Before Kings Were Rulers, Israelites Had Judges, and One Was a Prophet: Samuel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

         A prophet was a very special person who could see into the future.   We no longer have prophets in our Judaism.  Where did they get such capabilities?  Was it genetic?  How did it develop?  Moses was a prophet.  So was Samuel, who played a very important part in Jewish life by choosing both Saul and then David to be their king.  

The question asked today is who said that a person was a prophet or a judge?  The first answer would be that it was someone who was a Cohen first, or a Levite for sure.  They were the ones originally deemed to be holding leadership as decided by Moses.  As for the kingdom of Judah, when kingship was established by David, we have his descendants as kings.  He had created a dynasty of leaders.  

A prophet is designated by G-d to convey His message to men and to give guidance for the future.  Prophecy is an ancient institution originating in primitive times.  it appears among early Semitic peoples from Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, and Canaan, but in Israel took on a distinctive form.   The Hebrews implicitly believe that they had   been chosen by G-d who had sent them prophets to point out the right path to follow.  The prophet was primarily the protagonist of monotheism and morality, and fulfilled a decisive role in Jewish religious life and development alongside the Priest (Cohens) and the sage.  Samuel was both a Cohen and a prophet who became a judge.      

Samuel  was the son of Elkanah who was probably an Ephraimite (younger son of Joseph) and who lived in Ramathaim Zophim.  His mother was Hannah.  When barren, she vowed that if she became the mother of a son, he would be consecrated to the service of G-d.  Her prayer was answered, so she brought Samuel  to serve Eli, the priest (Cohen).  Hannah's prayer (I Sam.2:1-10) is regarded by some scholars as being of late origin. 

                                                   

                          Tomb of Samuel's mother, Hannah.  

                                                                             

                                                   Er Ram remains

  

The judge, Samuel, was not only a Cohen, but also a prophet of his people of the 11th century BCE.  He was born into the tribe of Levi who lived on Mt. Ephraim and at Ramah, in the land of Zuph. Ramah was a city in ancient Israel in the land allocated to the tribe of Benjamin, whose names means "height". It was located near Gibeon and Mizpah to the West, Gibeah to the South, and Geba to the East. It has been identified with modern Er-Ram, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Jerusalem.  Al-Ram, A-Ram, Er Ram or al-Ramm is a Palestinian town which lies northeast of Jerusalem, just outside the city's municipal border. The village is part of the built-up urban area of Jerusalem, the Atarot industrial zone and Beit Hanina lie to the west, and Neve Ya'akov borders it on the south.  Out of our ancient Judean towns have grown Palestinian ones.  

Jews came from Abraham's grandson, Jacob, the twin whose brother was Esau,  who had 12 sons  by 2 sister and their 2 handmaids that became 12 tribes.  They were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin.  Dinah was the only girl.  

Moses was a descendant of Levi and had a brother, Aaron.  He led the Jews out of Egyptian slavery and took 40 years to arrive in Canaan with the 601,730 population.  Moses was a prophet.  

 According to the Books of Chronicles, Zuph was a Kohathite Levite, a fact not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The Kohathites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in biblical times, the other three being the Gershonites, the Merarites, and the Aaronites (more commonly known as Kohen or Cohen). 

The Bible claims that the Kohathites were all descended from the eponymous Kohath, a son of Levi.  Kohath was the second son of Levi and grandfather of *Moses, *Aaron, and *Miriam (Num. 26:58–59).  Descendants of Kohath should all be bearing the Ydna of the Cohen gene like Moses and Aaron.                                               

Samuel was also called a Zophai of the Land of Zuph, a district in which lay Samuel's city, Ramathaim-Zophim. It was probably so named after Zuph.  His mother consecrated him before his birth as a Nazirite who would serve the sanctuary at Shiloh.   Zuph meant honeycomb in Hebrew.

                                                        

Samson was a judge from the tribe of Dan.  He was a Nazirite from birth.   Samson's vow of keeping long hair as a reminder of his duty to G-d,  after his hair grew long again, regained his strength.    Delilah had cut his hair in order to weaken him.  She worked for the Philistines and he didn't realize it.  

 Nazirites were a religious devotee who vowed not to drink any intoxicating liquor, nor to have his hair cut, and to avoid ritual uncleanness through proximity to corpses (Num. 6:2) Special sacrifices were stipulated in cases of pollution and on concluding the period of Nazirite-ship.  The undertaking was generally for a limited period not less than 30 days, but could also be for life.  Parents could dedicate their children as Nazirites before birth as in Samson and Samuel.  The Nazirite vow was common in ancient times and during the 2nd Temple Period after which---with rare exception---it disappeared.  (It seems to have all the ramifications of the Essenes and their way of life and altered Judaism).  

Ramah, the home of Elkanah, Samuel's father (1 Samuel 1:19; 2:11), the birthplace of Samuel and the seat of his authority (1 Sam. 2:11; 7:17), the town is frequently mentioned in the history of that prophet and of David (1 Sam. 15:34; 16:13; 19:18-23). Here Samuel died and was buried (1 Sam. 25:1).

The historian Josephus distinguishes between Ramathaim, "a city of the tribe of Ephraim," and Ramah, the burial place of Samuel the prophet.

Samuel lived in Ramah and judged the Israelites in the sacred towns of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, preparing the way for national unity.  Apparently on his initiative, groups of prophets were formed to guide the people.  

 In his old age, when external pressure grew acute, he reluctantly acceded to the popular demand for a king and selected Saul.  However, tension between Samuel and Saul eventually reached an open break.  Later, Samuel went to Bethlehem where he anointed David as Saul's successor.  

Ramathaim-Zophim has been tentatively identified with one of two sites. One of them is the modern Palestinian village of Nabi Samwil, the other the former village, now town, of er-Ram.  (The fact remains that many Palestinian villages were originally from ancient Jews who were there first.  Arabs, mainly from Syria, nomads, meandered south to Israel when looking for food, etc. during times of less population in Israel-like the Assyrian attack or the Babylonian attack.) 

                                                     

                  Eli and his student, Samuel 

Eli was the high priest (Cohen) at the shrine of Shiloh and one of the last Judges, the mentor of Samuel.  He succeeded to the high priesthood at the age of 58 and died 40 ears later as a result of falling from his chair on hearing of the Philistine capture of the Ark (I Sam. 4:13).  His family was subsequently deprived of the high priesthood. (I Kings 2:26-7).  The Bible ascribed this to the immoral conduct of his sons Hophni and Phinchas (I Sam. 2:11-36;  3:11-14).   

Shiloh was the first religious center of the Israelite religion after the conquest of Palestine under Joshua.  it was situated 25 miles north of Jerusalem in the Mountains of Ephraim.  The Ark and Tabernacle were kept there during the period of the Judges, serving as the central national shrine and object of pilgrimage, especially during the long priesthood of Eli.

Samuel was a special judge.  He had be the one to choose 2 very special kings. It is said that he received a Divine call when just a child and later foretold the destruction of the House of Eli.  After the death of Eli and his sons and the decisive defeat of the Israelites by the Philistines at the battle of Aphek, Samuel endeavored to restore the traditional religious worship.  

 The town and the Tabernacle were destroyed by the Philistines after the battle of Aphek in about 1050 BCE when the Ark was captured.   

The 1st Israelites had already heard the rules of behavior in the Mosaic Laws right from Moses, himself.  Moses and then Joshua had actually acted like a king to the Israelites.  When they were gone,  every man did what was proper in his own eyes.  While on the Exodus, the elders of the group acted as judges.  People felt that they were worthy leaders.   After that, Judges developed to help people keep those expectations.  They were born leaders of Israel in the period from the death of Joshua until before the time of Eli and Samuel from about 1220 to 1050 BCE.                                                      

   Deborah was a judge and prophet.  Here she is with Barak.  She lived in about 1150 BCE and was the wife of Lapidoth.  She roused the Israelite tribes to revolt under Barak, son of Abinoam, against the Canaanite king, Jabin of Hazor and Sisera, his ally and commander.  (Judg. 4).  The song of victory attributed to her in Judg 5 is regarded as one of the oldest compositions preserved in Hebrew.  

The soldier- leader, priest or prophet assumed in addition to his chief function, that of judge.  The prophet, Samuel, traveled from place to place to administer justice.  (I Sam.7:15-17).  After kings were established, the king would act in the capacity of final law.  

The people expected their judge to rally them to repent and deserve G-d's help once again in times of stress.  Then the judge would conquer and expel the oppressor and the nation would enjoy a long period of tranquility--until it slid downward again.  

Joshua's greatest contemporaries were Deborah or Othniel. Gideon was a young man of enormous but unknown potential.  At a time when the nation didn't merit a great leader, Jephthah became their judge.  One time they didn't deserve to conquer their enemies, so they got Samson, whose individual exploits kept the brutal Philistines at bay.  

These judges had been chosen by G-d., and they responded when called upon.  The Israelite nation had shortcomings, but it was essentially righteous and true to the Torah and its Giver, Moses.   

There were 6 judges we know about in great detail:  Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, lgideon, Jephthah and Samson, and another 6 who were just mentioned in passing:  Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Iabzan, Elon, and Abdon.  These judges were generally the heads of their own tribe or head of an alliance of tribes.  The Hebrew term used for a judge is a dayyan,   

King David appointed 6,000 Levites as officers and judges (I Chron. 23-4).  Jehoshaphat set up a court in Jerusalem, of which the judges were taken from among the priests (Cohens) the Levites, and heads of fathers' houses. (II Chron. 19:8-11).  This corresponds to the Great Sanhedrin of 71 judges in the time of the 2nd Temple, from then they were told to do so, assumed from Deut. 17:8-11). It's functions were to judge disputes from all parts of the country.  In addition to the Great Sanhedrin sitting at Jerusalem, lesser Sanhedrins of 23 judges sat in towns with a certain minimum population  (Sanhedrin 1:4-6).  The judges of these were appointed by the Great Sanhedrin.  Courts of These (Bet Din) for the adjustment of civil disputes existed in all towns, appointments being made by the president of the Sanhedrin , called a Nasi.  The Great Sanhedrin lost its authority to decide on capital cases in about 30 CE.  At the time the Romans were occupiers.  

After the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, even cases involving fines or corporal punishment could not be heard, for Roman law prohibited the ordaining of judges.  

Prophets of high esteem besides Samuel were Moses, Joshua,, the Judges, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  12 lesser prophets were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,, Habakkuk, Zephaniah Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.  Their dates range between the 8th and 5th centuries BCE.  

The Dead Sea Scrolls include commentaries on some of the books, endeavoring to discover in them allusions to contemporary events.  They are traditionally termed TERE ASAR.  

The question asked today is who said that a person was a prophet or a judge?  The first answer would be that it was someone who was a Cohen first, or a Levite for sure.  They were the ones originally deemed to be holding leadership by Moses.  

Resource:

Tanakh, the Stone Edition (Old Testament)

The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramathaim-Zophim