Samuel Hears His Name

It is the middle of the night in the house of God. The lamp is still flickering. A boy is asleep, not far from the ark. Then a voice speaks his name.

Samuel is the son Hannah prayed for. Now he lives at Shiloh, serving the Lord under Eli the priest. These are not good days. The book of First Samuel says the word of the Lord was rare then, and visions were not common. Eli is old, his eyes so weak he can barely see. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are priests too, but they treat the Lord's offerings with contempt and do whatever they like. Eli has scolded them, but he hasn't stopped them. And in the middle of all this, the boy Samuel keeps doing his work, faithfully and quietly.

One night, Eli is lying down in his usual place. Samuel is lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God is. The lamp of God has not yet gone out. And the Lord calls. “Samuel!” “Here I am,” Samuel answers. He jumps up and runs to Eli. “Here I am. You called me.” Eli is puzzled. “I didn't call you. Go back and lie down.” So Samuel goes back and lies down.

Again the Lord calls. “Samuel!” Again Samuel gets up and goes to Eli. “Here I am. You called me.” “I didn't call, my son. Go back and lie down.” The book explains why Samuel keeps getting it wrong. He did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. He has never heard God's voice before. How would he recognise it? A third time the Lord calls, and a third time Samuel goes running to Eli. “Here I am. You called me.”

And this time, Eli understands. It's the Lord who is calling the boy. And the old priest, for all his failings, gives Samuel the best advice he could give. “Go and lie down. And if he calls you, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel goes back to his place and lies down. The house is quiet. Then the Lord comes and stands there, and calls as before. “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answers, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

What the Lord says is hard to hear. He is about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. Judgement is coming on Eli's family, because his sons have dishonoured God, and Eli has not restrained them. Samuel lies there until morning. Then he gets up and opens the doors of the house of the Lord, as he does every day. He is afraid to tell Eli what he heard. But Eli calls him. “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am.” “What did he say to you? Don't hide it from me.” So Samuel tells him everything, holding nothing back. And Eli answers, “He is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”

Samuel grows up, and the Lord is with him. None of his words fall to the ground; everything he speaks from God comes true. And all Israel, from Dan in the far north to Beersheba in the far south, comes to know that Samuel is a true prophet of the Lord. The Lord keeps appearing at Shiloh, and speaking to Samuel there. In a time when God's voice was rare, God spoke to a boy who was willing to listen.

There's a small detail in this story that tells us when it happened. The lamp of God had not yet gone out. In the books of Exodus and Leviticus, the priests are told to keep a lamp burning in the sanctuary, fed with pure olive oil, from evening until morning. So if the lamp was still burning, but would soon go out, it was night, probably the dark hours before dawn. Some readers also hear a picture in it. In a dark time for Israel, God's light had not gone out.

Samuel hears his name. You'll find it in First Samuel, chapter 3. Samuel didn't recognise God's voice at first, and that was all right. He kept getting up, and an older believer helped him understand. So here's something to think about. How might God be speaking to you, and how can you be ready to say, Speak, for your servant is listening?