Samuel: What You See is Not Necessarily What You Get
Samuel is a transitional character who represents the shift from judge to king and from priestly to prophetic leadership.
In the curriculum of the Church, most attention is given to the story of his call that illustrates that the true prophet is elected by God rather than authorized by an institution. A distinction seems to be made between professional prophets (seers and cult-prophets) or members of associations or bands who experience or bring on ecstatic states in which prophetic messages or visions occur.
Samuel's story demonstrates that during the early period of the monarchy , the prophet's office is recognized by other institutional powers.
His story also illustrates that the call of the prophet entails a vision. Gerhard von Rad clarifies the nature of this vision:
The purpose of the vision was not to impart knowledge of higher worlds. It was intended to open the prophet's eyes to coming events which were not only of a spiritual sort, but were also to be concrete realities in the objective world. Contrary to popular misconception, the prophets were not concerned with the being of God, but with future events which were about to occur in space and time, indeed in Israel's own immediate surroundings. The Message of the Prophets (SCM 1968). p. 38.
The prophet is made to see what God sees. Isaiah sees in his mind's eye disturbing pictures of the fall of Babylon (Is 21:1-10). Ezekiel's visions of the divine throne make visible to him the imminent departure of God's presence from the temple in Jerusalem and the future return of God's presence.
In our discussion of his role as prophet and his story, we will focus our sight upon the role of sight in the narrative.
The rarity of God's word described in 3:1 is metonymically depicted by the emphasis upon Eli's failing sight in 3:2. While Eli's vision may be intact earlier in the narrative, his ability to understand what he sees is wanting. Look at the way the narrator presents the story of Hannah in chapter one. Hannah calls upon God to look on her misery, but when God's priest, Eli observes her prayer, he assumes that she is drunk.
The reader is prepared to question the quality of people's vision by the refrain that is repeated over and over again in Judges. "The people did what was evil in God's eyes ... everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes."
We should not be surprised when God says to Eli, "I revealed myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt ...Why then look with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings .... The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his eyes and grieve his heart... I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind." (2:27-35)
God refers to Samuel who does prove to be faithful to God's word, but Samuel is human and humans have one particular limitation not shared by God. God can see into the heart of an individual whereas humans must judge by appearances. In order for Samuel to fulfill the word of God without hesitation he must see what God sees.
Samuel serves as a judge for most of his life, but the narrative provides us with only one episode from his long career, the story of the loss and recovery of the ark. The focus of the narrative is on the role that Samuel plays in the establishment of the monarchy as the prophet who anoints both Saul and then David.
The story of the promotion of Saul to the office of King illustrates the problem of appearance. Perhaps the narrator plays on this theme when he includes the editorial aside "Formerly, in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, 'Come, let us go to the seer, for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer." (9:9)
The story begins with Saul looking for his father's donkeys. When Saul approaches Samuel to help him find the donkey's and Samuel sees Saul, the Lord tells Samuel that Saul is his chosen king. Samuel raises no objections. At this point, we do not see what Samuel sees, but the people do not get to see what we see, the anointing of Saul as king. Samuel publicly proclaims Saul king after selecting him by lot. (10:21) This raises many questions for me. Do we simply have two textual traditions? Does Samuel need some sort of visible corroboration for the divine selection of Saul? Is this a sort of ruse?
What follows is comical. When Saul's lot is drawn the people cannot see him because he has hidden himself among the baggage. Then when he stands up, the crowd sees what Samuel has seen: Saul is head and shoulders taller than any of them.
What do you know of human bias towards tallness and the height of leaders?
Once Saul appears to have established his kingship, Samuel decides that it is time to retire. (12:1) Samuel seems content with God's choice, and he is irritated when he is called into service as God's prophet to remove Saul from office.
Saul commits a series of errors. The first involves making offers to God after Samuel fails to arrive at the appointed time. For this, he is told his kingdom will not be established forever (12:8-15). Note: the story is told in a way to arouse our sympathy for Saul. What he has done does not seem to warrant such a severe consequence.
The last of these errors occurs in Chapter 15 when Saul fails to destroy all the Amalekites and their property as God has commanded. Again consider your sympathies, but take careful note of what and who is spared and what Saul's motives might be.
Samuel does not take God's regret well. In the story that follows he is made to see what God sees and he reverses his position.
Saul has made the mistake of seeing his power as something that the people give him. Samuel's words are choice. "Thou you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel." (15:17)
Samuel continues to experience some vision trouble in the story of the anointing of David, despite God's instructions, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
The fact that David is good looking adds complexity to the story.
The lesson that Samuel must learn is a lesson that we all must learn. What we see is the phenomenal world of appearance. The prophet may share God's vision at times, but he or she looks upon the world of appearance and may be deceived by it as easily as we are deceived.