1 Samuel 3:1-10 *
Dear Friends in Christ,
Toward the end of the New Testament Book of Hebrews we find
a series of instructions and exhortations.
Among them is this directive regarding Godly leaders: “… Consider the outcome of their way of life
and imitate their faith.”
The subject of our text for today, Samuel, is precisely the
kind of person this passage is talking about.
Samuel certainly must be considered one of the great Old Testament
figures and heroes of faith. And this
morning we’re going to have a chance to “consider the outcome of [his] way of life”
in the hope that we might “imitate [his] faith.”
Our text provides us with an interesting piece of Old Testament history – and for those who grew up going to Sunday School, perhaps a beloved Bible story. But it is much more. Keeping in mind the words from Hebrews, this account provides us with a personal model after which we can pattern ourselves as believers. So let’s consider
THE BOY SAMUEL AS A MODEL
By way of background, our text takes place at the end of an Old Testament era known as “the period of the Judges.” The period of the Judges (meaning “leaders” or “deliverers” as opposed to courtroom judiciaries) occurred after the death of Joshua (the one who followed Moses) and before the beginning of the kings that ruled God’s people (like David and Solomon). If we want to fix a date to the event under consideration, a rough estimate would put us at about 1100 years before the birth of Christ…
That being said, let’s work our way through the text.
The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. We are told that Samuel was just a boy. A Jewish historian by the name of Josephus places his age at 12, but he could have been older. We’re not specifically told.
What we are told is that “the word of the Lord was rare” and that this was a time when “there were not many visions” from God. God’s direct intervention with His people had been frequent when Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses had been around; but not now.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual 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. Here we are introduced to Eli. He was the High Priest at the time, a very important and significant religious figure. He was old at the time and losing his sight.
We’re also given a few incidental but interesting details about life at this time. For example, the “Lamp of God” refers to a golden lamp stand which, according to God’s regulations, was lit in the evening and extinguished in the morning.
The “temple” referred to was a place of worship more extensive than the portable tabernacle (or tent) of the Exodus, but not yet Solomon’s magnificent temple, which would be built later on. Whatever exactly it was, it was enough of a structure to be called a “temple.”
And within it was “the ark of God,” also known as the “ark of the testimony” or “ark of the covenant.” Inside this chest were a number of items that reminded the people of God’s direct involvement in their lives: the original Ten Commandments given to Moses, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff – which at one time God made miraculously bud to show that Aaron’s line was to serve Him in the priesthood…
4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” When Samuel heard his name, his instinctive reaction was to go to Eli. Given Eli’s condition, he must have heavily relied on Samuel. A call to Samuel at night was probably not all that uncommon.
Samuel answers by saying “Here I am.” The Hebrew meaning of these words is more along the line of “at your service, sir.” But the calls were not from Eli…
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. Samuel did not “know the Lord” in the sense that he had not yet had a direct experience with Him. But this was about to change.
8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Eli finally understands what is happening and instructs the boy Samuel on how to answer…
10 The
LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” We are told this time that “the Lord came and stood there,” meaning that God gave Samuel some kind of vision of Himself. How or in what form we are not told.
Samuel’s humble answer to the Lord is an accurate
description of the spirit he exhibited throughout his life as a judge and a
prophet and a leader in
Consequently, Samuel’s answer and subsequent life in light of that answer serves as a model for every Christian’s response to the Word of God. We look to it, for there we see God. We listen to it, for there God speaks to us. We learn from it, and apply it to our lives...
Let’s do that now. Let’s apply this Bible account to our lives. Let’s move from Samuel and talk about our relationship with and to the Word of God. And let’s begin by considering a couple of related questions: Does God still speak to us today? Can we today still see Him and hear Him as Samuel did?
Some Christians of certain denominations – if not overtly, certainly by implication – make this claim, and will talk about how God “spoke” to them directly or “spoke to their hearts.” Which makes it seem like those who haven’t had this kind of conversational experience are somehow missing out. So again, does God still speak to us today? The answer is: yes and no.
No, in the sense of the Lord speaking to us face to face as He did to Samuel. We have no promise of God that He will approach us directly as He did Samuel and other select Old and New Testament figures, or that He will audibly engage us in a two-way conversation as He sometimes did with prophets and great heroes of faith. And really, there is no need. Because God’s revelation of Himself and His will is complete in the 66 books of Holy Scripture.
So in that sense, yes, God certainly still speaks to us
today. He speaks to us, as He did to
Samuel, directly through His Word. In
fact, listen to this verse just a little farther: 21
The LORD continued to appear at
We are reminded that the Word of God is just that: The Word of God. The Bible is not, as so many are saying today even within many church bodies, the musings of man jotting down his best thoughts about God. What Scripture is, and what Scripture declares itself to be, is God speaking to man through man, through a process we call verbal inspiration. By this we mean that God so influenced the writers of the Bible that what they wrote down were the very words God wanted them to write down.
And because God speaks to us in this way, just as surely and reliably as He did to Samuel, we must respond like Samuel – and listen to Him. Not that this audience needs convincing, but let me briefly share with you a couple of reasons and benefits of personally listening to and searching the Scriptures:
First of all, because it is TRUTH. In His High Priestly Prayer found in John 17, Jesus asks this of our Heavenly Father for us: “Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth.” This means it is reliable, mistake-free and the ultimate authority…
Such a high view of Scripture, of course, is extremely
unpopular given the tone and tenor of the times. We are living in the age of tolerance and
pluralism where, when it comes to religion (and everything else for that
matter), there is no absolute, objective truth, but only personal
preferences. We may be permitted to say
it is relatively true for us, but to
say that the Bible and its teaching of salvation through Christ is true over against everything else being false,
well, that’s heresy. Yet, is that not exactly
what Jesus says in John 14:6 when He claims: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father
except through me”?
By the grace of God we have come to know that there is such
a thing as absolute truth. And far from
being restrictive, it is liberating to know that there is a place we can turn
to for answers to life’s questions. That’s why we listen to the Word! That’s also why we have to get the Word
out through mission work – because there
is no truth apart from it!
Secondly, it is WISDOM.
The greatest wisdom we find in Scripture – and the primary purpose for
which God gave it to us in the first place – is to know Jesus Christ and to
believe in Him for everlasting life.
Paul wrote to Timothy: “From
infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
In order to know Christ as Savior, we must first understand our need for one. So the Bible contains the Law which makes us painfully aware of our sinfulness and our shortcomings and our damnableness and our complete inability to save ourselves eternally. We simply cannot perform our way into heaven. Then from the pit of despair we are hoisted to the heights of heaven by the Gospel message that tells us of the forgiveness of our sin through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
And through believing that Word we are made “wise for salvation.” And if we’re wise for salvation, doesn’t really matter how unwise we may be in other things. Because clothed with Christ through faith, we’ve passed the entrance exam into heaven…
So we want to stay close to the Word because it is the very TRUTH and WISDOM of God. And in addition to our eternal life, it has implications in every area of our life as well. The Word provides with us power for living, comfort in times of need, strength when we feel weak, and direction for the journey through life.
By the grace of God, Samuel understood that. And, as we again read a little later on in
the chapter from which our text is taken, 19
The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall
to the ground. 20 And all
Allow me to close as we began. In the Book of Hebrews we are told of Godly men “to consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” Today we have looked at a Godly example in the person of the boy Samuel.
Now may God grant – and may we make prayerful efforts – to
imitate what we have seen in him. As he
was, may we be those who always LOOK to God and His Word, LISTEN, and then
LEARN to apply its saving truth and wisdom to our lives. Amen.