1 Samuel study section

1 Samuel word studies

A handful of Hebrew words carry the theology of 1 Samuel. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.

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Key words

מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach): “Anointed One”

Usage: 1 Samuel 2:10; 16:6; 24:6, 10; 26:9

Meaning: One anointed with oil and set apart for God’s service, especially the king. Saul and David are each called “the LORD’s anointed.”

Theological Significance: Mashiach is the word behind “Messiah” (and, in Greek, “Christ”). The anointing of David begins the royal line and the pattern that culminates in Jesus, the true Anointed One, on whom the Spirit rests without measure (Isaiah 61:1; Acts 10:38).

שָׁאַל (sha’al): “To Ask”

Usage: 1 Samuel 1:20, 27-28; 8:10; 12:13

Meaning: To ask, request, or demand. Hannah “asked” for Samuel and gave him back; Israel “asked” for a king, and Saul’s name itself means “asked.”

Theological Significance: The word ties together the book’s ironies: the son asked in faith and given back becomes God’s prophet, while the king asked in unbelief becomes a warning. It presses the question of what we ask of God, and why, whether to conform to the world or to trust His rule.

לֵבָב (levav): “Heart”

Usage: 1 Samuel 13:14; 16:7

Meaning: The heart: the inner person of mind, will, and affection, the true self that God alone sees fully.

Theological Significance: God chose David because he was “a man after his own heart,” for “the LORD looks on the heart” while people look on appearances. This anticipates the new covenant promise of a transformed heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and the Lord Jesus, who reads and remakes the human heart.

שָׁמַע (shama): “To Hear, Obey”

Usage: 1 Samuel 15:22-24

Meaning: To hear, listen, and, by extension, to heed and obey. Saul’s ruin was a failure to shama the voice of the LORD.

Theological Significance: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (15:22). Biblical faith hears and obeys, and the perfect Hearer and Obeyer is Christ, who learned obedience and did always the will of the Father (Hebrews 5:8; John 8:29).

נָבִיא (navi): “Prophet”

Usage: 1 Samuel 3:20; 9:9

Meaning: A prophet, a spokesman who speaks for God. Samuel is confirmed as a prophet whose words never fall to the ground, marking a new era of prophetic ministry in Israel.

Theological Significance: Samuel stands at the head of the prophets who guide Israel’s kings and point beyond them to Christ, the Prophet like Moses to whom all must listen (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-24).

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