You can turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3. Chapters 1 and 2 take up the early life of Samuel. Actually, chapter 1 takes up the... pre-life Samuel indicates Hannah's prayer of affliction and distress. She cries out to God for a son.
She promises or vows to give that son to the Lord and the Lord answers her prayers. So in chapter two there is her prayer of thanksgiving and praise unto God, and then the baby, after that, we find Samuel ministering, or growing up in the tabernacle alongside of Eli. Chapter 2 sets up a contrast between the wicked sons of Eli and Samuel. And so what we find in chapter 3 is the official call to the prophetic ministry that God lays upon Samuel.
So I want to read beginning in chapter 3 at verse 1 to the end of the chapter, and then we'll look in more detail at it. Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no widespread revelation.
And it came to pass at that time while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, here I am. So he ran to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. And he said, I did not call, lie down again.
And he went and lay down. Then the Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. He answered, I did not call my son, lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy.
Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, go lie down and it shall be. If he calls you that you must say, speak Lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.
And Samuel answered, speak for your servant hears. Then the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day, I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them.
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. So Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son.
He answered, here I am. And he said, what is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all things that he said to you.
Then Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him. So Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord.
Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Amen.
Introduction and Outline
Well, I believe central to chapter 3 is the word of God. In fact, if you look at verse 1 and at the very end in verse 21, it's like book ends. We have a reference to the word of the Lord. The prophet's task primarily is to proclaim that word of the Lord as we see Samuel does according to chapter 4 and verse 1.
One man has said concerning this particular instance of Samuel's call to ministry, this is Franz Delitzsch. He says this refer or he refers to Samuel's work as the establishment of a new age as Abraham is the father of believers and Moses is the mediator of the law. So Samuel is the father of the kingdom and the prophetic office. I think that's a pretty perceptive comment.
And because I think that the, not because I think, but I think or I'm convinced that the word of the Lord is central here, I've kind of structured the exposition this way. First, we see the scarcity of the word in verse 1. Secondly, the preacher of the word in verses 2 to 10 Thirdly, the threat promised by the word in verses 11 to 18, and then the prevalence of the word in verses 19 to 41a. So we begin with the scarcity and we end with the prevalence, the prevailing of that word. because of the call of the prophet Samuel to this particular ministry.
So
Scarcity of the Word
let's look first at the scarcity of the Word, the lack of or the absence of the Word of God. Notice in chapter 3 at verse 1, now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. Again, he's an apprentice, he's helping, he's doing those tasks that are fit for a young man in his particular situation. and then it says in the word of the Lord was rare in those days there was no widespread revelation. Now remember this is still the period of the judges and in the period of the judges we have a reference to Deborah who was a prophetess we have that reference to a particular prophet in Judges 6 in the Gideon cycle in Judges 6, 7 to 10 there is this prophet that speaks And then we have the prophet in chapter 2 here in 1st Samuel.
Go back for just a moment to 1st Samuel 2.27. Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, thus says the Lord. So we don't have a whole lot of revelation or we don't have a whole lot of widespread revelation going on. at the time in Israel. And this probably indicates this absence of revelation, this absence of the word of the Lord, probably evidences the judgment of God.
There are several places in the Old Testament that speaks of the absence of the word as a means of God's judgment. Psalm 74. You can turn to these passages because I hope that we will appreciate what it is that we have in terms of whole Bibles in terms of a church, in terms of access to, you know, a multitude of sermons on the Internet. We have a glut, really, of good things available to us, and if we don't use them, then that is truly a shame.
Davis points out it's not just the absence of the word that is a means or that is an act of judgment, but a lack of appetite for the word. In other words, if you have a buffet laid out before you, if the Lord has provided good things, but you have no spiritual appetite for those things, they really don't do you any good. And that is as well an act or a sign that you are not in a good place spiritually.
Absence of the Word as Judgment
Psalm 74 verse 9. Well, beginning in verse 1, the prophet or the psalmist is lamenting the reality that God's house is in ruins. The Gentiles have come in. And then in verse 9 he says, we do not see our signs.
There is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long. There is no longer any prophet. This is a bad thing. This is not a good thing.
Lamentations chapter 2, specifically in verse 9. Remember, Lamentations is really that. It is a lament of the prophet Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jeremiah is saddened.
Jeremiah is a man of sorrows. Jeremiah is grieved over the state of the situation. And in chapter 2 at verse 9, our gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken our bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations. The law is no more. And her prophets find no vision or prophetic revelation from the Lord. It was a time of God's judgment.
