Through a Child's Ears (1 Sam 3)

THROUGH A CHILD’S EARS (1 SAMUEL 3)

In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great men born in this village?"

The old man replied, "Nope, only babies."

Hearing the Lord is about attitude, not age, appearance and even advantages in life, which Samuel did not have since his parents visit him once a year (1 Sam 2:19). God, however, reveals Himself to believers who are willing to listen and learn. Samuel was a boy when God spoke to him. Yes, a boy but never a baby. More like a lad, in old English, or a teen, the age when Ishmael left home (Gen 21:12) and when Isaac was offered (Gen 22:5). A boy his age can quite well choose to do the Lord’s work, dedicate himself to ministry and devote his life to God.

In what ways can a youth, a teen or a lad serve God? Why does God not discriminate on age? Why do some people succeed in ministry and why do others stagnate in service?

Serve with Authority
2:18 But Samuel was ministering before the Lord-a boy wearing a linen ephod. (1 Sam. 2:18)
2:19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. (1 Sam 2:19)
3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. (1 Sam. 3:1-3)

Samuel broke barriers and bore burdens most extraordinarily. Did Samuel come from a priestly family? What tribe did Samuel’s father descend from? His father Elkanah was from the tribe of Ephraim (1 Sam 1:1), not Levi. So Samuel was not a Levite, a priest or an adult but it did not stop him from wearing a linen ephod or serving God with authority. Who gets to wear an ephod (2:18)? A priest like Eli. In 1 Samuel 2:28, God reprimanded Eli, saying, “I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence (1 Sam 2:28). Besides the ephod, each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. What is a robe (1 Sam 2:19)? It is the long-flowing inside garment (Ex 28:4, 31, 29:5) to compliment ephod on the outside, similar to a breastplate. So we can see Samuel was role-playing for real at a young age. Better still, he wore it (2:18) and not waste it every day, come rain or sunshine, nor stuff it in a closet or corner out of embarrassment. It must be a thrill because Samuel’s mother made sure she brought the same thing next year.
http://www.messianic-torah-truth-seeker.org/Torah/Kohen/kohengadol.html

I accepted Christ when I was 17. I do not remember any time when I was not serving in some capacity since. In those days, any youth sixteen years and older were to attend senior (adult) fellowship. The church I attended did not have a pastor, which was also what prompted me to ministry three years later.

Less than half a year at church, I was already asked to take turns to lead Wednesday Bible study. I kind of forgot if it was before my decision to accept Christ or getting baptized, which was on October 9, 1977. The group of around 10-12 English speakers rotate a Tyndale (NT) commentary to the next Bible study leader every week, so no one was exempted.

A year later, the church started a Sunday school class for no more than five students aged 10-12. I was the oldest of the teens, so I was asked to lead the class. I was supposed to find the materials at a local bookstore nowhere near my home to buy budget material printed from India! We had no class facility, so I asked everyone to grab a chair and have our class under a tree. I was already involved serving in the choir, the library, and the youth department, and the literature department that produces the yearly church magazine. I felt the call to ministry when I was 19, attended Bible college when I was 21 and began ministry when I was 25.

In my previous church the youth does most of the powerpoint, from choosing the template to the final product.

Samuel had a refreshing authority when it came to the things of the Lord. He was a burst of fresh air, a piece of blank paper and a change for the better. How fresh? “Minister before the Lord” (vv 1, 11, 18) is new to the Bible, all the way from the previous chapter (1 Sam 2:11), a term originating from Samuel, a testament to his unusual departure from the norm. Up to now, the expressions for “ministering/serving” were limited to minister in the holy place (Ex 28:43, 29:30, 35:19, 39:1, 39:41, Num 4:12) – the most popular, minister in the tabernacle (Num 8:26) or minister in the name of the LORD (Deut 18:7).

