What did the worship of YAHWEH look like in Samuel’s days, remembering that Samuel lived well into the 40-year reign of Saul? For one thing, Samuel was not a priest. He had come to serve the LORD and Eli at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. But he was not from a priestly family. On the day Samuel met Saul we see Samuel in action. He traveled a circuit from Bethel (N of Jerusalem near Shiloh) to Gilgal (near Jericho and the Dead Sea) to Mizpah (NW of Jerusalem; 1 Sam. 7:16). There was no set place of worship. Thus, altars were built in various places from the time Israel entered the land until David’s reign when God chose Jerusalem. These altars might have regularly been at “high places.” There was nothing in the Law of Moses to forbid this until the time that God would select a place (Deut. 12).
Samuel had organized the sacrificial offering that day. We do not need to assume that he killed the animal or did other priestly duties. But he called for the offering and gave directions as to the meal that accompanied it. Worship looked something similar to the time of Noah and Abraham, when they built altars wherever they lived. With the demise of Shiloh, Samuel likely oversaw the altars in the three cities he frequented, and might have given advice to others. While there was not a single place of worship, the priesthood still belonged to the descendants of Aaron and to no one else.
But who were these priests? With Eli and his sons dead, the next reference to priests is in 1 Sam. 21 and the priests at Nob who gave David bread and the sword of Goliath when, unknown to the priests, David was fleeing from Saul. These priests had “holy bread” (21:4) so they were doing something related to the worship commanded in the Law of Moses. They also had an “ephod” (priestly garment, 21:9) because Goliath’s sword was hidden behind it. But Nob, which literally means “high place,” was not a priestly city mentioned in Joshua. It was apparently near Anathoth (Neh. 11:32), which was a priestly city near Jerusalem. The priests of Nob were good men (22:11). They were eventually all put to death by Saul, but Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech the chief (high) priest, escaped to David, taking the ephod with him, which David used to inquire of the LORD (23:9; 30:7).
Now it get’s interesting. David, as king, appointed two priests: Abiathar’s son Zadok and Ahitub’s son Ahimelech (2 Sam. 8:17). Upon David’s death, when Adonijah challenged Solomon, Ahimelech’s son Abiathar sided with Adonijah. Solomon would not put him to death but removed him from the priesthood, leaving Zadok to be the priest. As 1 Ki. 2:26-27 says, this fulfilled the prophecy that Eli’s family would no longer be priest but would beg for bread. How, you ask? Aaron had two sons: Eleazar and Ithamar. When Aaron died, Eleazar become High Priest (Num. 20:22-29). Among others, Eli and the priests of Nob were in that line. Zadok descended from Ithamar, and under Solomon became HP. Thus, the priesthood still belonged to Aaron, but not to Eli and his descendants.
Going back to Samuel’s time, religion in Israel continued in ways like in the time of the Judges. But God was working, and under David the Ark was brought to the City of David and placed in a tabernacle David had erected (2 Sam. 6:16-17). God designated Mt. Moriah as the one place for worship. Thus Solomon, upon completion of the temple, brought the Ark from the City of David (1 Ki. 8:1). At that point the religion of Israel should have become more specific: one altar, one temple, and one Priest. It didn’t happen for long, but that’s another story.
What have we seen? God always has a thought about how His people are to approach Him in worship. That includes for us, under the New Covenant. Only through one High Priest. And yet, we too have priestly duties. The temple is your body (1 Cor. 6:19-20) and the local church body (1 Cor. 3:16-17) that are the home of the Spirit of God. We have sacrifices to offer (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15-16; Jas. 1:27, etc.). Above all, in nothing will the Lord say to us that we honor anything more than we honor God!
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