1 Samuel 3:1-21
LSB 589 Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tomorrow the Church remembers and gives thanks to God for His servant, Samuel. Samuel was Israel’s last judge, first of the great prophets, priest and Nazarite. This collection of Old Testament offices being gathered together in one man reminds us first of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, the first of the New, the Voice in the Wilderness and the Forerunner of Christ. We will hear more about him two Sundays from now when the Church remembers with thanksgiving his martyrdom.
But the confluence of offices in Samuel also point forward to, and serve to proclaim, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King both fulfills and supersedes the old covenant.
Samuel’s father, Elkanah, had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. As often happens in the Old Testament when men have more than one wife, there was favoritism. Elkanah loved Hannah very much, but she was barren. Peninnah bore him many children. And so, a bit like Sarah and Hagar or Rachel and Leah, there was animosity, contention and competition between the women.
One year, when the pious family went up for the yearly sacrifice at the Tabernacle at Shiloh, Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed silently to the Lord as she wept. Eli, the priest, first mistook her to be drunk. He reprimanded her. But Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD (1 Sam 1:15). She was praying for a son. Eli assured her that the Lord would hear and answer her prayer. And Hannah vowed to lend him to the Lord as a Nazirite all his days.
Her prayer was answered and she gave birth to a little boy and named him Samuel, because the Lord heard her prayer. Samuel is a Hebrew name which means either “the Lord hears,” or “the one whom the Lord asks after.” Either way is fitting for this little boy. For the Lord heard his mother’s prayer and granted her a son. She then, according to her vow, after he was weaned, brought him to the Lord at Shiloh - for the Tabernacle was there - and he ministered to the Lord in the present of Eli.
The day came when the LORD “asked after” the boy. The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision for the people of God did not widely receive His Word, gladly hearing and learning it. Rather they often rejected the Lord their God and His Word, persecuting, even killing His prophets.
In addition, it was quite sad, Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phineas, abused their priestly office. They were lazy, heretical, and immoral. The would take the best portions of the sacrifices, rather than offering them to the Lord. They would offer prayers for a bribe. They would sleep with the women who came to worship at the Tabernacle! Outrageous!
So the day came when young Samuel was lying down in the Temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was. That is, the little boy slept in or near the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Because Eli was going blind, it was Samuel’s job to make sure the lamp stand in the Holy Place didn’t go out. He was an acolyte in the House of the Lord. Again, in this way, he foreshadows our Lord Jesus Christ, who, even as a young boy, remained in the Temple, about the business and among the things of His Father, as we hear in Luke chapter 2. There He astonished the scribes and teachers with His questions, even as the Lord let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
As he lay sleeping, the Lord called Samuel. Supposing it was Eli, the boy ran to him and said, Here I am, for you called me. “No, no. I didn’t call you. Go lay back down.” Three times this goes on. The Lord called, Samuel! Samuel goes to Eli. Eli says he didn’t call him. Go back to bed. After the third time Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. This is because three is the number of the Lord. Isaiah hears the trisagion, the Holy, Holy, Holy - three times - in the Temple (Is 6). Our Lord puts His name upon the people of Israel - the Lord bless and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine, the Lord give you peace - three times (Num 6). Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved Him (Jn 21). Three is the number of the Lord.
So Eli realizes it is the Lord calling the boy. So he instructs him how to respond. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel” And Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. And the Lord God pronounced judgment against Eli’s house for the wickedness of his sons and the complacency of Eli who did not reprimand them. Samuel was, quite understandably, hesitant to tell the old man the Word of the Lord, but he eventually did. Again, pointing forward to our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Word of the Lord is in His mouth. And faithful Eli responds not unlike old Job, It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.
And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. Again. Like Jesus. Hear how St Luke says of the Christ Child. And the Child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And was in favor with God and man (Lk 2:40, 52).
Samuel judged Israel for many years. Sadly, his sons, like Eli’s before him, did not follow the Lord like their father had. It is heartbreaking when children abandon the faith of their fathers, wandering off from the inheritance of the Lord. Eventually all of Israel demanded a king. They wanted to be like the other nations. The people of God had acquiesced to the world. They wanted to look and sound and act like the pagan nations. Samuel warned them. A king will take your daughters as his wives, your sons as his soldiers, your fields for his own. They didn’t listen.
