Prophet Prophet Samuel

The Prophet Samuel was the last of the Judges of Israel and the first of the great prophets after Moses. He was born to the Levite Elkanah and the righteous Hannah, who, being barren, vowed at the tabernacle in Shiloh to dedicate her son to God if granted a child — hence his name, meaning "asked of/heard by God."

At age three his mother brought him to the tabernacle, where he was raised under the high priest Eli. At twelve, Samuel received his first prophetic revelation: judgment upon Eli's household for the wickedness of Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas. This was fulfilled when the Philistines defeated Israel, killed both sons, captured the Ark of the Covenant, and Eli died of shock at the news.

Samuel became judge of Israel and founded the first "schools of the prophets" to train prophetic disciples. When his own sons, appointed judges, proved corrupt, the elders demanded a king; Samuel, viewing this as a rejection of God's direct rule, anointed Saul as Israel's first king, and later, after Saul's disobedience, secretly anointed David at Bethlehem. He died in old age at Ramah; tradition holds his relics were translated to Constantinople in 406 AD.