The reading
1 Samuel 3:1-21
1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli.
The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. 2 At
that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see,
was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel
was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the
Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" 5
and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he
said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6
The Lord called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, and
said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not
call, my son; lie down again." 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and
the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel
again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am,
for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you
shall say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel
went and lay down in his place. 10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling
as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your
servant is listening." 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, "See, I am
about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of
it tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken
concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I am
about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his
sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear
to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by
sacrifice or offering forever." 15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he
opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision
to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." He said,
"Here I am." 17 Eli said, "What was it that he told you? Do not
hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from
me of all that he told you." 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid
nothing from him. Then he said, "It is the Lord; let him do what seems
good to him." 19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of
his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew
that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear
at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the
Lord.
The message
Last week, we heard about the Exodus, the events that lead
the people of Israel to be freed from slavery in Egypt and what happened
afterwards. While the exodus has become one of the central experiences of God’s
grace in the history of Israel, it did not seem like it at first. The people struggled in the wilderness. They
complained bitterly as they felt stranded without food, water, security or
leadership. God responds by providing manna and quails each day for them to eat
and a source of fresh water. Over time God provides them with laws and order
for society, worship and leadership.
These things develop gradually and there are setbacks, moments of
disobedience, failure and faithlessness. The people were led by a series of Judges,
each appointed and anointed by God.
These judges, people like Deborah and Samson, were part prophet, part
judge and part president. After years,
the people of Israel demanded to be like all of their neighbors, they wanted to
be led by kings.
Today’s reading is the start of the one of the major
transitions in the history of Israel. Samuel will be the last of the judges. He will anoint Saul as the first king of
Israel, remove Saul who God deems unfit, and then call and anoint King David. David’s reign is not perfect, he does some
bad things but he also does great thing. (we will hear the start of his story
next week). David receives great promises from God, including that the Messiah
would come from his family line. (This is why the genealogies that start the
Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke both stress that Jesus is from King
David’s line)
Samuel, like Isaac, Jesus and many of the other significant
figures in the Bible is born from miraculous circumstances; Samuel’s birth is
one that should not be. In 1 Samuel 1 we
learn that Elkanah, had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of
the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Hannah was deeply loved by Elkanah but she
was angry and depressed that she could not have a child. Hannah went to the temple to pray. Eli the priest sees her and notices that she
was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this
vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and
remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male
child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death.
He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his
head.” As she continued praying before
the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah
was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard;
therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So
Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put
away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply
troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out
my soul before the Lord. Do not regard
your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great
anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God
of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.
After this Hannah becomes pregnant and gives birth to
Samuel. Keeping her word, Hannah dedicates
Samuel to the Lord. At the time of this reading, Samuel is in the temple under
the teaching and training of the priest Eli, the same one who told his mother
“go in peace, the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him. . Eli
is a good and faithful priest but he has his own share of problems and a very
bad mark on his record. Eli’s 2 sons are
no good. They abuse their access and
status in the temple and violate the laws by taking and eating the best parts
of the sacrifices and having sex with the women dedicated to serve in the
temple. Eli does not stop them (he tries
marginally and then just forgets about it).
Eli allowing this abuse to go on will be punished. Today, Eli learns what this punishment will
be through his student Samuel’s first prophetic word.
As we look forward to the 500th anniversary of
the Reformation, we continue to look at the teachings of Martin Luther and
historical events around that time. We
can see images of the Reformation in the character of Samuel and Eli. First,
Samuel, as a boy, must confront his teacher, the priest Eli, with bad news of
judgment. Eli is the one who is caring for Samuel, entrusted with his growth
and development into a priest, the one Samuel turns to for help, the one Samuel
loves and cares for, the one for whom he gets up in the middle of the night to
answer repeatedly. Samuel must tell Eli
this condemning word from God, one that changes everything in his life. Samuel must speak because it is God’s
word. Samuel’s introduction to being a prophet and
leader starts with speaking truth, bad, corrective and disappointing truth to
someone with great power and a great relationship. Martin Luther was an augustian monk, a teacher
and church insider. He took his vows as
the result of being trapped in a storm and praying to st anne for help,
offering a trade, save me and ill become a monk. Luther has to confront the church he is part
of, a faith he credits with saving his very life. Luther must speak because it
is God’s word
What Luther says at Diet of Worms, when asked, ordered,
commanded to recant, Here I stand, I can do no other (which he probably did not say. It was added
a little later and most certainly would be approved by Luther) what he did say at the Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by
evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is
clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider
myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my
conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant,
because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me.
Amen.
Eli can also show us something about the Reformation. We see it revealed in how Eli responds to
God’s word. Eli is faced with a word
from God that his house will be punished forever, that his descendants will all
die young, before reaching old age and that there is nothing to be done to
alleviate or reduce this curse. These
things will happens soon after as Eli’s two sons are killed trying to protet
the Ark of the covenant. In response to this, Eli says It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him. These
words remind us of Luther’s description of Thy will be done, the 4th
petition in the Lord’s Prayer: Hence there is just as great need, as in all
the others, that we pray without ceasing: "Dear Father, Thy will be done,
not the will of the devil and of our enemies, nor of anything that would
persecute and suppress Thy holy Word or hinder Thy kingdom; and grant that we
may bear with patience and overcome whatever is to be endured on that account,
lest our poor flesh yield or fall away from weakness or sluggishness
Most important for the Reformation is what Eli does not
say. Eli does not say Wait a minute, I am a priest, I deserve a good reward, I
decide what is and is not forgiven, Eli does not plead or put together an
argument, list his own virtues (look at how well I am caring for Samuel). Eli
does not dare confront God with worldly power, he does not say, I’m in charge of the temple, my sons can do
whatever they want. Eli recognizes that God
has the authority to do or not do what seems good to God. The reformation centers around what the
church and priests had the authority to do. For centuries, the Roman Catholic
Church looked at the keys given to St Peter,
Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on
earth will be loosed in heaven as a justification for their rules, actions and
even abuses. To this the reformers said,
Is that all you got?. Matthew 16 was seen as an allegory, it did not
refer to Peter the man or any future church leader, Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah,
was the key, that is what binds and loses things in heaven and on earth. Like it
or not, All the church could say was It is the Lord; let him do what seems good
to him.
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