Commitment of Samuel (I Samuel 1.9-11, 19-20, 21-28; 3.1, 10-14)

I. Introduction

One day a chicken and a sheep were walking on a road. As they were walking they came across a notice in front of an orphanage: “Please, help the poor.” They stopped and started thinking about it. The chicken said after a while, “Why don’t we do something to these poor children?” The sheep agreed to the idea. Then the chicken proposed to the sheep, “Why don’t we give mutton biryani and egg curry?” Then the sheep said, “For you, it is only a contribution, but for me it is a commitment.”

Commitment means giving oneself over for a cause or to a person or to God. This is what Hannah, mother of Samuel, did.

 

II. Commitment of Samuel

I Samuel 1.28 “Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”

In Telugu translation it says, “Therefore, I have dedicated (or consecrated) him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated (or consecrated) to the Lord.”

Dedicate is a synonym of commitment.

Hannah committed her son Samuel to the Lord for life.

There is a word play in I Samuel 1.28 and I Samuel 1.20. For both the word “lent” in   I Sam. 1.28 and the word “asked for” (in the sense of borrow) in I Sam. 1.20 the Hebrew word Sha’al is used. “I asked/borrowed” him from God (I Sam. 1.20), so now I “loan/dedicate” him back to God (I Sam. 1.28).

Samuel was given to Hannah by God as if on loan for a time. Her act of devotion in fulfilling her vow to God is simply returning to God what she had “borrowed” for a while. Hannah’s vow of lifelong dedication of her son to God has included a vow never to cut his hair (I Sam. 1.11). This is one of the vows taken by Nazarites (Num. 6.1-21) as a sign of dedication to God. In Hebrew “Nazarite” means “dedicated” or “consecrated”.

Hannah dedicated her son Samuel for the ministry in the tabernacle. In other words, for the priestly ministry!

But God’s plan for the life of Samuel is much higher than that of Hannah.

 

III. Crisis in Israel

A. The crisis in Israel was created by the greed and immorality of priesthood.

In those days Eli was priest in the tabernacle of the Lord at Shiloh (I Sam. 1.9). God had elected Eli’s family to be priests (I Sam. 2.27-29). Eli was also a judge over Israel (I Sam. 4.18). That means, in those days Israel was under the leadership of a family of priests.

Though Eli was righteous, his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, who were also priests at Shiloh, were extremely greedy and immoral. On the outside they did their priestly duties, offering sacrifices in the tabernacle, but inside they lived corrupt lives and carried out their system of filth and corruption behind the closed doors.

Two things are said about Eli’s children:

1. Hophni and Phinehas, the priests in the tabernacle at Shiloh, did not know that Lord (I Sam. 2.12).

Though they were priests, they did not know the Lord. “Know” refers to personal relationship, which is expressed in practical life. In other words, their practical life of greed and immorality confirmed that they did not have relationship with God.

a. Eli’s sons treated with contempt the offerings of God (I Sam. 2.17)

b. Eli’s sons used their power for personal gain (I Sam. 2.15-16).

2. The sons of Eli have neither the fear of God nor the fear of people (I Sam. 2.22-25).

Hophni and Phinehas used their power to exploit women, who were working in the tabernacle. They did it publicly (I Sam. 2.22-23).

How is Eli, the father, accountable to the immoral life of his sons Hophni and Phinehas?

1. Eli honoured his children more than God (I Sam. 2.29-30).
2. Though he knew the sin of his children, i.e. blaspheming God, he did not restrain them (I Sam. 3.13).

Eli “kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel,” and about their immoral activities (I Sam. 2.22). Instead of rebuking them, Eli reasoned with his sons (I Sam. 2.23-25). As a judge, Eli had the duty and responsibility to enforce God’s laws in order to keep the people, including his children, holy and sanctified.

When we honour our children more than God, we don’t want to hurt them, even if their behavior is not good or acceptable. Instead of rebuking them or correcting them or disciplining them, we try to reason out. There is a limit for giving explanation. If children do not mend their behaviour or ways, then stricter discipline is needed. If we reason out with children when the situation demands discipline or rebuke, then the children will become “out of control” and we will be held responsible for their wayward behavior.

These days disciplining children is no longer a part of parental love. This is sad!

