1 Samuel 3

When you courageously speak up and out for God in a godless time, His Word will not return void. Join Dr. Marty Maker as he takes us through 1 Samuel 3:1-21 in the latest installment of Spiritual Snapshots in 1 Samuel.

Nations become dysfunctional and unravel due to a lack of sound, consistent, and moral leadership. Such describes the Period of the Judges, which serves as the backdrop of the book of First Samuel.

As I have said, for some 349 years, Israel had moments of peace and victory over their enemies, coupled with spiritual obedience to the Lord.  Judges, or warrior-like political leaders inspired by God, led the repentant nation in these times of renewal; however, it did not last because the people kept returning back to their former destructive sins. They quickly compromised their faith by embracing the worship of the false gods of the land. They threw God’s law to the wind, choosing rather to devise their own that permitted them to live as they desired. In the confusion and chaos this created, they eventually turned on themselves. Fighting among the tribes eventually became the order of the day as the nation slipped into disorder.

And the priesthood? From Chapter 2, we learned how utterly compromised it was.  The High Priest, Eli, enjoyed the meat his two evil priestly sons stole from God’s holy offering from worshippers, and he failed to take definitive action when he discovered his sons preying sexually on women who attended worship at the holy Tabernacle. A nation is certainly sliding into oblivion when its political and spiritual leaders disregard God’s Word.

When times could not have been more tangled, twisted, and tumultuous, God developed His perfect plan to guide His people back to Him slowly.  Did He raise up a gifted politician, a man skilled in oratory, running complex teams, and adept at casting vision and solving problems?  No.  He raised up a young boy named Samuel from a priestly family to repair the priesthood first and then bring health back to the nation. Put differently, God realized His people's problem was not political but spiritual, so He worked hard on the latter to hopefully bring health to the latter.

Perhaps, we should take note. Our country is experiencing a leadership crisis at many levels, resulting in disorder on a massive scale. As important as attempting to elect leaders who can lead us, first by their moral example and second by their commitment to law, the more significant issue that needs to be addressed is the spiritual. If God’s spiritual leaders compromise His Word, if they fail to teach all of His Word, if they do not live out His Word, if they compromise truth on the altar of cultural acceptance, and if they allow the relativism that infiltrated Israel to infiltrate the Church, then disarray becomes the order of the day. In my view, we are in the condition we are in as a nation primarily because the Church has failed to fulfill its calling, choosing instead to bend to the ever-changing whims of cultural ideology.

What is God looking for? The same thing He looked for in the Period of the Judges. He looked for one person who would live a consistent, godly, holy life and who would be His unwavering spokesman. In First Samuel chapter 3, we are introduced to the calling of that spokesman.  His name? You know it. It is Samuel. As you study his unique call, consider that the same Lord is calling you to become a Samuel-type in our day. What that means pragmatically is developed in the four divisions of this historical story.

The Problem (1 Sam. 3:1)

As God attempts to address Israel’s national and personal problems, He first addresses what their problem had cost them:

¹ Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And [a] word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

The phrase, “Now the boy” is, once again, emphatic in the Hebrew. Why? God wants to contrast the lives of the compromised priests, Hophni and Phinehas, and that of the innocent, obedient, and God-fearing little boy priest, Samuel. Once more, the participle, viz., “ministering,” is an iterative use denoting a lifestyle. This is the fifth time the author has commented on this budding priest's loyal service to God (1 Sam. 2:11, 18, 21, 26).

‎  3:1 וְהַנַּ֧עַר שְׁמוּאֵ֛ל מְשָׁרֵ֥ת אֶת־יְהוָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֣י עֵלִ֑י וּדְבַר־יְהוָ֗ה הָיָ֤ה יָקָר֙ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם אֵ֥ין חָז֖וֹן נִפְרָֽץ׃

What does God desire from His people who live in tough times? He desires for them to live like His kingdom members, so they showcase light and create a thirst for truth in the lives of those entrapped in sin. Jesus’s first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, validates this truth (Matt. 5-7). So, what about it? Is your life a moral, spiritual contrast to the lives that intersect with yours? It should be. This is a crucial truth we learn from Samuel.

