Samuel

/sam"yooh euhl/, n.

1. a judge and prophet of Israel. I Sam. 1-3; 8-15.

2. either of two books of the Bible bearing his name. Abbr.: I Sam., II Sam.

3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning "name of God."

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I

(с 11th century BC) Old Testament prophet, the first after Moses and the last of the judges of ancient Israel.

His story is told in two biblical books (1 and 2 Samuel) that relate the history of Israel in the 11th–10th century BC. During this period, the first monarchy of Israel was established and the tribes of Israel united under a single kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem. Samuel received a revelation that led to the installation of Saul as king, but later announced an oracle rejecting Saul and secretly anointed David as king. Scholars dispute whether the historical Samuel was the author of the two books that bear his name.

II

died Oct. 6, 1014

Tsar of Western Bulgaria (980–1014).

Ruling originally in Macedonia, he conquered Serbia, northern Bulgaria, Albania, and northern Greece. He revived the Bulgarian patriarchate and in the 980s defeated Basil II. However, his struggle with the Byzantines continued until 1014, when Basil defeated Samuel's army at the Battle of Belasitsa. At Basil's order, the 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners were blinded and then returned to Samuel, who is said to have died of shock.

III

(as used in expressions)

Adams Samuel

Addams Charles Samuel

Barber Samuel

Samuel Adrian Baugh

Beckett Samuel Barclay

Behrman Samuel Nathaniel

Bentham Sir Samuel

Blumberg Baruch Samuel

Butler Samuel

Samuel Cohen

Champlain Samuel de

Chase Samuel

Coleridge Samuel Taylor

Colt Samuel

Cooke Samuel

Crompton Samuel

Cunard Sir Samuel 1st Baronet

Delany Samuel Ray

Doe Samuel Kanyon

Firestone Harvey Samuel

Gardiner Samuel Rawson

Goldwyn Samuel

Samuel Goldfish

Gompers Samuel

Andrew Samuel Griffith

Gross Samuel David

Hahnemann Christian Friedrich Samuel

Hammett Samuel Dashiell

Hoffman Samuel Kurtz

Houston Samuel

Hughes Sir Samuel

Huntington Samuel Phillips

Insull Samuel

Johnson Samuel

Judah ben Samuel

Kirkland Samuel

Kuhn Thomas Samuel

Langley Samuel Pierpont

Lister Samuel Cunliffe Baron Masham of Swinton

Morison Samuel Eliot

Morse Samuel Finley Breese

Samuel Joel Mostel

Nujoma Samuel Shafiihuma

Paley William Samuel

Palmer Samuel

Peckinpah David Samuel

Pepys Samuel

Plimsoll Samuel

Pufendorf Samuel baron von

Rayburn Samuel Taliaferro

Richardson Samuel

Scheidt Samuel

Sewall Samuel

Samuel Shepard Rogers

Slater Samuel

Smith Samuel

Snead Samuel Jackson

Samuel Sosa Peralta

Tilden Samuel Jones

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Walton Samuel Moore

Samuel Wilder

Theodore Samuel Williams

Wise Stephen Samuel

Hoare Sir Samuel John Gurney 2nd Baronet

Samuel of Mount Carmel and of Toxeth Herbert Louis Samuel 1st Viscount

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▪ Hebrew prophet

Introduction

Hebrew  Shmuʾel  

flourished 11th century BC, , Israel

      religious hero in the history of Israel, represented in the Old Testament in every role of leadership open to a Jewish man of his day—seer, priest, judge, prophet, and military leader. His greatest distinction was his role in the establishment of the monarchy in Israel.

Biblical accounts of his life.

      Information about Samuel (Samuel, books of) is contained in The First Book of Samuel (called in the Roman Catholic canon The First Book of Kings). The ancient designation of the two books of Samuel does not indicate that he is the author (in fact, his death is related in 1 Samuel 25) or the hero of the books; indeed, it is difficult to deduce what the title was intended to mean.

      Samuel, the son of Elkanah (of Ephraim) and Hannah, was born in answer to the prayer of his previously childless mother. In gratitude she dedicated him to the service of the chief sanctuary of Shiloh, in the charge of the priest Eli. As a boy Samuel received a divine oracle in which the fall of the house of Eli was predicted (1 Samuel 1–3). When he became an adult, Samuel inspired Israel to a great victory over the Philistines (Philistine) at Ebenezer (chapter 7). The proposal of the elders of Israel to install a king was indignantly rejected by Samuel as infidelity to Yahweh, the God of Israel (chapter 8). By the revelation of Yahweh, however, he anointed Saul king and installed him before all Israel (chapters 9–10). Saul was vindicated as king by his leadership of Israel in a campaign against the Ammonites (chapter 11); after this, Samuel retired from the leadership of Israel (chapter 12). He reappeared, however, to announce the oracle of Yahweh rejecting Saul as king, once for arrogating to himself the right of sacrifice (chapter 13) and a second time for failing to carry out the law of the ban—a primitive institution by which persons or objects were devoted to the deity, normally by destruction—against the Amalekites (chapter 15). By the oracle of Yahweh, Samuel secretly anointed David as king (chapter 16). He then faded into the background, appearing at the sanctuary of Naioth (chapter 19). He died, and his ghost was evoked by a necromancer, or sorceress, at the request of Saul; he then announced a third time the rejection of Saul (chapter 28).

