1 Samuel 3 (Samuel Hears God's Voice)

Samuel’s Call and Eli’s House Under Judgment

So this morning we're going to be looking at 1st Samuel chapter 3, continuing our study from last time. The young boy Samuel is living at the tabernacle of meeting under the supervision of Eli the priest.

Sometimes we think of Samuel as a very, very young child, and he probably was when he was first dropped off at the tabernacle to live when Hannah brought him there at first. But at this point, take this for what it's worth, the Jewish historian Josephus suggested that Samuel was about 12 years old at this time in 1st Samuel 3.

Some think maybe a little older. We're not exactly sure, but if you're following along with the story, you know that Samuel is living there at the house of God in Shiloh, the tabernacle, under Eli's supervision, and Eli's sons were also present.

They were evil men. They were utterly corrupt, but Eli, he just, you know, you know how people are. That's when something difficult comes up, this is how they respond. Well, you know, well, Eli was just kind of wishy-washy.

He didn't want to do anything about it. So his sons were corrupting the ministry and Eli was like, well, you know, I don't know. What do you, you know? Yeah. He was totally unwilling to act. So because of that, God has already determined to judge his sons and to judge the priesthood and the house of Eli.

So because of his failure to get his sons under control, and really at this point, just to remove them from the ministry, Eli's house is judged. At the end of the last chapter, 1st Samuel chapter two, a prophet had showed up in Shiloh where they were living and he had pronounced judgment upon Eli and his priestly line.

So Eli knows that he has, he's on thin ice. He has a limited time. Something's going to happen. And now God is going to use Samuel in this chapter, chapter three as a prophet. Samuel is called to be a prophet here as early as age 12.

So let's begin reading. Samuel is going to have a word from God and he's going to have to deliver that message of judgment to Eli. And you can imagine he really doesn't want to do that, but Samuel is faithful.

Eli is not. So that's the contrast. And we can already sort of see the application, you know, how are we going to be? Are we going to be faithful like Samuel or are we going to be like an Eli? Well, we say the right things, but we're not actually willing to do anything about it.

And God forbid anyone be like the sons of Eli. 1st Samuel chapter three, we'll read verses one through 13. 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. Here I am for you called me.

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. Here I am for you called me. 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. Here I am for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy go lie down. It shall be if he calls you that you must say, speak for a servant here.

So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel,.

Speak for your servant here. 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.

Okay. So verse 13,.

The Lord says, for I have told him, how did God tell Eli? Because God spoke through the prophet back in chapter two. And the Lord says, Eli knows about this. He can't claim ignorance. He knows, he knows what's going on.

His sons made themselves vile and he did nothing about it. So this chapter begins with the statement that the word of the Lord was rare in those days. Now it's not that they didn't have any word from God.

They did. They have the word of God given by Moses, but verse one says there was no widespread revelation or as the King James version puts it, there was no open vision. If you read the beginning of Hebrews, it talks about how God at various times in various ways, spoken time passed to the fathers by the prophets.

Right? So God in the old Testament would speak through dreams, visions in this case with Samuel, an audible voice. But at this point, that type of thing was very, very rare. It just wasn't happening. So Eli is laying down.

He's an old man and God is going to bring judgment upon his house because he allowed his sons to run wild, didn't do anything about it. And as the priest and the judge of Israel, Eli was responsible. And because of his lack of leadership, because he was permissive or made excuses for evil, it began to corrupt the whole nation.

So the Lord already warned Eli, he's going to judge his house. Now God is going to use Samuel to again, deliver that same message. So Samuel is in bed and Eli is in bed and it's the middle of the night, early morning.

Samuel hears a voice. Now he assumes that it's Eli. Eli is probably the only one there. You know, who else could be talking to me? Who else could be calling out to me in the middle of the night? So Samuel hears this voice.

It's the voice of God, but Samuel doesn't know that God has never spoken to Samuel before. And there was no widespread revelation at this time. You know, this type of thing didn't just happen extremely rare.

So Samuel hears the voice. He assumes it's Eli. So he goes to Eli and he, he asked him, uh, yeah, here I am. You called for me and Eli's like, what? No, no, I didn't. Now we can understand Samuel's position.

He doesn't know what's going on at this point. And as a young child, he wouldn't know. Now I just want to comment on this, the statement that Samuel did not know the Lord. And people often make application to, you know, some professing Christians today or people in churches, but you know, there's people that have the label Christian, but they don't, they know of God, but they don't know the Lord.

Well, I don't think that's what's happening here. Samuel, the fact that he doesn't know the Lord, it's that God has never spoken to him before. I think that's the meaning here. Samuel does not know the Lord in an intimate way that he will come to know the Lord.

So when Samuel begins to hear the audible voice of God, everything changes. Now it's important to understand when God speaks to Samuel, he hears a voice. It's not some thought in his mind that seems really important.

