Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 3:10

And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

10. And the Lord came, and stood ] The Heb. is emphatic: presented himself. The Voice became a Vision ( 1Sa 3:15). Cp. Gen 15:1; Num 12:6-8. The visible manifestations of Jehovah or the Angel of Jehovah in the O. T. were foreshadowings of the Incarnation.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

A personal presence, not a mere voice, or impression upon Samuels mind, is here distinctly indicated. (Compare Gen 12:7 note; Rev 1:1; Rev 22:16.)

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Sa 3:10

Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.

The pupil of God

I. As the auditor of God. The Lord came and stood. The Great Father speaks to man in nature, in history, in moral reason, as well as in special revelations. This He does as in the case of Samuel.

1. Frequently.

2. Personally. Samuels name was mentioned. God speaks to man, not in the mass, but in the individual.

3. Earnestly. Samuels name is repeated, Samuel, Samuel, indicating earnestness. God is earnest in His communications with men. Doth not Wisdom cry? and Understanding put forth her voice? Alas! though all men are auditors, all men are not earnest listeners. We have humanity presented here–

II. As the pupil of God. Samuel answered, Speak; for Thy servant heareth. Samuels conduct suggests three things–

1. He became a pupil after having heard the Divine voice. The voice had spoken to him thrice before, but it is only now he has heard it as the voice of God. Before he thought it was the voice of Eli–the mere voice of a man. No man will ever become a pupil of God until he hears His voice as His voice. It is Gods voice that rouses men to spiritual study.

2. He heard the Divine voice after having put himself in a right posture.

3. Having heard the Divine voice, he craved for further communications. Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. The man who really takes in one word from God, craves for another. Gods word, really taken into the soul, does two things,

(1) Intensifies its thirst, for further communications. One sip of the stream leads to desires that only the ocean will satisfy. The other thing which Gods word does when taken into the soul,

(2) Widens his capacity for reception Not only the more you have the more you desire; but the more you are capable of receiving. Conclusion.

Here are the relations which we all ought to sustain to God–auditors and pupils–listeners and students. (Homilist.)

The reality of revelation and the preparation for receiving it

Why did the Lord call Samuel four times before He told him what He had to tell him?

1. The plan which God adopted was well calculated to convince both Eli and Samuel that the call was no delusion. When God makes any important revelation, He always gives to the people concerned some means of assuring themselves that it is indeed He who is speaking. He takes care there shall be no reasonable ground for saying that the revelation is a mistake, a fancy, a delusion.

2. The call of Samuel would have failed in one of its objects, if Eli had not been convinced that it was from God. Eli was to be censured by it. The call of Samuel was therefore the first step towards superseding Eli, and putting another and more faithful person in his room. It was absolutely necessary therefore that Eli should be assured that, Samuels call was from God, and that it was the beginning of the fulfilment of Gods threatenings against himself. And how could this be done more forcibly or more naturally than by allowing Samuel to mistake Gods voice for Elis, end bringing him to Elis bedside in unsuspicious simplicity three times in the course of the night?

3. There was this great object in the delaying of the message communicated to Samuel, until he had been three times called by name,–that he was duly prepared to receive the message. If God had given him the message on the first occasion of calling him, Samuel might not have known what to make of a thing so utterly new and strange to him. (Dean Goulburn.)

Voices of God

Samuel was called to be a prophet of God in a great crisis of Jewish history His appearance was quieter and less dramatic than those of Moses and Elijah, but it was almost as momentous.

1. The commonwealth established by Moses came to an end with the weak administration of Eli. The pure theocracy of the government was superseded.

2. The religious revolution was equally decisive and momentous. The religious supremacy of the priest was superseded by that of the prophet. No change could be more momentous in its religious influence. The function of the prophet differs fundamentally from that of the priest, and appeals to entirely different feelings. Samuel was the first of the order of the prophets. Hence the call of Samuel was of exceptional significance and importance. Samuel was clearly one of those great men of manifold gifts and functions whom God raises up in great crises and for great services. He was not, like Moses, the founder of the economy, nor, like Elijah, its restorer. But he was its preserver through a revolution that had become inevitable.

I. Life is full of voices of God, only we lack the spiritual faculty which discerns them–The responsibility of life lies in listening for Divine voices, and in the response to them that we give. We may cultivate the spiritual faculty that hears Gods call, or we may make it obtuse. We may cherish Gods call, or we may silence it; obey it, or rebel against it.

1. When we think of Gods voice, we English Protestants probably think first and most spontaneously of Gods revelation of His will in the Bible. Be the Bible whence it may, it is the highest spiritual authority we possess. It reveals God as nothing else does. More distinctly, unequivocally, and emphatically than through any other medium, God appeals to us by it. The history of Christianity is mainly a history of the impressions and transformations which the teachings of the Bible have produced upon men.

2. There are again voices of Gods providence, which, if we have docile hearts, if we listen for the voice behind us, and watch for the guidance of Gods eye, we shall not fail to recognise.

3. The instincts and yearnings of our own spiritual nature, again, are an unmistakable voice of God. Every faculty has its function, every yearning its satisfaction. What then is the satisfaction provided for my religious soul? Christianity loudly and eagerly replies, God, and Christ, and salvation, and heaven. This voice of God within tells us that we are more than the brutes that perish, that we are more than mere intellectual machines. A man has to do gross violence and outrage to his own nature, debauch it by sensual excesses, reason it down by hard logic, before he can disable or overpower its spiritual elements. Nay, when he has done his utmost, he has not destroyed, he has only over-borne them. Out of the very constitution of our nature a still small voice of God testifies to our spiritual and immortal being.

4. And to this religious nature God speaks by the motions and monitions of His Holy Spirit; awakening solicitudes, exciting desires, touching impulses. These we may either cherish or quench.

5. In moments of intellectual perplexity, for example, when speculative reason has baffled herself in trying to think out the mysteries of being and of God–amid this tempest and earthquake of intellectual strife the still small voice of the religious soul is heard–Gods voice within us. So that the spiritual soul itself disallows the reasonings that would deny it.

