Lesson 2 Samuel

Called

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 17-21

Context: 1 Samuel 2:12–3:21

Memory Verse: 1 Samuel 3:10

Main Idea: God delivers His message through His faithful followers.

FIRST THOUGHTS

        One of the marvels of modern technology is voice recognition—the ability of a machine or program to recognize spoken words and translate them into text. Unfortunately, there are times when the message gets garbled. The results of this failure may be humorous, but the results can also lead to problems.

        Spiritual leaders should know what God desires and share that understanding with the people. Eli, a priest in ancient Israel, was a faulty conduit for God’s revelation to His people, as were his two sons. Eli was deaf to the voice of God; therefore, he was not a faithful messenger of the divine revelation. As a priest, Eli should have been calling the congregation of Israel to faithfulness, but he couldn’t because of his own spiritual deficiencies. As God frequently does in the Book of 1 Samuel, He would throw human expectations into upheaval by exalting a humble recipient of His grace over those who held positions of prominence.

        Why is it crucial that people in positions of spiritual leadership possess the capacity of voice recognition in relation to God’s revelation?

I. UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT

1 Samuel 2:12–3:21

        Samuel was born at the end of one of the most tumultuous periods of the history of Israel. It was the latter part of the time of the judges, after Israel had gone through a long, slow descent into idolatry and moral degradation. The last major judge before Samuel, Samson, was a man whose passions were entirely out of control. The Book of Judges tells also of the superstition, violence, and moral outrages that characterized the era. To give one example: a Levite had a concubine, and a group of Israelites raped her until she died. Calling for vengeance, he cut her body into pieces and sent them as a message throughout the nation. This provoked a bloody civil war (Judg. 19–21).

        At the root of all of this was Israel’s persistent idolatry. The people did not flat out abandon the Lord. Rather, they thought they could serve both God and Baal. They went back and forth between the two. It was like an addiction. Many times God sent an oppressor to punish them, and each time, after they had suffered enough, they called out to God for help. He would then send a judge to deliver them (see Judg. 2:11-19). But then they went back to their old ways. No matter how many times this happened, the people never learned their lesson. In fact, with every cycle they only got worse. Samuel’s ministry was a call for Israel to put an end to this spiritual inconsistency and decline. He was also the last judge.

II. EXPLORE THE TEXT

A. A Voice (1 Sam. 3:1-10)

        ¹ Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” ⁵ and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.
⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

 

Verses 1-3

        Samuel was at this time a boy, possibly around age 12. He was working as a hierodule, a person who took care of menial tasks at a sanctuary. Judging from the reference to the burning of the lamp in verse 3, it may be that his nocturnal duty was to see to it that the lamps in the sanctuary menorah kept burning through the night.

        The text tells us that prophetic messages were rare at this time. Very few people were receiving direct messages from God. This narrative tells us this for two reasons. First, it helps to explain Samuel’s confusion. It did not occur to him that God might be calling him because, as far as he knew, God hardly ever spoke to anyone. Second, it indicates the importance of the ministry that Samuel would carry out. After a long period of silence, God was again speaking, and Samuel would be his messenger.

        The lamps of the sanctuary menorah were kept burning from evening until morning and were extinguished at dawn (Ex. 27:20-21). Verse 3 says the lamp of God had not yet gone out. This suggests that it was in the last hour of the night, just before morning. The detail could have symbolic significance. Israel, during the time of the judges, experienced moral decay, suffered defeats from their enemies, and lacked spiritual leadership. They had, so to speak, come through a very dark night. The ministry of Samuel would be the dawn of a new day and of new hope.

Verses 4-8a

        We may wonder why the Bible goes through the trouble of walking us through each of the three times that God called out to Samuel in these verses. In a biblical text, space is limited. The Bible can summarize the entire reign of a king of Israel in a few words and then move on. And yet this narrative takes the time to report each of the three occasions when God called Samuel, and Samuel ran to Eli. There are at least three reasons it did this.

        The first reason is the simple rhetorical power of the repetition. Think of how this sounded to an ancient audience as the story was read aloud. As it works through the three times that God from his sanctuary calls to Samuel during the night, and the three times that the boy assumes it is Eli speaking, the audience feels a rising tension, wondering when and how Samuel will recognize what is really happening. This puts the audience on the edge of their seats, knowing that something important is coming.