So is that God speaking to me? It's not some inner impression. It's not just a feeling, you know, God, are you trying to tell me something? Because that's the way people often talk today. You have Christians everywhere running around saying, God spoke to me and God told me this.

And God told me that. And what they mean, most people, what they mean is they just can't shake this feeling or, you know, they have this thought that they can't get out of their mind. And I feel like God is trying to tell me something, or I feel that God is leading me in this direction and leading me in that direction or their own conscience is bothering them.

And, you know, God is speaking to me about this. That's usually what people mean when they say, God spoke to me. Now, some people actually claim that God is speaking directly to them. That's a whole other situation.

Point being, that's not what's happening with Samuel. This isn't a thought. It's not his conscience. It's not a feeling. God literally spoke to Samuel. This makes Samuel a legit prophet of God. Here's the thing.

If God actually speaks to you, like literally speaks to you, that makes you a prophet. And I just don't think that all the Christians running around, God spoke to me and are they all prophets? Uh, no, but God did speak to Samuel.

Samuel now is coming to know the Lord in a very personal way. Samuel at now, whatever age 12 can legitimately be called a prophet of God because he is getting direct revelation from God. So he hears an audible voice clear enough to where it sounds like it's coming from the next room.

So Samuel runs to Eli says, here I am for you called me. What's Eli's response? No, I didn't go back to bed. And that's what Samuel did. Verse six, the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And the same thing happens.

Verse eight, the Lord called Samuel again, a third time. So he rose and went to Eli and finally it dawns on Eli. Uh, this must be the Lord. I mean, Eli is not in a real great spiritual condition, uh, but he knows enough.

It takes him a little while, but this must be the Lord. So he says, okay, go lay down again. And if you hear the voice again, this time say, Lord, if your servant hears, and that's exactly what Samuel does.

Now, God tells Samuel the future that Eli and his sons would be judged. And that's often the way we view prophecy. And by the way, when it says there's no open vision, there's no widespread revelation.

This is another word is prophecy. So prophecy is the word of God. And that's typically how we think of prophecy. So prophecy isn't just for telling it's for telling it's Samuel receiving a word from God.

He's speaking God's word. So when somebody prophesies, when a prophet prophesies, maybe they're telling the future they often are, but not necessarily. So prophecy is getting a word from God. And then the prophet would then share it with whoever God told them to share it with.

Going back to what I said a minute ago, there are a lot of people out there who claim this. A lot of people are claiming to hear the voice of God. Many of the televangelists on, on, on, on radio TV, obviously writing books, you know, the famous Christian authors, many of them claim to receive direct revelation from God.

And of course, then you look at the doctrine that they teach compared to the Bible, and it becomes very evident that, uh, no, they're not. So claiming to hear the voice of God, again, most people, when they say that they don't actually mean to hear that, they hear God's voice, but others do.

So we just have to recognize, just have to put this out there. There is such a thing as a false prophet. There's the true prophets who are actually hearing from God. Then there are the false prophets who say they're hearing from God, but they're not.

So Samuel is a true prophet. And Samuel is when he hears this message, it's bad news about Eli. And by the way, usually often when the prophets had a message from God, it was usually negative. I mean, this is why the positive only Christianity of today is, is it's so obviously false because if you just read the Bible, most prophecy is negative.

If you don't believe me, read the old Testament. If you think that, if you think I'm wrong, you know, you've never read the old Testament because it's so obvious, but through it all, there's that, there's that scarlet thread that runs through it all.

That gives that message of hope about Jesus. But prophecy is negative. And the prophets were often reluctant. You know, Moses was reluctant. Jonah was reluctant. And Samuel here is a little reluctant and you can understand.

So God in verse 14 makes it clear to Samuel, there's no hope of fixing this. I'm going to judge Eli. That's all there is to it. The Lord says, 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 when God swears to something, it's, it's going to happen. Eli's sons had become whatever term you want to use. The sons of Eli were reprobates, sons of Belial. They kept re-offending and they had crossed the line to where they became worthy of death.

And Eli was in a way, or he was complicit. You know, this whole concept, we've really lost it today. Many countries and cultures throughout history. That's the way it was here in America, way, way back.

There was something, but a lot of countries have something like a three strikes and you're out rule. You know, if you broke the law, you'd be punished and try to make restitution. But if it's a serious crime or a violent crime and the person kept re-offending again and again, for the sake of the common good, those people were eliminated.

Today, we have a system where violent criminals, you know, we put them in a cage for a while and people are making money off the prison system, but we put them in a cage. But eventually, usually we let them back out on the streets to re-offend.

And, and even when they're let out, the judges and the whole system, they know they're going to re-offend, but Hey, you bring them back into the courts, get some money there, put them in the prison system.

We're making money off of that. The point being, we just, we just let people back out. Violent offenders, they re-offend, re-offend, you know, they're going to re-offend. We just let them out and they victimize people.

