1 Samuel 2:35

1 Samuel 2:35 . I will raise me up a faithful priest — Of another line, as is necessarily implied by the total removal of that office from Eli’s line. The person designed is Zadok, one eminent for his faithfulness to God, and to the king, who, when Abiathar, the last of Eli’s line, was deposed by Solomon, was made high-priest in his stead. Build a sure house — That is, give him a numerous posterity, and confirm unto him and his children that sure covenant of an everlasting priesthood made to Phinehas, of Eleazar’s line, Numbers 25:13 , and interrupted for a little while by Eli, of the line of Ithamar. The high-priesthood continued in his line till the captivity of Babylon, as appears from Ezekiel 40:16 ; and a long time after it, as Josephus shows, lib. 4. cap. 4. He shall walk before mine Anointed — That is, Zadok and his descendants shall perform the office of high-priest before that king whom God shall anoint, and before his successors. The high- priest is said to walk before God’s anointed, chiefly because he wore the breast-plate of judgment, which he was to consult, not in common cases, but for the king, in the affairs of state.

For ever — A learned writer justly observes, that though this, according to the history, was intended of, and may properly be applied to Zadok, yet in the highest sense it belongs to none but our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered himself to the Father for us, and is our great High-Priest for ever; who in all things did his Father’s will, and for whom God will build a sure house, build it on a rock, so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. For he is the main scope and design not only of the New but of the Old Testament, which, in all types and ceremonies, represented him; and the high-priest especially was an eminent type of him, represented by his person, acted in his name and stead, and did mediately what John the Baptist did immediately, namely, go before the face of the Lord Christ; and when Christ came, that officer and the office he sustained were to cease.

Verse 35. - I will raise me up a faithful priest. This prophecy is explained in three several ways, of Samuel, of Zadok, and of Christ. St. Augustine, who considers the whole passage at length in his 'De Civ. Dei,' 17:5, argues that it cannot be reasonably said that a change in the priesthood foretold with so great circumstance was fulfilled in Samuel. But while we grant that it was an essential characteristic of Jewish prophecy to be ever larger than the immediate fulfilment, yet its primary meaning must never be slurred over, as if it were a question of slight importance. By the largeness of its terms, the grandeur of the hopes it inspired, and the incompleteness of their immediate accomplishment, the Jews were taught to look ever onward, and so became a Messianic people. Granting then that Christ and his Church are the object and end of this and of all prophecy, the question narrows itself to this - In whom was this prediction of a faithful priest primarily fulfilled? We answer, Not in Zadok, but in Samuel. Zadok was a commonplace personage, of whom little or nothing is said after the time that he joined David with a powerful contingent ( 1 Chronicles 12:28 ). Samuel is the one person in Jewish history who approaches the high rank of Moses, Israel's founder ( Jeremiah 15:1 ). The argument that he was a Levite, and not a priest, takes too narrow and technical a view of the matter; for the essence of the priesthood lies not in the offering of sacrifice, but in mediation.

Sacrifice is but an accident, being the appointed method by which the priest was to mediate between God and man. As a matter of fact, Samuel often did discharge priestly functions ( 1 Samuel 7:9, 17 ; 1 Samuel 13:8 , where we find Saul reproved for invading Samuel's office; 1 Samuel 16:2), and it is a point to be kept in mind that the regular priests disappear from Jewish history for about fifty years after the slaughter of themselves, their wives, and families at Shiloh; for it is not until Saul's time that Ahiah, the great-grandson of Eli, appears, as once again ministering at the altar ( 1 Samuel 14:3 ). The calamity that overtook the nation at the end of Eli's reign was so terrible that all ordinary ministrations seem to have been in abeyance. We are even expressly told that after the recovery of the ark it was placed in the house of Abinadab at Kirjath-jearim in Judaea, and that for twenty years his son Eleazar, though a Levite only, ministered there before it by no regular consecration, but by the appointment of the men of that town. During this time, though Ahitub, Ahiah's father, was probably high priest nominally, yet nothing is said of him, and all the higher functions of the office were exercised by Samuel. Instead of the Urim and Thummim, he as prophet was the direct representative of the theocratic king.

