Reflections on 1 Samuel 3

1 Samuel 03 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Samuel served the LORD by helping Eli the priest, who was by that time almost blind. In those days, the LORD hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. But one night, Eli was asleep in his room,
   
2. (SEE 3:1)
   
3. and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the LORD's house. They had not been asleep very long
   
4. when the LORD called out Samuel's name. "Here I am!" Samuel answered.
   
5. Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. What do you want?" "I didn't call you," Eli answered. "Go back to bed." Samuel went back.
   
6. Again the LORD called out Samuel's name. Samuel got up and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "What do you want?" Eli told him, "Son, I didn't call you. Go back to sleep."
   
7. The LORD had not spoken to Samuel before, and Samuel did not recognize the voice.
   
8. When the LORD called out his name for the third time, Samuel went to Eli again and said, "Here I am. What do you want?" Eli finally realized that it was the LORD who was speaking to Samuel.
   
9. So he said, "Go back and lie down! If someone speaks to you again, answer, 'I'm listening, LORD. What do you want me to do?' " Once again Samuel went back and lay down.
   
10. The LORD then stood beside Samuel and called out as he had done before, "Samuel! Samuel!" "I'm listening," Samuel answered. "What do you want me to do?"
    
11. The LORD said: Samuel, I am going to do something in Israel that will shock everyone who hears about it!
    
12. I will punish Eli and his family, just as I promised.
    
13. He knew that his sons refused to respect me, and he let them get away with it, even though I said I would punish his family forever.
    
14. I warned Eli that sacrifices or offerings could never make things right! His family has done too many disgusting things.
    
15. The next morning, Samuel got up and opened the doors to the LORD's house. He was afraid to tell Eli what the LORD had said.
    
16. But Eli told him, "Samuel, my boy, come here!" "Here I am," Samuel answered.
    
17. Eli said, "What did God say to you? Tell me everything. I pray that God will punish you terribly if you don't tell me every word he said!"
    
18. Samuel told Eli everything. Then Eli said, "He is the LORD, and he will do what's right."
    
19. As Samuel grew up, the LORD helped him and made everything Samuel said come true.
    
20. From the town of Dan in the north to the town of Beersheba in the south, everyone in the country knew that Samuel was truly the LORD's prophet.
    
21. The LORD often appeared to Samuel at Shiloh and told him what to say.
    

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    Chapter 3 reveals even more of Samuel's pivotal role in Israel's history. It was mentioned in reflections for chapter 1 that he helped usher in the era of the kings, closing out the era of judges. In this chapter we learn how God used him to also usher in the era of the prophets, Samuel being the first of that era. With this transition, God delivered His messages to Israel through prophets rather than through the priests. The priests had proven to be unreliable servants of the Lord, and as with Eli's sons, had proven to be evil. God was eliminating Eli's family and descendants from the priesthood and assigning the priesthood in general a less significant role. Eli, himself, was not evil but lacked the courage to reign in his sons, looking the other way when he saw them straying.
    
    The first instance of God speaking directly to Samuel is recorded in this chapter. One evening as Samuel was reclining in the temple attending to the lamp of the Lord, he heard a voice call his name. Thinking it was Eli calling him he went to Eli saying, "Here I am." But it wasn't Eli. After two more times Eli realized the Lord was speaking to Samuel and so he told Samuel to go back, and when he heard the voice again to respond saying, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." (3:10) Samuel did this and the Lord spoke to him saying, "I am going to judge his (Eli's) family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are defiling the sanctuary, and he has not stopped them." (3:13) The next morning Eli pressed Samuel to tell what the Lord had said, so Samuel told him. Word of the Lord's judgment on him was not news to Eli. He had heard it previously from an unnamed "man of God."  Resigned to the Lord's will, Eli said, "He is the LORD. He will do what He thinks is good." (3:18)
    
    From that day forward Samuel became established throughout much of Israel as a prophet of the Lord because the Lord "revealed Himself to Samuel by His word." (3:21) God had found one in whom He could entrust His word.