biography
| name: |
Samuel
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| |
(Heb probably ‘name of God’)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (11th-c BC)
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| biography:
| Biblical character, the last of the judges and first of the prophets, the son of Elkanah and his wife Hannah. He was an Ephraimite who was dedicated to the priesthood as a child by a Nazirite vow. After the defeat of Israel and loss of the Ark of the Covenant to the Philistines, he tried to keep the tribal confederation together, moving in a circuit among Israel's shrines. He presided, apparently reluctantly, over Saul's election as the first king of Israel, but later criticized Saul for assuming priestly prerogatives and disobeying divine instructions given to him. Samuel finally anointed David as Saul's successor, rather than Saul's own son, Jonathan. |
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