Decay or deterioration is a process. When symptoms appear, we need to take proper corrective action. If we ignore these symptoms and allow the process of deterioration, we arrive at a situation where we can not do anything.

Recently I received a Whatsapp post in Telugu: “Pillalaku vasthuvulu ivvakapothe kaasepu yedustharu. Kani samskaram ivvakapothe jeevithantham yedustharu.” (English translation: “If we don’t give things to children, they cry for some time. But if we don’t give them proper culture, they (and parents) will cry for the entire life.”

We, as believing parents should teach our children the fear (reverence) of God and proper manners. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs talks about the practical Wisdom. That is, wisdom about how we should live as God’s children in our daily life.

B. Need of God’s word

I Sam 3.1: “The word of the Lord was rare in those days, visions were not widespread.”

During this time Israel was suffering from the rarity of Yahweh’s word. There was anarchy (Jud. 21.25). There was no prophet to communicate to the people of Israel the word of God and to command them to live according to the will of God.

Samuel was called to solve this crisis. He was called to be a priest, prophet and judge.

 

IV. Call of Samuel

God called Samuel to be a priest, prophet and judge (I Sam. 3.10-14; 3.19 – 4.1; 7.15-17). This is the ministry to which Samuel was committed. He was a circuit judge, going to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah, and coming back to his home-town to address and resolve conflicts and problems of people. This is not an easy ministry.

Samuel was committed to tabernacle service by his parents. But God called him into a lifelong ministry of not only a priest, but also the judge and the prophet.

 

V. Confirmation of Commitment

A. Sincerity or Faithfulness of Samuel in discharging his responsibilities

1. Samuel was obedient to Eli (I Sam. 3.1-9)

Even in the middle of the night, Samuel got up and went to Eli three times immediately when he thought he called. He then followed Eli’s instructions when God called him again. Finally he obeyed Eli by telling him the contents of what God had spoken to him, even though Eli could have reacted angrily to Samuel.

2. Samuel was obedient to God

Samuel obeyed God’s call to the ministry of priest, prophet and judge. He faithfully carried out the tasks God gave him by conveying God’s message to the people and the powers. Even when the message was strong and might be considered dangerous, he didn’t sugarcoat the message.

a. Samuel faithfully relayed God’s word or message truthfully to the people of Israel

Samuel confronted the people of Israel about their unfaithful life. He reminded people of their covenantal obligations and brought people back to the covenantal relationship with God (I Sam. 7.3-4). He kept on reminding people of God’s faithfulness in the community of the people of Israel (I Sam. 12.6-11). His constant message was: “Serve the Lord with all your heart” by faithfully observing the commandments of the Lord (I Sam. 12.14, 20). He demanded loyalty to God alone.

People testified about his sincerity and trustworthiness as a prophet (I Sam. 3.20).

b. Samuel faithfully relayed God’s word or message truthfully to the powers.

i. Eli

Samuel conveyed to Eli what God told him about Eli’s family (I Sam. 3.18).

ii. Saul

Samuel had to confront King Saul twice when he disobeyed God. For the disobedience of Saul, Samuel had to tell Saul his kingdom would not be carried on through his sons (I Sam. 13.13-14). After another battle, contrary to God’s command, Saul allowed the people to spare the king and keep all the best livestock and plunder. Samuel then had to face Saul with the news that God would replace him with another king (I Sam. 15.14, 17-23, 26-29).

What lesson can we learn from Samuel in this?

This kind of truth-speaker seems more and more rare these days. The world wants people to tickle their ears and normally they get just that (2 Timothy 4:3). A lot of these mega churches get to be mega churches because their pastors say only what people want to hear. They don’t rebuke, or warn, or truly exhort to righteous conduct. Why? It makes them uncomfortable and it makes the audience uncomfortable. They wouldn’t be as popular if they spoke the hard truth.

However, we should follow Samuel’s example to share the gospel and teach the word of God truthfully without sugarcoating it and without regard to how we will be perceived or how our audience will react (Acts 20.27).

 

VI. Consolidation of Commitment

Samuel’s birth was an answer to prayer, and Samuel ministered with the strength of prayer.

Samuel not only depended on God, but also directed people of Israel to depend on God. When the Philistines threatened the people of Israel, he used prayer and sacrifices to promote successfully the defense of his people (I Sam. 7.7-14). He used prayer and sacrifices to increase the people’s confidence in God.

