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A prophet of the Lord (ver. 20). "A prophet was a man who drew aside the curtain from the secret counsels of Heaven. He declared or made public the previously hidden truths of God; and, because future events might chance to involve Divine truth, therefore a revealer of future events might happen to be a prophet. Yet, still, small was the part of a prophet's functions which contained the foreshadowing of events, and not necessarily any part of it" (De Quincey, 'Confessions,' p. 27). The greatest of prophets, and more than a prophet, was Moses (Numbers 12:6-8; Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 34:9). After him a prophet arose at rare intervals. With Samuel, who was second only to Moses, a new prophetic era began. He was called to a permanent prophetic work; a type of the future line of the prophets which he virtually founded, and "set for all time the great example of the office of a prophet of the Lord." "In Samuel - Levite, Nazarite, at the sanctuary of Shiloh, prophet, and destined founder of a mightier prophetic power - were united from the first all spiritual gifts most potent for the welfare of the people, and under his powerful control stood the wheels on which the age revolved He was truly the father of all the great prophets who worked such wonders in the ensuing centuries" (Ewald. See 'Davison on Prophecy;' 'Fairbairn on Prophecy;' 'Prophecy a Preparation for Christ,' by the Dean of Canterbury). The summary of his prophetic activity here given leads us to consider -

I. HIS QUALIFICATION. "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him" (ver. 19). "And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh (ver. 10): for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord (ver. 21).

1. The possession of a holy character, which was the general condition of prophetic endowment. At the time of his call Samuel entered into a higher knowledge of God, and a closer fellowship with him than he had before; he gradually advanced therein, and his character became more and more perfect. "Equable progression from the beginning to the end was the special characteristic of his life." "The qualifications which the Jewish doctors suppose necessarily antecedent to render any one habilem ad prophetandum are truly probity and piety; and this was the constant sense and opinion of them all universally, not excluding the vulgar themselves" (John Smith, 'Sel. Disc.' p. 250).

2. The revelation to him of the Divine word - by voices, visions, insight, intuition, inspiration (ver. 7). "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved (borne along as a ship by the wind) by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). The communications of God to men have been made in many ways (by dreams, by Urim, by prophecy), and one communication faithfully received and used has prepared the way for another. How long after the Lord first appeared to Samuel he "apeared again" to him is not stated.

3. The conviction of its Divine origin, amounting to absolute certainty, and impelling him to speak and act in accordance with the revelation he received.

II. HIS VOCATION. "And the word of Samuel came to all Israel" (ch. 4:1). He had not only to receive the word from God, but also to utter it to men. He was a spokesman for God, a messenger or interpreter of the Divine will.

1. The nature and purpose of his vocation were -

(1) The communication of doctrine; the teaching of moral and spiritual truth; the declaration of the mind and will of the invisible and eternal King, with special reference to the requirements of the time in which he lived. He was a witness of the presence and government of Jehovah, his nature and character, his hatred of sin and love of righteousness, his dissatisfaction with merely formal and ceremonial services, his opposition to idolatry, his gifts, claims, and purposes with respect to his people. "The prophetic order in its highest signification was nothing else than a living witness for those eternal principles of righteous ness which previous revelation had implanted in the Hebrew race, and through them in the life of humanity" (Tulloch).

(2) The enforcement of practice, by urgent appeals to the conscience, and presenting powerful motives of gratitude for past benefits, hope of future good, and fear of future evil. "The prophets, beside their communication of doctrine, had another and a direct office to discharge as pastors and ministerial monitors of the people of God. Their work was to admonish and reprove, to arraign forevery ruling sin, to blow the trumpet of repentance, and shake the terrors of the Divine judgment over a guilty land. Often they bore the message of consolation or pardon; rarely, if ever, of public approbation or praise" (Davison).

(3) The prediction of things to come; not simply general results of good or evil con duct, but specific events that could not have been known except by Divine inspiration (1 Samuel 7:4; 1 Samuel 10:2; 1 Samuel 12:17; 1 Samuel 13:14); an element which became more prominent in subsequent times - the things to come having relation to the setting up of a kingdom of heaven on earth. We need not here dwell upon other matters connected with and growing out of the prophetic vocation of Samuel, viz.,

(4) his offering sacrifice;

(5) his civil magistracy;

(6) his presiding over the "school of the prophets;"

(7) his recording the events of his time (1 Chronicles 29:29).

2. The persons whom his vocation immediately concerned.

(1) The people and the elders of Israel - directing them what to do, exhorting them to forsake their sins, sometimes opposing and condemning their wishes. "His business was to keep all Israel true to the Divine purpose for which they had been made a nation" ('Expositor,' vol. 3. p. 344).

(2) The priesthood, as in the case of Eli and his sons.

(3) The king - teaching him that he was a servant of Jehovah, appointed by him, and bound to obey his laws, and when he departed from them denouncing his disobedience. "Under the protection generally, though not always effectual, of their sacred character the prophets were a power in the nation often more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up in that little corner in the earth the antagonism of influences which is the only real security for continued progress The remark of a distinguished Hebrew, that the prophets were in Church and State equivalent to the modern liberty of the press, gives a just but not an inadequate conception of the part fulfilled in national and universal history by this great element of Jewish life" (J.S. Mill, 'Representative Government,' p. 41).

3. The manner in which it was fulfilled: diligently (Jeremiah 23:28; Jeremiah 48:10 = negligently): faithfully (not according to his own natural wishes, but God's will); fearlessly; established = found trustworthy - Numbers 12:7; 1 Samuel 2:35), fully (not shunning to declare all the counsel of God - Deuteronomy 4:2; Acts 20:27).

III. HIS CONFIRMATION. "The Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground" (but made them stand firmly, or attain their aim like an arrow which hits the mark - ver. 19). He attested, sealed him as his messenger -

1. By bringing to pass the good or evil foretold by him (Numbers 22:6).

2. By providential and even miraculous occurrences, indicating his approval (1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 12:18).

3. By clothing his word with power, so that it was felt by those to whom it was addressed to be the word of the Lord; for there is something Divine within which responds to the Divine without, and every one who is truthful perceives and obeys the voice of eternal truth (John 18:37).

IV. HIS RECOGNITION. "And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord" (ver. 20). The Divine word was no more rare (1 Samuel 3:1).

1. His authority was universally admitted. It was familiarly known throughout the land that he had been appointed as a regular medium of communication between Jehovah and his people.

2. His utterances were widely disseminated, and regarded with reverence. "The word of Samuel came to all Israel."

3. His work thereby became highly effective. Its full effect appeared long afterwards. But even before the blow of judgment, which he predicted, fell (some ten years after his call), he doubtless laboured not in vain; and during the succeeding twenty years (1 Samuel 7:2) he "spent his time in a slow but resolute work of kindling the almost extinguished flame of a higher life in Israel." - D.

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KJV: And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

WEB: Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground.