GOD’S HEART BEING DUPLICATED IN SAMUEL
When someone attains a high position, there is always a question as to whether he will allow someone else to come in to match him or to be above him. If you had been Samuel, would you have given any ground for someone to match you or be above you? Samuel was pure and single. He was a Nazarite according to his mother’s vow and was altogether not self-seeking. He never sought to gain anything for himself. He had no heart for anything besides God and God’s elect. God loved Israel, and His heart was duplicated in Samuel.
Because God’s heart was duplicated in Samuel, Samuel did not care for his own interest or gain. At the end, Samuel gained nothing but a tomb to be buried in. Due to the situation at the time, Samuel appointed his sons to be judges, but, contrary to Saul, he had no intention to build up a kingdom for them. His sons did not follow in his ways but went after unjust gain, took bribes, and perverted justice (1 Sam. 8:1-3). When the people asked Samuel to appoint a king, he was not offended by anything related to his sons; on the contrary, he was offended by their desire to replace God (vv. 4-7). Because he had no intention to build up a kingdom for his descendants, Samuel’s concern was not for his children but for God’s people. In such a situation it was easy for God to bring in the kingdom.
A PERSON WHO CARED ONLY FOR GOD
AND FOR GOD’S INTEREST AND PROFIT
Samuel would never have cooperated with God if he had been a self-seeking person. As we will see in the next message, the day before Saul came to Samuel, God revealed to Samuel what He wanted him to do. God said to him, "At about this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him as the leader over My people Israel" (9:16). When Saul and his servant came to Samuel, Samuel did exactly as God had instructed. He did not care to gain anything for himself or for his children.
Now we can see why Samuel was so useful in the hand of God. He had no self-seeking nor any thought of self-gain. Instead, as a Nazarite, who allowed no razor to come upon his head and who did not drink any wine, he was absolutely for God. He was happy to go wherever God wanted him to go and to do whatever God wanted him to do. He was a man according to God, a man according to God’s heart. Therefore, he was a man whom God could use to carry out His economy.
We should not think that Samuel did not have any kind of human concept. One day Jehovah said to him, "Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have selected for Myself a king among his sons" (16:1b). When Samuel heard this, he said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me" (v. 2a). This indicates that Samuel was very human and had human concepts. Nevertheless, he was not a self-seeking person. All of his seeking was for God and for God’s elect. He cared for God and for His interest and profit, and He prayed for God’s people.
(Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