From this opening verse, we also learn a terrible truth. The love affair with sin in the nation eventually moved God to pull back from giving them a much-needed prophetic Word. The author notes, “A word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.” Take note, please.  When sin becomes the order of the day, people do not want to hear God’s Word, for it is convicting. They become so [instantly] hostile to the Word that even any semblance of it sets them off.  On a recent Alaskan Airlines flight, a Christian flight attendant merely told existing passengers to “Have a blessed day.” That set off Clara Jeffery, the chief editor of Mother Jones liberal magazine, so she took the airline to task for permitting this supposedly terrible behavior. It is funny how she has used the same language in some of her communications; however, all of a sudden, she could not bear hearing it. Tragic.

When sin permeates society, God eventually pulls back from speaking and showcasing His Word in order to serve as a type of judgment on sinful people. Hence, if you do not want the life-giving guardrails of His Word, He will turn you over to life without guardrails so you can learn the error of your wicked ways. Many Scriptures support this premise:

¹⁸ If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; (Ps. 66).

²⁴ "Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention; ²⁵ And you neglected all my counsel, And did not want my reproof;

²⁶ I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, ²⁷ When your dread comes like a storm, And your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come on you. ²⁸ "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, ²⁹ Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the LORD.

 ³⁰ "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. ³¹ "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices.

(Prov. 1)

To the disobedient Israelites in the days of the prophet Amos, the Lord made this statement:

11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord God, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. 12 "And people will stagger from sea to sea, And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it. (Amos 8)

Living under the authority of God’s Word brings order, peace, and direction; however, to shun it is to lose it and wind up in ever-increasing destructive behavior.

However, this is not the end of the matter, for in wrath, God always remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2). God’s mercy is always wedded to the communication of His Word to His people, who, in turn, are called to give that word to others so they can find forgiveness and restoration. We watch this motif slowly develop in the ensuing sections.

The Provision (1 Sam. 3:2-14)

The setting was the Tabernacle in the middle of the night. There were two characters: Eli, the High Priest, and young Samuel.  The latter illustrates the source of some of the national problems, while the latter represents the solution to said problems.

The author begins by introducing us to the unusual setting.

² And it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well),

What happened?  The revelation of God and the calling of the prophet Samuel.  It occurred in the middle of the night while the High Priest and Samuel were fast asleep.  Why does the author tell us that Eli is almost blind? I think his purpose is to demonstrate how Eli’s toleration of blasphemous sinful activity from his priestly sons has blinded his spiritual eyes, and that blindness, in turn, represents the ever-increasing blindness of the people to God’s Word and ways. Again, as go the spiritual leaders, so go the people.

The next verse demonstrates that Samuel’s divine call to prophethood occurred in the darkness of the early morning hours:

³ and 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,

The priests had to keep the Menorah continually lit (Exodus 27:21). Hence, after a night of perpetual burning, the priests had to get up early and ensure the light was not extinguished by adding more oil.  Note the location of Samuel.  He slept somewhere near the curtain that shielded man from the holy presence of God located above the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.  You will remember that God promised He would always dwell in this location:

²² "And there I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel. (Exod. 25)

² And the LORD said to Moses, "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. (Lev. 16)

Interesting. Samuel, not the High Priest, positioned himself closest to God. He also positioned himself where he was most likely to hear from God, should God speak. However, God had not spoken for a long time. That, however, was about to change radically.

God called Samuel by name three times, and Samuel, who had never received an audible word from God, ran to the High Priest. It was a unique and amusing evening, I am sure.

⁴ that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am." ⁵ Then he 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 yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he answered, "I did not call, my son, lie down again."

Eli should have perceived what was happening right away, but he did not, for his spiritual eyesight was as bad as his physical eyesight. He did not even bother to get up and check out what was going on in the flickering light of the Tabernacle. You know a leader should not be leading when they are so old that their physical limitations keep them from doing the job, when they do not have the energy to check out what is going on around them, and when they lose their ability to assess a situation and discern a solution or answer quickly. Eli fit this bill to a tee.

The following somewhat parenthetical verse is most interesting.

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.

Does this mean that Samuel was not a believer in God? No. From chapter two, we can clearly see that he walked with God at a young age. What this means is that he did not know God in an intimate, personal, and revelatory fashion as a prophet of God would.

All of this was about to change with God’s third audible call to the young Samuel:

⁸ So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me."

