Fourth
The Judges
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At last we got the Israelites into the Promised Land. It was true that there were a few mopping- up operations to carry out, but I felt that I could relax; task accomplished. I said so to the Almighty but He just smiled and said, "It is not as easy as that, just wait and see." I did not think it had been easy so far! He was right; the Israelites did not finally conquer the land for several centuries, and never did destroy all the evil there. Instead, once they had gained dominance they settled down and left pockets of the various Canaanite tribes living amongst them thinking they would be useful as slaves. The Almighty had warned them about this saying that it would lead to problems and eventual catastrophe but they took no notice.
Then began a long period of downs and ups. The Israelites became complacent. They allowed the Canaanites to continue worshipping their false gods, and then even began to worship those gods themselves. In doing this they broke their covenant and put themselves outside the Almighty's protection. The result was inevitable; they were invaded by adjacent tribes. We in heaven could see it coming, but the Almighty would not let us interfere until the time was right. Eventually it sank into their thick skulls that they were in trouble and they cried out to the Almighty for help. He was generous and raised up a hero to rescue them. But no sooner had that hero, or judge as they called him, died than they went back to their previous ways.
Time after time this happened and so your scriptures contain the stories of Othniel, Sampson, Gideon, Baruk and that great prophetess, Deborah, and others. I was amazed at the Almighty's patience and grace towards the Israelites. He had made a covenant with them and He insisted in keeping His side of it even though they broke theirs.
I discussed this with the Almighty and suggested that He destroy the lot and start again. He replied that He had done this in Noah's time and look how well that worked! Then He outlined His plan for the next step.
One day the Almighty pointed me to a lady called Hannah who was praying in the tabernacle. "Go and listen to her prayer." He said. I heard her pour out her grief; how she could not have any children but her husband's other wife had several. Because the people of that time thought that having no children was a mark of the Almighty's curse on a woman, Hannah was sneered at by her co-wife and treated shabbily by all, except by her husband who always treated her as special. As Hannah wept before the tabernacle gate she said to the Almighty that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to the Almighty's service from birth.
The Almighty heard her prayer and answered it, and she kept her promise and so, as soon as he was old enough, young Samuel became an assistant to Eli, the high priest, and helped in the tabernacle.
While Samuel was still quite a young boy, the Almighty told me to clear the way because He was going to speak personally to the boy. It was early in the night and Samuel had just gone to bed when the Almighty called his name. Samuel had never heard the Almighty speak before, and I suspect never expected to, so he thought it was the high priest, Eli. Eli sent him back to bed. Three times this happened until, on the third, Eli realised it must be the Almighty speaking and told Samuel how to respond. The Almighty gave Samuel prophetic words to the effect that Eli's sons, who had done evil, would not inherit the post of high priest. Soon after, they were killed in battle, and Eli dropped dead with shock when he heard of their deaths. From then on Samuel was known as a prophet and the Almighty often used him to pass messages to the Israelites.
After the death of Eli, Samuel led an Israelite army against their chief enemy, the Philistines, and defeated them. It was a great battle, and I had to deploy many of my angel army to spread fear and panic among the Philistines. Thereafter, Samuel became Israel's judge for many years. It was an era of peace and prosperity but it could not last.
Samuel was a very humble man and lived a simple life, which did not go down well with the Israelites who rather fancied the glamour and pomp of the kings of neighbouring nations. When Samuel became old he wanted his two sons to succeed him as judges, but as so often happens, they did not follow in their father's saintly footsteps, but turned to evil ways. So there was no apparent successor and the Israelites took this as the opportunity to press for a king to rule over them. I will tell you how that worked out later.
but that is far into the future......