Samuel
1 Samuel 2:22-4:1; 1 Samuel 8:19-22, 15:10-35
Israel has been ruled by judges for over 200 years
now, and Eli and Samuel are to be the last of the
line.
Samuel, whose name means ‘one whose name is
God’ – i.e. he is set apart and holy – has been
growing up as a priest in training under Eli, and is
as well qualified to serve Israel as Eli’s successor
as his two sons.
Under Eli the nation has fallen away from God, and
it is clear that God is preparing Samuel from the
very beginning to lead the nation back to right
living.
Samuel is a Godly young man, ready for God to be
in control of his life, and his prophecy, but his
mentor’s two sons are wicked men, with no regard
for the Lord. And Eli himself is guilty of a
dereliction of his duty by turning a blind eye to
their twofold sins…
1
Firstly, Eli’s two sons have been abusing their
situation to extort from the people coming to make
their offerings to God. The sin of the young men
was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were
treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.”
And secondly, we find that Eli’s sons slept with the
women who served at the entrance to the Tent of
Meeting.” Not only are the boys stealing from
God… they’re making the tabernacle a place of
prostitution.
So, Eli takes his boys aside and gives them a good
talking to. But the problem is that he doesn’t
punish them, and he doesn’t remove them from
office. Presumably he overlooks their sin because
he loved them too much to obey God.
Or to put it another way, Eli loved his sons more
than God. And that meant that they kept him from
listening to God, and they distracted him from his
responsibility as a priest.
2
And thus God tells Eli, “I will raise up for myself a
faithful priest, who will do according to what is in
my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his
house, and he will minister before my anointed
one always.”
Thus God selects Samuel to replace Eli because
Samuel is ready to listen to God:
And as Samuel listens, God speaks: four separate
times that night, each time calling - “Samuel,
Samuel”
And the first 3 times… that’s all God says.
And then, notably, it’s only after Samuel says
‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” that God
starts to talk to him.
And we too, just like Samuel need to learn that, if
we would hear God’s words, then we need to
actively listen, we need to say, “Speak Lord, your
servant is listening.”
3
It reminds me of the Mary and Martha story: they
were both strong supporters of Jesus’ ministry,
both engaged in giving emotional support, food,
and maybe even helped financially too.
Mary, who we often think of as the lazy one, sat at
the Lord’s feet listening to what Jesus says. But
Martha, who we often like to think of as the
diligent one, was distracted by all the preparations
that had to be made. She came to him and asked,
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to
do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answers, “you are
worried and upset about many things, but only one
thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better.”
No doubt Jesus appreciated what Martha was
doing but she was “distracted” by her
preparations, and following her own agenda.
4
And Samuel might well be talking to us as he says,
“Don’t get distracted by anything in this world.
Don’t get distracted by your job, your troubles,
your goals, your agendas, even your family. Listen
to God! Listen to him first!”
It’s not that God doesn’t care what you think or
feel, it’s actually that he wants to bless us, that he
wants to give us our hearts desires. But he can’t do
that if we don’t listen to him.
The reason God chose Samuel to replace Eli, then,
was not just because of the iniquity of Eli’s sons.
God has actively chosen another, the boy who
would says to God “Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening.”
All of which rather begs the question, How do I
know when I’m listening to God? Well, how did
Samuel know that God didn’t want a King to rule
over his people? Well, primarily, it is because he
lived close to God all the time, being with Godly
people, and at the tabernacle, worshipping God, at
every opportunity.
5
The point is: He was always near to God, and you
can’t hear if you’re not near.
Specifically for us, that means two things. Firstly it
means spending time with God’s people – maybe
attending church social evenings or maybe
attending a house group. And secondly it means
going to church, not just when you want to, or
when it fits with your plans and schedules, but at
times when it isn’t convenient, and isn’t the first
thing you want to do.
So, as we gather together tonight, in God’s House,
just as Samuel did, I want to ask you, are you
listening? Is God speaking to you about your need
to read your bible more? To grow more? To serve
more? To be with him more?
Whatever God is saying to you, you need to make
up your mind to say “Speak Lord, for your servant
is listening!”…
Moving on, Samuel grew in wisdom and became a
great prophet. Following a great Philistine victory
over the Israelites, Samuel became a judge and
rallied the nation against the Philistines at Mizpah.
6
He established his house at Ramah, and he and his
sons rode a circuit to around the various cities
where they settled the people’s disputes.
But, unfortunately, just as Eli’s sons had in the
previous generation, Samuel’s sons, Joel and
Abijah, now fall short. They had been delegated to
follow Samuel as judges, but they too were
corrupt, so the people began demanding a king,
saying to Samuel,
“No? We are determined to have a king over
us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations.”
And because the people demand a king, they now
get in trouble. And that’s because they are making
their request, not just because they don’t want to
be ruled by Samuel’s sons who are perverting
justice, but more specifically because they see
other nations have Kings and they want to be like
them.
7
The problem is, you see, that Israel are set apart
from other nations, called to be different, and
unique, ruled by one who speaks for God. They
had stayed true to this calling down the centuries,
but now their motive in asking for a king is to be
like other nations, a contradiction to God’s plan.
They will not listen to God, but hear only their own
hearts.
But what Samuel hears them saying to him is: ‘You
are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways;
now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other
nations have.’”
In other words:
We’re tired of you
we don’t want you
we don’t want your children
we want a King.
But then, in the next verse we find God saying to
Samuel, “‘Listen to all that the people are saying to
you; it is not you they have rejected you, but they
have rejected me as their king.’”
8
God is saying, in other words: “Don’t take this
personally. This isn’t about you!!!”
And, I have to say, we are very good at taking
things personally, aren’t’ we. And at the same
time, aren’t we really good at making things
personal in the way we criticise others? I think
Samuel’s experiences, from all that time ago, are
just as relevant today as ever.
Thus, the advice God gave Samuel is the same
advice He gives us. When people try to irritate
us… snub us… insult us… anger us… we shouldn’t
take it personally.
The thing is, that bringing in the Kingdom of God,
our overarching calling as Christians, is not about
you, and it’s not about me - it’s about God.
A ‘Christian’ protest group in America, a while ago,
began showing up at significant church events
with placards, one of which read “Faggots are
going to hell”
9
The interviewer asked the woman why her group
felt it was necessary to be so confrontational.
The lady replied: “When we first started protesting
people were angry and shouted and cursed us. So
we have decided to fight fire with fire!”
Now think about that, a supposedly Christian
group, so caught up in their own anger and selfrighteousness that, when they were mistreated
and abused by others, they took it personally and
came out, ‘all guns blazing.’
Beware, when you are trying to listen to God, who
speaks in your heart, actually being obedient to
your own heart.
Now, Samuel having learned not to take everything
personally, then gets given a job to do:
“Now listen to them; [God Says] warn them
solemnly and let them know what the king who
will reign over them will do.” And Samuel obeys…
10
He warns them…
he pleads with them…
and refuses to take their constant attacks
personally.
So, finally, Samuel has appoints a King, Kind Saul,
the first king of Israel. And when he hands over
the reigns he tells Saul and the people that they
must all give up their idols and serve the true God.
He told them if they and King Saul disobeyed, God
would sweep them away.
But Saul in time lets the power go to his head and
disobeys. He begins to edge God out of the picture
and becomes disobedient, and stops listening to
God. Saul’s pride drives him to set up a monument
to himself, and from that moment on, we know
things aren’t going to end well!
11
The end comes when Saul disobeys God in a battle
with the Amalekites, sparing the enemy’s king and
the best of their livestock, when Samuel had
ordered Saul to destroy everything. God is, in the
end, so grieved that he rejects Saul who dies in
battle on the same day as both his sons, and God
choses another king, King David, whose story we
know only too well.
So, there is much to learn from the life of Samuel,
but the main theme throughout Samuel’s life is
that God alone should receive the glory and
honour. We must live in God’s presence, constantly
listening to his word, and striving to be obedient to
God’s coming Kingdom.
And I wonder if I might close by suggesting that
our response to this, might take us back to the
beginning of Samuels story as we say:
Here I am Lord, Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
12