A role model

“In this key passage [I Samuel 7] at the outset of Samuel's leadership of Israel, the narrator presents a robust pattern for remedying sin. It shows the key role that the prophet plays to move the people from lament to penitence. It encourages a response that involves repentance in heart and deed with attendant verbal, sacrificial, and fasting rituals and the intercession of a sacred mediator. This account provides a normative picture of the role that proper leadership can play within the nation, especially helpful in the wake of the warnings of Joshua and the initial depictions of Israel in Judges and the first part of Samuel.”—A Severe Mercy, page 151

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That's what we need, someone to move us from lament to real repentance!
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