It was a time of chastisement. The prophet Micah, one of the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. In Micah chapter 3, a specific condemnation of the prophets we see in chapter 3 at verse 5. Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray, who chant peace while they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.
Therefore, you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets. and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed and the diviners abashed. Indeed they shall all cover their lips for There is no answer from God.
You see, this is an act of judgment. The pulling back of God, of his word, or of revelation, is a sign of his displeasure. In the book of Amos, this is promised as a threatened judgment by God. Hosea, Joel, Amos, chapter 8, specifically verses 11 and 12. 11 says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
So you see, if we do not find ourselves in such a situation, we ought to praise God for the benefits that He has given to us. And if He has given benefits to us, we certainly ought to use them. We ought to be students. of scripture. We ought to be those who attend public worship.
We ought to be those who engage in family worship. It says in verse 12, they shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. One other passage, Proverbs 29.
Proverbs 29, specifically at verse 18. Unfortunately, a text that has been yanked out of its context. If you look at the marginal reading, it says prophetic vision. Sometimes it just says vision.
And so the visionary leaders in churches today use this particular verse to tout themselves or to highlight themselves and their vision for their specific church. The idea here is revelation. The idea here is the Word of God. It is the mind of God revealed to us in the Word of God.
It says, where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. But happy is he who keeps the law. John Gill comments on Proverbs 2918. He says, so it was in the Gentile world before the gospel was brought into it.
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. So it was in the Gentile world before the gospel was brought into it. And so it now is in those places where the seven churches of Asia were. And in all Asia, which once heard the word of the Lord, even all that large country, And now it is not heard at all in it, but covered with Mahatmaton darkness.
And this is the case in all Popish countries, subject to the sea of Rome, where the word of God is not preached to the people, nor suffered so much as to be read by them. And then I like what he said here, and even in reformed churches, for the most part, only a little morality is preached and not the gospel of Christ. You see, we need to make sure we understand morality is not the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ answers to our immorality.
When we, by the grace of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then what is preached to us is the law of God as the standard by which we are to conduct ourselves in the power of the Holy Spirit. But churches are not supposed to be about helping you to try a bit harder or to do a bit more. I thought that was very perceptive, what our dear particular Baptist brother said. And even in reformed churches, for the most part, only a little morality is preached and not the gospel of Christ.
He says, so that here the people are perishing for lack of knowledge. Davis says, commenting on 1 Samuel chapter 3, he says, the absence of the word of God was a sign of the judgment of God, of Yahweh's withdrawing the light of his word and allowing Israel to wander in the darkness she apparently preferred. So when we come to chapter 3 and verse 1 hits us with this reality that the word of the Lord was rare in those days, we really shouldn't be surprised coming out of chapter 2. I mean, how do the priests of Yahweh perform in the house of God at Shiloh?
They don't know the Lord. They did not know the Lord and as a result they prostitute the sacrificial system and they also lay with women at the gate of the tabernacle. So it is a bad climate going on in Israel at this particular time. These are dark days in Israelites history.
But we don't see this confined to Israel. When we look at church history, we see that there are times and there are seasons. Several examples mentioned by John Gill in that quote that I read from Proverbs. Several instances and seasons where the Word of God is not widespread, where the Word of the Lord is unfortunately rare.
So we ought to conclude that it's wretched when churches do not preach the Word of God. In other words, we've been given the Word of God not to moralize, but to proclaim the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. Secondly, we ought to reckon the blessing of churches that do preach the Word. I love what Davis said here.
He says, it is a sign of God's grace when God's Word has free course among God's people. That is the teaching of 1 Samuel 3. He says if contemporary believers have a church where social activities, committee meetings, and nifty programs have not eclipsed the place of the Word of God, if the teaching of the Word of God stands at the heart of the church's life, if there is a pulpit ministry where the scriptures are clearly, accurately, and helpfully preached, then they are rich in the grace of God. I think Davis hits the nail on the head in that particular statement.
And then, as I already alluded to, the problem may not be an absence of the Word, but an absence of an appetite for the Word. And that is harmful as well. I mean, if God has given us this glut of resources, but we can't provide the simplest explanation of the simplest doctrines in all of the Bible, then the problem certainly is not God's, it's us, and we need to avail ourselves of the truth. Remember the parable of the sower, Matthew chapter 13, the parallel in Mark 4, the parallel in Luke 8.