The focus of ministry up to Samuel’s time was always centered on the place and the part, but never the person, but Samuel turned it around. In Hebrew, the phrase is “ministered unto the Lord before (to the face of) Eli.” God was always the person Samuel admired, adored attended to, abide by. In truth, while Eli was Samuel’s supervisor, he was not his superior. Samuel was a sharp contrast to Eli. The latter was the priest but God did not call Eli. In fact, Eli was the last person God would call due to the disgrace and dishonor his sons brought to the house of God and the shameful acts they did in the temple. The only way God would talk to him was never personally, but through another.

Serve with Availability
4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am." 5 And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. 6 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 back and lie down." 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 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 Sam. 3:4-9)

“The Sound of Silence” was a song that befuddled me when I was young. As I aged, I understand the writer’s depiction of people’s unwillingness to communicate or change, the disconnect and distance from one another, and the deafness to change:
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence.

The word “ran” (v 5) spoke volumes about his availability and accessibility to God and others. He was eager, enthusiastic, exuberant, energetic and excited to serve, like a kid in a candy store or with a Christmas gift. Not coincidentally, the first person to run in the Bible was Abraham, who ran to meet the angels visiting Sodom and Gomorrah, and bowed himself toward the ground (Gen 18:2). When I was teaching at seminary, the school always frowned on people who do not walk properly, lecturing students who move too fast. Running was a big no-no, but here we have Samuel the runner. All things matter to Samuel, small or big things he did well. Do you know one of his tasks at the temple? Opening the doors of the house of the Lord (1 Sam 3:15). I can hear him saying Psalm 84, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Ps 84:1-2) Everything about Samuel was full of life. The “doors of the house of the Lord” is also new to the Bible. The door was just like any other door. No fresh paint, no classy sculpture, not gold-plated. To Samuel, it meant more. It was home, heaven and honor. From ministering to the Lord, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, he later became a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3:15, 20).

What are you doing on Sunday? I hope you are not merely leading in singing, teaching a class, or collecting the offering. You are serving the Lord, singing His praise and proclaiming His greatness and glory. Why did Samuel run to Eli? Because he was young and reckless? In truth, he cared for the old man and his needs. Eli’s eyes were so weak that he could barely see. KJV translations of the same word for “weak” found elsewhere in the Bible are “darkish” (Lev 13:39), “dim” (1 Sam 3:2), “smoking” (Isa 42:3) and “heaviness” (Isa 61:3). It speaks a lot for someone of his young age to see the drowsiness, the hollowness and the tiredness in Eli’s eyes because Eli was more than weak. The color was changing and the lids were heavy. Smoking (Isa 42:3) means “smoldering” in NIV, like a flickering fire about to die off. It could have been a distress call. There was a gnawing fear that one day Eli could not move. The other person considered as “very old” (1 Sam 2:22) in the Bible was Barzillai, who was eighty years old (2 Sam 19:32).

I tried an experiment from verses 6 and 8 to see if the congregation could understand the effort of Samuel by acting as the voice of the Lord and the audience responding like Samuel. All of them answered back, but none of them “got up,” which is what Samuel relentlessly did. Samuel no longer ran the second and third time but nevertheless he was never tired of getting up, seeing if his mentor was okay, even if he had to repeat the same old stuff three times - “Here I am, for you called me” (vv 5-7) – altogether four times. Why is this small detail crucial? It is the kind of respect for people and Eli that Eli’s sons did not have. Because Eli’s sons did not listen to their father’s rebuke (1 Sam 2:25). Heck they did not even speak to him, but Samuel listened to everything Eli told him, from “go back to bed” to “speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel’s up and running approach, responding at the same, also contrasted loudly with Eli’s muted sons who did not care about what he said in the previous chapter: If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?" His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke. (1 Sam 2:25).

The word “revealed” (v 7) is the shortest way to describe the passing of the baton and guard from Eli to Samuel. Why? Because it is the word a man of God chose to use in indicting Eli in the previous chapter, saying “This is what the Lord says: 'Did I not ‘clearly reveal’ myself to your father's house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh?” (1 Sam 2:27). “Clearly reveal” means “reveal, reveal,” a repetition. Eli listened to his sons more than God. You see, Eli was more than just blind in the physical sense (v 2). More serious, he was blind spiritually, not merely blind to his son’s sins, but blind to people’s cry and God’s displeasure. God spoke more personally than powerfully to Samuel three times, by name even (v 6).