 

VII. Cost of Commitment

Samuel had faithfully discharged the responsibilities of prophet, priest and judge that God had entrusted to him. This had costed him his family (I Sam. 8.1-3).

I do not know whether Samuel had the authority to appoint his sons as judges. Even if he had, why didn’t he consider the life of his sons into consideration when he appointed them as judges in Beersheba? It is said, “Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice” (I Sam. 8.3).

Samuel administered justice, and Samuel’s sons Joel and Abijah administered injustice by taking bribes (I Sam. 7.17; 8.3). God’s Law was clear about taking bribes: “You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right” (Deut. 16.19).

Samuel failed to raise his children in God’s ways. He did not learn from Eli. Instead he made the same mistake that Eli did.

It’s true that parents can not control 100% how their children turn out to be. But there is a strong correlation. Perhaps Samuel was too busy doing ministry, so he did not have enough time for his family. It is also true with majority of those doing ministry (particularly leaders) and parents that they tend to correct others easily, but not their own children.

Children don’t automatically follow in the footsteps of their parents. We see the same story occur again and again in the Bible where the father follows God and his children don’t (Eg. David/Absalom/Solomon, King Jotham/King Ahaz, King Hezekiah/King Manasseh). You cannot neglect your family to make money or even because you are a busy pastor. Godly men and women should recognise that their families are one major part of their ministry.

What did the elders of Israel tell Samuel?

“You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us.” (I Sam. 8.4-5). In other words, they said, “We don’t want you and your sons as our leaders.” As a consequence of the immoral behavior of the sons of Samuel and his negligence in correcting them, the people not only rejected the leadership of Samuel and his sons, but also the kingship of God.

If leaders do not bring up their children in the fear of God and in the ways of God, and continue to ignore the behavior of their children, there is every possibility of people telling the leaders, “We don’t want you, since you have failed to be a leader at your own home.”

That’s why a strict criteria is given for the bishops and deacons, the leaders of the church, in I Timothy 3.1-13. I Timothy 3.4 says, “He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?”

I am surprised to read the reaction of Samuel, when the elders asked for a king: “But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us” (I Sam. 8.6). Samuel did not want to see or accept the root cause of the problem, probably because the cause for the problem was the behavior of his sons. His focus is on the effect, but not on the cause!

Why wasn’t Samuel displeased with the conduct of his sons? Nowhere in the Bible is written that Samuel spoke to his sons or corrected them. Whereas Eli at least spoke to his sons about their immoral conduct.

Let us not wait till others tell us, “You don’t preach to us. First preach to your children.”

Children are God’s gift. Parents are accountable to God to bring up their children in the way that pleases God and bring glory to God.

As African proverb says, “The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.” Confusius taught, “The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its homes.”

Let me slightly modify these two statements. “The ruin of a church begins in the homes of its members,” and “The strength of a church is derived from the integrity of its homes.”

When Jesus was twelve years old, it was said about him, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man” (Lk. 2.52). May God help us to resolve to bring up our children in this way!

Samuel – The Leader

The character of Samuel may be studied from different angles. But today we study his character from leadership point of view.

God had called Samuel to be the leader of Israel as a result of the crisis in Israel.

1. The Crisis in Israel

1. The crisis in Israel was created by the corruption and immorality of priesthood.

In those days Eli was priest in the temple of the Lord at Shiloh (I Sam. 1.9). God had elected Eli’s family to be priests (I Sam. 2.27-29). Eli was also a judge over Israel (I Sam. 4.18). That means, in those days Israel was under the leadership of a family of priests.

Though Eli was righteous, his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, who were also priests at Shiloh, were extremely corrupt and immoral. On the outside they did their priestly duties, offering sacrifices in the temple, but inside they lived corrupt lives and carried out their system of filth and corruption behind the closed doors.

Eli’s sons treated with contempt the offerings of Yahweh (I Sam. 2.17). Not surprisingly, they performed their duties as priests in an improper fashion (I Sam. 2.12-17). They also slept with women serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting (I Sam. 2.22). This meant that the leadership in Israel had become corrupted.