What does Jesus teach us? There are various ways to receive the word of God. There is only one way that is commended by the Lord himself. It is to believe it, it is to heed it, it is to walk according to it.
C.H. Spurgeon makes this comment on the parable of the sower. He says, first, hear. Hear.
Isn't that what Jesus says? Therefore, beware how you hear. Spurgeon says, hear. It is your wisdom to know what God says.
He says, hear well. God's teaching deserves the deepest attention. It will repay the best consideration. He says, hear often.
Waste no Sabbath, nor any one of its services. Use weekday lectures and prayer meetings. He says, finally, hear better. You will grow the holier thereby.
You will find heavenly joy by hearing with faith. Davis says starvation may not come from absence of food, but from lack of appetite. But God's word, written, preached, welcomed, is the token of God's grace to God's people.
Mercy of God Amid Scarcity
So we see the scarcity of the word according to chapter 3 and verse 1. On the heels of this, or before we leave this particular section, note the mercy of God. The fact is that there was no widespread revelation, so what does God do? He calls Samuel to the prophetic ministry.
God makes good. God overrules. God reverses this particular trend. This speaks of better things in Israel's future at this particular time.
Remember that Samuel is the kingmaker. He's the one that's going to anoint Saul. Certainly things don't go very well under Saul. But under David, they certainly flourish and prosper.
Under Solomon, they certainly flourish and prosper. At the division of the kingdom, not so well in the north, but there are hints and glimmers of good in the south. And so what we find here is God sends the prophets to answer to this particular scarcity. The Word of the Lord was rare in those days.
There was no widespread revelation. And
Preacher of the Word
that sets the stage for the second main observation, the preacher of the Word, verses 2 to 10.
First, Second, and Third Calls
Note the first and second calls. The setting is developed in great length and detail in verses two and three. You can almost close your eyes and picture the scene. You've got the tabernacle.
You've got the whole situation. You've got Eli laying in his particular bed. And you've got Samuel, the young man lying down sleeping. Verse two, it came to pass at that time.
This is not general anymore. It's not an in those days. It's at that time. to get to the main point. In many respects, chapters 1 and 2 build us up to chapter 3, because the focus now is on Samuel.
We move from Elkanah and Hannah and Eli. By the time we get to the end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, it's about Samuel. It's about the word of God, that Samuel is the vehicle or the means to propagate to Israel. That's where the focus is driving up to this particular point.
So it came to pass at that time while Eli was lying down in his place and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see. Now it may not be the case that he could not see at all. He could still see a bit. It could go either way.
And before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, you see, it's really painted for you, really kind of picture the scene here. It's prior to dawn, we've got darkness, the light in the outer portion of the tabernacle is burning, and Samuel gets the word of the Lord. The Lord called Samuel, and he answered, here I am. So he ran to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me.
Now, as I'm sure any of us would do, if we were Eli, we'd say, I didn't call you. Go back to bed, right? You're tired, you're sleeping. If your son runs into your room and he says, Dad, what do you want?
Well, I didn't call you. Go back and lay down. I mean, the way that the scene is narrated, you can imagine and picture it happening just like it's reported here to us. Then the Lord called yet again, Samuel.
I'm sorry, yeah, verse six. at the end of verse 5, and he said, I did not call, lie down again. And he went and lay down. Then the Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, here I am for you called me.
He answered, I did not call my son, lie down again. And now there's explanation in verse seven. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. Now this isn't an indictment like it is in 2.12 concerning the sons of Eli.
The sons of Eli were, you know, young men. They were probably in their teens or early twenties. They should have known the Lord. They were priests of God Most High.
Samuel is a young lad. He does not yet know the Lord. Doesn't mean it's an indictment, it's not a bad thing, but rather it is simply giving us the information. It's not blame, it's explanation.
Samuel has not yet been given any personal experience with Yahweh. And so it is understandable that such is the case. But one thing we should appreciate as we move through this section is note the patience of God. You know, God doesn't send a big hand out of heaven and slap Samuel on the side of the face because he didn't get it the first time.
Just like our Lord Jesus, have I been with you so long and you still don't understand these things? Or in John 16, 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. God goes with him each of these times. Samuel runs to Eli, Eli says it wasn't me, sends him back to bed.
God speaks again. Samuel runs to Eli, and Eli says it wasn't me, sends him back. You know, we see the scene here, but we see the forbearance of God, the kindness of God. We see it in Acts chapter 10.
