Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
"Prophetic intercession is regarded as essential to Israel’s continued prosperity; only when her doom is sealed is a prophet told to desist (Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11). Samuel’s ministry of intercession and teaching, exercised independently of the offices of state, becomes the norm for those who followed him in the prophetic succession. These are ’the irreducible aspects of the prophetic office’ (McCarter, p. 219)." [Note: Gordon, p. 130. His quotation is from P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel.] 