In Chapter 3 we find the Lord calling Samuel to be a prophet of Israel. It's generally believed that Samuel is about twelve years old when the events of this chapter occur. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, who lived about a thousand years later, states that this was the case. It would make sense that Samuel is around the age of twelve or thirteen because that is the age he would be considered old enough to be responsible for understanding and following the laws of the Lord. For example, twelve is the age at which we find Jesus staying behind when Mary and Joseph are leaving Jerusalem after Passover; He is sitting in the temple courts among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. (Luke 2:41-46)
Our chapter begins by letting us know that, at the end of the era of the judges, it had become uncommon for anyone to receive a vision from the Lord. I believe this is due to the spiritual decline we witnessed in the nation while we were studying the book of Judges. "The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions." (1 Samuel 3:1) I am sure the Lord was still speaking to the individual hearts of His faithful ones, directing their lives and answering their prayers, during the times of the judges. But there were not many visions given of national relevance during those days. Some of the judges were corrupt. Some of the teachers and elders were corrupt. The two sons of the high priest were corrupt, as we learned in our study on Thursday and Friday. Because so many of the leaders were not listening to the Lord, He went largely silent at that time.
We could compare this to what is called the "intertestamental period" between the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is the four hundred years between Malachi the prophet and John the Baptist during which the Lord called no prophets. These centuries are also known as the "silent years" but the Lord was being silent for a reason: silence often produces results which words do not. He had sent prophet after prophet but there was still a gradual spiritual decline taking place. So He stopped having much to say until people longed to hear from Him like a thirsty man longs for water. Then, out of the silence, He spoke. He called John the Baptist to preach and prophesy in Israel. And when the Lord spoke, He spoke big, for He sent not only His "word" (His message) but His "Word" (God the Son). As the Apostle John so famously described this event: "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-5, 14) The Lord was silent for four hundred years in order to get people's attention. Then when He spoke, He spoke as never before.
So we see that, when the Lord speaks out of the silence, He has big things to say. He has something big to say to Samuel as He calls him to be a prophet. He has big things to say about the high priest Eli regarding the downfall of his house which was predicted in yesterday's text. He has big things to say to all Israel through Samuel, who will be not only a prophet but Israel's last judge and the man who will bridge the era between the judges and the kings. During his lifetime Samuel will anoint the first two kings of Israel.
The Lord speaks and does big things on what seem like ordinary days, or ordinary nights as on the night when He calls Samuel. "One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel." (1 Samuel 3:2-4a) As they do every night, Eli and Samuel are sleeping in their usual spots in the house of the Lord. One of their duties was to keep the light burning throughout the night, so when the author tells us "the lamp of God had not yet gone out", he means the Lord called Samuel sometime during the final watch of the night but before dawn. Samuel, rather than Eli, was probably tasked with minding the lamps since Eli's eyesight is so poor and he is so "very old" as we were told earlier in the book and because he is debilitatingly obese as we'll be informed in Chapter 4. We've already seen that Eli has become ineffective as a priest and as a father to his grown sons; his lamp is burning out, spiritually speaking. Samuel is the one letting his little light shine, as the expression goes. The Lord can no longer use Eli as an example to the nation but there is someone in the house of God whom He can use: Samuel.
Samuel hears the Lord's voice but thinks the high priest called to him. "Samuel answered, 'Here I am.' And he ran to Eli and said, 'Here I am, you called me.' But Eli said, 'I did not call; go and lie back down.'" (1 Samuel 3:4b-5) Samuel probably heard an audible voice, not just a voice within his heart, and many scholars propose the theory that the voice came from behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place where the ark was kept.
Samuel is used to having the elderly priest call for him during the night. Eli is suffering from the feebleness of age, has very poor eyesight, and has trouble getting up or down from his pallet due to his weight. If he needs something in the night he's going to call for Samuel to serve him; he's not going to get up and get it himself. Samuel is used to responding to a voice calling him in the night and it's natural that, awakened out of sleep, he would mistake the voice of the Lord for the voice of the priest. The priest thinks Samuel dreamed him calling him and tells the boy, "Go and lie back down."
"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 and lie back down.'" (1 Samuel 3:6) Samuel wakes the old priest up again. To his credit, Eli does not become annoyed but shows affectionate patience when he addresses the boy as "my son" and tells him for the second time to go back to sleep.
"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the Lord called to him, 'Samuel!' And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am; you called me.'" (1 Samuel 3:7-8a) When the author says, "Samuel did not yet know the Lord," he doesn't mean that Samuel didn't love and respect and serve the Lord. But he was not accustomed to hearing the Lord's voice and did not recognize it. He will come to recognize it intimately during his long tenure as judge and prophet but on this night it's understandable that he kept thinking the priest was calling for him. No one else had ever called to him in the night.
Eli finally catches on. "Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy." (1 Samuel 3:8b) The priest has been criticized by scholars for not catching on sooner. It's pardonable that the young Samuel didn't recognize the Lord's voice but scholars reason that Eli, in his role as high priest and with his many years of experience serving in the Lord's house, has no excuse for his lack of spiritual discernment. That may be so but as we move on through our chapter tomorrow we will find him doing what he should and giving the young Samuel some very wise and godly advice.
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