6. In quieter and more thoughtful moods of life we hear the voice of God. In solitary ways, in quiet evening hours, in the sequestered chamber of sickness.

7. God has voices that reach us in crowds; distinct, perhaps loud, above every din of business, or Glamour of strife, or song of revelry.

8. In moments of temptation, even, Gods voice finds a tongue. In some lingering power of conscience, in some sensitive remnants of virtue, in some angel memories of a pious home and an innocent heart.

9. In times of sorrow Gods voice comes to us, summoning us to faith in His rule, His purpose, His presence, and to patience and acquiescence in the sacrifice demanded of us.

10. Most terrible of all is it when the first voice of God that we seriously listen to is a sentence of doom. I will judge thine house for the iniquity which thou knowest. Such voices of God have come to men. Our lives are full of voices of God, if we would but listen to them. It is not Gods silence, it is our deaf ear that hinders every place from being eloquent with Divine meanings.

11. Again, at what unlikely times and in what unlikely places God may speak to us. Not always in churches, or in formal acts of worship, or on Sabbath days.

12. To what unlikely persons Gods call comes. The lesson is not an easy one for the Church to learn. God will choose His own instruments.

II. How then do we respond to Gods call?–Is not Samuels answer, Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth, in the childlike simplicity, faith, and submissiveness of it, a most beautiful and perfect type of what our answer should be? He did not demur or remonstrate, as even Moses did when sent to Pharaoh. Humility is seen as much in the implicit acceptance of a great mission as in apologetic excuses for not accepting it. True fidelity of service is simply to do whatever may seem to be duty. The responsibility is with him who calls us. How variously men respond to Gods call! Even in those who obey it, what, gradations of faith and submissiveness there are! Men may deal with Gods call so insincerely that they may destroy their very power of recognising it, and come to confound it with mere human suggestion. Or else, recognising it to be such, they parley with it, pervert its meaning, resist it, silence it. How God speaks to individual souls! Our neighbours cannot hear His voice to us. Eli did not hear the call to Samuel. It is addressed only to our personal consciousness, He who sits by my side does not hear it. Sometimes we ourselves fail to recognise it at first. Samuel thought it the voice of Eli, as we may think it the mere word of a preacher. It may not be even a message, but only a call; Samuel, Samuel; vague and inciting. Upon our response to it, our inquisitiveness and our docility, it depends whether more shall be revealed to us. Oh, these voices of God, how they fill our life and make it solemn and great! What forms they take! What things they say! Upon our capability and willingness to hear Him our spiritual life depends. So to dull and deaden our souls by evasions and evil passions, so that it becomes incapable of discerning voices of God, is to destroy its finer spiritual sense, to degrade and carnalise it. Of all the voices of human life none are so great and inspiring as voices of God. Nay, even grant them illusions,–the mere imaginations of spiritual feeling,–they are dreams of noble and inspiring things. For practical uses of life it is better to be led by imaginary voices to noble virtue, Divine sympathies, and immortal aspirations, than to be led by real voices to carnal indulgences. It was because Samuel so responded, that He who thus spake to the child, feeding the morning lamp of his life with the oil of piety and gladness, continued to speak to the man through all his after years, to be with him in every after experience, to preserve him in every after temptation and peril; very largely, no doubt, by the very memories and spiritual forces of his childhood.

III. The religious importance of the passive or receptive side of our spiritual life.–There is an active side of spiritual life which exerts power, and there is a passive side that receives it; just as the body receives food for its nourishment, and puts forth energy as the result of it. I kneel down to pray; I put my soul into a receptive attitude: I open my heart to spiritual influences; I surrender myself to quiet musings; I cherish thoughts about Divine things; I nurture spiritual affections; I solicit into strength and fruitfulness the seeds of things that I have received. This is the passive side of my spiritual life. These are the vital processes that make me a spiritual man, holy, devout, loving. But I also go forth to do things; to teach, to work, to serve, to speak to others the thought that is in me, to proffer to others the help that love prompts, to embody before others the holy principles and feelings that have been generated within me. This is the active side of my spiritual life. The one is God working within me, filling me with His presence and love; the other is my working for God, filling the earth with the godliness that I have realised, ministering the grace I have received. Every true life realises both. If either be wanting, life is impossible; if either be in excess, life is maimed. The religious history of the world is full of instances of mere zeal and self-will, working, even in Gods service, extremest evil. The Church needs Christian workers, consecrated lives, vigorous hands; the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few. In a thousand forms evil has to be encountered and counteracted. It is a great grace for a man to be willing to serve God in any way, for him to be converted from the service of the devil to the service of Christ. It is an eventful crisis in a mans history when he first submits himself to Christ. But it is not all at once that he subordinates to Christ all his feelings and purposes. His excited zeal would fain be doing. He has no conception that is not doing. He can scarcely be kept from abandoning business altogether. He does not wait to hear God speak. He takes for granted that God has only one thing to say to him–to bid him throw himself into the thickest of the fight. Young life is characteristically energetic. Its strength is not to sit still. Different states of society, different ages of the Church, have different characteristics and perils. Our fathers developed the thoughtful, reflective side of the Christian life. We fill the world with our Christian agencies, and our life with strenuous endeavours. Nor may we say that too much is done: the world needs it all. But perhaps we suffer in the completeness of our spiritual life. The balance inclines unduly. Are we not too busy for thoughtfulness–almost for quiet communion with God. There is therefore a sense in which we need to preach, not so much activity as the lessening of it. Our life runs to leaf. How much is said in Scripture about this devotional side of spiritual life, its aspect towards God, its vital union with Christ, its dependence upon Him! As I live by the Father, so ye also shall live by Me. This, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter–that in the activities of our zeal we do not forget its inspirations in God; that we keep open the heavenward gates of our souls; that while with one hand we do battle with evil, or build the temple of God, with the other we clasp the cross. The more entire our spirit of dependence, the more effective the work we do. Our greatest sanctities, our greatest elevations of thought and feeling, our greatest impulses, come from our communion with God. The nearer to Him we live, the fuller we shall be of His light and goodness and love. The men who have done the most for God are men who have stood in Samuels attitude, and said with Samuels submissiveness, Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. (H. Allen, D. D.)