How many times did Peter need to see the vision before he understood it? He tells us, it happened to me three times. I mean, you know, not everybody would be so forthcoming. What, you saw a vision from God and it took you three times to sort of process that?
Yeah, we're thick-headed. We're not that bright. We're certainly not in tune with the spiritual realities that we ought to be with. Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.
That brings us to this particular third call. Notice in verse 8. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you did call me.
Eli's starting to figure it out now. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. This is probably pretty exciting for Eli. I mean, he too lives in a day and age where there is no widespread revelation.
When we get further in the narrative, Samuel is afraid to tell Eli the message of God. Why is that? Because there's affection between these two men. Notice in verse 6 and 16a, how does Eli refer to Samuel, my son?
I mean, I don't think Eli's, you know, the worst cat in the world. He's sinful, and he deserves the judgment of God Most High for not having restrained his sons. But I'm not sure he's Satan. There is some affection there for Samuel.
There is at least an intuition to say, hey, this could be Yahweh. I want you to go back and lay down. And when Yahweh calls again, you say to him, speak, Lord, for your servant ears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Fourth Call and Samuel's Response
Now we come to the fourth call. Notice in verse 10, now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times. Samuel, Samuel, the way he did with Abraham, Abraham and Jacob, Jacob, God is getting the attention of his servant. God has something to report to his servant.
And Samuel answered, speak for your servant hears. Notice the language in verse 10, the Lord came and stood and called as at other times. Notice what we find in verse 21, then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. We're probably looking at theophany, that is a visible manifestation of the invisible God.
And what we, I think Gil explains it well. On verse 21 he says, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord, by Christ, the word of the Lord, who appeared to him. It is probable and in human form, as he was wont to do to the patriarchs and prophets, and by whom the Lord revealed his mind and will unto them, being the angel of his presence and the messenger of his covenant. The angel of the Lord appeared in certain instances. in the Old Testament.
When we see this in verses 10 and 21, it would not be incredulous to think that we're looking at a theophany. It says that God, or the Lord, came and stood and called as at other times. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. So we see God's intimate dealings with this man Samuel, this young man Samuel.
And then the prophet responds, speak for your servant ears. Now, certainly there's application there for us, as we come to scripture, as we come to church, as we come in contact with the word of the living God, we ought to be a people that say, speak for your servant ears. Now, there is difference though, because we're not prophets, we don't have a direct line to God. So do not wake up tomorrow morning and open your eyes and hold up your hands and say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.
No, what is consistent for us as New Covenant Christians is to go to the scriptures where the Lord has spoken and where we are supposed to listen and we are to do as he calls us to do according to his word. So that is the preacher of the word.
Threat Promised by the Word
Now notice, thirdly, the threat promised by the word in verses 11 to 18. This is a grave situation, verse 11. Then the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle." That phrase is used in 2 Kings 21, 12 and Jeremiah 19, 3. It's going to be significant.
It's going to be big. Now, just think for a moment. Eli is the priest of the house of the Lord at Shiloh. Eli's sons serve alongside of him.
Certainly, Eli is a public figure. Eli is a well-known figure. Eli is a figure that everybody in the community would be aware of. For him to fall under the judgment of God would certainly promote tingling ears.
Not least of which might be, well, if God deals with the priest that way for having defiled his house, how will God deal with me if I likewise defile his house? There are good lessons to be learned when there is the judgment of God unleashed upon souls. And so the ears in Israel would tingle. They would be aware of the reality that this was a significant and a massive event in this particular time.
Promised Judgment on Eli's House
Notice the promised judgment in verses 12 to 14. The execution of judgment is given in verse 12. In that day, I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. Again, we just left chapter 2.
That man of God comes in verse 27, and he prophesies concerning God's judgment upon the house of Israel. Now Samuel is to report to Eli, the time is up, the judgment of God is sure, punishment is coming to you and to your sons. Notice the reason for the judgment is stipulated in verse 13. God is not capricious, God is not arbitrary, does not act on a whim, but rather God has perfect reasons for what it is he does.
For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, first, for the iniquity which he knows, first, because his sons made themselves vile, and secondly, he did not restrain them. We spent time in this last week. The vileness of the sons were seen liturgically. They prostituted sacrifice.
