THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL
CHAPTER
3
THE LORD CALLS SAMUEL
It's wonderful to
have you back again to share more Daily Bread. Reviewing what happened last time
we shared, Eli was sent a message from God that because he neglected to do
something about his sons defiling the office of the priesthood, Eli's posterity
would never live to be old, but would die at a young age.
THE LORD CALLS SAMUEL
STUDY ON THE LORD CALLS SAMUEL EVENT WITH THE LORD CALLS SAMUEL MESSAGE
Apparently, even
after this warning, Eli failed to defend the integrity of the priesthood, and as
you'll see, God's messenger wasn't just full of empty words.
Don't forget now, in the meantime,
Samuel is just a child, and Eli is teaching him to serve the Lord (righteously)
as a priest. At that particular time, it was rare that anyone received the Word
of the Lord. There was no open vision (a vision that takes place when one is
conscious, like falling into a trance, but with the eyes open).
But one night, the Lord called to
Samuel, and having never heard the Word of the Lord before, Samuel thought it
was Eli calling him, so he went to Eli and said, Here I am. Eli told Samuel to
go on back to lie down because he hadn't called him. This happened three times,
and then Eli realized it was the Lord calling Samuel, so he instructed him to go
lie back down, but if he (Samuel) heard the voice again, to answer: Speak Lord,
your servant is listening.
So the Lord did call again,
saying, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered as he was told by Eli, and the
Lord talked to him about Eli. He told Samuel that He would do something in
Israel, and anyone who heard of it ... Their ears would tingle. Perhaps this
is like what we refer to today as, a chill up the spine. At any rate, God was going
to do something that would grab attention. He said that He would do all the
things that He had spoken (through the man of God) concerning the family of
Eli because of the sins of his sons, and that he (Eli) didn't stop them. So God
promised that the sins of Eli's family would not be forgiven with sacrifice
nor offering, forever.
The next
morning, Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision, but Eli called Samuel
to him and asked what the Lord revealed to him, adding, May God do the same to
you and more if you hide anything from me that He told you. So Samuel told Eli
all of it, and Eli responded, He is the Lord: let Him do what He thinks is good.
Now, if Eli had been truly repentant
and had taken action with his sons to stop their evil ways when the man of God
warned Eli of the things that would happen because of their transgressions,
perhaps things may have turned out differently, but as you can see, Eli seems to
have sort of a "whatever will be, will be" attitude, and the ministry of the
priesthood ... Especially the high priest and heirs, deserves the utmost
reverence, of which the Lord saw that Eli and his sons didn't care to exercise,
so we'll see what happens to them as a consequence to their ways a little later
on in the next chapter.
THE LORD CALLS
SAMUEL
LESSON WITH
THE LORD CALLS
SAMUEL
EXPLANATION
Meanwhile, Samuel grew closer and
closer to the Lord, and all of Israel recognized that he was chosen to be a
Prophet of the Lord. You may remember that at the beginning of our study of 1
Samuel, we said that Samuel was the last judge. Some believe that Samuel was
the first "recognized" Prophet. Well, we certainly don't want to split hairs
about who was considered the first Prophet, but there are a few scriptures that
are interesting about this topic. First of all, Peter said:
|
Acts 3:24
Yea, and all the Prophets from Samuel and those that follow after,
as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. |
And Paul said:
|
Acts 13:20
And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four
hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the Prophet. |
But the Lord himself referred to
Abraham as a Prophet, too:
|
Genesis 20:7
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a Prophet, and
he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore
her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that
are thine. |
And the
Lord also said that He sent prophets since the day that Israel came out of
slavery in Egypt:
|
Jeremiah 7:25
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of
Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the
Prophets, daily rising up early and sending them ... |
Of course there was Enoch, Noah,
Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Balaam and Deborah who are noted as being Prophets as
well, so we're not going to say that Peter was wrong, or Paul was wrong, or
anything of that nature. Let's just say that during the time period when the
judges ruled, there weren't any Prophets around until Samuel.
THE LORD CALLS
SAMUEL
INFORMATION WITH
THE LORD CALLS SAMUEL
MEANING
Don't forget, people will always
want to challenge Christianity by asking you tricky questions that have
absolutely nothing to do with your faith. Obviously, in a perfect world, they
would realize that it doesn't matter who was the FIRST prophet, and that living
a life that represents Jesus is all that really matters, so never let trivia,
debate, or provocation shake you. Just always ask the Holy Spirit to guide you
in sharing TRUTH with others, and be at peace within yourself that you do your
best to share the Word of the Lord and the Gospel as purely as you possibly can.
Can't wait for you to return so we
can continue our study of the book of 1 Samuel, right here together at Daily
Bread.