Childhood a prophecy

I. As expressing the cry of the human heart for a revelation of the Divine.–Sooner or later that cry will be heard in us all. The thirst for happiness, the desire for certainty, the craving for fuller life, the thinkers search for uniting general ideas, are all longings for God. This cry cannot be satisfied by nature and its teaching, or by the voice of authority, or tradition, or reason, or the church.

1. We are sinful beings. How shall we know that we are personally forgiven and accepted, unless the voice of God speak in us?

2. We are solitary beings. We need a Divine Presence. How know that Presence is with us unless Gods voice speak in us?

3. We are students of truth. How shall we be convinced that Christ is Divine, and ever the Leader and King of men, unless the voice of His spirit in us attest His claims?

4. We are undeveloped beings. The highest and best energies of the soul only utter themselves as Gods voice calls them into consciousness, and service, and cooperation.

5. We are responsible beings.

6. We are immortal. In life, in death, in duty, in joy, our hearts cry, Speak, Lord. Be not silent unto me.

II. God answers this cry, but in an unexpected manner.–We settle upon persons, places, times, and modes for God to speak. He upsets the folly of our prejudgments.

1. Samuels cry is the result of the Divine voice to him first.

2. God calls the child, not Eli. He speaks to life, not years. The child has a right to hear God. He speaks ever to the childlike.

3. He calls the child in the night. Samuel must go into the solemn night, alone to hear the voice. How brave and fearless is the child-heart.

4. He calls him by a human voice. He cannot tell it from Elis. There are tones of love, and sorrow, and tenderness in it. So with Christ, the form of the voice is human, its substance is Divine.

5. He calls the child to receive the message of law and judgment. A good discipline to begin with. Law, stern and inflexible, yet beneficent, pervades love. Duty first, then privilege and comfort.

6. Eli has to complete the attitude of Samuel to God. The best part of Eli appears here–his unselfishness, his sympathy with Samuel. This is the use of all teachers, churches; not to demand our listening to them, but to send us to solitary converse with God. Often the representative of an outgoing school of thought has denied to the new voices the Divinity of which they are full. Eli was better.

III. The Divine voice is audible only to lowly obedience. (J. Matthews.)

Gods call to Samuel

I. The sleep.–You may think of Samuel as now a boy about twelve years of age. The night was far advanced. The golden candlestick with its seven lamps, in the Holy Place, had not yet gone out, as it usually did about the time when the morning began to dawn. Its light shone on all the sacred things. That night God was present in a special manner. He was near to Samuel. But to Samuel it was as if none of these things had been; he was all unconscious of them–for he was asleep. There is,

1. The Sleep of Carelessness.–Some mothers tell me about their boys, that they are not bad-hearted, and that what they have to complain of, is not so much want of heart, as want of thought. They never seem to think. And the consequence is, everything goes wrong. I cannot tell how bad, how dangerous that is, what damage it has done–want of thought. Though their eyes are open, their minds are asleep. It is the sleep of carelessness. Some young people go to church who never listen to what is said–who never hear what is said. I very much fear there are many young people who never think about God, or the soul, or their pressing danger, or the way of salvation.

2. There is what I might call the Sleep of Sin. This is in some respects worse than the other. At first, conscience is uncomfortable, uneasy, and they think they will never do the wrong thing again. But when the sin is repeated time after time, conscience becomes quiet, the heart gets hard, and at length there is sound sleep, so that nothing frightens, nothing alarms.

3. There is the Sleep of Security. Security does not mean safety. It means the sense of supposed safety, and is sometimes the most dangerous state of all.

II. Gods awakening call.–There are various ways of awaking sleeping people. Sometimes a call will do it; sometimes a gentle tap at the door; sometimes a loud knock.

1. There is Gods call in the Word. This is what most, and most effectually, he uses. Strange and unlikely messages have proved words of awakening to some, rousing the sleeper thoroughly out of his slumbers. Often it is the simple story of Jesus love–His coming and dying for sinners.

2. There is Gods call in Providence.

III. The lying down again.–In Samuels case, this was all right and good, he was an unusually dutiful child. Whenever he was called, up he sprang, and that again and again. In the case of most the lying down again is fatal. The second sleep is likely to be sounder than the first, and to lie down again, when once awakened, is of all things the most foolish. Sometimes, when God awakens, and there is much anxiety and fear–a desire to be saved, and a willingness to do anything to get salvation. We get quit of our anxiety and fear, and try to throw off our good impressions, and are ashamed to have been so much concerned. Friends often say to us, Go, lie down again: not that they would do us any harm, but, like Eli at first, they do not know that the voice that is calling us is the voice of God. Satan always says, Go, lie down again; for he does not wish us to be saved. And many yield to the temptation.

IV. Gods call recognised and answered.–All the three earlier times, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. (J. H. Wilson.)

