After 20 years Samuel said to the children of Israel, If you come back to God with all your hearts

 

then get rid of all the gods of the other countries and be for the Lord only, then He will save you from the Philistines.

 

 

 

So Israel got rid of all the idols from the bad ones

and stayed to God only.

 

Samuel prayed for them and they gathered and talked to the Lord saying, We have sinned against you.

The Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together, they went to fight against them.

 

 

The children of Israel were scared and told Samuel, Don’t stop praying to the Lord for us to save us from them.

So Samuel cried out to God the Lord and the Lord heard them and thundered with a great thunder on the Philistines that day.

Israel chased the Philistines a long way and said, God has helped us. The Philistines didn’t come into Israel’s land any more.

 

 

 

The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Israel got back the cities that the Philistines had taken. And they had peace.

Samuel was the leader and judge under God’s hand all the days of his life. He went in a circle around the cities of Israel each year helping solve troubles by giving God’s answers to the people.

 

 

Then he went back to his own home.  He built an altar to God in his home city.

When Samuel was old he made his sons judges over Israel. But his sons did some stuff from the bad one. They didn’t do what God said, but took money from some of the people to do wrong stuff.

 

So all the people came to Samuel and said, You are old, and your sons are not doing it right like you did. Make a king to rule over us like the other countries have.

 

 

 

 

 

Samuel didn’t like what the people said at all. He

went and talked to the Lord about it.

The Lord told Samuel, Listen to what the people say and do what they want. They have not turned away from you; they have turned away from Me. They don’t want me to rule over them.

 

 

Just like everything else they have done since I brought them out of Egypt, they turn away from Me and go after the bad ones.

So, do what they say, but tell them again and again what a king will do to them. He will take their sons for himself to drive his chariots and be his mounted soldiers. He will make them his army, to do what he wants.

The king will use them to sow his ground and reap his harvest and make his swords and bows and arrows.

He will take their daughters to cook for him and bake his bread. He will take their fields and vineyards and olive groves, all the best things in the land he will take for himself.

He will take a tenth part of your seed and vineyards to give to his workers.

He will take the best of your servants and animals to do his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will all be his servants.

 

 

You will cry out because of the king you have wanted. And the Lord will not listen to you in that day.

When the people heard this, they didn’t listen to Samuel but still wanted a king of their own.

No! They said, We want a king to rule over us so we can be like all the other countries: A king who will fight our battles and judge our arguments.

 

 

Samuel went back and told the Lord all that the people said. And the Lord said, Listen to them and make a king for them.