I would have loved to have been here.  Imagine the setting. Samuel, groggy from getting up two times in the middle of the night, settles down on his mat one more time, only to be awakened by a deep, powerful voice speaking from behind the curtain where the Ark of the Covenant rested. In his state of sleepy confusion, he ran to Eli again.  However, This time, the old priest finally figured out what was happening.  As God spoke to Jacob (Gen. 31:11) and Moses out of the burning bush (Ex. 3:4), He now spoke to a young boy, Samuel.  Samuel will, in many respects, become the new Moses to God’s people by becoming their leader and spiritual guide by assuming the role of a prophet of God.

Listen to Eli’s counsel:

Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy. ⁹ And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Thy servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Underscore Samuel’s absolute and immediate obedience in this entire intriguing ordeal in the wee hours of the morning. No argumentation, no pushback, just obedience. He was everything the other priests were not. The contrasts could not be starker.

Armed now with what he should do should God speak again, the Lord did not let his servant Samuel down, for He had a mission for him:

¹⁰ Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"

Ah, now we do not just have the audible voice of God. We have a theophany.  Without getting too deep into the woods of this concept, suffice it to say that Jesus is the bodily representation of the Trinity.  John develops this point in chapter one of this gospel when he writes:

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1)

Paul also drives this point home in Colossians chapter one, where he speaks about Christ's deity that was wedded to a bodily, human form (Col. 1:16-22). Therefore, Christ stood in the darkness. His presence illustrated that He wanted to reach out to His wayward people by raising up a new, faithful, godly man who would speak His Word without flinching.

Samuel could not have been more obedient:

And Samuel said, "Speak, for Thy servant is listening."

You will recall from our introductory study of this book that one Hebrew root for Samuel’s name means he hears God.  Indeed, he did.

The prophetic word God gave His new prophet was far from positive.

¹¹ And the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.¹² "In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. ¹⁴ "And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."

God told Samuel that He was going to bring judgment on the wicked house of Eli. God educated Samuel that when His plan of discipline unfolded, people's ears would tingle because they would not like what they heard. God also told Samuel that Eli’s priestly house would fall permanently and definitively all because he utterly failed to hold his sons accountable for this evil activity.  After years of watching this wickedness unfold, God had finally had enough.  The time of grace was over, and judgment had arrived. Scary.  You can reach a point in your wickedness where God says, “Ok, I will give you over to your sin, and it will consume you.”  To see this clearly articulated, head over to Romans 1:18ff.

The negative, ominous word God gave His new prophet is similar to what He did with many other prophets before and after Samuel’s time.  Abraham Heschel describes the role of the prophet well:

Prophetic utterance is really cryptic, suspended between God and man: it is urging, alarming, facing on work, as if the words and gushed forth from the heart of God, seeking entrance to the heart and mind of man, carrying a summons as well as an involvement. Grandeur, not dignity, is important. The language is luminous and explosive, firm and contingent, harsh and compassionate, a fusion of contradictions. The prophet seldom tells a story, but cast events. He rarely sings, but castigates. He does more than translate reality into a poetic key: he is a preacher whose purpose is not self-expression or “the purgation of emotions,” but communication. His images must not shine, they must burn. The prophet is intent on intensifying responsibility, is impatient of excuse, contemptuous of pretense and self-pity. His tone, really sweet or caressing, is frequently consoling and dis-burdening: his words are often slashing, even horrid-- designed to shock rather than to edify. The mouth of the prophet is “a sharp sword.” He is “a polished arrow” taken out of the quiver of God (Isa. 49:2).[1]

Samuel stepped into this ancient role, and it would not be easy but it would be most necessary to call God’s people back to Him, while equipping him to guide them toward revial and restoration. No longer would he be just doing the mundane tasks of the Tabernacle.  Now, he would expose sin (Mic. 3:8; Jer. 2:19; 25:3-7) as God’s word burned like a fire in his soul (Jer. 5:14; Hos. 6:5).  Would he be lonely? Yes, just like other prophets who dared speak truth (Jer. 20:9; 15:1j7).  However, God would empower Him to help people overpower the evil that hamstrung and crippled them.  It would be a calling Samuel would fulfill to the letter throughout his eventual lifetime.  He would be a watchman for God (Hos. 9:8), a servant (Amos. 3:7), a messenger of God (Hag. 1:13), and “an assayer and tester” of man’s ways (Jer. 6:27).  Through him sinners would find hope, direction, and peace as they responded to his warnings and teachings.

