"Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 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." (1 Samuel 3:8b-9) Eli may have become physically and spiritually lazy in his later years but he gives proper, godly advice to Samuel in our passage today. I think he probably gave proper, godly advice to his sons while he was raising them. But, just some people who were brought up in God-honoring homes end up going astray, Eli's sons have gone astray in their adulthood. I think Eli has given up on them but he hasn't given up on Samuel. He believes the Lord is about to place a calling on Samuel's life and he's doing to do what he can to help Samuel answer that calling.
"The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, 'Samuel! Samuel!' Then Samuel said, 'Speak, for Your servant is listening.'" (1 Samuel 3:10) Earlier in the book of 1 Samuel we learned that an unnamed man of God came to Eli to pronounce judgment upon his house. For the sins of his sons, and because they refuse to repent of their sins, they will both die on the same day. The office of the high priesthood itself will move, in time, to a different branch of the family of Aaron. Eli is descended from Aaron's son Eleazar but during the days of King Solomon the line of succession for priests will be switched to those who are descended from Aaron's son Ithamar. The Lord is about to confirm the word He gave to Eli through the unnamed man of God by repeating the message of judgment to Samuel.
"And the Lord said to Samuel: 'See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family---from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'" (1 Samuel 3:11-14) The Lord isn't saying that a person can't repent and be forgiven. If Eli's sons had repented and turned from their sins, the Lord would have forgiven them but that doesn't mean He would have restored the priesthood to them. He's making a decision here that He will never revoke: the line of succession of the priesthood will depart from the family of Eli. Eli's sons held the Lord and His house in contempt. When informed of their sins, Eli verbally rebuked them but did not take any further action. When they refused to listen to him and change their ways, he didn't defrock them and banish them from their duties at the tabernacle. Eli dishonored the holy name of the Lord and he dishonored the reputation of the priesthood as a whole when he refused to deal with his sons as their sins required. It's the guilt of the house---Eli's branch of the family tree---that will not be removed in the sense that the Lord will move the priesthood to a different branch of the family tree.
I don't know whether Samuel was aware that a man of God had already given this dreadful message to Eli. The Lord's words might have been news to him. Or it could be that he already knew about the message but doesn't want to reveal that the same message has been given to him. Whatever the case, Samuel gets up the next morning with a feeling of dread because he knows Eli will ask him what the Lord said to him in the night. Samuel doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news. "Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, but Eli called him and said, 'Samuel, my son.' Samuel answered, 'Here I am.' 'What was it He said to you?' Eli asked. 'Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He told you.'" (1 Samuel 3:15-17)
Eli isn't being ugly to Samuel and threatening him when he says, "May God deal with you, be it ever so severely." He's not speaking hatefully to him; he's just letting him know that he has a solemn duty to pass along the message of the Lord even if that message is unpleasant. The Lord didn't call him and give him this message for him to keep it to himself. It will be the Lord, not Eli, who administers loving correction to Samuel if he fails to relay the message. Samuel will have to give many messages, both good and bad, during his tenure as a prophet of Israel. He might as well start getting used to it now by relaying words that are difficult to speak and difficult to hear.
"So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, 'He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.'" (1 Samuel 3:18) The old priest says, "So be it." He acknowledges that his sons are sinners and that he has been unable to turn them back onto the right path and that he has not taken away their positions and their authority in the Lord's house. He accepts the decision of the righteous and holy God in this matter.
"The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and He let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word." (1 Samuel 3:19-21) All of Samuel's prophecies came true because they were given to him by the Lord and he relayed them to the people faithfully, word for word. He did not add to them or take away from them. He was faithful to the Lord and the Lord was faithful to him, as it is written: "To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the devious You show Yourself shrewd. You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty." (Psalm 18:25-27)
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