Vocation

The call to Samuel is an extreme and vivid instance of a truth of which the Bible is full; the truth that we are all called of God to our several places and occasions of action or of passion, of working or of waiting in the world; in a word, that we all have a vocation. We hardly need the Bible to tell us this, for it is one of the simplest truths of natural religion. The evidences of providential purpose in the world have been criticised in every age. But they have proved too strong to be upset by criticism, and still remain as they have ever been, among our most necessary forms of thought. And as man is the climax of the visible creation, we naturally expect the purpose which is so abundantly visible elsewhere, to obtain also in the life of man. He too must have a purpose, and to be created for a purpose is, in the case of a free being, to be called to its fulfilment. The New Testament takes up and intensifies this thought; addressing Christians as the called of Jesus Christ, called to be saints, called according to Gods purpose, called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, called out of the darkness, called to liberty. Now it hardly needs saying that, for all its naturalness and scriptural authority, we are too apt to forget this thought. Let us consider the details of the call of Samuel to his lifes work. Circumstances, as we say, but circumstances of which a mothers prayer was part, determine the sphere in which that work is to be done. The child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Then comes the Divine voice calling him by name; calling him out of the many possibilities of an office which he shared with such men as Elis sons, to his own especial and high prophetic destiny. We are not all called to be prophets, but we are called, in our varying ways, to minister to the Lord; and we may learn from this typical history how to recognise and answer our call. We are apt to lead aimless lives, and shift the blame of them on to our circumstances; but circumstances, to a believer in God, are providential, and meant to determine and not to divert our aim. Parents wishes, constitutional temperament, intellect, rank, wealth, poverty, obscurity, the books we read, the friends we form, family claims, or unexpected opportunities in the opening days of life–these are the things that decide for us the main outlines of our career. And it is very easy to imagine that they are all happy or unhappy accidents, importing at the very outset a character of chance into all that we do. But such a view is only born of the shallow philosophy that sees nothing in the universe but a chaos of shifting sand. And it is in the presence of such feeling that a belief in vocation comes to our help. For that belief gives us a clue to the right interpretation of our circumstances, and leads us to ponder over them with prayer. As we do so we are no longer content to drift idly before them, or to turn and go away in a rage because we are not bidden to do some great thing. But external circumstances need for their interpretation the inner guidance of the voice of God; and to hear that voice we must be listening with the obedient expectation in which Samuel said, Speak; for Thy servant heareth. It is too readily assumed that such interior calls come only to the favoured few who are predestined to exceptional careers. They are ways in which God, the Holy Ghost, chooses the weak things of the world to confound the wise; flashing on the mind in an instant, through some chance thought, or eight, or sound, the conviction of His nearness, and the message of His will. But real as these inner intimations of the Divine purpose often are, they need to be received with care. And here again the case of Samuel comes before us. The voice which called him was interpreted by Eli. Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. And all our secret inspirations need a similar process of testing, in the light of our own experience or that of others. What, then, is a divine vocation? It is a call from the world, in its evil sense, to God. These are its two essential characteristics. First, detachment,, or sacrifice. When the rich young man was bidden to sell all that he had and give to the poor, the involved sacrifice was obvious. But though less obvious, the sacrifice need not be less real in the ease of those whose undoubted vocation is to accept the responsibility of a great inheritance. Secondly, attachment. Vocation is a call to God, and not merely a call to labour. It is a common mistake to regard our work as leading us to God, rather than God as leading us to our work. But the latter is the true order of vocation. God calls us to himself, and then sends us to labour in His vineyard. If we sever our moral life from its spiritual root–its root is the Father of Spirits–and confine our thoughts to any kind of merely moral practice, however noble, we are liable by degrees to be too absorbed in our work, to over-estimate its importance and our own importance as its agents, to be unduly discouraged by failure or sudden avocation. Meanwhile, our work itself will lack the note of perfectness which spirituality alone can give, and be either outwardly ungracious or inwardly unreal. Whereas if we regard morality as a function of the spiritual life, and conduct as the consequence and not the cause of character, the natural and necessary outcome and expression of the inner man, all things will fall into their proper place For the work which flows instinctively from character is not only more perfect in kind; but there is, in reality, more of it. It has a wider and more varied scope. In fact, it is incessant; since a character is always working. And, further, while action divorced from character contains no principle of growth, and at; best can only increase in quantity, remaining monotonously same in kind, a spiritual character is forever growing in refinement and intensity and grace, and consequently issuing in a higher quality of conduct. My son, give Me thy heart; is the universal form of all vocation. This is the essence of vocation; and it naturally issues in a reality and earnestness of life which nothing else can give. Without it men may be in earnest for a time, but; their earnestness will rarely survive failure, much less such repeated failure as is our common human lot. But the man with a sense of vocation is beyond all this. For he neither depends upon success or failure, nor doubts the real value of his work. Like the Pompeian sentinel, come what may, he will stay on duty till his guard is relieved. He works not for achievement;, but for obedience, and rests not when he is tired, but when he is told. Nor does this temper of mind, as is sometimes thought, lead to dull and mechanical working. On the contrary, the man with a vocation is the truest individual. For in his degree he reflects God, and no two beings can reflect God in the same way. Indolence is always commonplace. Imitation is its favourite method. And the more selfish men become either in their personal or collective alms, the more drearily they resemble one another No two saints were ever alike. And this the man with a true sense of vocation feels. He gives himself up to God in confidence that the Maker of the human soul alone knows the capabilities of His own instrument, and can alone bring out its music. And be is justified by the result. Native individuality alone will not do this. It may start with a flash and a lustre, but succumbs in time to the deadening custom of the world, the set gray life and apathetic end–one more instance of the epigram that we are all born originals and die copies. But; vocation, while it emphasises our originality, supports us under its loneliness with the sense of being upheld from above. Again there are degrees and stages of vocations–vocations within vocations. Theology is a matter of vocation. And then there is the missionary call, of which we hear from all sides of the need. (J. R. Illingworth, M. A.)

