Speak, O Lord
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
1 Samuel 3:10
In the book of 1 Samuel, our moral reflection and theologizing are called forth in a series of character comparisons. The priestly house of Eli is condemned and the kingly house of Saul is condemned. The priestly house of Samuel is sustained and the kingly house of David is sustained. Sins abound in all four men, and certainly the latter houses do not escape unscathed. Yet divine sovereignty upholds the latter and cuts off the former. Why? While we are not given explicit answers, we are also not without hints.
In the first two chapters of this book, the reader already encounters the announcement of judgment upon Eli’s house, and that story is interwoven with that of Samuel’s mother, Hannah, as she believes God’s word of promise for her barren womb to be opened. It is fitting that at first Eli did not recognize her earnestness, but took her to be a drunk (1:13), yet failed to discern the danger of his own sons’ actual drunkenness and ungodliness. What everything hinges on here is the word of God. It is no different than any other part of the Bible. With the exception of Jesus Himself, none of these characters are ends in themselves. None of them are so exalted as moral actors that we are to take only those most obvious traits to emulate. There is something outside of themselves to which their faith always points.
How the Word Judges the Man Who Despises It
There is a judgment before the final exile of a people—whether that people be of a house, a church, or a nation. Here we read that “the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision” (v. 1).
This detail is significant. It is the grand characteristic of the “age of Eli,” if we could name this period after his failed leadership. The text does not say that there was an absolute absence of God’s voice, but of both the word and vision it says “rare” and “[not] frequent.” This is bad enough. It is a judgment that begets others. To those who do not treasure the light, the light is dimmed. So Paul said that,
“because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
It is a wonder and a mercy that God does not always snuff it out all at once. In the place of “rare” the KJV says that the word of God was “precious” in those days. Indeed it must have been to anyone who had the spiritual sense to appreciate it; but this is no easy thing in a time when the word has been shut up to the people.
What God would not speak anymore to Eli, He communicates to a child. “Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy” (v. 8). What the ESV renders as “stood” for the divine action is יָצַב, which is something like “set or station oneself, take one’s stand” or “present oneself.” It does not need to mean to physically stand as if having legs. God had already said to this priest, as a reprimand, “for those who honor me I will honor” (2:30).
Now here was this boy who could not distinguish the voice of the holy God from that of a wicked man—yet this boy was so intent on hearing with purity that his obedient character honored God. Let this be a lesson to young people in our culture where to be obedient is virtually unthinkable. Who is left who is worthy of our obedience! But this is not the point, as obedience is under training to be finally submitted to God (cf. Eph. 6:7; Col. 3:23; 1 Tim. 6:1).
Not only does the Lord’s vengeance against Eli’s house seem severe to many, but the fine point at the end which excludes hope of restoration seems even more out of character—“the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever” (v. 14). If we interpret Scripture in light of Scripture (as we always should), we must conclude either that no real repentance would be sought, or else, if Eli himself sought personal forgiveness, yet the damages had already run their whole course as far as his sons were concerned anyway. At the very least, we have our clue as to the difference between Eli and Samuel when it came to their relationships to their wicked sons. It says, “for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them” (v. 13).
How the Word Establishes the Man Who Loves It
Samuel was proven, or “established” (v. 20), by God to the people. How does God do this? The one metric expressed here is that his words proved true, likely including much forth-telling. That is the meaning of the expression that God “let none of his words fall to the ground” (v. 19). While the imagery may recall the accomplishment element of Isaiah 55:11, the more important link is the evidence element from Deuteronomy 18 and its test of a true prophet:
“And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Deut. 18:21-22).
Now we do not have prophets today because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that office (Heb. 1:1-2). However, there is a principle that is retained. That is that the truth of the word is proven in the man who speaks it. I am not here speaking of that character and quality of a man’s life that proves out a doctrine. That is true as well, and a much discussed subject in the Pastoral Letters. What I mean is that the truth of the word itself begins to dawn upon those who will sit under it.
The primary contrast in this chapter between Eli and Samuel is not a contrast of fathers. That is an interesting study, but that is not what comes to forefront here. Since the chapter begins with that statement of the word of God receding, and the chapter ends with the word of God being established again to the people, I suggest that this is the more obvious theme. At the center of the chapter is that great declaration of the young Samuel: “Speak, for your servant hears” (v. 10).
The destiny of God’s people turned on their harkening to God’s word. We will see the same in lives of the kings following these two other offices of priest and prophet. No one is too lowly that the word of the Lord cannot raise him, and no one is too lofty that God will spare such a one who disobeys that word. As was said through the prophet Isaiah,
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isa. 66:2).
In a time when the word is made rare, when the sheep are starved and the shepherds feed themselves, as in Ezekiel’s day, it is natural to take our eyes off of the truth itself. It is natural, instead, to think that the eyes of the Lord are, so to speak, upon the audacious or the accomplished. Certainly boldness and industry are virtues in the godly—but a more difficult thing to discern is the face of God turning to someone who says (and such a one says it inwardly first) “Speak, for your servant hears.”
How does one see what someone else can hear in his heart? He or she must respond with the same confession as Samuel did. We must labor in prayer and Bible study to be such hearers. It is not only the prophet of old, or the pastor of today, but every simple Christian who must seek out that voice of the Lord that has already long sought them out in Scripture.
This is what moves the world.
The same word that said, “Let there be light” at first, who called every prophet—that word, believed and obeyed and spoken, is what will start something new and living where all around us sinks into death.