When people came to offer sacrifice, those thugs would take a three-pronged flesh hook and throw it into the pot and take out as much as they wanted. And then when it came time to take the meat, without burning the fat first, if the worshipper reminded the sons of Eli, no, the fat is supposed to be burned first, the thug would get very thuggish with it and threaten to do harm to that worshipper. So what this promoted in Israel was a disdain for the worship structure, for the sacrificial system. If you knew that when you came to church, Pastor Cam was gonna bully you, you might have second thoughts about coming to church.
Not Pastor Cam, it'd probably be Pastor Jim. Cam's the tender one, he's the gracious one. You wouldn't want to come to church, would you? If you were being bullied, if you were being ripped off, if you were having things stolen from you.
How would that affect you? And imagine that if you lived in Shiloh, it wasn't like you had the first Presbyterian church on the corner, the first Baptist church, catty corner. You didn't have a, you know, sort of a community church on the other side. There was the house of God at Shiloh.
There was one place in town. And so if the priests threatened your life, it probably didn't make you think fondly of Sabbath days and of trotting down to the house of the Lord to offer up your sacrifice. were vile men. They gave cause to God's people, in this instance, to disdain the house of the Lord. So it was the fact that his sons made themselves vile, but secondly, Eli did not restrain them.
He didn't stop them. Chapter 2, he does rebuke them. It's a marginal reading here in the New King James, rebuke. Maybe one of your versions has rebuked.
Some have said, well, he did rebuke them in Chapter 2. I think restrain gives us the meaning of the word. It's not just rebuke that God was after with reference to the sons of Eli. It was stop them.
Eli couldn't make his sons know the Lord. Eli couldn't make his sons stop being thugs. But Eli could stop them from being priests in the house of God at Shiloh. And he didn't do that.
He didn't restrain them. Gil, again, comments this way, he says, and he restrained them not from their evil practices. He did not make use of his authority, neither as a father, which we are invested with. The fifth commandment, brethren, gives us authority over our children, not as dictators, not as commandants, not as those who can make them do wicked things, but there is an authority clothed in the parents that God stations over children, and Eli did not exercise that authority.
He doesn't stop there. He did not make use of his authority neither as a father and especially not as a high priest. I mean, if this is going on under your watch, if people are being threatened when they come to the house of God in Shiloh, Eli, didn't you feel constrained to stop this wickedness? When we read this judgment and when we see it fleshed out in chapter 4, never think that this is too severe.
What is severe is taking the house of God and making it a mockery. God the Lord is showing that he must be treated as holy. Same lesson that Nadab and Abihu learned in Leviticus chapter 10. By those who come to me, I must be regarded as holy.
Eli did not provide an environment where such was communicated. Rather, Eli allowed an environment to flourish where the house of God was held in disdain by the people of God. He says, he did not make use of his authority, neither as a father, and especially not as high priest, and the judge of Israel. This was Eli's function as well.
Now Samuel takes this over. By the time we get to 1 Samuel 7, we have not only the prophet Samuel, but he's judging Israel prior to the installation of Saul as king. Samuel at this time, he's probably still very young. It's later on that he actually is the judge in Israel.
Gil then goes on to say, who ought not only to have sharply reproved them, which he did not, but to have censured or punished them and turned them out of their office, or did not frown upon them, as in the margin of our Bibles. You know those marginal readings, I guess in his margin, I didn't see that margin or that note in my margin, but in Gil's margin he says, he has, or did not frown upon them. As in the margin of our Bibles, he did not knit his brows or wrinkle up his face and by his countenance show his displeasure at their proceedings, but in an easy, smooth, gentle manner expostulated with them about them. Gil says he should have laid down the law with these young men.
This was wrong and God gives this as a reason for why he is going to bring judgment.
Inevitability of the Judgment
Now notice the inevitability of this judgment in verse 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. Ironic, this is the very thing that Eli confessed, or Eli admitted, or Eli said when he was speaking to his sons. Notice in chapter 2 at verse 25.
If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? Essentially, he's telling his sons that when you commit a high-handed sin against God, this isn't the sin that God forgives because you are repentant and you go through the sacrificial system. This is the high-handed sin, similar to what we find in the New Covenant setting of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
In this instance, these young men did not repent. There was no grief, there was no sorrow, there was no desire to make things right. And so God has sworn the vows of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. Samora makes this observation.
