* I – II: The birth of Samuel and the ordinances of the Nazarite

1. Samuel was of the tribe of Levi but was not of the house of Aaron, the family of the priests ordained by God; Samuel ministered to the Lord as one who was a priest not by birth but by the Nazarite vow—1 Chron. 6:33-38:
1. Samuel was consecrated by his mother Hannah to be a Nazarite—1 Sam. 1:10-11, 18-20:

God’s move with His answer to Hannah’s prayer was to produce an overcoming Nazarite who was absolute for the fulfilling of God’s desire; even before he was born, Samuel was consecrated by his mother to be such a person.

2. God desires that all His people be Nazarites; to be a Nazarite is to be sanctified, separated, absolutely and ultimately to God, that is, to be for nothing other than God and for nothing other than His satisfaction—the testimony of Jesus, which is the testifying church as the testimony and the expression of Christ—Num. 6:1-2; Psa. 73:25-26; Rev. 1:2, 9-13; 19:10; cf. Exo. 38:21:
1. For a Nazarite to abstain from wine and anything related to its source signifies abstaining from all kinds of earthly enjoyment and pleasure and taking and experiencing Christ as his enjoyment and pleasure; eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life—Rev. 2:7; Judg. 9:12-13.
2. For a Nazarite to not shave his head signifies not rejecting but being absolutely subject to the headship of the Lord as well as to all deputy authorities appointed by God—Rom. 13:1-2a; Eph. 5:21, 23; 6:1; Heb. 13:17.
3. For a Nazarite to not be defiled by the death of his blood relatives, but remain in his separation to be holy to God, signifies that a Nazarite overcomes natural affection.
4. For a Nazarite to not come near a dead person or to not be defiled by the sudden death of one beside him signifies that a Nazarite is separated from death—Rev. 3:4.
2. At the time of Samuel, the priesthood of the house of Aaron was utterly fallen; God, however, foresaw the situation; besides His ordaining the house of Aaron to be the priests, He made a supplement—the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6—in case there should be an inadequacy in the ordained priests:
1. When the house of Aaron fell, this supplement was put into practical use; Samuel became a priest by being consecrated, separated, and lent to the Lord—1 Sam. 1:11, 27-28.
2. At the time of Eli, God was poor as far as the priesthood was concerned, so Hannah lent Samuel to the Lord; when the situation is abnormal, the Lord becomes poor with respect to His administration, and there is the need for someone to voluntarily lend himself to the Lord.
3. After she presented Samuel to Eli, Hannah praised God for His salvation accomplished through His marvelous deeds; her prayer was related to God’s move in His economy and indicated that she realized something concerning God’s economy—1 Sam. 2:1-10.

* III: Samuel’s being perfected

3. Samuel grew up under the custody of Eli; in his youth Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli, being taught by Eli the way to minister to God—1 Sam. 2:11b, 18-19:
1. On the positive side—Samuel learned to listen: God called Samuel three times; “Eli said to Samuel…if He calls you, you shall say, Speak, O Jehovah; for Your servant is listening…”—1 Sam. 3:1-10; Isa. 50:4-5:
1. This was something completely positive and key that Samuel learned from Eli: as the Lord’s servants, we need to maintain our fellowship with Him, always listening to Him—Luke 1:34-38; 10:38-42.
2. Our lives depend on the Lord’s words, and our work depends on His commands; the life of the believers hinges totally upon the Lord’s speaking—Rev. 2:7; 1 Sam. 3:9-10; cf. Isa. 50:4-5; Exo. 21:6; Eph. 5:26-27.
3. The Lord’s speaking enables us to fulfill the goal of His eternal economy to have a bride as His counterpart—Eph. 5:26-27; S. S. 8:13-14.
2. On the negative side—Samuel learned to observe: the Ark was usurped and the house of Eli was judged by God severely—1 Sam. 4:11-18:

While Samuel was learning, he observed the deterioration of the degraded Aaronic priesthood:

• He saw the Ark of God being usurped by the elders of the people and captured by the Philistines with the glory of God departing from Israel; he realized God’s severe judgment on the house of Eli—1 Sam. 2:12-36; 4:11-22.
• This did not weaken Samuel in his future Nazarite priesthood; rather, it became a constant warning to him throughout his priestly service that helped him to remain pure in his service to God for his entire life.

