After the time of the judges came the kings. We’ll get to Saul, David, and Solomon soon. But there is one more judge to meet. Actually, he was more than a judge. He was a prophet, a priest, a judge, and the man who would anoint the first king. His name was Samuel, and like we see with so many important people in the Bible, his mom couldn’t have any children.

Samuel’s family is a little complicated. His father, Elkanah, had two wives. If you think having more than one wife is a bad idea, you are right! In the garden, God made Adam for Eve and Eve for Adam, one man and one woman. That’s God’s design for marriage. In fact, whenever we see a husband with more than one wife in the Bible, there is bound to be trouble for the whole family. The stories in the Bible don’t always show us the way things should be. Sometimes they just show us the way things were, whether it was God’s perfect plan or not.

Back to Elkanah. He had one wife named Peninnah and another wife named Hannah. Hannah had no children, but Elkanah loved her more than he loved Peninnah. Sounds messy! And it was. There was lots of fighting and hurt feelings, just like you’d expect when we don’t do things God’s way. Hannah cried before the Lord and prayed and prayed and prayed that she could have a baby. Now, God doesn’t always give us what we pray for, but in this case God did. Hannah named her son Samuel, which means “heard of God,” because God heard Hannah’s prayer and gave her a child.

Hannah had promised God that if she had a son, she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life. So Samuel grew to be a young man and ministered to the Lord under Eli the priest. Although there were priests and judges in those days, the word of the Lord was rare. People didn’t have Bibles back then, and there weren’t many visions or prophets. God was quiet.

Until he started talking to Samuel. One night the Lord called Samuel—not on the phone or by a text, but with a voice. Samuel thought it was Eli, so he ran to the old priest to see what he wanted. Eli said, “Go to bed.” The Lord called again, and again Eli said, “Go to bed.” When the voice called a third time, Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man. So when the Lord said “Samuel! Samuel!” a fourth time, Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

The Lord had a special mission for Samuel. It wasn’t an easy mission. He would have to speak against the sin in Eli’s family. Later he would have to rebuke King Saul. Samuel was to be the Lord’s mouthpiece. God still speaks to us today, not by voices and dreams, but by the word of God in the Bible. There is almost nothing more important in all the world than to tell others what the word of God says and to listen to the word in whatever it tells us to do and to be.