In Samuel’s day, the word of the Lord was rare because of sin.  However, the light of God’s truth was not entirely out, for God loved His people enough to call Samuel to be His voice to speak truth to the encroaching darkness.  While none of us are prophets like Samuel, our call in the New Testament age is the same.  Moreover, what is that? To speak God’s Word without watering it down or diminishing its message.

• Speaking to persecuted saints in Thessalonica, Paul said: ⁶ For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,⁷ and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,⁸ dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.⁹ And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,¹⁰ when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed-- for our testimony to you was believed (2 Thess. 1). His message is one of warning and hope. Will you give it?
• Writing to pastor Timothy, Paul made this instructive statement: ³ This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,⁶ who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time (1 Tim. 2). God wants to save people, but they must accept Him as the only viable mediator between God and man. If they do not come God’s way, then they will pay the price in eternity (John 3:16-18).

I could go on, but I am sure you understand. People and nations are turned away from sin, not when new politicians are voted into office, but when God’s people speak the truth of God’s word, and those who hear this word repent and turn to God. Will you be God’s voice? That is the question.

As a new prophet, Samuel was immediately faced with either disclosing God’s word and possibly offending someone or speaking it with courage and conviction, regardless of the personal consequences. The following section shows how he fared:

The Presentation (1 Sam. 3:15-18)

First, I will read the text, and then I will offer some observations:

¹⁵ So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ Then Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am." ¹⁷ And he said, "What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to 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."

This was probably the last time Samuel had to be coaxed to reveal God's word to a sinner. For obvious reasons, I understand why he would not want to tell the high priest that the news from God was not great. Samuel, however, did not let the fear of speaking the truth hold him back. In short order, he told Eli how God had pronounced definitive and lasting judgment on his priestly line for his failure to hold his sons accountable for their wickedness.

Do you see a small amount of Samuel and yourself? You, too, fear what you know you need to say to the non-Christian that God has placed in your life. You fear what they may say when you speak. You may fear how angry they might become. You fear they may cut you off or cancel you. You fear you might lose a friendship or a family member. Fear might cause you to pause; however, be like Samuel and lovingly speak the truth from God’s word.  That truth can turn the sinner into a saint, so you must speak because so much is at stake.

From Samuel’s model, we can formulate a main message God wants to communicate:  When God reveals His Word to you, you must relay that word to others fearlessly and faithfully. You might need to read that one more time. This time, let it sink into your soul and mind so that you can do what God has called you to.

Graduating from the University of Berlin in 1927 at the age of 21, Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent a few months in Spain as the associate pastor of a German congregation. He returned to Germany to write his dissertation, granting him a university appointment. After this, he spent a year in the U.S. at New York’s Union Theological Seminary. Eventually, he returned to Germany to be a lecturer at the University of Berlin.  Germany had changed, however, for Hitler had since risen to power in 1933.  When most churches buckled under the intimidation of the despot, Dietrich, along with other brave saints like Karl Barth and Martin Niemoller, stood their ground by upholding truth to the Nazis.  History records how he paid for his commitment to being a speaker of divine truth with his life and how he lived.  He was like Samuel in a sin-crazed, corrupt, and power-hungry nation.  One cannot quantify the countless lives his truth teaching touched while he was alive, nor how many since he entered God’s presence. But this I do know.  God is looking for saints like this who will fearlessly relay what He has revealed so sinners will know which way to go to find true, lasting peace.

The inspired writer closes out this exciting account of Samuel’s prophetic call with what I term . . .

The Promotion (1 Sam. 3:19-21)

Boy, did God elevate this faithful and fearless young boy:

¹⁹ Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail.

 ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. ²¹ And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, because the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD. (1 Sam. 3). 

The point is well-taken:  When you courageously speak up and out for God in a godless time, His Word will not return void.

¹¹ So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isa. 55)

It will accomplish its purposes, and one of those purposes just might be to give you a more significant role to speak to more people about Him than you ever dreamt possible.

[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, vol. 1 (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1962), 6-7.