How could Samuel offer a burnt offering when he was not a Levite?<\/p>\n\t
Samuel was a descendant of Levi, his lineage being traced in\u00a0I Chronicles 6:33-38. Samuel was born in the territory of Ephriam, where his family had lived for several generations. “Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite<\/em>” (I Samuel 1:1). Notice that this verse states he was from the hills of Ephraim and not the tribe of Ephraim. Although he was a Levite by tribe, he was called an Ephraimite because he grew up there.<\/p>\n His mother was childless, and during a visit to the tabernacle, she made a vow. “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head<\/em>” (I Samuel 1:11).<\/p>\n The vow is particularly notable because, under the Old Law, firstborn children were considered dedicated to God. Before the Levites were picked to serve in the tabernacle and later in the temple, firstborn children were selected to serve. “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD<\/em>” (Numbers 3:12-13). Because of the replacement, God had the Israelites redeem (buy back) their firstborn. “Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the LORD, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem<\/em>” (Numbers 18:15). However, a person was not allowed to reuse a redeemed item for another vow. If it was dedicated to God a second time, it wholly belonged to God. All rights to the devoted person, animal, or thing is completely terminated. “Nevertheless no devoted offering that a man may devote to the LORD of all that he has, both man and beast, or the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted offering is most holy to the LORD<\/em>” (Leviticus 27:28).<\/p>\n Since Hannah devoted her firstborn to the Lord, but he was already devoted by God’s law and was to be redeemed, Hannah was effectively giving up all rights to her son. He then became a possession of God. Normally, only descendants of Aaron could be priests (Exodus 28:1; 29:9). But Samuel’s dedication appears to have put him in a special status.<\/p>\n In addition, Samuel was a prophet of God and a judge. At the command of God, judges and prophets were told to make offerings at various times. For example, Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, was told to make an offering to God (Judges 6:25-26). Elijah, of the tribe of Gad, made an offering as well (I Kings 18:30-33). Although only priests, who are descendants of Aaron, typically offered sacrifices, God commanded his judges and prophets at times to offer sacrifices as well.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: How could Samuel offer a burnt offering when he was not a Levite? Answer: Samuel was a descendant of Levi, his lineage being traced in\u00a0I Chronicles 6:33-38. Samuel was born in the territory of Ephriam, where his family had lived for several generations. “Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[627],"class_list":["post-3152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-samuel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-only-priests-allowed-to-offer-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":0},"title":"Were only priests allowed to offer sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were priests from the tribe of Levi the only ones who could lawfully offer sacrifices?\u00a0 If so, why did the Judges do them?\u00a0 Noticed that none of the Judges were from the tribe of Levi (using the information I have anyway).\u00a0 I am wondering about this in conjunction with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56505,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-shows-no-partiality\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":1},"title":"God Shows No Partiality","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens Racial discrimination is senseless and ungodly. God's plan for salvation has always been open to all. Centuries before Christ came to fulfill the divine promise, Isaiah prophesied of the church that \"all nations shall flow into it\" (Isaiah 2:2). Indeed, the very day it was established,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Races.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25174,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-to-burnt-offerings\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":2},"title":"What happens to burnt offerings?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: During the dedication of the temple, offerings were brought. What happens to burnt offerings? Are they consumed by the fire, does the high priest eat a portion, is any eaten, or is it all consumed by fire? Answer: The Mosaical Law contained a variety of offerings (Leviticus 7:37). Sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jephthahs-daughter\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":3},"title":"Jephthah’s Daughter","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The story of Jephthah recorded in Judges 11:29-40 has caused difficulties for Bible students. Jephthah, by the Lord's leading, is about to wage a major battle against the Ammonites. Before going off to battle, Jephthah makes a vow to God. The first thing that greets him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-people-who-play-the-victim-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":4},"title":"What about people who play the victim card?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was wondering what the Bible has to say about those who play the victim card to deceive people. Answer: All lying is wrong, regardless of the motivation behind the lies (Proverbs 6:16-19; Revelation 21:8). Thus, to do something with the intent of deceiving people is sinful. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46056,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-saul-break-the-commandment-of-the-lord-in-i-samuel-1311-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":3152,"position":5},"title":"How did Saul break the commandment of the Lord in I Samuel 13:11-14?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How did Saul break the commandment of the Lord in I Samuel 13:11-14? He was offering to God. Answer: Saul did make an offering to God, but he did not do it in the manner which God wanted offerings done. It did not matter that Saul felt he was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}