More importantly, at his young age, Samuel tirelessly articulated the words God loved to hear, “Here I am.” How many times? Four times. He was the kind of kid, doing one more than necessary, running rather than walking or sleeping.

Serve with Authenticity
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." 11 And the LORD said to Samuel: "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family-from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, 'The guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.'" (1 Sam 3:10-14)

Here are six suggestions for success I found from an old illustration book:
1. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.
2. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times, and to have a smile for every living creature you meet.
3. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you will have no time to criticize others.
4. To be too big for worry, too noble for anger and too strong for fear.
5. To think well of your self and to proclaim this fact to the world not in loud words, but in great deeds.
6. To live in the faith that the world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you. (More Toasts, Gertrude Stein)

The world is so cold, cynical and critical nowadays that you need a lot of authenticity to survive. Samuel succeeded and surpassed his mentor in a big way because he was the real deal. Eli was a priest (1 Sam 2:11), never a prophet. Samuel became a prophet (1 Sam 3:20), the first named prophet since Moses died. To be authentic one must be a servant (v 10), not just any servant but God’s servant. Ironically Eli was never called a priest of the Lord, merely priest. He did his part, fulfilled his duties and paid his dues, but never changed.

God spoke to Samuel in a most special way. He not only called him, but “came and stood” (v 10), not indirectly without dialogue like previous times, but directly, calling him by name two times (v 11), just like a friend. Samuel now not only knew God personally but also powerfully as God declared judgment upon Eli and his family.

The irony of Eli’s advice – your servant is listening/heareth (v 10) is that the old man taught the young man what he failed to do. The verb “hear/listen” occurs as much as four times in the previous chapter. You see, Eli’s problem was not that he was old but because he was cold; not because he was in decline but that he was in denial, not because he was irrelevant but that he was indifferent to the misery, madness and mockery around him. He “heard” about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (1 Sam 2:22), and told them twice – “I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours” (1 Sam 2:23) and “No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the Lord's” (1 Sam 2:24), but his sons, however, did not “listen/hear” to their father's rebuke (1 Sam 2:25). The sad irony is that God is going do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who “hears” of it tingle (1 Sam 3:11).

In the end, Eli knew God was speaking to Samuel (v 17), and all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3:20). The Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord (1 Sam 3:21). Samuel had a rich, living relationship with the Lord. The word of the Lord was closely associated with Samuel’s ministry and nobody else, occurring three times in this chapter and six overall in the book (1 Sam 3:1, 7, 21, 15:10, 23, 26). All Israel from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3:20). Before chapter 3, the sons of Eli knew not the Lord (1 Sam 2:12). When God called, Samuel did not know the Lord (1 Sam 3:7), but afterwards all Israel knew that Samuel was a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam 3:20).

What is the secret to service? From chapter 2 on, since he was a boy, the introduction to Samuel’s name was inseparable from the Lord’s name:
“Samuel was ministering before the Lord-a boy wearing a linen ephod.” (1 Sam 2:18)
“Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.” (1 Sam 2:21)
“Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.” (1 Sam 2:26)
“The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.” (1 Sam 3:1)

Also, throughout his life, the word of the Lord was strongly associated with his name; in fact, only his name and nobody else. Samuel had a rich, living relationship with the Lord. The word of the Lord was closely associated with Samuel’s ministry and nobody else, occurring three times in this chapter and six overall in the book (1 Sam 3:1, 7, 21, 15:10, 23, 26). His major backing was from the Lord, never from his parent or a priest, from a position or a part.

Conclusion: Are you living a life of worship and service to God? Are you listening to the Lord? Is there something God is displeased about and disapproved of in your life? Are you willing to be the good and godly person God intended you to be? Are you growing in the Lord and giving yourself to the Lord?