Present day inspiration

Does God speak to our children today as He did to this lad Samuel? I do not ask does God speak to us in an audible voice, and in dictionary English. For you know well enough that the form is not, and never can be, of the essence of a message. Methods are details. Spiritual impulse and enlightenment, life and power, are all in all, the Alpha and Omega of Inspiration. There are, says Goethe, many echoes in the world, but few voices. Revelation is rare. Inspiration is common. Revelation is unique and original. Inspiration may issue only in an echo to him who listens, but in what is a living and new experience to him who speaks. So far as I can gather, Samuel, though inspired as to become the first; in the regular succession of the prophets of Israel, received no new truth, saw no facts going beyond the first principles of religion taught by Moses; but; he grasped those truths with a reality and clearness all his own, With deep solicitude, then, we enquire, what are the facts? Is there, or is there not, a Present Day Inspiration? No doubt the prophets of God were exceptional men. All are not apostles. All are not prophets. All do not work miracles. All have not gifts of healing. Every Greek is not a Plato in philosophical insight, an Aristotle in reasoning, or a Pericles in eloquence and political capacity. Every Italian is not a Dante in song. Every Englishman is not a Shakespeare in dramatic genius, a Macaulay in historical portrait painting, or a Pitt in statesmanship. Every singer is not a Beethoven or a Mozart. Every Christian is not a Luther. Even amongst the prophets of the Old Testament there are greater and lesser lights. But in Gods world, the exceptional is always the evangelistic. Divinely-anointed men preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the broken hearted, deliver the captives, and herald the arrival of the acceptable year of the Lord. God never makes any man for himself, least of all a prophet. But supposing we had a lingering doubt as to the teaching of the Older Testament, we cannot have any misgiving as to the fact that Christ asserts over and over again the doctrine of the continuity of Inspiration. It is His consolation among the irritations and disquiet of opposition and defeat, that His Father reveals the truth of His Kingdom, to the open, clinging, and trustful hearts of babes like young Samuel. A third line of inquiry is open to us, taking us back in some sense upon our first and second. It is this. Are the results of Samuels Inspiration possible to us, or is there anything forbidding us to entertain the thought of entering into the goodly fellowship of the prophets? We know we may walk with God as did Enoch, preach righteousness with Noah, become the children of Abraham in heroic faith and total surrender of will, fight against ourselves with Jacob, battle for social purity with Joseph, assist in building Gods house with Moses, share the strength of Samson, and drink the pure streams of domestic joy with Ruth and Naomi; is it likely then we are shut out from the enjoyment of the sublimest issues of the inspiration of the Spirit of God? Those issues, as seen in the life and work of Samuel, are these four; an enlarged and purified conception of God; a strong and governing sway for ethical ideas of God and of life; a contagious impulsion of others towards God and righteousness; and a fine susceptibility of advance in religious, social, and national activity. Samuel knew the Lord through the word of the Lord revealed to him. God spake to him, and the speech was a revelation of the Speaker. To know God–not so as to define Him, but to enjoy Him; not so as to demonstrate His being, but to live in and by His love and power; not so as to comprehend Him, but to trust and follow Him; this is the gift of the Spirit. Next in gravity and in fruitfulness, we see in this inspired here a moral illumination, an inflexible fidelity to his vocation, and an uncompromising adherence to eternal ethical principles, which infallibly assert his intimate fellowship with a righteous God. He begins his youthful ministry by the delivery of a pain-filled message, asserting the unrelaxed operation of the laws of God on the rapacity and profligacy of the sons of Eli, a man of saintly devoutness and religious fervour, but a father of foolish leniency and unpardonable weakness. Samuel, young as he is–a mere lad–tells his story every whit, omits not a word from fear for himself, or weak consideration for the feelings of Israels Judge. So noble a courage has its fitting crown in the stern demand for absolute obedience to God he makes on King Saul, and his intrepid refusal to accept any shuffles and excuses for a self-willed defiance of the authority of the God of Israel. To obey, says he, rising to the loftiest heights of the sun-filled realm of truth, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. The Lord let none of Samuels words fall to the ground, for they were a part of that truth which, however slowly it be revealed, when once here, endureth to all generations. Samuel, like his successors, was a prophet-politician. His chief care was the common weal. He saw a people weak and disunited, foolish and fractious, licentious and profligate, idolatrous and corrupt; and with glowing intensity of emotion and ringing eloquence he sent out his manifesto against the reigning idolatry, reasserted the second great commandment against the worship of images, urged repentance and searching of heart, and confederated the tribes together on the basis of a true idea of God, a spiritual worship, and a faithful keeping of the law of righteousness. Every true and consecrated prophet is an earnest patriot, acutely alive to the real perils of his country, sympathetic with all its struggles for a purer morality, a higher culture, and a richer joy; and heartily cooperates in every effort that illumines right, extends liberty, and brings men to God. Love of men, evinced in practical service of their wide interests, is the sign and proof of the anointing of God. Hence the inspired man is always in the van of progress. He does not and cannot lag behind. Even though it be against his immediate interests, and in the face of his cherished methods and associations, yet he triumphs over himself and carries forward movements in which the old order changeth, yielding place to new. No inspired man can be a frozen pendant, a blind dry-as-dust, a galvanized corpse, frantically clutching at yesterday as though it were better than today, and talking of God as though He bad revealed Himself as the I was, instead of the I am. The breath of the Almighty lifts him out of the darkness of a selfish stagnation and makes him the harbinger of the coming day. Therefore, not even our depressing sense of mistake, our mist-bound ideas, our feeling that God has cramped dwelling in our souls, should hinder us from believing in, working for, and hastening to, a present-day Inspiration. Each element of this four-fold result bears witness to a universal need, and to a possible universal experience: prophesies that when He is come, He will convince the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment; be poured out on all flesh, so that all flesh may see the full salvation of God. Irresistible as this answer is, it only forces on us a further question, scarcely less perplexing, viz., how may we be sure that the voice that speaks within us is the voice of God, and not of self; that the impressions, ideas, and convictions are the result of Divine inspiration, and not the subtle temptations of evil, or the disguised promptings of a foolish and fevered fancy? Ay, theres the rub! Thats the insuperable difficulty! Fortunately for us this is not a new problem. It is as old as the other. The Jews of Berea had to face it with less light than we have, for they were invited to pass into a new realm of thought and action, and required an unerring guide, Paul and Silas preached the Word concerning Christ to them, and they received it with all openness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily whether these things were so; many of them, therefore, believed. They went at once to the best test they had; used the supreme verifying process then in existence, looked into the Hebrew accounts of the manifestation of God in the past; compared them with that which was reported to them by the missionaries, and entered into rest and power. Now we have this advantage over the Bereans, that the Scriptures are larger for us than they were for them. We can take all the movements of the Spirit of God in our hearts today to Christ, to see whether they are in accordance with His Spirit and teaching, with His redeeming purpose and kingdom, with His sacrifice and ethics; with His character and Ideal. He is our infallible test. Yet another question If this gift of the Spirit be open So all souls, and this test be so easy of application, why is it that Samuel, of all the lads in Israel, hears the Divine Voice, and no one else; that Isaiah and Paul are inspired, and so many of their contemporaries are not? Why? Well, why did mathematics and colours speak with such captivating sweetness to the mind of Clerk Maxwell? Why did music penetrate and sway the soul of young Mozart? Why could not Flaxman rest in his fathers shop without modelling and sketching? Why did Augustine hear the summons falling on his ear as he walked in the orchards at Tagaste; Take and read, Take and read? Look into their minds, and you will find the same law at work. Scientific things are scientifically discerned; musical things are musically discerned; artistic things are artistically discerned; and spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Their natures and training offered the appropriate organs and conditions, and the inspiration followed. To the fitting organ for hearing there comes the guiding Voice of God. Few cases more vividly illustrate this law than Samuels. At least six signs of fitness show themselves: his godly descent: his devout dedication for life to the service of God; his early spiritual training; his preeminent prayerfulness; his glowing love of God; and his unfaltering obedience to the Divine will. If, then, any of us lack the strength of a daily inspiration, and who does not? let him ask of God, with a fully dedicated spirit, an intense yearning to glorify God, a total suppression of selfish desire, and a sustained doing of all the Will of God, and He will do exceeding abundant above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, even the power of the risen Christ, Who hath already given us of His Spirit. (J. Clifford, M. A.)