Though Eli rebuked his sons, he could not control them (I Sam. 2.22-25). He was held accountable for all the improper behavior of his sons (I Sam. 2.29). Therefore, Eli was guilty of what his sons were doing and no amount of proper priestly functions on his part could make up for their evil actions. As a consequence, Eli and his family came under God’s condemnation, and the lineage of priesthood would end with Eli and his sons (I Sam. 2.30, 36). The promise of I Sam 2.35 is designed to address this problem.

What lessons can be learned from the fate of Eli’s sons:

–          Being a good and righteous leader does not mean that his/her children will also be righteous.

–          Positions of power can be easily abused;

–          Yahweh may reject anyone already holding an important position, if the conduct of that person is flawed.

–          Divine promises of succession may be broken by Yahweh due to immorality and corruption of leadership (I Sam. 2.30, 35-36). 

1. Need of God’s word

I Sam 3.1: “The word of the Lord was rare in those days, visions were not widespread.”

During this time Israel was suffering from the absence of Yahweh’s word.

Into this situation Samuel was born in order to solve the crisis.

1. Family into which Samuel was born

Elkanah, Father: Elkanah loved his wife Hannah “though the Lord had closed her womb” (I Sam. 1. 6). In that culture a woman, who was barren, was looked down. Such women did not have respect both in their families and society. But Elkanah loved her, although she was barren. For him the “baggage” she carried was immaterial. He loved her as she was.

Elkanah was also an understanding person (1.8). He was there whenever she was down. He consoled her and comforted her whenever she was sad.

Hannah, Mother: She had deep faith in God. Notice what she did before God: she wept bitterly and confessed that she was in distress (1.11); she “poured out her soul before the Lord” (1.15); she spoke out her “great anxiety and vexation” (1.16). That means, she was honest before God. She just poured out before God what she had on her mind and heart. Expression of our feelings, emotions, doubts, questions and hurts before God and a trusted person is not unspiritual.

1. Transition of Leadership from Eli and His Family to Samuel and His Family

The transition of leadership from Eli and his family to Samuel and his family (1 Sam. 3, 8.1-3]) is highlighted because the transition is not simply from one man or family to another, but from one kind of leadership, namely priestly, to another kind, namely prophetic.

Initially Samuel was apparently being trained as an apprentice under Eli. Samuel ministered as Eli’s assistant (2.11, 18; 3.1), wore an ephod (2.18), offered sacrifices (even after being established as a prophet; cf. 7.9-10), built an altar (7.17), and later was expected to carry out routine priestly functions (16.2-5).But at the same time that Samuel was being groomed as a priestly aide, there are indications that he was destined to be primarily a prophet. His priestly duties were subordinated to his position as prophet.

Israel’s new prophet functioned as its new leader. As Eli the priest had, so Samuel the prophet also “judged” Israel (1 Sam. 7.15). Thus, Samuel was a priest, prophet and judge.

God began to speak again to his people through Samuel. Israel, which at this time had been suffering from the absence of Yahweh’s word and vision, as a result of the call and the prophetic activity of Samuel once more came to hear the divine word. People acknowledged that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet (I Sam. 3.19-24).

Thus, through Samuel the crisis of corrupt leadership and the rarity of God’s word had been solved.

Samuel is recognized as the last judge of Israel, prior to the establishment of kings. He was also God’s appointed kingmaker. His anointing of Saul and David would have given legitimacy to these kings in the eyes of the people and showed that it was God’s doing.

1. Strengths of Samuel

1. Obedient to God

Samuel obeyed God’s call to the ministry of priest, prophet and judge. He faithfully carried out the tasks God gave him by speaking the truth to the people, even when it hurt and even when it might be considered dangerous (like when he told Eli what would happen to his sons; and when he rebuked King Saul for disobeying God). He didn’t sugarcoat things (1 Samuel 3:18, 13:12-14; 15:10-31).

What lesson can we learn from Samuel in this? This kind of truth-speaker seems more and more rare these days. See 2 Timothy 4:3, Matthew 4:4, Acts 20:27. The world wants people to tickle their ears and normally they get just that. A lot of these mega churches get to be mega churches because their pastors say only what people want to hear. They don’t rebuke, or warn, or truly exhort to righteous conduct. Why? It makes them uncomfortable and it makes the audience uncomfortable. They wouldn’t be as popular if they spoke the hard truth. We should follow Samuel’s example to share the gospel and teach the word of God truthfully without sugarcoating it and without regard to how we will be perceived or how our audience will react. 

