The Philistines saw the ark of the covenant as their prize for success in battle. This gold-covered box was sacred to the God of Israel, and, defeating Israel, they believed that they had also defeated Israel's God. So, they offered the ark to their false god, called Dagon.

But they had not even begun to know the power of the true God, firstly against their false gods, and then against their crops and against themselves. A terrible plague swept through Philistia, until the desperate cries of the people even reached to heaven.

Some events change everything. Israel's defeat against the Philistines was inevitably a disaster. It became so much worse because, in a moment of great folly, they had taken into battle the ark of the covenant, their most sacred object, which symbolised God's presence among them - and their enemies had captured it.

But for young Samuel, this was the fulfilment of his prophecy against the leaders of the priests, and the proof of his calling as a prophet.

The nation no longer had the sacred ark, and Shiloh, where God's house had been for 400 years, would now fall into ruins. But instead, a prophet had arisen in the power of God to lead their nation.

Still a boy, Samuel did not expect to hear the call of God or to become a prophet. He saw himself as just a servant to Eli, the blind chief priest who had allowed so many wrong things to happen at God's house, the tabernacle.

Yet it was Eli who first taught the young Samuel to recognise God's voice. Samuel must respond to God and recognise himself as God's servant, even as he had until now thought of himself as Eli's servant.

And it was Eli who also insisted that Samuel must speak as a prophet and declare what God had shown him - even though that message was a word of judgment against Eli's own family of priests.

Samuel began his ministry as a child, serving at the tabernacle, the sacred tent of God that had stood in Shiloh, as the sole place of worship of the true God, for 400 years. But much was wrong with the ministry there. The priests were evil men, stealing from the people's gifts to God, and involved in sexual sin.

God sent a prophet to declare his judgment against the family of the chief priests, and promised a faithful priest and an anointed King to rule over God's people.

In fulfilment of her vow, Hannah handed her young son Samuel over to work for God for his whole life. On that day, Hannah prayed, and as the Holy Spirit came upon her, she began to speak one of the greatest prophecies in the Bible, declaring how God would completely change her nation's situation and send his Anointed King, the Messiah.

Hannah's prophecy was the inspiration behind the great song of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that is called the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)

Hannah, a woman without children, was constantly taunted by her husband's second wife. In that situation, she began to pray and resolved that, if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to work for God for his whole life.

Such was the pious mother of Samuel the prophet, who herself, as we shall discover in chapter 2, was a prophetess.

Living in a lawless age, Boaz cared about God's law. He arranged for Bethlehem's leaders to gather as a court of law, to decide who would redeem Elimelech's family and therefore, marry Ruth.

So Ruth's marriage to Boaz became an important public occasion, at which the people acknowledged her great step of faith in joining Israel's people to revive one of its ancient families - and so to become the mother, not just of Obed, but also of its future royal family.

Desiring to become Boaz's wife, but fearful that he would never agree to marry her publicly, Ruth goes to Boaz late at night. When he wakes, she urges him to accept her as his wife, and so to have a child who will continue the family of her deceased husband. God's law has given her the right to request this from the closest relative of her late husband.

However, there is a problem. Boaz explains that he is not actually the closest relative.

Arriving in Bethlehem, Ruth decides to 'glean' for food: as a very poor person, God's law allows her to collect leftover grain from the harvest fields. By a little miracle, she chooses the field of Boaz, a relative of her deceased husband who shows her great kindness.

Our new season begins as we look at Ruth chapter 1. Ruth's courageous decision to come to Israel with Naomi, and to place her trust in the true and living God. Explained in clear and simple English.