Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”Ī. (10) Samuel responds just as Eli told him. That is all fine, but their voices mean nothing for eternity unless God speaks through them. The preacher may speak, our parents may speak, our friends may speak, our teachers may speak, those on the radio or television may speak.
Then he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. Then the LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son lie down again.” (Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him.) And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call lie down again.” And he went and lay down. (5-9) Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s voice. Samuel is among several others who also said, “ Here I am ” when the LORD spoke to them: Abraham (Genesis 22:1), Jacob (Genesis 46:2), Moses (Exodus 3:4), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8), and Ananias (Acts 9:10).
It isn’t that God does not know where we are, but it tells God and it reminds us we are simply before Him as servants, asking what He wants us to do. This is a beautiful way to respond to God’s Word. But Samuel was so impressed by what he heard, he responded by saying, “Here I am!” And he answered, “Here I am!” This leads us to believe God spoke to Samuel in an audible voice, instead of in an “inner voice,” though this is not certain. However old he was, God spoke to Samuel.ĭ. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus said Samuel was 12 years old.
While Samuel was laying down to sleep, that the LORD called Samuel : We don’t know for certain how old Samuel was. Exodus 27:21 refers to the responsibility of the priests to tend the lamps until sunrise, or just before dawn.Ĭ. Before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD : As a figure of speech, this simply means “before dawn.” But it is also suggestive of the dark spiritual times of Israel – it is dark and will probably get darker. His age made him an ineffective leader for Israel.ī. His eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see : This was true both spiritually and physically of Eli. (2-4) God’s first words to Samuel.Īnd it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, that the LORD called Samuel. God will speak, and guide, when His people seek Him, and when His ministers seek to serve Him diligently. The word of the LORD rare in those days because of the hardness of heart among the people of Israel and the corruption of the priesthood. God didn’t speak often, and when He did, it was a word of judgment. The word of the LORD was rare in those days : The only word of the LORD we read of in the first two chapters of 1 Samuel is the word of judgment brought by the man of God against Eli. The boy Samuel ministered to the LORD : For the third time it is emphasized that Samuel ministered to the LORD (also in 1 Samuel 2:11 and 2:18), just as Aaron and his sons did at their consecration as priests (Exodus 29:1) and just like Paul and Barnabas did before they were sent out as missionaries (Acts 13:1-2).ī. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days there was no widespread revelation.Ī. Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. (1) The scarcity of revelation in Israel. Samuel is unable to recognize God’s voice.