Samuel's life was characterized by intercession, and the value of it is emphasized in Psalm 99:6: “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them.” The power of it is referred to again just before the people were swept out of the land. “Then,” said the Lord unto me, “though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people; cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth” (Jer. 15:1).
Acts 3:22 speaks of Samuel as the first of a line of prophets in Israel. Although there was no ordered succession of them, as with kings and priests, prophets were never lacking from Samuel's time onward. (There appear to have been efforts made to create an ordered succession, for the sons of the prophets are frequently found together in groups, as though for training, in 2 Kings 2:3; 4:1 and other places. As the evil of the people developed, God always found for Himself an emergency man, through whom He could address their consciences. This is strikingly seen in such passages as 2 Kings 19:2 and 2 Kings 22:12-14. In the first case, we have Hezekiah sending two of his officers, with the elders of the priests, all covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah concerning the blasphemous words of the haughty Assyrian. Note carefully, that although “the elders of the priests” formed the bulk of the deputation, they were not sent to the High Priest of the day, but to one quite outside their order, namely, the son of Amoz. In the second case, the position is much more remarkable. Josiah, perturbed about the contents of the book which had been discovered in the temple of the Lord, sent the High Priest himself (with others) to inquire of a woman, Huldah, the prophetess!
It is possible that from among these arose the many false prophets who spake in the name of the Lord, while having no message from Him. These men were a greater plague to God's true prophets than the avowed prophets of pagan deities (Jer. 28). The sovereignty of God, in His choice of instruments, is clearly seen both in Old and New Testament times, but the desire to organize and systematize is inherent in the minds of men, to the hindrance of the testimony of God.