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SERIES I --- THE NATION UNITES --- LESSON 03

YOUR SERVANT LISTENS

A MESSAGE FROM ADONAI

From 1 Samuel 2:22-3:21

Although Eli had grown old, he was aware of the evil things that his sons were doing. Instead of serving Adonai as they should, these priests were spending their time doing evil with the young women who served Adonai at the entrance to the tabernacle. Why are you doing this? Eli complained to them. Everyone is talking about the evil things you are doing. If a person sins against another, YHVH will act as his judge. But if a person sins against YHVH, who will intercede for him? Eli’s sons ignored him, for they had given themselves to their sin so completely that Adonai had already planned to take their lives. During this time, Samuel was growing up. YHVH was pleased with Samuel and so were YHVH’s people. One day a man of YHVH brought Eli a message from Adonai. When your ancestors were slaves in Egypt, I chose Levi to be My priest, to burn incense and make sacrifices on the altar and to wear an ephod when he was in My presence. To the Levites I gave the burnt offerings, so why did you take the other offerings? And why did you put your sons ahead of Me, letting them fatten you and themselves with the best of My meat offerings? I promised that the Levites could be My priests forever, but not in the way that you are doing! I will give honour to those who honour Me, but I will show no honour to those who despise Me. No, your family will soon be cut off as My priests and they will all die before they reach old age. While Israel prospers, your family will suffer in want. Not one will live to be old. Those who do live will have sorrow and grief and many of them shall be killed by the sword. You will soon know that these things will happen, for both Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day. When that happens, I will give their work to a faithful priest who will do what I want. He and his descendants will minister to My kings forever. Your descendants will come to his, begging for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread. They will beg for a priest’s job so that they may have food to eat. In those days, Samuel helped old Eli with the work at the tabernacle. YHVH seldom spoke to His people any more, but He did one night when Eli, who was so old that he could hardly see, had gone to bed. Samuel lay on his bed near the Ark of YHVH, in the innermost sanctuary of the tabernacle. The light from the seven branched lamp stand, still flickered, for it had not yet gone out. ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Adonai called. ‘I’m here!’ said Samuel. He thought Eli had called him, so he ran to Eli to see what he wanted. ‘You called for me,’ said Samuel. ‘What do you want?’ ‘I didn’t call for you,’ said Eli. ‘Go lie down.’ Samuel heard a voice calling him and hurried to Eli’s bed to see what the old priest wanted. Why would Eli call him in the middle of the night? But again, Eli protested that he had not called. Then it became clear that the voice was the voice of YHVH. Samuel went back to bed, but Adonai soon called to him again. ‘Samuel!’ He said. Again, Samuel got up and ran to Eli. ‘You called me again,’ said Samuel, ‘so here I am.’ ‘But I didn’t call you my son,’ said Eli. ‘Go back to bed.’ Samuel had never heard a message from Adonai before, so he did not realize that Adonai was calling him. Once more, when he heard his name called, he jumped up and ran to see Eli. ‘Here I am,’ he said to Eli. ‘You called me again.’ By now, Eli knew that it was the voice of Adonai calling. ‘Go back to bed,’ said Eli. ‘When Adonai calls again, tell Him to speak and you will listen.’ Samuel went back to bed and waited for Adonai to speak. Then Adonai spoke to Samuel as He had done before. ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He called. ‘Speak, Adonai, for I am listening,’ Samuel answered. Then Adonai spoke to Samuel. ‘I have warned Eli about some frightful things that I am about to do,’ Adonai said. ‘I am about to do things which will make some ears tingle. I will do all that I said against Eli and his family. I have told him that I will punish his family forever because his sons brought great evil upon YHVH and themselves and he did nothing to stop them. Thus, I have warned that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be taken away through sacrifices or offerings.’ Samuel remained in bed until morning, when he opened the doors of the tabernacle, as he usually did. He was afraid to tell Eli about Adonai’s message, but Eli called for him. ‘What did Adonai tell you, my son?’ Eli asked. ‘You must not hide a thing from me, for if you do, may Adonai punish you.’ Samuel told Eli everything that Adonai had said. ‘Adonai has spoken,’ said old Eli. ‘Let Him do what He knows is right.’ As time passed, Samuel grew stronger and wiser. Since Adonai was with him, people valued his counsel. Everyone from the far north at Dan to the far south at Beersheba knew that Samuel would be Adonai’s prophet. From time to time, Adonai revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh and Samuel shared His messages with the people.

COMMENTARY

WHERE SAMUEL SLEPT IN THE TABERNACLE

YHVH gave general guidance to His people in the Scriptures. He also gave specific messages through prophets. At the time Samuel lived, no special word had been heard from YHVH for years. Now YHVH spoke to the young boy who slept by the golden lamp stand in the tabernacle. Through Samuel, the Word of YHVH would come to all Israel. Samuel was only three years old when his mother took him to the tabernacle to live with the high priest. Few children left home at such an early age, but Samuel’s mother had promised YHVH that her son would become a Nazirite; a child specially dedicated to the service of YHVH. As Samuel grew up, he spent much of his time working with Eli, his teacher. The old priest was almost blind and he depended on Samuel to help him care for the temple. Eli’s own sons did not listen to him and cared little for the proper ways of doing things in the temple. They ate the animals sacrificed to YHVH and misbehaved with the women who came to worship. At night, Samuel spread his mat on the temple floor and slept by the soft flickering light of the menorah. This special lamp stand had seven branches or stands, with a small lamp set on top of each branch. Each morning the lamps were filled with enough pure olive oil to burn through the day and into the night. Every few hours the wicks were checked to make sure they did not slip down and suffocate in the oil. For the Israelites, the burning lamps symbolized life and the constant presence of Adonai; tending the lamp of YHVH was probably one of Samuel’s most important duties. In later times the rules for tending the menorah were very carefully spelled out. Priests cleaned the oil cups and refilled them with fresh oil every morning and evening. Old wicks were replaced with bits of the priest’s worn-out clothing. If one of the side lamps burned out, it could be relit with the flame from another lamp. But the centre wick would be relit only with fire from the altar of sacrifice. Working from the outside, the priests lit all the wicks from the right to the centre, then from the left, leaving the centre wick for last. This method of kindling the menorah came to symbolize the unity of the people of Israel. Today the menorah is still one of the main symbols of the Jewish faith.

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