Samuel is the hinge-figure between two ages. He is the last of the Judges and the first of the Prophets (in the institutional sense). Through him, Israel transitions from a loose confederation of tribes governed by charismatic leaders to a monarchy — a kingdom with an anointed king. And the act of anointing (mashach) — from which the word Mashiach (Messiah) derives — is Samuel's defining act.
Samuel's mother Hannah is barren. She prays in the Tabernacle at Shiloh with such intensity that the priest Eli thinks she is drunk. She vows: if God gives her a son, she will dedicate him to the Lord. God answers. She conceives. She names the child Shemu'el — "heard by God."
After weaning, she brings the boy to the Tabernacle and leaves him there — a living offering, a child consecrated before birth. Samuel grows up in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, sleeping in the Holy Place.
The boy Samuel hears a voice calling his name in the night. Three times he runs to Eli, thinking it is the old priest. The third time, Eli understands: "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" Samuel obeys. God speaks.
This is the archetype of spiritual vocation — the voice that calls in the darkness, the mentor who recognizes what the young initiate cannot yet understand, and the response of readiness: Hineni — "Here I am."
Israel demands a king: "Give us a king to judge us like all the nations." God tells Samuel this is a rejection of divine kingship, but permits it. Samuel anoints Saul — pours oil on his head, kisses him, and says: "The Lord has anointed you ruler over his inheritance."
But Saul fails. He is tall and handsome — the king of appearances. He disobeys God's commands. The spirit of the Lord departs from him.
God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse. Jesse presents his sons — the eldest, the strongest, the tallest. God says: "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." The youngest, the shepherd boy David, is brought in from the fields. Samuel anoints him, "and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David."
The anointing oil is the visible sign of the invisible grace. The oil poured on the head runs down — as Psalm 133 says — "like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's robes." It is the descent of the Spirit into the body. It is the consecration that transforms a human being into a vessel of divine purpose.
The Messianic Significance
The word Mashiach (Messiah, Christ, Christos) means simply "the Anointed One." Every king of Israel is an anointed one — a christos in the Greek. But the tradition looks forward to the Anointed One — the King who will reign forever, whose anointing is not with oil but with the Holy Spirit itself.
Samuel's act of pouring oil on David's head is the seed of everything that follows: the Davidic covenant, the Messianic promise, and ultimately the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, when the Spirit descends "like a dove" — the final, definitive anointing.