Spiritual surrender for children

1. To begin with, there is indicated here, as a part of this boys experience, the exercise of unquestioning obedience.

2. In the experience of Samuel we observe, in the second place, there was the attitude of listening.

3. Then next in the experience of Samuel we observe there is a spirit of reverence.

4. There is the apprehension of obligation. So whenever Christ comes by His Spirit into contact with a young life there is the bending of the will into desire for service.

5. There is the temper of submission. The entire surrender of the soul is reached in that word heareth. This young child was offering himself most unconsciously to a duty immediate and pressing, but indescribably hard. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Gods calling of Samuel

I. With respect to the circumstances of this Divine call, there are, it is true, some differences, whilst there are certainly also some resemblances, between his case and yours. We may refer to,

1. Some of these differences.

(1) It is quite true that none of you are called in a miraculous way like Samuel.

(2) It is also true that God now calls none of you by name as he did Samuel.

(3) Nor are you called, like Samuel, to be inspired prophets. The code of Revelation is finished.

2. Resemblances between the circumstances of the call of Samuel and yours.

(1) Are not some here, like Samuel, children of many prayers.

(2) Like Samuel, lent unto the Lord.

(3) You are all young like Samuel.

(4) Called like Samuel at an important crisis in the history of the Church of God.

4. Have not all of you, like Samuel, been called repeatedly?

II. With respect to the reality of the Divine call there is a perfect parity in both cases.–

1. The Bible you allow to be the Word of God.

(2) It contains appeals addressed to you. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them (Ecc 12:1). (Evangelical Preacher.)

Obedient to the voice of God

I. The Lord speaking. But does God speak to me? you ask.

1. Yes, he does, in His Providence. In this land of Sabbaths, and churches, and Bibles, and Christians, God is always speaking to you. Did He not speak to you in the first human voice that reached your infant mind? And did not God speak to you in that illness?

2. And God speaks to you by His word. For His word is not like the word of a man in a book, a dull, dead thing: but in it you may hear Gods living voice.

3. And God speaks to you by His Spirit.

II. The child hearing. Your ear is one of the main gateways of the soul. A man of science calls it a harp of three hundred strings, and it is made up of many wonders. But far more wonderful is the inner ear of the heart, or the conscience, by which you hear the noiseless voice of God. You have great power over the ear of the body; you may spoil it, close it, or improve it. Oh, have you a good ear for this music? It is astonishing how quick the ear grows to hear anything we wish to hear. An Indian, by laying his ear to the ground, and hushing his breath, can discover the approach of a horseman at the distance of miles. His ear is as quick as the ear of the hare, or of the deer. A sleeping mother will hear the gentlest movement of her suffering child, and awake to help it. Her mothers love calls her listening soul into her ear: her heart makes her all ear. Thus the ear within the soul may be trained to know even the gentlest whisperings of Gods voice.

III. The child serving. Thy servant, he called himself.

1. His obedience was prompt. He might have said, Oh, Im frightened in the dark: there must be soma mistake: Ill keep my warm bed this cold night. He was prompt in obeying Elis voice (as he thought it) and Gods.

2. Samuels obedience was also hearty: he put his whole heart into it. The trembling slave obeys promptly, but not heartily. He does his task at once, but would gladly not do it, if he dared. We cannot obey God till we really love Him.

3. Notice also that Samuels obedience was life long. There is the closest connection between the heartiness and the continuance of our service. (J. Wells, M. A.)

Answering God

In order to distinguish the voice and message of God there is requisite–

I. A disengaged mind. When the attention is absorbed by one object there is no room for another.

II. An unbiassed intelligence. Our own selfishness, conceit, and prejudice, both collectively and individually combine to prevent our hearing and regarding the truth, in its fulness and entirety. We want to speak and argue, as well as hear.

II. An earnest expectation.

IV. A sense of humility. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. This implies that we hear in order to do. God will never give His counsel to the haughty and the proud.

V. A personal individual communion. It is the want of the personal union to God that keeps us in the dark and hides His light from our souls. (Homilist.)