He says, Eli's house had despised the sacrifice and offering, 229, and hence these things will not have any efficacy on their behalf. Though normal or inadvertent sins of priests could be expiated by offering, Eli's sons had sinned defiantly and their guilt could not be removed. And it's interesting, he cites numbers 15 there, the old covenant, but in Hebrews 10, 26, Hebrews 10.26 is that, you know, counting unworthy the one who is sanctified, trampling underfoot the Son of God, those who have heard the gospel, those who have defiantly rejected it and forsaken it. So Eli's sons are not, you know, misguided young men that just need a sacrifice offer.
No, the threatened punishment of God has now been pronounced. And this is Samuel's first sermon. It's tough, isn't it? He's a young man.
Samuel Delivers the Word
Notice in verse 15, so Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord and Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Again, there's affection there. Samuel grew up with Eli. It's a father figure.
Eli calls him, my son, my son. He loved Eli. Now he's got to tell Eli, God is going to destroy you and your house because you're a lousy father. That's got to be tough for the young man.
He's afraid. Davis says there is always this tension in the word of God. There is always this tension in the Word of God. He gets the message from the Lord.
He knows what the truth is, and now he must speak that truth to the target audience. But he knows that that target audience is somebody that he loves, and he'd really rather not ruin their day, if at all possible. I mean, prophets and preachers don't like to ruin anyone's day any more than anyone else likes to ruin people's days. He says, there is always this tension in the Word of God, and any authentic messenger of that Word knows and lives in it.
If a preacher, for example, never places you under the criticism of God's Word, never tells you your sin, but only smothers you with comfort, you must wonder if he is a phony. If his preaching contains only the judgment note and seldom offers comfort and encouragement, one must ask if he actually cares for God's people. If one has a high regard both for the truth of God, even if it's judgment, and for the troubles of the church, he will retain the proper tension in the biblical world. He will both afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
It's a good statement there. So we find that Samuel is afraid to tell Eli the message. Verse 16, Eli said, Eli, let me see, then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son, he answered, here I am. It's easy to forget the human element in these stories, just read through it, ah, he's getting on the word of God, probably this was tough.
If you gotta say something to somebody that you know they're not going to like, do you guys like to do that? Do you like to tell people things that you know they're not going to be happy with? Imagine if that's your calling as a prophet. The prophet in Israel didn't typically wander around, have tea with people and just tell them everything's great, everything's cheery, everything's peachy.
Typically what we find in the prophetic literature are messages of condemnation. There are messages of repentance. There are messages to upgrade the children of Israel. This was a tough calling.
Samuel is cutting his teeth. His first message as a prophet of God is not a message of comfort. It's a message of great trouble for Eli. And then in verse 17, he said, what is the word that the Lord spoke to you?
Please do not hide it from me. Probably he could see his countenance. probably he could tell, probably he saw something in the young man that he observed grow up under his nose. He probably saw something about him and he says, please tell me, do not hide it from me. God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the things that he has said to you.
He invokes an oath. He puts Samuel under this act of compliance. Then verse 18, Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Gil says, and Samuel told him every wit, and hid nothing from him, and so approved himself to be a faithful prophet of God, and man of God, as he is afterwards called.
The whole counsel of God is to be declared by his servants the prophets, and the ministers of his word. Nothing is to be concealed, which it is the will of God, which it is the will of God should be made known, whether it be pleasing or displeasing to men. You see, that's the function of the prophet. But even then, we see there is this reluctance, this fear.
You say, well, you know, that's the way it was for Samuel. Paul, in Ephesians 6, asks for prayer. He asked for prayer, pray for me that utterance would be given to me so that I may speak the gospel boldly as I ought to speak. You wouldn't think you'd need to pray for Paul to be a bold gospel preacher, would you?
But probably Paul was a bold gospel preacher because the people of God were praying for him to be a bold gospel preacher. You see, brethren, you need to pray for men that stand before others and preach the Word of God. I'm not, you know, making some shameless plug here. Pray for me in camp.
Pray for missionaries. Pray for anyone who is charged or has the task to tell people things that are pretty difficult, at least on a human level, to tell people. You think it's fun to say, to, you know, people, hey, you're gonna go to hell if you don't repent. I mean, people that find some glee and delight in doing that are probably people that shouldn't be doing that.
You know, I think it was Edwards, we need to preach with one eye on the joy of heaven and one eye on the terror of hell. That provides that proper balance, that proper tension that the preacher of God needs to have. And then Eli resigns himself to the sovereignty of God. He said, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him.
