Reading 1 - 1Samuel 7 & 8

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7 v.2 - Kirjath Jearim was the resting place for the ark for the remainder of the time of Samuel and all of the reign of Saul and the first seven years of the reign of David for this is the place from whence David brought the ark and set it in the house that he had built for it. [2Samuel 6:2] Therefore the 20 years mentioned cannot be the whole of that period because we know that Saul reigned for 40 years. [Acts 13:21] And David reigned seven and a half years in Hebron before he took Jebus. [2 Samuel 5:5 1 Kings 2:11]
7 v.12 - Samuel, by calling the people to Mizpeh and bringing about a spiritual revival, and the subsequent actions of Yahweh and the raising of the stone which he called Ebenezer marks to Israel that their behaviour in taking the ark to battle [1Samuel 4:4] and it being taken from Ebenezer by the Philistines [1 Samuel 5:1] is now reversed. Hence anyone who saw that stone from this time forward would be able to contrast the behaviour in the days of Eli and the death of Eli and his sons with the deliverance that had just taken place because of the faithfulness of Samuel. Notice that it was just as Samuel was offering the sacrifice [1Samuel 7:10] that the Philistines came against Israel. At a time when they were 'distracted' by serving their God He intervened on their behalf, by contrast to the situation when the ark was taken into the camp.

8 v.1 - Maybe there is an indication of what the Lord thought of Samuel's sons in the fact that there seem to be only two mentions of them in the whole of Scripture. [1Samuel 8:1 1Chronicles 6:28]
8 v.11 - Moses had already shown Israel that Yahweh knew that they would desire a king. [Deuteronomy 17:14 - 20] legislates for the selection of a king and how he should behave. Saul and many others who followed him clearly did not take heed to the admonition of Moses, nor the warning of Samuel.
Peter Forbes

7:3 The call to 'put away the strange gods fro among you' echoes the call of Jacob to his family (Genesis 35:2). On this occasion Jacob's two sons Simeon and Levi had executed cruel retribution on the men of Shechem.

8:1 That Samuel made his two sons 'judges' and the fact that 'Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life (7:15) and the call of the people, recorded (Acts 13:20) 'judges unto the tie of Samuel the prophet' will help us to realise that we are in, during the life of Samuel, transition period between the time of the Judges and the time of the kings.
Peter Forbes

7:6-12 Oh that Israel could remember that God would always deliver His people if they were faithful. They were serving Him and going to Mizpeh was a risk. They must have left their flocks and their fields unguarded. God had told them that when they went to worship him their enemies would not take their lands.

8:4 The words of the elders might have appeared to be well intentioned. It might have been thought that they just wanted to make sure that after Samuel's death there would be men as faithful as he had been ruling over them. However it was a pretext to enable them to ask for a king., They were more concerned with being like the nations round about than in ensuring that God'' laws were kept.

8:11 The warning that Samuel gives about the kings appointing their sons to run before his chariot was copied exactly by both Absalom (1 Samuel 15:1) and Adonijah (1 Kings 1:5) - so we might conclude what kind of kings they would have been if they had been successful in their uprisings.
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Isaiah 52

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Reading 3 - Revelation 14

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Those who are not defiled are like the living creatures of Ezekiel 1 in the way that they follow the lamb. So those who are not defiled will eventually be a manifestation of the glory of God in the earth.
Peter Forbes