Like the father of the prodigal son, God conceded to their demand. He gave them Saul. Samuel anointed the man from the Tribe of Benjamin. It didn’t go well. Saul apostatized and led Israel astray with him. Eventually Samuel, at the command of the Lord, anointed Jesse’s youngest son, David, to be king. Samuel died before David was inaugurated into office.
Samuel is remembered as a man of prayer. He was one whom the Lord heard, as his name suggests. Firstly, though, he heard the Word of the Lord. For that is where prayer originates. Not in the poverty of our own hearts. But in the riches of God’s Word. Pray begins with God speaking and us listening. Reading, learning, marking, and inwardly digesting His Word, that by patience and comfort, we may hold fast His blessed promises of forgiveness and everlasting life. The Father speaks to us through His Son by His Spirit. In prayer, we speak in the Spirit through the Son back to the Father, saying what He has said to us.
Now I know it’d be nice if the word of the Lord came to us like it did Samuel. Suddenly. Obviously. In this audible way. Beloved, it does! Or rather, He does!
There is no reason we ought not hear the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord in the simplest and most literal way possible. We don’t need to mysticize this revelation and Word of the Lord. For we have the One on whom all the offices and sacrifices and promises of the Old Testament, through Samuel and all the prophets came. We have the Word who became Flesh and dwelt among us!
Even as Samuel foreshadowed Jesus, it was Jesus who appeared to Samuel and spoke to him. It is Jesus in whom the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King coalesce and are fulfilled. He is the Light, the Tabernacle, the Ark. He is the anointed Son of David, given to be our once for all Sacrifice. In Him all the promises of God are Yes and Amen (1 Cor 1:20). For He is the atoning Sacrifice for your sins and the sins of the whole world. He is the Offering of the Lord, upon whom was visited the punishment of Eli’s sons, Israel, and all people. And He was raised from the dead, never to die again!
Beloved, even if you’ve had a miraculous appearance or special revelation from the Lord, we have, as St Peter says, the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pt 1:19). What I mean is this. The Lord who appeared and called Samuel by name as he lay asleep in the Tabernacle, has appeared and calls you by name in your Baptism as you were asleep in the death of your trespasses and sins. So does He wake you to hear His Word.
Does He not come to you in this Shiloh, this Peaceful Place, and reveal Himself to you by the Word of the Lord? He sends His servants who call you by name, saying, “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
LSB 589 Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Tomorrow the Church remembers and gives thanks to God for His servant, Samuel. Samuel was Israel’s last judge, first of the great prophets, priest and Nazarite. This collection of Old Testament offices being gathered together in one man reminds us first of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, the first of the New, the Voice in the Wilderness and the Forerunner of Christ. We will hear more about him two Sundays from now when the Church remembers with thanksgiving his martyrdom.
But the confluence of offices in Samuel also point forward to, and serve to proclaim, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King both fulfills and supersedes the old covenant.
Samuel’s father, Elkanah, had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. As often happens in the Old Testament when men have more than one wife, there was favoritism. Elkanah loved Hannah very much, but she was barren. Peninnah bore him many children. And so, a bit like Sarah and Hagar or Rachel and Leah, there was animosity, contention and competition between the women.
One year, when the pious family went up for the yearly sacrifice at the Tabernacle at Shiloh, Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed silently to the Lord as she wept. Eli, the priest, first mistook her to be drunk. He reprimanded her. But Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD (1 Sam 1:15). She was praying for a son. Eli assured her that the Lord would hear and answer her prayer. And Hannah vowed to lend him to the Lord as a Nazirite all his days.
Her prayer was answered and she gave birth to a little boy and named him Samuel, because the Lord heard her prayer. Samuel is a Hebrew name which means either “the Lord hears,” or “the one whom the Lord asks after.” Either way is fitting for this little boy. For the Lord heard his mother’s prayer and granted her a son. She then, according to her vow, after he was weaned, brought him to the Lord at Shiloh - for the Tabernacle was there - and he ministered to the Lord in the present of Eli.
The day came when the LORD “asked after” the boy. The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision for the people of God did not widely receive His Word, gladly hearing and learning it. Rather they often rejected the Lord their God and His Word, persecuting, even killing His prophets.
In addition, it was quite sad, Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phineas, abused their priestly office. They were lazy, heretical, and immoral. The would take the best portions of the sacrifices, rather than offering them to the Lord. They would offer prayers for a bribe. They would sleep with the women who came to worship at the Tabernacle! Outrageous!
So the day came when young Samuel was lying down in the Temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was. That is, the little boy slept in or near the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Because Eli was going blind, it was Samuel’s job to make sure the lamp stand in the Holy Place didn’t go out. He was an acolyte in the House of the Lord. Again, in this way, he foreshadows our Lord Jesus Christ, who, even as a young boy, remained in the Temple, about the business and among the things of His Father, as we hear in Luke chapter 2. There He astonished the scribes and teachers with His questions, even as the Lord let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
As he lay sleeping, the Lord called Samuel. Supposing it was Eli, the boy ran to him and said, Here I am, for you called me. “No, no. I didn’t call you. Go lay back down.” Three times this goes on. The Lord called, Samuel! Samuel goes to Eli. Eli says he didn’t call him. Go back to bed. After the third time Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. This is because three is the number of the Lord. Isaiah hears the trisagion, the Holy, Holy, Holy - three times - in the Temple (Is 6). Our Lord puts His name upon the people of Israel - the Lord bless and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine, the Lord give you peace - three times (Num 6). Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved Him (Jn 21). Three is the number of the Lord.
So Eli realizes it is the Lord calling the boy. So he instructs him how to respond. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel” And Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. And the Lord God pronounced judgment against Eli’s house for the wickedness of his sons and the complacency of Eli who did not reprimand them. Samuel was, quite understandably, hesitant to tell the old man the Word of the Lord, but he eventually did. Again, pointing forward to our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Word of the Lord is in His mouth. And faithful Eli responds not unlike old Job, It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.
And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. Again. Like Jesus. Hear how St Luke says of the Christ Child. And the Child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And was in favor with God and man (Lk 2:40, 52).
Samuel judged Israel for many years. Sadly, his sons, like Eli’s before him, did not follow the Lord like their father had. It is heartbreaking when children abandon the faith of their fathers, wandering off from the inheritance of the Lord. Eventually all of Israel demanded a king. They wanted to be like the other nations. The people of God had acquiesced to the world. They wanted to look and sound and act like the pagan nations. Samuel warned them. A king will take your daughters as his wives, your sons as his soldiers, your fields for his own. They didn’t listen.
Like the father of the prodigal son, God conceded to their demand. He gave them Saul. Samuel anointed the man from the Tribe of Benjamin. It didn’t go well. Saul apostatized and led Israel astray with him. Eventually Samuel, at the command of the Lord, anointed Jesse’s youngest son, David, to be king. Samuel died before David was inaugurated into office.
Samuel is remembered as a man of prayer. He was one whom the Lord heard, as his name suggests. Firstly, though, he heard the Word of the Lord. For that is where prayer originates. Not in the poverty of our own hearts. But in the riches of God’s Word. Pray begins with God speaking and us listening. Reading, learning, marking, and inwardly digesting His Word, that by patience and comfort, we may hold fast His blessed promises of forgiveness and everlasting life. The Father speaks to us through His Son by His Spirit. In prayer, we speak in the Spirit through the Son back to the Father, saying what He has said to us.
Now I know it’d be nice if the word of the Lord came to us like it did Samuel. Suddenly. Obviously. In this audible way. Beloved, it does! Or rather, He does!
There is no reason we ought not hear the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the Word of the Lord in the simplest and most literal way possible. We don’t need to mysticize this revelation and Word of the Lord. For we have the One on whom all the offices and sacrifices and promises of the Old Testament, through Samuel and all the prophets came. We have the Word who became Flesh and dwelt among us!
Even as Samuel foreshadowed Jesus, it was Jesus who appeared to Samuel and spoke to him. It is Jesus in whom the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King coalesce and are fulfilled. He is the Light, the Tabernacle, the Ark. He is the anointed Son of David, given to be our once for all Sacrifice. In Him all the promises of God are Yes and Amen (1 Cor 1:20). For He is the atoning Sacrifice for your sins and the sins of the whole world. He is the Offering of the Lord, upon whom was visited the punishment of Eli’s sons, Israel, and all people. And He was raised from the dead, never to die again!
Beloved, even if you’ve had a miraculous appearance or special revelation from the Lord, we have, as St Peter says, the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pt 1:19). What I mean is this. The Lord who appeared and called Samuel by name as he lay asleep in the Tabernacle, has appeared and calls you by name in your Baptism as you were asleep in the death of your trespasses and sins. So does He wake you to hear His Word.
Does He not come to you in this Shiloh, this Peaceful Place, and reveal Himself to you by the Word of the Lord? He sends His servants who call you by name, saying, “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
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