Eli was high priest and judge. He had two sons who were exceedingly
wicked; but he did not restrain them.
The boy Samuel, a son of Elkanah and Hannah, was brought up by Eli and
slept in the Tabernacle of the Lord. One night the Lord called Samuel,
and Samuel, who did not yet know the Lord, ran to Eli; but Eli answered:
I did not call thee, lie down again. The Lord called yet two times to
Samuel, and he ran each time to Eli. The high priest now perceived that
it was the Lord who called Samuel, and said to him: If he call thee
again, answer: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Samuel lay down
again, and the Lord called the fourth time to Samuel, and he answered
according to Eli’s words. And the voice of the Lord said: Because Eli
saw that his sons were wicked, and yet he did not restrain them,
therefore I will send destruction upon him and upon his house. In the
morning when Eli learned what the Lord had said, he replied: It is the
Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
There was war with the Philistines, and the Israelites were defeated. So
they brought the Ark of the Covenant to the camp; but they were again
routed, and the Ark was captured by the Philistines. Eli was at that
time 98 years old. He was seated in a chair by the wayside watching; for
he was anxious for the Ark of God. One who had fled from the battle came
and said: Israel is defeated, thy sons are fallen, and God’s Ark is
taken. When he heard about the Ark of God, he fell backwards, and his
neck was broken, and he died.--The Philistines took the Ark and put it
in the temple of the idol Dagon. But as a disease broke out in the land,
they brought the Ark back and sent presents with it. (1 Sam. 1-6.)
Samuel was the last of the judges. He journeyed through the land and
judged, and he was honored by the people. When he was old he made his
two sons judges; but they walked not in the way of their father, but
sold judgment for money. Then the elders of the people came to Samuel
and said: Now make us a king to judge us and go before us in our wars.
This thing displeased Samuel, but the Lord said to him: Hearken unto the
voice of the people, for they have not rejected thee, but me have they
rejected, that I should no longer be king over them. And the Lord spoke
again to Samuel and said: Tomorrow I will send thee a man from the tribe
of Benjamin; him shalt thou anoint to be king over my people. On the
morrow Samuel saw a man of the tribe of Benjamin; his name was Saul, the
son of Kish. There was not among the children of Israel a goodlier
person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of
the people. The Lord said to Samuel: Behold the man of whom I spoke to
thee! And Samuel brought him into his house, took a vial of oil, and
poured it upon his head and said: Now has the Lord anointed thee to be
king over His people. On that day the spirit of God came upon Saul, and
the Lord gave him another heart. Then Samuel ceased to be judge. (1 Sam.
7-10.)