Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering to Yahweh: and Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him.
This section sounds more like the Book of Judges than does any other in 1 or 2 Samuel. The cycle of religious experience repeated six times in that book occurs here as well. That cycle consists of blessing, apostasy, discipline, repentance, deliverance, rededication, and blessing. Samuel exercised the same function as the judges whose experiences appear on the pages of Judges.