35 . This verse forms no part of the sign, but is to be connected with 1 Samuel 2:33 . a faithful priest ] The prophecy is commonly supposed to have been fulfilled in Zadok, whose descendants retained the High-priesthood till the end of the monarchy ( 1 Chronicles 6:8-15 ). But that Samuel is meant seems clear on the following grounds. ( a ) The faithful priest is obviously contrasted with the unfaithful sons of Eli. This points to Samuel not Zadok. The account of his call is given immediately in ch. 3 and it concludes by saying ( 1 Samuel 2:20 ), “all Israel knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord,” a connecting link with the present passage, for it is the same Heb. word which is rendered “faithful,” “sure,” and “established.” This is followed by the death of Hophni and Phinehas (ch. 4). ( b ) The “sure house” which is promised does not necessarily imply succession to the priesthood. But if it had originally done so, might not the privilege have been forfeited by the sin of Samuel’s sons (ch. 1 Samuel 8:3 ), as in the case of the exactly similar promise to Jeroboam ( 1 Kings 11:38 ) ? That Samuel’s descendants flourished is clear, for his grandson Heman ( 1 Chronicles 6:33 ) was David’s chief musician, and father of fourteen sons and three daughters ( 1 Chronicles 25:1 ; 1 Chronicles 25:4-5 ). ( c ) “He shall walk before mine anointed (not, for ever , but) all the days of his life” (cp. 1 Samuel 1:22 ).

This is most naturally referred to Samuel, who was God’s instrument for establishing the kingdom, and occupied a unique position as the authorised adviser of Saul. ( d ) But it will be said, Samuel was no priest, only a prophet-judge. True he was not a priest by descent, and is nowhere expressly so called. But the expression I will raise up’ (used so commonly of the judges) implies an extraordinary office. And during his lifetime Samuel filled the place of High-priest. The prerogative of the line of Aaron was in abeyance for a time, as a punishment for the corruption of Eli’s sons. Ahitub the son of Phinehas never appears in the history. Ahiah is not mentioned till after Saul’s first rejection in Samuel’s extreme old age ( 1 Samuel 14:3 ). Samuel exercised priestly functions by intercession ( 1 Samuel 7:9 ), by offering sacrifice ( 1 Samuel 7:9-10 ), by benediction ( 1 Samuel 9:12-13 ), by anointing Saul and David ( 1 Samuel 10:1 , 1 Samuel 16:13 , cp. 1 Kings 1:34 ). He may be compared with Moses who though not strictly a priest was sometimes regarded as such ( Psalm 99:6 ). mine anointed ] See notes on 1 Samuel 2:10 , 1 Samuel 10:1 , 1 Samuel 12:3 .

Zadok is meant rather than Samuel. The High Priesthood continued in the direct descendants of Zadok as long as the monarchy lasted (see 1 Chronicles 6:8-15 ). Mine anointed - in its first sense obviously means the kings of Israel and Judah Psalm 89:20; Zechariah 4:14. But doubtless the use of the term MESSIAH (Χριστὸς Christos) here and in 1 Samuel 2:10, is significant, and points to the Lord's Christ, in whom the royal and priestly offices are united (Zechariah 6:11-15 : see the marginal references). In this connection the substitution of the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec for the Levitical may be foreshadowed under 1 Samuel 2:35 (see Hebrews 7).

(35) A faithful priest. —Who here is alluded to by this “ faithful priest,” of whom such a noble life was predicted, and to whom such a glorious promise as that “he should walk before mine anointed for ever,” was made? Many of the conditions are fairly fulfilled by Samuel, to whom naturally our thoughts at once turn. He occupies a foremost place in the long Jewish story, and immediately succeeded Eli in most of his important functions as the acknowledged chief of the religious and political life in Israel. He was also eminently and consistently faithful to his master and God during his whole life. Samuel, though a Levite, was not of the sons of Aaron; yet he seems, even in Eli’s days, to have ministered as a priest before the Lord, the circumstances of his early connection with the sanctuary being exceptional.