God Calls Samuel (2)

Samuel was very busy helping Eli the priest in the temple. There was so much work to do! Eli was growing old and becoming blind, and Samuel could do many things to help. Samuel was a willing worker in God’s house. No doubt he also looked forward to the time each year when his mother and father came to offer sacrifices at the temple. Then he would see them again. Each time his mother brought him a new coat that she had made especially for him. By that time, he certainly needed a new coat, for his own was getting so small, but before long his parents would leave again to go back home, and Samuel would stay to help Eli.

Sometimes Samuel saw and heard things at the temple that were not right. There were two priests there who dared to not respect the temple as God’s house or walk in His ways. They did wicked things, sometimes even stealing the best parts of the offerings for themselves, and, worse, they were both sons of Eli. Sometimes Eli would warn his boys, but he didn’t do it very sternly. One time a prophet even told Eli that he would have to speak more strongly to his sons or God would punish them, but nothing changed.

Our parents, too, must strongly warn us when we do wrong things or when we are heading for wickedness. God commands them to warn us and correct with punishment when necessary. They may not just let things go, as Eli did, and children, it is our duty to obey.

One night after Samuel had gone to bed, he heard his name called.

“Samuel, Samuel!” he heard.

Eli must be calling him. There was no one else around. Quickly Samuel jumped up and ran into Eli’s room.

“Here I am,” he said, “for you called me.”

“No, I didn’t call you,” Eli said, “go back to bed.”

So, Samuel went and lay down, but then he heard his name again. It MUST be Eli calling me, he thought.

“Here I am.” he told Eli, hurrying into his room. “I heard you call me!”

Eli thought about what was happening, but he said, “No, I didn’t call you. Just go back to bed.”

The third time that Samuel’s name was called and he again came into Eli’s room, Eli understood what was happening.

“Go lie down,” Eli told Samuel, “and if you hear a voice again, then say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears.’”

That is what Samuel did. The next time he heard his name, he answered, “Speak, for Thy servant hears.” Then he knew who had been calling him; it was God, the mighty God of the whole world. God had terrible news to tell Samuel. The news made Samuel afraid. God was angry with Eli’s two sons, and He was going to punish them.

The next morning Samuel got up as he usually did. He opened the doors of the temple and did the other jobs he regularly did, but he was worried. How could he tell Eli such awful news? Then he heard Eli calling him. “Samuel,” Eli said, “what did God tell you last night?” Maybe Eli knew that it was a message for him because he added, “Tell me everything—don’t hide anything from me.” Samuel didn’t hide a thing. He told Eli everything that God had told him, how He would destroy Eli’s two sons and punish his family for many years because of their sins. Then he waited. What would Eli say? Would he become angry? Would he make Samuel leave the tabernacle? No, Eli bowed his head. “It is of the Lord,” he said. “Let Him do whatever He thinks is best.” He said no more. How many of us are like Eli?

A few years went by. Samuel grew older. The children of Israel now looked to him as a prophet of the Lord. Then one day the Israelites had a battle with the Philistines, but they LOST the battle. Why wasn’t God with us, they wondered? If God had been with us, we would certainly have won.

Then they had an idea. Why not bring the Ark of the Covenant into the battle? What was the ark? The ark looked like a wooden chest; it was covered with gold and had two golden angels, called cherubims on top. It belonged in the Holy of holies in the tabernacle. God had said He would dwell between the cherubims in the tabernacle. Some Israelites thought if they had the ark with them, then surely God would be with them. Then they could WIN the battle.

Was that right? Did God dwell between these cherubims, and could He then be led about by men? Oh, no. The Lord is holy and just, and He stands above man. He is to be served and obeyed. He is not a mere servant of man.

Eli’s two sinful sons helped bring the ark into the middle of the battle camp. Oh, how happy the Israelites were to see it. They shouted and cheered and made all kinds of noise. The Philistines heard the cheering and shouting. They were puzzled. Why were the Israelites so excited? When they found out why, they were afraid. Even they, who believed in other gods, feared the God of the Israelites, for they knew He had helped them many times.

“Now we will surely lose” they cried; “they have God on their side. This is the God who sent the plagues to the Egyptians. Soldiers, we must fight our hardest!”

The Ark of the Covenant was with the Israelites, but God was not with them. Again, they lost the battle. Many, many of the Israelites were killed. The Philistines not only won the battle, but they also captured the ark.

Eli sat by the road in the city, waiting for news from the battle. He was old and blind and could not see all that was happening, but when he heard terrible crying in the city, he grew worried. A man ran through the city bringing the news of the captured ark. When Eli asked what was happening, the man came and told him the news.

“Israel has lost the battle!” the man cried. “So many of our people have been killed, and—Eli, oh, Eli— your two sons were also killed in the battle, and the Ark of the Covenant was taken from us!” What awful news for Eli; he saw that God’s punishment on his sons had come.

When Eli heard the news of the capture of the ark, he fell backward off his seat, and since he was a big, heavy man, he broke his neck in the fall and died.

Another person in his family also died. It was the wife of one of Eli’s two sons. She was ready to give birth to a baby. When she heard that the ark of the Lord had been captured and that both her husband and her father-in-law Eli were dead, she died, also, just as she was giving birth to her baby boy. Eli’s family was being punished because he refused to warn his sons. God will never, never let sin go unpunished.

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