Hymns: 439, 473

Message 3: Spiritual Principles, Life Lessons, and Holy Warnings Seen in the History of Samuel

2021 DST 3e

The ordinances

of a Nazarite

Message 3 (Cont. 1)

* IV – VII: The ministry of Samuel for God’s economy

4. Samuel was one who turned the age into the age of the kingdom with the kingship; this was a great thing not only in the history of Israel but even in the history of mankind:
1. Samuel did not rebel against the house of Aaron, and he did not usurp anything of the house of Aaron; as Samuel was growing, God arranged the environment to perfect him and to build up his capacity to do everything that was needed for God to change the age into the age of the king with the kingdom.
2. As a priest Samuel replaced and, in a sense, terminated the stale Aaronic priesthood; God used Samuel to change the age not through rebellion or revolution but through the way of divine revelation to bring in the kingship.
3. Samuel was a man according to God’s heart, he did everything according to what God revealed to him (by listening to the Lord), he was a copy, a dupliate, of God’s heart—1 Sam. 3:21:

Samuel was a man of revelation, and he did everything according to what he saw; “Jehovah revealed Himself to Samuel…by the word of Jehovah”; furthermore, Samuel was a man according to God’s heart—a copy, a duplicate, of God’s heart; as such a person, he would never do anything rebellious.

5. Samuel’s whole being and person, not just his doing, living, and work, were according to God; Samuel’s being and God’s heart were one; for this reason we may say that Samuel, a man according to God, was the acting God on earth:
1. God’s mind was Samuel’s consideration; he had no other thought, consideration, or thinking; his living and working were for the carrying out of whatever was in God’s heart.
2. Samuel anointed Saul and David to be kings; this was according to God’s ordination that Samuel should go before His anointed continually to supervise the king, observing what the king was doing—1 Sam. 2:35.
3. This indicates that Samuel, the acting God on earth, was greater than the king; Samuel could be qualified to such an extent because for many years God had been perfecting him uniquely for His economy:
1. Samuel could be used by God to carry out His economy because he was a man according to God and God’s heart, having no self-seeking nor any thought of self-gain—cf. Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:23-25.
2. He had no heart for anything besides God’s heart and God’s elect; his heart was a ref lection of God’s heart—cf. Phil. 2:19-22; 2 Cor. 3:16-18.
• Samuel considered that not praying for God’s people, who are His personal treasure and possession, was a sin against Jehovah—1 Sam. 12:23; Exo. 19:5.
4. Although it was not easy for Samuel to stand for God in his particular environment, he cared for God’s interest and turned the age; according to the Old Testament, Samuel is ranked with Moses in being for God and for God’s interest (Moses was the acting God on earth at his time)—Jer. 15:1.
5. Samuel told the people the practice of the kingdom, in order to teach them how to practice the law given by Moses—1 Sam. 10:25a:

“Samuel told the people the practice of the kingdom, and he wrote it in a book and laid it before Jehovah”:

• Moses gave the law to the children of Israel, but before Samuel came they did not have a set of bylaws, a constitution.
• Samuel taught the people the bylaws, the constitution, the practice, the customs, the manners, the ordinances, and the rules of how to practice the kingdom of God on earth.

2021 DST 3e

Message 3 (Cont. 2)

* IV – VII: The ministry of Samuel for God’s economy

6. As a faithful priest and a prophet speaking for God, Samuel replaced the degraded priesthood and brought in the kingship, which was strengthened by the uplifted prophethood—1 Sam. 2:35:

God began a new age in raising up Samuel, a young Nazarite, as a faithful priest to replace the degraded priesthood:

1. Samuel was established by God to speak the word of God to replace the teaching of the word of God by the old priesthood; in the priesthood the first thing that a priest should do is to speak for God (to prophesy).
2. The breastplate and the Urim and the Thummim worn by the high priest were the means used by God to speak to His people; in the degradation of the priesthood God’s speaking was almost lost—Exo 28:30.
3. As a prophet, Samuel ministered God’s word to His elect; as a judge he ruled over God’s elect—1 Sam. 3:20-21; 7:15-17:

God ministered His word to His elect by establishing Samuel as a prophet in the uplifted prophethood, and He exercised His authority over His elect by raising up Samuel as a judge.