Listening to God

Or, rather, Thy servant is listening. If, as we have read this story, I wonder if we have thought of the strange feeling of awe that was beating in that little heart that night? I wonder if there is any significance in the fact that Samuel did not say just what Eli told him to? Eli said, Say, speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth; but Samuel could not get quite courage enough to say Lord; he was not quite sure that it was the Lord that was speaking to him, and so all he says is, Speak; for Thy servant heareth. How that heart must have beat, how that awe must have possessed him, as it came to him that he was really face to face with Jehovah! And yet, familiar as we are with this story, I do not think its lesson has sunk down very deep into most of our hearts; for that lesson seems to me to be this: That there are times when we are not to talk to God, and not to do anything for God, but just to listen to God. A great proportion of you are doing some work for God; most of you, I hope, more or less regularly pray to God; but how many of you have ever formed the habit of listening to God? You see the difference. We know the full man, the ready man, the overflowing man whom we meet in social intercourse, who is so full of his message to us that he has no time to get our message back again; who talks with such a stream of conversation that it is hardly possible for us to get in a word in reply. There is no conversation with such a man, there is only listening to him. You have met that man; perhaps you are that man yourself. He is a very full man, but he does not know how to get the message of the world. He does not know how to take in as well as to give out. The wise man carries both minds with him, the giving mind and the receiving mind, and the wisest man makes more of the receiving even than the giving. But at other times you do not take up a theme for study, but you sit down in your easy chair and light your evening lamp; the wind is howling and you are sure that you are going to have that night no interruption; and you take your Browning, or your Shakespeare, or your Carlyle, or your Tennyson, or your Whittier, and you do not study, you simply let your favourite author talk to you, and after he has spoken to you for ten or fifteen minutes the book drops into your lap and you begin to think his thoughts. These hours in which we simply listen to what the men of genius have to say to us, are they not the most fruitful hours of our life? Have we not received more in those hours than we received when our dictionary and our grammar and our treatise were before us and we were digging for wisdom as for a hid treasure? Yes, these receptive hours are our best hours. I know there are persons who think that God speaks no more to men: He did speak once to Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Isaiah, to Paul, but there came a time when the canon was closed, and inspiration was stopped, and God became silent, and man lost his power of hearing. Strange, was it not, if it were true, that God should have spoken to one little section of the race and no other section, to one little epoch and to no other; strange, if He is the Father and we are the children, that He should have talked to those children in far-away times and have nothing to say to us children in this present time! I do not believe it. I believe God speaks to His children new. I cannot see how there can be a true, real religion without this faith. This faith underlies obedience. How can I obey the will of God if God never shows His will to me? How can I have faith in a present, living God, who never speaks to me? Sometimes He comes to us as He came to Balaam. We have set our own purpose before us; we have resolved what we will do; we have not been careful to take counsel and consider whether this is the thing God wants us to do. A great reward, a great honour, a great advantage, beckons, and we start out on our path to do our will, resolved to reap our reward, and we come against some obstacle, something that stops our way, and we are angry, vexed–we will sweep it out of the way and all the time it is the Angel of the Lord standing before us, barring our progress. And we cannot, do not, will not, see or listen. Sometimes He comes to us as He came to Saul of Tarsus; conscientious, really thinking he was doing Gods service, and yet so bent on his own notion of whats Gods service was. Sometimes He comes to us as He came to Elijah. We have tried to do Gods will–tried, but have failed; all our work has come to naught, and we are utterly discouraged. Sometimes it comes to us as it came to Moses; comes in the voice and ministry of nature, in some wonderful phenomenon in nature. Sometimes He comes to us as He came to Isaiah in the Temple. Sometimes He comes to us as He came to Peter and James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. I wish I could carry you back to your childhood; I wish I could make you remember the school desk and the teacher, or the mother instructing you out of the primer or out of the Bible; and when I had made those memories pass before you in a panoramic vision, I would bring, last of all, the evening hour when the mother took you. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)

Samuel, the young prophet

Samuel has just completed his twelfth year. Against this portrait of young Samuel our lesson unveils the picture of the age in which he lived. It was one of priestly corruption and spiritual dryness. To worshipping shepherds, to praying Johns, to kneeling Stephens, to clinging Jacobs, to repentant Davids, to obedient Samuels, God communicates his truths. Do not find fault with God because He seems to withhold truth from you. Do not criticise the preacher for commonplace utterances nor call your prayer meeting stupid. First look into your own heart and life and know whether or not you are in condition to see the truth when presented. The responsibility of the preacher of Christ and of Christian bodies for a spiritual drought is very evident from the story before us. We need heavenly living to receive heavenly visions. In this day of withheld revelation, when the lips of prophecy were sealed and the people heard no sounds from the heavens, God called Samuel. If it seems remarkable that he should select one so young in years, we are to remember that God never gives one a duty until he is fitted to perform it. He saw in this Hebrew youth the qualities of mind and spirit which he desired in his prophet. Years do not qualify men for great deeds. Holy living is the first condition of honour from God. God wants men, holy men. He asks neither for youth nor age. He does ask for holy manhood. Samuel met this condition, and therefore God called him. He was glad to be a servant in the tabernacle. He had the spirit of service. He chose Gods service, not a place in that service. That he left God to decide. Samuel was usable of God. His spirit of obedience is evident. When the voice called, he cried: Here am I. There is something unusual in this spirit. He was ready to try, with Gods help, to do what God wished. He was trustfully obedient, like Abraham and Joshua and Paul. His was the obedience that ran. The obedience that lingers with leaden feet never receives the prophets rod and mantle. It is interesting to note that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. He certainly knew God as every trustful, loving heart knows Him, and Gods word was his law. He did not, however, know him through the medium of a special revelation. Before he could enter upon his special work as a prophet or even know it was to be his, a special communication from God to him was necessary. No man ever yet succeeded who took up a special work for God on general principles. We are called to the work He desires us to do. In some way God draws near us in special revelation, communicating His will. In this special revelation God came. The word means presented Himself. The calling was not a mere impression or dream of Samuels. He heard a voice and then beheld the vision He recognised his God. Speak; for thy servant heareth. There was no doubt, no confusion in his mind regarding the nature of the occurrence. In Gods service we are not left to act upon impressions nor to the guidance of dreams. We meet a living presence. God came, and God comes to men. He meets us at every turn on lifes road. He gives us such special revelations of Himself as we may require. We talk not into a mysterious darkness, but in the ear of our God. We are left not to the mercy of fancies, but are guided by an all-wise and loving Father. In sharp contrast with the exaltation of Samuel to this prophetic life and his vision of Jehovah is the picture of Elis house. His sons are dissolute. They have degraded their important office and brought reproach in some way upon the name and worship of God. For Samuel to disclose to Eli the sad future of himself and his family was no easy task. It was the beginning of his cross-bearing as the prophet of God. It is worthy to be noticed, as an illustration of the frankness of Gods dealings with us, that he never deceives us as to the nature of our duties. On the very threshold of his new life Samuel met this delicate and trying task. (Monday Club Sermons.)