2. Obedient to Eli (I Sam. 3.1-9)

Even in the middle of the night, Samuel got up and went to Eli three times immediately when he thought he called. He then followed Eli’s instructions when God called him again. Finally he obeyed Eli by telling him the contents of what God had spoken to him, even though Eli could have reacted angrily to Samuel.

See Matthew 7:21-23.

3. Samuel Continually exhorted Israel to follow the Lord (I Sam. 7:3-12:14-16/12:20-25).

When he reached the distinction of being a prophet, we read that he traveled among his people to teach and promulgate the word of God with religious fervor (I Sam. 7:16). We read of Samuel’s reaction when the Philistines threatened the people of Israel (Ch. 7). Verses 8 and 9 describe the prayer and sacrifices which he initiated to promote successfully the defense of his people. He used prayer and sacrifices to increase his countrymen’s confidence in God.

1. Weaknesses of Samuel

1. Samuel seemed to have taken it personally when the people of Israel wanted a king (1 Samuel 8:1-9). It is difficult to reconcile Samuel’s feelings concerning the crowning of a king and the laws of monarchy as set down in Deuteronomy (Dt. 17.14-20). The Law of Moses permits Israel to appoint a king. The only precondition is that the king should be a member of their community. Of course, the Law also specifies how a king should be (Dt. 17.16-20).

The reason for the people of Israel to ask for a king was that Samuel’s sons were corrupt. Eli’s sons corrupted the office of priest, whereas Samuel’s sons corrupted the office of judge. Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah “were judges in Beersheba. Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribe and perverted justice” (I Sam. 8.2-3).

Samuel’s reaction to their request for a king was displeasure (I Sam. 8.6). The people were simply asking for something written in the Torah. Then why should Samuel be displeased with their request? The reason is: they asked him, “Give us a king to JUDGE (or govern) us” (I Sam. 8.6). As we know Samuel was not only a priest and prophet, but also a judge. When people asked for a judge, that means they were rejecting Samuel and his sons as judges! That means, the people were rejecting their leadership! This displeased Samuel. This displeasure and anger remained in Samuel and he kept bringing it before the people again and again by saying that they did wrong by asking for a king (I Sam. 8.18-19; 10:17-19; 12.1-12; 12.17).

I want to state that this is a perfectly understandable human quality, and I believe that the Bible wants to emphasize this point. Even though Samuel was likened to Moses in many ways (Ps. 99.6; Jer. 15.1), we should not forget that he was human and simply could not tolerate the request to have another ruler or “judge” in his place. Therefore we have this entire story, up to the point where he tried to convince the people that they were mistaken in asking for a king, irrespective of what is written in Deuteronomy.

Samuel was deeply offended by the nation’s request and just could not get over it. But we never see in the Bible that Samuel ever acknowledged the sins of his sons and corrected them. He was only offended by the people’s request for a king, but never focused on the reason for their request (i.e. the corruption of his sons), nor offended by the evil conduct of his sons.

2. Samuel looked at the outside of man, instead of the heart (I Sam.16:6). Again, this is a very natural thing, but Samuel should have known better. He was a prophet for decades. He knew how God worked.

Remember that God’s will is not based on a person’s external appearance or a “baggage” such as academic qualification, social status, economic status, family background, physical appearance etc. God looks at the heart.

Just think what we focus on at the time of choosing a life-partner. We set criteria according to OUR WILL and DESIRES to choose a partner, and then present it as God’s will.    

3. Samuel failed to raise his children in God’s ways (I Sam. 8:1-5). He did not learn from Eli. Instead he made the same mistake that Eli did.

It’s true that parents can not control 100% how their children turn out to be. But there is a strong correlation. Perhaps Samuel was too busy doing ministry, so he did not have enough time for his family. It is also true with majority of those doing ministry (particularly leaders) that they tend to correct others easily, but not their own children.

Children don’t automatically follow in the footsteps of their parents. We see the same story occur again and again in the Bible where the father or one generation follows God and his/their children don’t. Examples: David, the time of Joshua, many kings of Judah in the Old Testament. You cannot neglect your family to make money or even because you are a busy pastor. Godly men and women should recognise that their families are one major part of their ministry. They represent the best chance to raise up disciples and make a difference in the world for Christ.