed to be converted just like any other boy. He had to be "born again" just the same as any other sinner, even although he had a godly mother, and although he was brought up in the temple of the Lord. We are told that there was a time in this dear boy's life, in which "Samuel did not yet know the Lord" (1 Sam. 3:77Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. (1 Samuel 3:7)). He needed to be awakened one night out of sleep to hear what God had to say to him, and so must every boy and girl before they can be saved. As Samuel lay in his bed by night, he heard the voice of the Lord calling. But Samuel thought it was the voice of Eli, and arose and went to him, for he did not then know the voice of the Lord. The same voice called again, and yet again, and the third time Samuel said―"Speak, for thy servant heareth." Then the Lord spake to Samuel's heart, and he became one of the Lord's lambs, who know His voice, and follow Him. Have you been converted, dear young reader? Do you know the Lord? Can you say―"Jesus is my Savior," and "I know that my Redeemer liveth.”
When little Samuel woke,
And heard Jehovah's voice;
At every word He spoke,
How did his heart rejoice!
And God now speaks to me
Within His holy Word:
The Savior there I see,
And own Him as my Lord