That's pretty amazing. It's hymn 94 from our hymn book. Whatever my God ordains is right. It is the Lord.
Let him do what seems good to him. I don't think it's whatever seems good to him. I think it's a resignation because he knows he's been wrong. He did not restrain his sons.
He did not act accordingly and therefore he submits ultimately to God's rule.
Prevalence of the Word
And then fourthly and finally the prevalence of the word. Verse 19, Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. It says this about Jesus in the New Testament too, doesn't it?
Luke's Gospel. He grew in wisdom and in stature with God and men. Same is true with Samuel the prophet. He grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
It's beautiful language there. Let none of his words fall to the ground. That means when Samuel spoke, The word of the Lord, it was confirmed, it was affirmed, it was indeed the truth of God Most High. Notice, and all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord.
Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. So that's the emphasis. That's where we've been driving to, to this particular point in time in the narrative.
Samuel is the prophet of God. Samuel is the mouthpiece of God. Samuel is to go out and do the bidding of God. From Dan to Beersheba recognizes this, they understand this, they know that they are in a state or a situation where they have the mouth of God coming through the prophet Samuel.
Application: Avail Yourselves of Scripture
We learn from this passage that the absence of revelation is the judgment of God. When we do not have the Word of God, that is not a good thing. It is a bad thing. When we have the Word of God, it is blessing.
We ought to avail ourselves of it. We ought to be students of scripture. You know, I always make a plug, by the end of the year, coming into the new year, You're starting January 1st. Dare to be a Daniel and read through that Bible in a year.
I mean, we can do those things we want to do. We can do those things and carve away or carve out time for things that are important to us. We probably have hobbies or we have, you know, leisure time or we have something. I mean, we live in a day and age where we have, you know, so many electronic devices to make our lives easier, to make ourselves more efficient.
I mean, we're not having to walk down to the well 15 times a day and schlep buckets up so that we can, you know, hand wash our clothes. We can throw clothes into the washing machine and shut it and read the Bible. I mean, we have the opportunity. You know, people say, but I'm so busy.
Joshua was a busy man. I don't know a busier man or how a man could be busier than commanding the armies of Israel to go in and utterly dispossess the land of Canaanites from the land. I don't know what could be a more difficult job than cutting off heads, stabbing people, and breaking things, and taking land and property. And yet, God tells Samuel, meditate on my law day and night.
When the king of Israel took his throne in Deuteronomy 17, what was he supposed to do? He was supposed to take out his own ink pen, he was supposed to take out his own sheet of paper, and he was supposed to write the law of the Lord. He was then to put it in his pocket, and then he was to take it out several times during the day and read it. You see, it just doesn't fly in this generation to say, I'm so busy, I don't have time to read my Bible.
You probably do. I'm guessing you do. There are busy people, and you're all busy, and I'm not undermining or underestimating that. It's easy for you to say, Butler, that's what you're paid to do is sit and read your Bible.
Yeah, even then. Still got to work at it and discipline and all those sorts of things. Brethren, January 1st, take McShane and say, I'm going to read through the McShane calendar, some calendar, something. I don't want to be the McShane cult leader here.
It's just something I use and enjoy. But January 1st, and you've got a few days even ahead of time, go ahead and start. Get a jump on it. Read scripture.
It is a blessing from God most high. As well, the importance of the word is held out here. We see our need for scripture. When God wants to set things in order in Israel, what does he do?
He raises up a prophet and he sends him to preach the truth to the people in Israel. And then the role of Samuel the prophet. I'll quote Samora and then we end. Samora, by the way, is a Japanese man who's got a very excellent commentary on the book of 1 Samuel, David Samora.
He says, we now see Samuel at the point towards which the whole story has led. From the time before his birth by God's action, through the notes of his growing up. He had served God as a child in the temple, but now he serves all Israel as a prophet. Amen.
Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our father, we thank you for this chapter. We thank you for this book. We thank you for the entirety of the Bible. And I pray that you'd help us to be students.
Help us to be eager, father, to read these things, to study the law. Make us like Ezra, who set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach the statutes in Israel. Give us grace, father. Give us the Holy Spirit.
Give us discipline and conviction and the things that we need to be students of Holy Scripture. We thank you for Samuel's role in redemptive history. We see such a significance to it. We thank you for the way that you worked out your providence in the history of Israel and now in the New Covenant Church.
We thank you for your sovereignty. We thank you for your glory and your majesty. Go with us now, we pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen.