1S1-2: How God Raised Up Levites To Serve Him Even After The Levitical Priesthood Had Faded Away

“There was a man from Ramatayim-Tzofim, in the hills of Efrayim, whose name was Elkanah the son of Yerocham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tochu, the son of Tzuf, from Efrat.”-1 Samuel 1:1

Let’s take a look at Elkanah’s genealogy.

By taking a look at the names, we can see that the family line of Elkanah’s family originated from the tribe of Levi.

Let’s cross reference this with the genealogy provided in 1 Chronicles 6:

“These are the clans of the Levites listed according to their fathers:

Of Gershon:
Libni his son, Jahath his son,
Zimmah his son, Joah his son,
Iddo his son, Zerah his son
and Jeatherai his son.
The descendants of Kohath:
Amminadab his son, Korah his son,
Assir his son, Elkanah his son,
Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son,
Tahath his son, Uriel his son,
Uzziah his son and Shaul his son.
The descendants of Elkanah:
Amasai, Ahimoth,
Elkanah his son, Zophai his son,
Nahath his son, Eliab his son,
Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son
and Samuel his son.”
-1 Chronicles 6:19-26

There are 2 key things to be discerned from this genealogy.

FIRST, we can see that Elkanah’s family name connects all the way back to Kohath who is one of the sons of Levi.

SECOND, notice how the name of Elkanah pops up several times?

This shows that Elkanah was a common name used often inside the Kohathite clan.

But what to make of those parts showing a family attachment to Efrat or the tribes of Ephraim in the opening verse of 1 Samuel 1?

Well, remember the Levites didn’t inherit any territory of their own.

They were only given cities scattered throughout the 12 Israelite tribal territories.

So it’s probably not a family blood line that’s being referred to here but just the fact that this particular family of Levites were living in Ephraimite territory.

Anyways, there you have it.

Samuel was a Levite…

Just as Moses was.

The Levitical Priesthood was supposed to be God’s Mediators between Himself and the people.

But the Priesthood had disintegrated to the point where the people paid no attention to them any more…

So in response, God saw to it that a Levite would arise who would mediate between Himself and the people.