Children Bible Stories

Samuel had two sons whose names are Joel and Abijah.

Joel and Abijah did not follow the good examples of their father, Samuel because they accept bribes to make unfair decisions.

One day, the people of Israelites said to Samuel, “You are already an old man. Your sons did not follow your good example and had accepted bribery to make unfair decisions. Choose a king for us!”

Samuel felt disappointed that the Israelite does not want to listen to God.

Samuel cried out to the Lord and the Lord answered him saying, “Do what the people tell you to do. I will let you know which person should be chosen to be their king. But warn them what it will be like when a king will rule them.”

Samuel said to the people, “If you let a king to rule over the Israelites, this is how it will be.

The king will make some of you to join his army; some of you to be in charge of his armies; some of you to work at the king’s farm and reap its harvest; and some of you to make weapons for him.

The king will force your daughters to make perfume for him, and cook for him.

The king will take away your best fields and olive orchards and give it away to his officials.

The king will take a tenth of your crops and give it to his officials.

The king will take away your best slaves and donkeys to work for him.

The king will take a tenth of your sheep and goats.

He will also make you his slave.

You will finally cried out in prayers to the Lord and beg Him to save you from the king.

God will not answer your prayers because he had already warned you about having a king.”

The people shouted to Samuel, “We don’t care! We want a king to rule over us just like other nations!”

The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the people and give them what they want. Give them a king.”

Then Samuel sent the Israelites back to their home.

After the Philistines defeated the Israelites, they took away the sacred chest and carried it into the city of Ashdod.

Then they placed the sacred chest next to their statue god Dagon in the temple.

The next day, when the Philistines woke up, they discovered that the statue of Dagon was lying face down toward the sacred chest.

So the Philistines put the statue of Dagon back in its place.

The next morning, when they woke up, they found out that statue of Dagon is lying face down on the floor again but this time its head and two hands were broken off and lying on the doorway.

Because the Philistines had taken away the sacred chest, God caused sores to break out on all the people who live in Ashdod.

The Philistines in Ashdod panicked and said to one another, “The Israelite God must have struck us with these terrible diseases, let us get rid of this chest!”

So the Philistines in Ashdod sent it to Gath.

Immediately the sacred chest arrives at Gath, the Lord made sores broke out on everyone in Gath.

So the people in Gath sent it to Ekron.

Before the sacred chest enters Ekron, the people there started screaming, “They had brought the sacred chest that belongs to the God of the Israelites and they will kill us too!”

The people of Gath called together a meeting of the Philistine rulers to discuss how they can send it back to the Israelites.

The Philistine rulers then send for the priests and fortune tellers, “What should we do with the sacred chest? How can we send it back?”

The priests and the fortune tellers answered, “If you want to send it back, send it back along with gifts.

Send five gold models of sores that are wiping out our nation and five gold models of rats that are wiping out our crops.

Get two new cows that had never pull a cart.

Put the sacred chest into the cart and then put the gold sores and gold rats into a bag and place it next to the sacred chest and sent it on its way.

If it goes up to the road of Beth Shemesh, then you will know that the Lord is the One that caused all these terrible things to happen to us.”

The Philistines did as what the priests and fortune tellers said.

They hitched the cows to the cart and placed the bag of gold sores and gold rats next the Sacred chest.

The two cows went up straight on the road to Beth Shemesh.

When the Israelites at Beth Shemesh saw the sacred chest on the cart, they were very happy.

Some men from the tribe of Levi laid the bag of gold sores and gold rats on the rock. They killed the two cows.

Then they chopped up the woods of the carts to use it to burn the cows and the bag of gold sores and gold rats as offering to God.

When Samuel grows up, God blesses Samuel and makes everything he does very successful.

Everyone knew Samuel is the prophet of God.

God often appears to Samuel in Shiloh and instructs him what to say to the people.

One day, the Philistines waged war against the Israelites.

The Israelite armies set up their camps at Ebenezer but the Philistine armies set up their camps at Aphek.

The Philistines and the Israelites fought but the Philistines defeated the Israelites.

The Israelites armies went back unhappy. Then the Israelite leaders said, “Why didn’t the Lord grant us victory over our enemy, the Philistines? Let us go and carry the sacred chest to the battlefield so that we can win.”

The Israelite armies sent for the soldiers to carry the sacred chest into their camp.

So Eli’s two sons, Hopni and Phinehas carried the sacred chest into the camp.

As Hopni and Phinehas entered the Israelites camp with the sacred chest, the armies cheered so loudly that the ground shook.

When the Philistines found out that the sacred chest had been brought into the camp, they said, “We are in big trouble! The Israelites had brought the sacred chest into their camp. They are the same gods that delivered them from Pharaoh a long time ago.

Philistines, be brave and fight hard so that the Hebrews will never be able to rule over us.”

The Philistines did fight. They defeated the Israelites.

They carried away the sacred chest and put it in the temple of their god, Dagon.