Conflicting traditions about Samuel.

      Samuel thus appears as a leader in all Israel; his leadership is exercised in war and law, but his authority is basically religious, mostly prophetic, although with some features of priestly authority. He appears at first as being hostile to the monarchy and then as being favourable to it. He is the spokesman of Yahweh in the election both of Saul and of David. Yet, the picture is not entirely straightforward, and a close examination of the material, as conducted by a large number of critical historians, reveals inconsistencies that raise questions about both the history of Samuel and the sources in which this history has been preserved. The same examination reveals that none of the material in its present form was contemporary with the events; if one source is taken as controlling, then the other materials lose all historical value.

      The two major divergences in The First Book of Samuel lie in those passages that critics call the “pro-monarchic” source (1 Samuel 9:1–10:16) and those passages called the “antimonarchic” source (1 Samuel 8 and 10:17–27). In the pro-monarchic account of the rise of Saul, Samuel is an obscure village seer (with distinct evidence of occult practices). The institution of the monarchy and the election of the king occur according to the will of Yahweh as revealed to Samuel. The story of the anointing, however, has no story of accession to complete it; instead, there is the account of Saul's victory over the Ammonites. Examination discloses that this is still another account of Saul's rise without an anointing story; Saul is chosen king as the judges—the leaders of the Israelites during their conquest of the land of Canaan—were chosen, by a charismatic display of military courage and leadership. Samuel was very probably intruded into this narrative.

      The antimonarchic account presents a different picture of the kingship and of Saul and Samuel. In this account Samuel is a figure known through “all Israel” (a term of uncertain meaning at this period); his authority rests on his position as judge. The institution of kingship comes not from divine revelation but from the request of the elders of Israel, and this request is treated by Samuel as rebellion against Yahweh. The king is chosen not by divine election but by lot, implying that no special qualities were required, and the bashful candidate has to be summoned from a hiding place. This story is related to the account of Samuel as judge in chapters 7 and 12, and he is clearly presented as the last of the judges; it is indicated that the system of the judges was rejected by the Israelites not because of its failure but because of their worldliness. This tradition has two questionable features: Samuel is the only judge who is a permanent magistrate as well as a military leader, and his conclusive victory over the Philistines in chapter 7 cannot be historical, since it is contradicted by the subsequent military exploits of Saul and David.

      The story of the birth and vocation of Samuel at the beginning of 1 Samuel is regarded by critics as legendary because of a number of obviously unhistorical features. This narrative is the major piece in establishing the role of Samuel as a prophet, but it is questionable whether the “prophet” as a distinct religious figure had emerged among the Israelites at this early date. The story is also at the root of the priestly role imposed on Samuel at a later date in 1 Chronicles 6; but this is an effort to explain in terms of the later priesthood the sacred functions performed by Samuel.

      There are also two different accounts of the rejection of Saul by Samuel. The first story (1 Samuel 13) describes Samuel's action as motivated by Saul's assumption of the prerogatives of the priesthood. It is quite unlikely that either the powers of the king or the prerogatives of the priest were as closely defined as this in the early period. In the second story (chapter 15), Samuel is motivated by the failure of Saul to observe the ethic of the holy war. This story does not exhibit the same improbability. It seems that there was a firm tradition of a split between the two men but an inexact memory of the details.

Significance.

      There must have been some reason why Samuel was important enough to be remembered for a major role in the establishment of the monarchy. Yet, his roles as prophet, seer, and judge are all incredible in certain respects, apart from the fact that each of them is considerable. The problem may be resolved by identifying a role for Samuel that receives only passing mention because it no longer existed when this material was written. This is his leadership of the sons of the prophets, a group of young men organized for ecstatic worship. Indications are that they were a group of fanatical religious and national conservatives. That they were young and active gave Samuel a base of power that was physical as well as moral. As conservatives, they must have been torn between the threat to Israel posed by the Philistines and the promise that the new political system, alien to religious and national traditions, offered against this threat. This internal division in Israel is reflected in the person of Samuel, who stood with most Israelites on both sides of the question.

The Rev. John L. McKenzie

Additional Reading

Exegetical and critical commentaries include Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg, I & II Samuel (1964); Peter R. Ackroyd, The First Book of Samuel (1971), and The Second Book of Samuel (1977); and P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., I Samuel (1980), and II Samuel (1984).

▪ tsar of Macedonia

died Oct. 6, 1014, Prilep, Macedonia

      tsar of Western Bulgaria, or Macedonia, from 980; his realm was successor to the First Bulgarian empire.

      Ruling originally in Macedonia, Samuel then conquered independent Serbia and further extended his power into northern Bulgaria, Albania, and northern Greece. He established his capital at Ochrida (now Ohrid, Macedonia) and revived the Bulgarian patriarchate. In the 980s he defeated the Byzantine emperor Basil II Bulgaroctonus near Sofia, but from 997 the intermittent struggle with the Byzantines went against him. Finally, on July 29, 1014, Basil overwhelmed Samuel in the Battle of Belasitsa. At Basil's order, the Bulgarian prisoners (said to number 15,000) were blinded and returned to Samuel, who fainted from shock and soon died. He was succeeded by his son Gavril (murdered in 1015) and a nephew Ivan (killed in battle in 1018), after which Bulgaria became a Byzantine province.

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