“So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. Then all the people said to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.’ … ‘For the LORD will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way'” (1 Sam 12:18-19, 22-23).
This passage draws an unmistakeable parallel between the prophet Samuel and Moses (compare 1 Sam 12:18 with Exod 9:28; 14:31). The author obviously wants us to see Samuel as a new Moses. But what makes the prophet Samuel most like Moses in this story is his willingness to intercede to God on behalf of his wayward people (compare 1 Sam 12:19 with Num 11:2; 21:7; Deut 9:20, 26).
By looking carefully at this OT portrait of a prophet like Moses pleading on behalf of Israel, we also get a glimpse of a NT apostle from the tribe of Benjamin, who like Moses, Samuel, and his Savior Yeshua before him (see Isa 53:10-12), also prayed, pleaded, and interceded on behalf of his sinful people. And the image of our prophets, apostles, and most especially our Moses-like Messiah is most clearly reflected when we pray, plead, and stand in the gap for God’s wayward people as well.
“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom 9:1-2).
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation” (Rom 10:1). “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Rom 11:1).
