It is said (vii. 15) that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. The assertion may mean that even after Saul's coronation, Samuel's power, though he had formally abdicated, was yet actually felt and exercised in the direction of state affairs. No enterprise could be undertaken without his concurrence. His was an authority higher than the king's. We find Saul, having mustered his forces, about to march against the Philistines, yet delaying to set out till Samuel consecrated the undertaking. He came not at the time appointed, as Saul thought, and the impatient monarch pro ceeded to offer sacrifice—a distinct violation of the national law, and a clear act of rebellion against prophetic authority. The prophet arrived as the re ligious service vvas concluded, and rebuking Saul fdr his presumption, distinctly hinted at the short continuance of his kingdom. Again we find Samuel charging Saul with the extirpation of the Amalekites. The royal warrior at once proceeded on the expedition, but obeyed not fully the divine mandate. IIis apologies, somewhat craftily framed, for his inconsistencies, availed him not with Samuel, who, in the style of the later prophets, boldly pro claimed the worthlessness of mere ceremonial scrupulosity. By the indignant seer Saul was virtually dethroned. He had forfeited his crown by disobedience to God. Yet Samuel mourned for him.' His heart seems to have been set on the bold athletic soldier. But now the Lord directed him to make provision for the future go vernment of the country (xvi. I). To prevent strife and confusion, it was necessary, in the circum stances, that the second king should be appointed before the first sovereign's demise. Samuel went to Bethlehem and set apart the youngest of the sons of Jesse, and came to see Saul no more till the day of his death.' Yet Saul and he met once again at Naioth, in Ramah (xix. 24), when the king was pursuing David. As on a former occa sion, the spirit of God came upon him when he ap proached the company of the prophets with Samuel presiding over them, and he prophesied and lay down naked all that day and all that night.' A religious excitement seized him ; the contagious influence of the music and rhapsody fell upon his nervous, susceptible temperament, and over powered him. At length Samuel died, and all Israel lamented for him, and buried him in his house at Ramah' (xxv. 1). The troubles of Saul increased, and there was none to give him coun sel and solace. Jehovah answered him not in the ordinary mode of oracular communication, by dreams, Urim, or prophets.' His chafed and melancholy spirit could find no rest, and he re sorted to the sad expedient of consulting a woman that had a familiar spirit' (xxviii. 3-7). The sove reign in disguise entered her dwelling, and he of whom the proverb was repeated, Is Saul also among the prophets ?' was found in consultation with a sorceress. This is not the place to enter into a discussion of this subject [SAm.J. We follow the inspired narrative, and merely say that Saul strangely wished to see Samuel ,recalled from the dead, and Samuel himself (tiln Nmv,i) made his appearance suddenly, and to the great terror of the necromancer ; heard the moumful complaint of Saul, and pronounced his speedy death on an ignoble field of defeat and massacre (Thenius, in Loc. ; Keil, do. ; Delitzsch, Bib. Psychologie, p. 428, 2d ed. ; Deyling, Observat. p. 253).
We have reserved a few topics for discussion, that we might not interrupt the brief narrative. It is almost superfluous to say that the derivation of the prophet's name to which we have referred is preferable to others which have been proposed— such as 1`,1 D'e,;, name of God ; asked of God ; or MU), Deus posuit. Josephus ren ders it by the Greek name eeall-77-1-0s, Theaetetus.
The opinion was in former times very current that Samuel was a priest ; nay, some imagine that he succeeded Eli in the pontificate. Many of the fathers inclined to this notion, but Jerome affirms (Aa'vers. Samuel Propheta fuit, yuclex fide, Levita flu?, 11011 Pon/ilex, Sacerclos quia'en: (Ortlob, Samuel .2ua'ex et Propheta n071 Pont. aut Sacerd.Sacrificans; Thesaurus Noma Theol. Philo'. Hasei et Ikenii, i. 587 ; Selden, De Success. ad Pontif. lib. i. c. 14). That Samuel was a Levite is apparent from Chron. vi. 22-28, but there is no evidence of his being a priest. The sacerdotal acts ascribed to him were performed by him as an extraordinary legate of Jehovah. The objection, that if he had been a Levite his mother's dedica tion of him would have been superfluous, is met by the assertion, that if he hacl not been a Levite such a dedication of him would not have been accepted. But the maternal dedication was to a life-long service, the ordinary Levites only serving during their middle years. Samuel's birth-place was Ramathaim-Zophim ; the dual form of the first term, according to some signifying one of the two Ramahs, to wit, that -of the Zophites (Light foot, vol. ii. 162, ed. 1832) ; and the second term (04E1V), according to others meaning specula t ores—i.e. prophets—and denoting that at this place was a school of the prophets—an hypothesis sup ported by the Chaldee paraphrast, who renders it Elkanah, a man of Ramatha, a disciple of thc prophets' (N4 NS) +-othnn). Others find in the dual form of 1:710-1 a reference to the shape of the city, which was built on the sides of two hills ; and in the word Zophim see an allusion to some watch-towers, or places of observation, which the high situation of the city might favour (Clerici Opera, ii. 175). Others again affirm that the word M.= is added because Ramah or Ramatha was inhabited by a clan of Levites of the family of (Calmet, sub voee). This term onizN), if the genealogy in Chronicles remain undisturbed, must signify not an Ephraimite by birth, but by abode, domicilii ratione non sanguinis' (Selden, c. ; Keil in loc.) So we find that the Kohathites, to whom Samuel belonged, had their lot in Mount Ephraim (Josh. xxi. 5-2o), where "lri sig nifies, not the hill of Ephraim, but the hill-country of Ephraim (Gesenius, Thesater. sub voce). The family of Zoph, living in the hill-county of Ephraim, might be termed Ephrathite, while their ancestor's name distinguished their special locality, as Ramathaim-Zophim. Thus, too, the Levite was of Bethlehem-Judah (Judges xvii. 7) ; and Mahlon and Chilion are called Ephrathites of Beth lehem-Judah (Ruth 2). The geography of the place has been disputed, and eight cities contend for the honour [RAmAli]. Eusebius and Jerome confound it with the Arimathea of the N. T. (Ono mast. art. Arntatha Sophz.m). The Seventy render it 'ApAaOnla ocbilu., Cod. A, or Cod. B. 'App,a Oal,i4 .Itcpci. For an account of the place now and for long called Neby Samwel, see Robinson's Palestine, ii. 239, al ed. ; and for an interesting discussion as to the site of Ramath-Zophim, the latter name being yet retained in the Arabic term Sabah, the curious reader may consult the same work (ii. 8-11, 2d ed. See also Stanley's Sinai ana' Palestine, 22o, 221).
Specific data are not afforded us for determining the length of either Samuel's life or his administra tion. Josephus mentions that he was twelve years of age when his first oracle was communicated to him. As the calculation of the duration of Samuel's life and government depends upon the system of chronology adopted, the reader may turn to the article JUDGES, and to the comparative chronological table which is there given.