4. Samuel, as the last judge, terminated the judgeship, and, as the new priest, brought in the kingship, which was strengthened by the uplifted prophethood.
5. God needed to raise up a living person, a prophet, to speak for Him; in God’s ordination Samuel is considered as the first prophet because he brought in the prophethood for God’s speaking—Acts 3:24, 13:20; Heb. 11:32.
7. Samuel ministered in five statuses, representing God to rule over God’s people—1 Sam. 7:3:

Samuel was one with God on earth; as the acting God on earth, the representative of the very God in heaven to rule over His people on earth, Samuel ministered in five statuses:

1. Samuel ministered as a Nazarite, consecrated to God absolutely for God’s fulfillment of His economy—1 Sam. 1:11, 28a.
2. Samuel ministered as a priest to replace the stale and degraded priesthood, and he was faithful to act on behalf of God, even to appoint and establish kings for the divine government on earth—1 Sam. 2:35.
3. Samuel ministered as a prophet established by God to speak the word of God to replace the teaching of the old priesthood at a time when the word of Jehovah was rare and visions were not widespread—1 Sam. 3:20.
4. Samuel ministered as a judge in the reality of the kingship to replace the judging of the people by the old and stale priesthood—1 Sam. 7:15-17.
5. Samuel ministered as a man of prayer who prayed for God’s elect so that they would be kept in the way of God, would be one with God, would not be ensnared by the idols of the nations, and would enjoy God as Ebenezer (meaning “the stone of help”) in order that God’s desire in His will regarding them might be fulfilled—1 Sam. 7:3-17, 12:23.

2021 DST 3e

The ministry of Samuel for God’s economy

• Samuel was one who turned the age
• Samuel was the acting God on earth
• Samuel was a faithful priest who brought in the kingship
• Samuel representing God to rule over God’s People

Samuel ministered in five statuses, representing God to rule over God’s people:

• As a Nazarite
• as a priest
• as a prophet
• as a judge
• as a man of prayer

* I – II: The birth of Samuel and the ordinances of the Nazarite

1. Samuel was of the tribe of Levi but was not of the house of Aaron, the family of the priests ordained by God; Samuel ministered to the Lord as one who was a priest not by birth but by the Nazarite vow
1. Samuel was consecrated by his mother Hannah to be a Nazarite.

[1 Sam. 1:11] …then I will give him to Jehovah for all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head.

• God desires that all His people be Nazarites; to be a Nazarite is to be sanctified, separated, absolutely and ultimately to God, to be for God and for His satisfaction—the testimony of Jesus, which is the testifying church as the testimony and the expression of Christ.
• The ordinances of a Nazarite: to abstain from all kinds of earthly enjoyment and pleasure; not rejecting but being absolutely subjected to the headship of the Lord as well as to all deputy authorities appointed by God; overcomes natural affection; to be separated from death.

[Num. 6:2] …When a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to Jehovah.

2. At the time of Samuel, the priesthood of the house of Aaron was utterly fallen; God made a supplement—the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6—in case there should be an inadequacy in the ordained priests
1. When the situation is abnormal, the Lord becomes poor with respect to His administration, and there is the need for someone to voluntarily lend himself to the Lord. [1 Sam. 1:28] Therefore I, for my part, have lent him to Jehovah; all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah …
2. Hannah’s prayer was related to God’s move in His economy and indicated that she realized something concerning God’s economy.

* III: Samuel’s being perfected

3. Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli, being taught by Eli the way to minister to God
1. On the positive side—learned to listen: “Speak, O Jehovah; for Your servant is listening”
1. As the Lord’s servants, we need to maintain our fellowship with the Lord, always listen to Him; our lives depend on the Lord’s words, and our work depends on His commands; the Lord’s speaking enables us to fulfill the goal of His eternal economy to have a bride as His counterpart

[Isa. 50:4] The Lord Jehovah … awakens my ear to hear as an instructed one.