That very same day that the sacred chest was stolen, the two sons of Eli, Hopni and Phinehas died.

A front soldier ran back to the city to bring the news that they were defeated and the sacred chest was taken away by the Philistines.

Eli was sitting beside the wall of the city in his rocking chair when the front soldier ran in and announced the news to everyone.

When Eli heard that the sacred chest is stolen, he fell backward from his rocking chair.

The fall broke his neck and he died.

During the days of Eli, God seldom speak to people through dreams and visions.

But one day, while everyone is sleeping, God called Samuel, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel thought Eli called him so he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am.”

Eli answered, “I did not call you. Go back to sleep.” So Samuel go back to his mat and sleep.

God called Samuel again, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel ran to Eli again and answered, “Here I am.”

Eli said to Samuel, “I didn’t call you. Go back to your bed.”

God never spoke to Samuel before so Samuel was not familiar with His voice.

God called Samuel a third time, saying, “Samuel! Samuel!”

So Samuel got up and ran to Eli again and he said, “Master, here I am. What can I do for you?”

Eli realized that the voice that had been calling Samuel is the Lord so he said to Samuel, “The next time you hear the voice calling your name, say, ‘Lord, Here I am. What can I do for you?’ ”

Samuel went back to lie down on his bed. God stood beside Samuel and said, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Samuel answered, “Lord, Here I am. What do you want me to do for you?”

God said to Samuel, “I am going to punish Eli and his two sons Hopni and Phinehas because they had shown disrespect on the sacrifices the people offered to me.”

The next day, Samuel woke up and walked into the temple of the Lord.

Samuel didn’t went ahead to tell Eli what the Lord had spoken to him because he was afraid of Eli.

But Eli said to Samuel, “Samuel, my little boy, come and tell me everything that God had spoken to you last night. If you don’t tell me what God told you, I pray that God will punish you.”

So Samuel told Eli everything the Lord had told him.

Eli had two sons, Hopni and Phinehas who work as God’s priests. But Hopni and Phinehas were both very dishonest.

Many people come and offer sacrifices at Shiloh every day.

While they are boiling the meat from the sacrifices, Hopni and Phinehas would send a servant to stick whatever meat they can with a large three pronged fork.

Sometimes, they send the servant even when the fat of the meat is not yet cut off to set aside to dedicate to the Lord.

Then the servant would tell the people,” The priest does not want his meat to be boiled; he want to have roasted meat.”

Hopni and Phinehas did not respect God and this made God very angry with them.

Eli is already a very old man. He heard about the disgusting behavior of his two sons, Hopni and Phinehas to the Lord.

So he called them in and said to them,” I have heard many complains about you from the people. If you hurt someone, God can solve the problems between you and that person. But if you commit a crime against God, God is going to punish you.”

God decided to kill Hopni and Phinehas for disrespecting Him therefore Hopni and Phinehas didn’t heed their father’s advice.

The little boy Samuel who stays with Eli grew more and more in favor with men and God each day.

One day, God sent a prophet to speak to Eli.

The prophet said to Eli, “This is the message God wants me to tell you, ‘I am the Lord God Almighty.

I let your family to serve me as priests but I will no longer let you do this anymore!

I respect anyone who respects me and I will curse anyone who hates me.

Therefore, I will kill you and your sons and all your family relatives. You will have many problems in your family.

To prove this, your two sons, Hopni and Phinehas will die on the same day. I have chosen a faithful servant to be my priest.’”

There was a man called Elkanah who lives in the mountains of Ephraim.

Elkanah has two wives who are Hannah and Penninah. Penninah had children; but Hannah was barren and without children.

One day, Elkanah and his whole family went up to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the Lord.

Elkanah loves Hannah more than Penninah so he always gives Hannah double portion of meat compare to Penninah.

Penninah often laughs at Hannah because Hannah couldn’t have any children. This made Hannah very sad and she cried badly over it and did not eat.

Elkanah said to Hannah, “Hannah, why are you crying? I am sure I am better to you than 10 sons.”

Hannah got up after she finished her meal and went up to Eli, the priest. Eli was sitting by the door posts of the tabernacle.

Hannah was crying and praying to God at the same time.

Hannah prayed, “God, please open my womb and let me have a son. If you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. He will be your servant and stay here at Shiloh to serve you.”

When Hannah prayed, her lips were moving but no voice can be heard.

When Eli saw Hannah, Eli thought Hannah was drunk and said, “Sober up!”

Hannah answered, “I am not drunk. I was praying to God about my grief.”

Then Eli said, “Go in peace. God had listened to your prayer and will grant you your request.”

So Hannah left and she was very happy to hear Eli say that God will answer her prayer.

The Lord answered Hannah’s prayer and Hannah was conceived with a son. Hannah gave birth to a son. Hannah called the baby boy Samuel.

After the time for Hannah to wean Samuel is passed, she brought Samuel to Eli to dedicate him to the Lord.

Samuel stayed there at Shiloh with Eli and serve God.