撒上三19~20　　撒母耳长大了，耶和华与他同在，使他所说的话一句都不落空。…所有的以色列人都知道，撒母耳被确立为耶和华的申言者。

　　撒母耳被神确立说神的话，以顶替老旧祭司职分教导神的话语。在祭司职分里，祭司该作的第一件事，就是为神说话。大祭司所戴的胸牌和乌陵土明，乃是神用来对祂百姓说话的凭借。祭司职分堕落后，神的说话几乎失去了。因此，神需要兴起一个活的人，一个申言者，来为祂说话；这就是祂在撒母耳身上所作的。…亚伯拉罕是为神说话的申言者；但在神命定的方式里，撒母耳是建立了申言者职分的第一位申言者。…撒母耳…在神的行政里…，把祭司时代转移到申言者和君王时代。（撒母耳记生命读经，三九至四○、四九页。）

　　1 Sam. 3:19-20 And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel…knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of Jehovah.

　　Samuel was established by God to speak the word of God to replace the teaching of the word of God by the old priesthood…. The first thing that a priest should do is speak for God. The breastplate and the Urim and the Thummim worn by the high priest were the means used by God to speak to His people. In the degradation of the priesthood, God’s speaking was almost lost. Thus, God needed to raise up a living person, a prophet, to speak for Him, and this is what He did with Samuel…. Abraham was a prophet speaking for God, but in God’s ordained way Samuel was the first prophet to set up a prophethood. Samuel…turned the age in God’s administration from the age of the priesthood to the age of the prophethood with the kingship. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 30-31, 38)

　　正确的申言者职分总是辅助君王职分，这对我们该是个功课。在今天的召会生活中，作长老的有君王职分。你若不是长老，但看见召会中有些事情不太对，你不该批评、反对或说闲话；你必须作申言者，借着向主祷告，从祂领受话语。你若没有从主得着话语，就不该说什么。但主若怜悯祂的召会，给你申言的话，你就该到长老们跟前，向他们申言。长老们晓得自己有君王职分，就该学习知道他们不是全能的，他们会有缺欠；因此，他们该听这位弟兄的申言。这就是召会生活中正确的情形。

　　祭司的职分是将神的话供应给祂的百姓，并施行神的权柄，治理祂的百姓。我们都需要学习作这两件事。然而，一个人可能是申言者，得着了基督丰富的异象，却不晓得如何施行神的权柄，用正确的方式来对付关于缺乏基督丰富之异象的情形。召会生活中的难处，常常是由那些不知道如何施行神权柄的人所引起的。…亚伦的祭司职分在两件事上失败而够不上神所要的：第一，在供应神话语的事上；第二，在施行神权柄的事上。这就是为什么新约嘱咐长老们要学习作两件事：教导圣徒，（提前三2，五17，）就是说神的话；以及在圣徒中间领头，（来十三7，彼前五1~3，）就是施行神的权柄。长老们若要教导圣徒，就必须领头实行他们所教导的。这就是借着领头来施行神的权柄。

　　当祭司职分的光景正确时，祭司乃是百姓的榜样。凡祭司所教导的，凡他们所施行神的权柄，他们自己就领头去作，以完成一切与神永远经纶有关的事。例如，祭司领头把脚踏进约但河，后来又领头围绕耶利哥城。这是…今天…照顾召会生活正确的路：以教导为神说话，并以领头施行神的权柄。

　　当神命定的祭司职分衰微时，神开始了新的时代，兴起撒母耳这年轻的拿细耳人作忠信的祭司，顶替衰微的祭司职分。（撒上二35。）神借着建立撒母耳在被拔高的申言者职分里作申言者，将祂的话供应给祂的选民；（三20~21；）神也借着兴起撒母耳作士师，施行祂的权柄，治理祂的选民。（七15~17。）…撒母耳这最后一位士师，结束了士师职分；他作为新的祭司，带进由拔高的申言者职分所加强的君王职分；在这拔高的申言者职分上，他被立为第一位申言者。（徒三24，十三20，来十一32。）…老旧祭司职分原有神的话，并施行神治理的权柄。神用拔高的申言者职分顶替了老旧的祭司职分，向祂的百姓讲说神的话；并用君王职分顶替了老旧的祭司职分，治理神的百姓。（撒母耳记生命读经，五○至五三页。）

　　参读：以弗所书生命读经，第九十五、五十四、五十九篇。

　　The proper prophethood is always an assistant to the kingship. This should be a lesson to us. In the church life today, the elders hold the kingship. If you are not one of the elders and you see something in the church that is not so right, you should never criticize, oppose, or gossip. You need to be a prophet by praying to the Lord to receive a word from Him. If you do not receive a word from the Lord, you should not say anything. But if, in His mercy to His church, the Lord gives you a word, a prophecy, then you should go to the elders and prophesy to them. The elders, realizing that they hold the kingship, should learn that they are not all-capable, that they may be deficient. Therefore, they should listen to this brother’s prophecy. This is the proper situation in the church life.

　　The priesthood was to minister the word of God to His people and to exercise the authority of God over His people. We all need to learn to do these two things. However, one may be a prophet, having a vision of the riches of Christ, but he may not know how to exercise God’s authority to take the proper way to deal with the lack of vision concerning Christ’s riches. Troubles in the church life are often caused by those who do not know how to exercise God’s authority. The Aaronic priesthood failed God in two things: in ministering God’s word and in exercising God’s authority. This is why the New Testament charges the elders to learn to do two things: to teach the saints (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17), that is, to speak the word of God; and to take the lead among the saints (Heb. 13:7; 1 Pet. 5:1-3), that is, to exercise God’s authority. If the elders teach the saints, they must take the lead to practice whatever they teach. This is to exercise God’s authority by taking the lead.

　　When the priesthood was proper, the priests were patterns to the people. What the priests taught and what they exercised in the authority of God, they themselves did, taking the lead to carry out all the things regarding God’s eternal economy. For example, the priests took the lead to step into the river Jordan and then to circle the city of Jericho…. Today, this is the proper way to take care of the church—teaching to speak for God and taking the lead to exercise God’s authority.

　　God began a new age in raising up Samuel, a young Nazarite, as a faithful priest to replace the waned priesthood (1 Sam. 2:35). God ministered His word to His elect by establishing Samuel as a prophet in the uplifted prophethood (3:20-21), and He exercised His authority over His elect by raising up Samuel as a judge (7:15-17). Samuel, as the last judge, terminated the judgeship, and, as the new priest, brought in the kingship with the strengthening of the uplifted prophethood, in which Samuel was established as the first prophet (Acts 3:24; 13:20; Heb. 11:32)…. The old priesthood had the word of God and exercised the ruling of God. God replaced it with the uplifted prophethood to speak God’s word to His people and the kingship to rule over God’s people. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 39-41)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 95, 54, 59