        The second reason is that the threefold repetition affirms that God is deliberate and intentional about what He is doing. The closest parallel to this is in Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus (John 18). If Peter had only denied Christ once, we might think that it was unintentional. We could suppose he had blurted out a denial of his association with Jesus without thinking through what he was doing. But because he did it three times, we know that Peter had fairly made up his mind to hide the fact that he was a disciple. Only after he heard the rooster crow did he recognize the enormity of his betrayal.

        The repetition of God’s call to Samuel implies that He was determined to make contact with the boy. He was not going to speak once and then give up. God had a high purpose for Samuel, and He would keep calling until He got through to him. This, in fact, is how it often is when people are called by God. He speaks to their hearts, and they either don’t recognize Him or refuse to listen. But He calls again and again. Finally, they can ignore it no longer. They know they have been called to a task or ministry, and they must yield to it.

        The third reason is an outgrowth of the first two reasons: the story demonstrates to the audience that Samuel is a great prophet with a genuine call from God. He spoke to Samuel audibly and repeatedly. God kept calling him until Samuel responded, and then the Lord gave him a specific message. The audience in effect relives the moment when Samuel received God’s call, and they come away convinced that if there ever was a true prophet, Samuel was such a man.

Verses 8b-10

        The story gives us appreciation for Eli. We know that he had his failings, as shown by how he allowed his sons to abuse their privileges. But Eli himself was no reprobate. Like the rest of us, he was a sinner-saint. He recognized that God was speaking to Samuel, and he properly instructed him on how to receive the message. He did not deny what God was doing or tell Samuel to just shut up and go back to bed or try to co-opt the process (as if to say, “I’m the high priest; God should speak to me!”). After telling Samuel how to respond, Eli got out of the way and allowed God and Samuel to have a private conversation.

        We need to be careful about what we make of God’s direct revelation to Samuel. In Old Testament times, God spoke in various ways through the prophets. He could give them dreams or visions, or he could directly speak to them, as in Samuel’s case. We would not want to say that God never uses such means today. We hear a steady stream of reports from the Islamic world of people coming to Christian faith after a direct encounter with Jesus in a dream. Apart from that, these people would never hear about Christ at all. God is free to do as He chooses, and this includes the freedom to address people directly.

        On the other hand, direct revelation from God is rare and not necessarily superior. In many places, the Bible and the church are readily available, and these are witnesses that carry the Word of God to the nations. God expects us to grow in faith and grace through a consistent practice of reading the Bible and of gathering together at the church. If what we want is a message from God, it is already near at hand. If what we want is the thrill of hearing a heavenly voice or of seeing an angel, then we are not seeking the Word of God but a spectacular experience. The apostle Paul had experienced heavenly visions, but in his opinion, they were far from being the most important thing about his office and ministry (2 Cor. 12:2-10). He certainly did not think that the kind of visions he had were part of the normal Christian life. Jesus also spoke indirectly to this issue when He told Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). It is all well and good for someone to have a direct encounter with Christ, but there is a special blessing for those who simply read or hear the Word and believe.

        How can we prepare our hearts to hear God’s voice?

B. A Message (1 Sam. 3:17-18)

        ¹⁷ And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”

Verses 17-18

        The message God wanted Samuel to deliver was harsh, and it was directed at Eli. Because Eli had not put a halt to the scandalous behavior of his sons (2:22-25), he and his sons would die and the family would lose its position as high priests over the sanctuary (3:11-14). An anonymous prophet had previously warned Eli that God would soon judge him and his house (2:27-30). Now the message came through Samuel that the hammer was about to fall. By the time Samuel delivered God’s message to Eli, there was no longer any room for repentance. God had determined that the time for judgment had come.

        Eli was in many ways a tragic case. Everything we see about him implies he had a divided mind. According to 1 Samuel 2:22-25, Eli told his sons that their behavior was wrong, but he could not bring himself to remove them from their priestly offices. The prophet actually said that Eli honored his sons more than he honored God (2:29), but this accusation was really given for rhetorical effect, stating what Eli’s behavior implied; it was not necessarily a literal description of his emotional attitude. In fact, when the Israelites went off to war against the Philistines, Eli was far more concerned about the safety of the ark of the covenant than he was about the safety of his sons (4:13,17-18). Even so, loyalty to family and loyalty to God pulled his heart in different directions.