[Eph. 5:26-27] That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious…

• On the negative side—learned to observe: the Ark was usurped and the house of Eli was judged by God severely.
• This did not weaken Samuel in his future Nazarite priesthood; rather, it became a constant warning to him throughout his priestly service that helped him to remain pure in his service to God for his entire life.

* IV – VII: The ministry of Samuel for God’s economy

4. Samuel was one who turned the age into the age of the kingdom with the kingship
1. God used Samuel to change the age not through rebellion or revolution but through the way of divine revelation to bring in the kingship.
2. Samuel was a man according to God’s heart, he did everything according to what God revealed to him (by listening to the Lord), he was a copy, a dupliate, of God’s heart. [1 Sam. 3:21] … Jehovah …revealed Himself to Samuel… by the word of Jehovah.
5. Samuel’s being and God’s heart were one, he was the acting God on earth
1. Samuel was ordained to go before His anointed continually to supervise what the king was doing; this indicates that Samuel, the acting God on earth, was greater than the king. [Jer. 15:1] …Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me…
2. God’s mind was Samuel’s consideration; Samuel is ranked with Moses in being for God and for God’s interest.

[1 Sam. 2:35] … I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in My heart… he will go before My anointed continually.

6. As a faithful priest and a prophet speaking for God, Samuel replaced the degraded priesthood and brought in the kingship, which was strengthened by the uplifted prophethood
1. The first thing that a priest should do is to speak for God (to prophesy); as a prophet, Samuel ministered God’s word to His elect; as the new priest, he brought in the kingship, which was strengthened by the uplifted prophethood.

[Acts. 3:24] … all the prophets, from Samuel and those in succession after him…

• God needed to raise up a living person, a prophet, to speak for Him; in God’s ordination Samuel is considered as the first prophet because he brought in the prophethood for God’s speaking. [1 Sam. 3:20] … all Israel…knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of Jehovah.
• Samuel ministered to God in five statuses, representing God to rule over God’s people
• Samuel ministered as a Nazarite, a priest, a prophet, a judge, and a man of prayer.

[1 Sam 12:23] Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I would sin against Jehovah by ceasing to pray for you…

Bird’s-eye View for Prophesying, a Sample

Message 3: Spiritual Principles, Life Lessons, and Holy Warnings Seen in the History of Samuel

2021 DST 3e Musing Abstract

Message 3: Appendix

The proper prophethood is always an assistant to the kingship. This should be a lesson to us. In the church life today, the elders hold the kingship. If you are not one of the elders and you see something in the church that is not so right, you should never criticize, oppose, or gossip. You need to be a prophet by praying to the Lord to receive a word from Him. If you do not receive a word from the Lord, you should not say anything. But if, in His mercy to His church, the Lord gives you a word, a prophecy, then you should go to the elders and prophesy to them. The elders, realizing that they hold the kingship, should learn that they are not all-capable, that they may be deficient. Therefore, they should listen to this brother’s prophecy. This is the proper situation in the church life.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel”, Message 6, “The History Concerning Samuel (5) His Ministry (2)”>

​

By insisting on having a king, the elect of God turned from God to a man. From this we should learn the lesson that no matter what we do, no matter how good, “spiritual,” and even scriptural it may be, as long as we have a replacement for God, that is evil. We may do good things, but those good things are evil in the sight of God as long as we reject Him as our Head, our Husband, and our King. It is not a matter of good or bad, right or wrong; it is a matter of whether we take God as our King or reject Him.

We need to learn to take God as our Head in our married life.

We need to learn the same lesson concerning the service of God in the church life. Concerning any problem related to God’s economy, we should stop any quarreling, struggling, debating, and reasoning and go to our Head.

We all need to learn from this to accept the Lord as our Head, our Husband, and our King. This is the only way to participate in the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel”, Message 6, “The History Concerning Samuel (5) His Ministry (2)”>

2021 DST 3e