We have a bad system. The Bible system was much better. Hey, if you re-offend and re-offend, and it's clear that you are not going to change, you're just going to extort people, threaten them, commit violence, you're done.

And that's what God says. We read in the last chapter that God, God himself had decided that he would kill the sons of Eli. So Eli and his sons are on borrowed time. They're not going to get away with their abuse and corruption.

Now, Eli or Samuel knows Eli is going to ask him about the night before. So Samuel receives this word from God in the middle of the night, he's already gone to Eli and kind of told him what was going on.

So in the morning, when Samuel gets up, he just knows what the first question is going to be. Eli is going to be like, so what, so what did God tell you? And Samuel is, is dreading this. I think verse 15, put yourself in that position.

Eli is the judge of Israel. He's the priest. You're 12 years old. Oh, God told me that he's going to judge you and your sons and kill you. I mean, yeah, you, you don't want to deliver that message. Verse 15, Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision for 16. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered here. Am I? And he said, what is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it.

I think Eli has some idea of what he said. He probably doesn't want to know, but you know how that is when, you know, the news is bad. The S the suspense is just so terrible that you just, you just need to tell me.

So Eli next, he almost threatened Samuel. He says, Samuel, God do to you and more. Also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that the Lord 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. One commentator says this, such a reply and such a reception of the news of the terrible doom twice communicated to him by a direct message from the eternal indicates that Eli, in spite of his weakness and foolish partiality for his sons was thoroughly devoted to the Lord in his heart.

Okay. That's what one commentator says. I suppose you could dispute that. But the idea is that deep down Eli loves God. He's just weak. He's compromised and now he's going to pay for it. So it looks like his sons were unsaved.

They were reprobate sons of Belial children of the devil. Eli wasn't a child of the devil, but he was a terrible leader. So Eli saw back to the commentator, Eli saw how deeply he had failed in his high office, how he had allowed worldly considerations to influence his conduct and how he had tried or been tried and found wanting.

And now without a murmur, he submits to the righteous judgment of his God. And he leaves himself in God's hands and never tries to justify himself in his past conduct. Now it was probably too late to attempt any reformation.

Anyways, in the priestly line, the influence and the power of his sons, half nine and Phineas were too strong for his enfeebled will to set aside. Eli was probably in his last days, little more than a puppet in their hands.

So what's happening, Eli for the last several years, maybe his whole life, he's been sowing to the wind and now he must reap the whirlwind. Now as new Testament Christians, we often think in terms of heaven and hell saved and lost.

So was Eli saved? Was he not? His sons were pretty clearly lost, but I think Eli was probably say, you know, that's the way we tend to think of things. The old Testament doesn't frame it in those terms.

It deals with things more on a earthly level. So Eli, just my personal opinion and the commentators that I read, I think shared this view that Eli is probably in heaven today. Um, but his life here on earth, even if that's true, clearly his life here on earth ended in disaster and old or new Testament, that's not what anyone wants.

We want to finish. Well, we want to finish strong. Eli finished poorly. Eli was weak, but even Samuel, if you know the story by the end of his life, his sons become corrupt. God does not hold Samuel accountable in the same way.

So Samuel is not complicit in the same way that Eli is, but Samuel's sons even become corrupt. So as far as I can tell all of that to say this, that Eli was, uh, I think deep down, he was a decent guy who wanted to serve God.

He did serve God, but because he tolerated evil, there were earthly consequences to that. So really this is a cautionary tale. There are probably a lot of people they've come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

They're truly regenerate. They're on their way to heaven, but for whatever reason, they make allowances for things they shouldn't allow deep down. They might love God, but they're doing things or they're maybe not doing things that they should.

And if that pattern continues, nothing good is going to come of that. So in conclusion, I guess the application is who, who do we want to emulate? Do we want to be like Eli or Samuel? Certainly we don't want to be like Eli's sons, but do we want to be like Eli?

It's easy thing to do. Well, I love God. I believe in God, but you know, I know God wants me to deal with this and I know the right way to handle this is that way, but I'm just, I'm just not strong enough to do it.

Well, that can bring consequences. We don't want to be like Eli. We want to be like Samuel. See, neither one of them wanted to do this thing. Eli was too afraid or too weak or whatever to restrain his sons.

So he didn't do it. And he faced the consequences. Samuel, similar situation in that there was something that God wanted Samuel to do. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to deliver the message to Eli.

Here's the difference between Eli and Samuel. Eli didn't do what God wanted. Samuel did. Samuel, as difficult as it was, he did what God told him to do. And you know, that's the real test doing what God says when it's hard doing the difficult thing and Samuel deliver the message.

He spoke the word of God to Eli. So Eli chose the wrong. Samuel chose the right. Who are we going to be like Eli or Samuel? The chapter ends verses 19 through 21. 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 bear Sheba 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.