        We see other evidence of Eli’s inner contradictions as well. On the one hand, he showed spiritual discernment and admirable restraint when he recognized that God was speaking to Samuel. Even in his submission to God’s verdict, he showed respect for God’s sovereignty and justice, and he did not rebel or complain: It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. With this answer, he sounded a little bit like pious Job: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

        On the other hand, Eli also sounded like the man in the parable who only received one talent. Jesus said, “He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours’” (Matt. 25:24-25). Eli knew right from wrong, and he knew that God would demand an accounting, but like the man in the parable he became completely passive. Instead of proactively dealing with the problems at the sanctuary by expelling his sons from the priesthood, he simply allowed events to follow their natural course. His faith in God was real, but it was not a wise faith. It led him to a kind of fatalism and paralysis rather than to active obedience.

        Samuel had a message, even though it was not one that he wanted to deliver. But just as Eli had divided loyalties, so also did the people of Israel try to go in two directions. Years later, another prophet, Elijah, put it like this: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Jesus taught that no one could serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). Samuel would be the first great prophet after Moses to give Israel the demand for simple, uncomplicated loyalty to God.

        How can we be brought to ruin not by personal lust or unkindness or arrogance, but by the people we love?

C. A Prophet (1 Sam. 3:19-21)

        ¹⁹ And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. ²¹ And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

Verse 19

        The words Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him have an echo in Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature  and in favor with God and man.” The two verses quickly pass over many years of growing up for their respective subjects, Samuel and Jesus, and they make the point that neither man had a misspent youth. Both stayed on the path of godliness.

        Verse 19 also tells us that God let none of his words fall to the ground. This literally says, “And God did not allow any of His words to fall to the ground.” Put simply, none of Samuel’s prophecies were flops. After his first prophecy—the message concerning the imminent fall of the house of Eli—he gave a series of messages not recorded in the Bible. Although we do not know the content of every prophecy he made, we know that every prophecy he made came to pass.

        What impact does God’s Word have on situations that seem desperate or bleak? How does God use His Word to bring hope and direction? 

Verses 20-21

        Even as a boy at Shiloh, Samuel quickly gained a reputation for being a reliable conduit of God’s messages. His fame spread from Dan to Beersheba. This is a stock expression for describing the whole length of the land of Israel from north to south. Dan was the northernmost significant city of Israel, situated near the heavily wooded region of Lebanon, and Beersheba was in the semi-desert country of the far south. The expression is similar to the American English phrase “from coast to coast.”

        Samuel continued to have revelations from God while growing up at Shiloh. Samuel did not spend his whole prophetic career there. In fact, he probably had to leave the town before he reached age 20 for the simple reason that the Philistines conquered the town and destroyed the sanctuary there. 1 Samuel 4 tells the story of how the Israelites were defeated in a great battle and lost possession of the Ark of the Covenant. But we also know from Jeremiah 26:6 that the Shiloh sanctuary was destroyed, and this almost certainly happened right after the Israelites lost the ark.

        Therefore, it seems that Samuel continued to reside at Shiloh for a few years after he gave his initial message to Eli. During this time, he received many messages from God, and his fame spread far and wide. After the Shiloh sanctuary was razed, Samuel returned to his hometown in Ramah, where he built an altar to the Lord and continued to issue messages in His name (1 Sam. 7:17; 8:4). We must not miss how important this was. The destruction of the Shiloh sanctuary was a cataclysmic event for Israel. The sanctuary had been the center of their spiritual existence. With that gone, they were like lost sheep. But Samuel filled in the gap by continuing to give messages from God and by officiating at his makeshift altar in Ramah. Samuel gave the people divine guidance, comfort, and continuity until temple worship was fully reestablished under David and Solomon.

        Can you recall any time of crisis when one person arose with the faith and strength necessary to hold things together and enable people to make it through to the end of the trouble? Have you seen such a thing in a church, a business, or a family?

KEY DOCTRINE

The Family

        Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth.

BIBLE SKILL

Interpret Scripture with Scripture.

        Read Matthew 10:34-39. Summarize the truths Jesus was teaching. How does what Jesus said in Matthew 10 relate to Eli’s situation? In what ways is Eli’s life an example of what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 10?