About 1 Samuel 3
1 Samuel 3
After pronouncing the destruction on the house of Eli the priest, God calls Samuel as a prophet.
*heads up, this will be a long one.
“Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli.”
Chapter 3 commences with a reintroduction to Samuel in which he is contrasted with Eli’s sons - he served the Lord.
As you read the first few chapters about Samuel you will notice that he is always portrayed as ministering in some capacity. Let’s recap to chapter 2:
1 Samuel 2:18: But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord.
1 Samuel 2:21: Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
1 Samuel 2:26: Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the Lord and the people.
In that same reintroduction to Samuel, we are informed that “in those days, messages from the LORD were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon.” (3:1b)
Reading the Bible in context, Samuel’s time comes in the midst of the period of the judges, in which Israel is sinful towards God. As a result, we can perceive that this notable silence from God is a result of His displeasure with the Israelites. In addition, the mention of such silence is an indicator that it will be coming to an end.
“We are given no signs from God;
no prophets are left.
and none of us know how long this will last.”
Let’s dive in:
God knew that Eli and his sons’ sins were going to be too great and as such, He placed Samuel at the Temple in preparation for the time when He will punish Eli and his family by removing their priesthood.
I want to note here that God does not remove anyone without having a replacement. Samuel grew up with Eli and in the presence of God. Preparing, unknowingly, to take cover the priesthood.
Everyone has a purpose and a time limit in their position. You will either leave it gracefully or you won’t - it all depends on you.
Had Eli been faithful to God, He would not have been removed from his position, nor would his family had been removed from the priestly line. But was not faithful to God in the areas that mattered. In this chapter we are informed that Eli was becoming blind, my Faithlife Study Bible states that this physical illness in a reflection of Eli’s spiritual dullness and lack of perception, which can be backed up by two circumstances:
In 1 Samuel 1:13-14, Eli mistakes Hannah’s posture of prayer as drunkness.
In 1 Samuel 1:22-26, Eli weakly rebukes his sons sins, which ultimately led God to send a prophet to inform Eli of His plan to remove the priesthood from his family line.
This reveals another detail: Eli was spiritually dull even before Samuel was conceived. Behind the scenes, God was preparing Hannah for the vow that she made that day in chapter 1, promising God that she will dedicate the child to Him if He answers her prayers. Hannah’s own pregnancy was delayed so that at the given time God would show Himself faithful by not just fulfilling Hannah’s heart desire, but by also rising up a priest that would treat His people justly. God had been working in Hannah’s own heart before the events of chapter 1, and we can be sure of this because she actually fulfilled her vow of giving her first born son to the Lord. Because of the faithfulness of his parents, Samuel was able to grow up in the presence of God.
Let’s look at it this way: No one is outside of God’s time. Hannah conceived exactly when she was supposed to, in the way that she was meant to. Through her vow, God’s replacement of Eli came to be, and Eli himself sealed it (1 Samuel 1:17).
“The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly, the LORD cried out, “Samuel!””
There are a few things to note from here:
had not yet gone out
This line indicates that it was near dawn.
sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God.
This setting highlights Samuel’s proximity to God. The Ark represents the Lord presence among His people [Exodus 25:10-22], as such, Samuel is literally the closest person to God in all of Israel at that moment.
It is Samuel’s proximity to God that leads to the occurrence that we were told was rare and uncommon during that time in Israel: Samuel hears from God.
Not just once, but three times.
It is such a phenomenal occurrence, that three times Samuel goes to Eli thinking that it was the priest that called him.
So, what happened when God called Samuel?
The first call and action takes place in 1 Samuel 3:4-5:
“Suddenly, the LORD called out, “yes” “Samuel!”
”Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” ”
In verse 3, we are told Samuel is sleeping, yet, when he suddenly hears his name being called, he awakes. Yet, not only does he wake up, but he responds and when greeted with silence, he speaks again: “what is it?” and when there’s no response again, instead of going to sleep, as some of us would [guilty], he gets up and runs to Eli. His words, “here I am”, echoes the obedient responses of the patriarchs and Moses. Not to mention that his quick response “indicates that Samuel was readily available to serve and quick to obey.” (Faithlife Bible Study, 1 Samuel 3 commentary).
Samuel’s response to God’s second call is the same: he hears his name, gets up, goes to Eli, Eli tells him that he didn’t call out and to go back to bed. As Samuel makes his way back to the Tabernacle, the narrator tells us:
Samuel did not yet know the LORD because he had never had a message from the LORD before.” - 1 Samuel 3:7, NLT
This explains why Samuel failed to recognize Go'd’s voice twice and again a third time.
“So the LORD called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”
The Eli realized it was the LORD who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lied down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak LORD, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.”
Eli’s failure to immediately recognize that it was God calling out to Samuel reflects Eli’s distance from God.
This is embodied nowadays too. Not everyone who calls themselves Christian is close to God.
Eli was a priest in charge of tending to God, but even he never heard God’s voice - proof of this is the fact that a prophet had to come to pronounce judgement on the house of Eli; reflecting that Eli was not close enough to God to hear God Himself, not to mention that if he was he wouldn’t had sinned in the first place and thus wouldn’t had faced such judgement anyways.
This is a lesson that not everyone who appears to be close to God is in proximity to Him. Not everyone who performed duties for the Lord serves Him. Meaning that there are people who serve for the benefits that come from serving - like Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas who sent their servants to take the fat from the meat offerings of the people. Some people might serve because it places them in proximity to someone, or they wan to show off their position: “I serve here, so I’m really saved.” Or it can also be to satisfy a personal desire. Whatever it is, if God is not at the center, not only will serving become an idol, but you’ll burn out because you’re trying to do something out of your own strength, and you might not even be called to that position.
Ultimately, it is the fruits that person reaps that shows where they stand with God. Eli reaped judgement from God; Samuel reaped a relationship with God.
This leads us to the fourth call from God:
“And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.””
God proceeds to rely a message to Samuel about Eli’s judgment, and in verse 20, Samuel delivers his first message from God when he was still just a boy.
As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. - 1 Samuel 3:19, NLT
Before, we were getting ‘Samuel was in the Presence of God’, now we see that God is with Samuel.
The Word tells us that when we seek God wholeheartedly we will find Him [Jeremiah 29:13]; Samuel sought God’s presence and he found Him, and when that encounter happened, there was a shift. Samuel was no longer a boy under Eli, Samuel became a prophet.
“And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel at the Tabernacle. And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel.”
What did I learn from Samuel 3?
Always be on alert and ready.
I know it’s easier said than done; we can see that occur with the disciples in the Mount of Olives when Peter, James and John fell asleep while Jesus prayed [Matthew 26:40].
Had Samuel ignored the calling of his name, he would’ve missed his chance at what God had to say; at what God wanted to do in his life. Samuel was alert and ready to obey and we must be too.
How can we do this?
By staying in God’s presence.
Being in close proximity to God.
As I mentioned before, Samuel practically slept at the feet of God. He was near the Ark of God. Therefore, we too must stay near to God’s presence through prayer, reading the Word and godly community.
Thank you for reading!
Have any thoughts to share?
Write them in the comment section below!
God Bless,
Ahastery
