The Bible does not give an exact date as to when the prophet Samuel was born or how long he lived. So the best we can do is estimate the year in which he was born based upon certain clues from the Scriptures and other sources.
Elkanah, Samuel’s father, would travel to Shiloh yearly to worship (1 Samuel 1:1-3). Hannah, Samuel’s mother, was in Shiloh when she made her vow to dedicate her son to the Lord if He would allow her to have a son (1 Samuel 1:9-11). After she bore Samuel and weaned him, she brought him to Eli in the house of the Lord in Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:24-25).
Regarding Shiloh: “A Danish Expedition (1922-31), found in the ruins of Shiloh, potsherds of 1200-1050 B.C., bearing evidence of Israelite culture… Albright dates the destruction of Shiloh about 1050 B.C.” (HBH, p. 178). This would put the birth of Samuel somewhere between 1200 and 1050 B.C.
Evidence suggests that Jericho was destroyed around 1400 B.C. (HBH, p. 161). The period of the Judges from Othniel to Samson lasted around 300 years (HBH, p. 168-169). So this would put the birth of Samuel sometime after 1100 B.C.
“By 1050 B.C. the Philistines occupied the strategic city of Aphek” (HBA p. 96). The Bible mentions the Philistines camping in Aphek (1 Samuel 4:1). This was after all of Israel knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet (1 Samuel 3:20). God first spoke to him when he was a boy (1 Samuel 3:1-8). The Scriptures say “Samuel grew” between first hearing the word of the Lord and being confirmed as a prophet (1 Samuel 3:19). So he had reached adulthood and came to be known throughout the land as a prophet at some point before 1050 B.C. By the time the Israelites asked for a king (1 Samuel 8:5), he was making an annual circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:16), then returning to his home in Ramah (1 Samuel 7:17).
Saul made king over Israel between 1050 and 1020 B.C.*. At this point, Samuel was said to be old and had sons old enough to serve as judges over Israel – though they acted corruptly in serving as judges (1 Samuel 8:1-4). However, Samuel did live for some time after Saul was anointed as king. He later anointed David as king (1 Samuel 16:13) and finally died sometime after that (1 Samuel 25:1).
Based on these sources, I would estimate the date of Samuel’s birth to be between 1100 and 1090 B.C. This would make him about 50-60 years old when Saul became king – old enough to have grown children serving as judges and young enough to later anoint David as king as live during most of Saul’s reign. It also means he would have been recognized throughout Israel as a prophet at some point before he turned 50 years old.
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*A date 0f 1050-1040 B.C. for Saul being made king seems more likely. The Scriptures say he was a king for forty years (Acts 13:21). David, Saul’s successor, became king around 1010 B.C. (ZPBD, p. 201) or 1000 B.C. (HBA, p. 102). The 1020 B.C. date given in the Holman Bible Atlas does not seem to fit with what Paul said in Acts 13:21, since it would have Saul reigning for 20 years instead of 40 as Paul said.
Sources
HBA – Holman Bible Atlas, ©1998
HBH – Halley’s Bible Handbook, ©1927
ZPBD – The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, ©1963
