05/11/2022 – Day 073- 1 Samuel: Chapters 1 – 5 – Archaelogical note / Historical forepicture of the fusing of the offices of Judge and Priest in Christ. (Chapter 2:12-36)
I will use verbatim quote of Halley’s Bible Handbook for two sections (pgs 177 & 178 – Twenty-Third Edition, Copyright @ 1962):
Chapters 1 – 2:11. Birth of Samuel
He ws of Levitical parents (1 Chronicles 6: 35-38). All honor to his mother, Hannah. A noble example of motherhood, her son turned out to be on the of the noblest and purest characters in history.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTE: Shiloh (1:3).
Joshua set up the Tabernacle in Shiloh (18:1). From year to year Israel went to Shiloh to sacrifice (1 Samuel 1:3). David brough the Ark to Jerusalem (II Samuel 6:15), about 1,000 b.c. Jeremiah (7: 12-15), about 600 b.c., refers to Shiloh as destroyed. The implication of these passages is that Shiloh was an important city from Joshua to David, and after that, sometime before 600 b.c., it was destroyed , deserted and ceased to exist. A Danish Expedition (1922 – 31), found in the ruins of Shiloh, porsherds of 1200 – 1050 b.c., bearing evidence of Israelite culture, with no evidence of previous occupation, or later occupation till about 300 b.c. Albright dates the destruction of Shiloh about 1050 b.c.. Thus excavation exatly parallel the Biblical record.
Chapter 2: 12-36. Change in the Priesthood Announced
The words in 31-35 seem to have application to Samuel, who succeeded Eli as Judge, and also as acting Priest (7:9; 9: 11-14); but also have reference to a priesthood that shall last “forever”(35). They were fulfilled when Solomon displaced Abiathar of Eli’s family with Zadok of another line (1 Kings 2:27; 1 Chronicles 24:3, 6).
But their ultimate fulfillment was in the Eternal Priesthood of Christ. In chapters 8,9, 10 we are told how Samuel instituted a change in the form of government, from Judges to the Kingdom. Under the kingdom, office of king and priest were kept separate.
As in verse 35, an Eternal Priesthood is promised, so in II Samuel 7:16 David is promised an Eternal Throne. Eternal Priesthood and the Eternal Throne look forward to the Messiah, in whom they merged, Christ becoming man’s Eternal Priest and Eternal king.
The temporary merging of the offices of Judge and Priest in the person of Samuel, during the passage period from Judges to the Kingdom, seems to have been a sort of historical forepicture of the final fusing of the two offices in Christ.
I encourage y’all to search on “Day 073” and then calling up our study and posting on 08/05/2020. In particular, check out the similarity of Hannah’s prayer on the birth of Eli with Mary’s prayer proclamation to Elizabeth’s greeting.
Soli Deo Gloria!