Samuel; or, Gods wrath upon His Church

We may look upon this Divine call of Samuel as the beginning of a new order of things in Israel. The high priest had, from the occupation of Canaan, been the medium of communication from God to the people. He wore the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate, and from these was able to receive answers from God to questions concerning duty. But the degeneracy of Israel, in which the high priests seem to have participated to a degree, rendered a change necessary. The high priest is made secondary, and the prophet is raised up as the primary authority in Israel. The prophet will now be the mouth of God to the people. If the Church makes a god of its forms, he breaks those forms to pieces. When the ritual priesthood failed in their duty, he punished them, and set up an order of prophets above them to be the interpreters of his will. Samuel is thus a witness to Gods demand for a spiritual religion in contrast to mere form. God is a holy God, and He will have His people holy; and if they substitute a ceremonial for holiness, His holy wrath will certainly fall upon them; and in this blow not only those will fall who, like Elis sons, commit gross wrongs, but those also who, like Eli, through indulgence or apathy, fail to rebuke and resist the evil. The Church of God is today courting the world. Its members are trying to bring it down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theatre, nude and lewd art, social luxuries with all their loose moralities, are making inroads into the sacred enclosure of the Church. God will not bless a Church that drags down His heavenly things into the dust–that gilds vice, calls it Christian, and then indulges in it. But His holy vengeance will assuredly come and strip such a Church of its pride and make it eat the bread of affliction. (H. Crosby, D. D.)

Youth the repository of Divine judgment,

I. Night visions. We might suggest several reasons why night was selected as the season of this vision:–

1. It was calm and silent.

2. It would lend impressiveness to the call. It being unusual to hear a voice at midnight, earnest attention would be secured, and reverent awe inspired.

3. It was also consistent, with the event announced. What time more appropriate for the utterance of tidings so terrible as darkness, whose gloom would also be prophetic of the future?

4. To show that God works at the moss unlikely times, independent of external and natural aid.

In fact, when we look upon the dead horses and unblown trumpets of Sennacheribs defeat, on the desolation caused in Egypt by the withering breath of the destroying angel, we feel in the presence of this principle that when nature and mortals slumber, God is most active.

1. In what the vision consisted. And the Lord called (verse 4). What a deep impression would this nights transaction make upon Samuels mind! Hence, by this vision, he was conducted to advanced experiences, of which the two most prominent thoughts would be the woeful destiny of evil, and the judicial majesty of God. These communications were

(1) Astounding;

(2) of widespread interest (verse 11); not merely was the lightning to scathe a willow by the stream but an oak near the palace. The doom predicted was

(3) Inevitable. Rendered so

(a) By Divine oath (verse 14)

(b) By a strict refusal of compromise (verse 14).

2. To whom entrusted. The Lord called Samuel (verse 4). Childhood vocal on the lips of God. Devoted childhood honoured by God. Compare. In those days there was no open vision (verse 1). And the Lord called yet again, Samuel.

3. Honestly mistaken. And he ran unto Eli (verse 5). Have we not in the cheerful obedience of this young servant a pattern for all stations of service?

(1) It was prompt; he ran.

(2) It was responsive; Here am I.

(3) It was deferential; for thou calledst me.

Samuel mistook the Divine call for the human; this is the greatest tendency of the present day, to expunge the miraculous, not only from the records of inspiration, but also from the events of general life. Mistaken childhood instructed (verse 7). It is the duty of old persons, and especially old priests, to instruct the young.

4. Obediently received (verse 10). Speak, for thy servant heareth. Samuel omits the word Lord, which Eli had instructed him to use. His youthful nature had not yet grasped its meaning; the doctrine of the Divine Lordship was too deep a mystery, he stood before it in silence, daring not to vocalize such an attribute of majesty. Every impulse of his heart cried out, Speak, and Samuel signified himself attentive to the message; thy servant heareth.

II. Morning disclosures. Samuel enters upon the duties of the day with a heavier heart than usual, trying as much as possible to avoid contact with Eli, lest he should be questioned respecting the call of the previous night. What contrasts do the Christian life present! He opened the doors of the house of the Lord (verse 15). The revelation of woe had not caused him to forget his duty, or filled him with pride to disdain it. Here we catch a glimpse of the greatness of his young nature, that it could walk amidst this splendour with such unconscious simplicity. The vision was:–

1. Timidly retained (verse 16, 17). And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Probably he had received no command from God to disclose it, and feared lest he should intrude upon the threshold of the Divine prerogative. Perhaps he discreetly considered that the tidings would be too astounding, that Elis feeble energies, like the drooping plant, would succumb to the fury of the storm; feeling also a respect for and a sympathy with the unfortunate Priest, knowing that God had irrevocably signed his death warrant, Samuel did not wish to embitter the final hours by heedless, useless sorrow. However Eli suspects that the call of the night had reference to himself, and importunately asks for its message:

2. Faithfully disclosed (verse 18). Samuel told him every whit. Faithful to God, and respectful to Eli, he unfolds the solemn secret of the future, in language not softened by omission or nullified by misrepresentation.

3. Reverently acknowledged (verse 18). And he said, It is the Lord.

lessons:

1. Childhood taken to the tabernacle as likely to be called by God.

2. The tabernacle is the place for the instruction of youth.

3. The punishment of parental indulgence is both certain and fearful.

4. The secrets of Divine Providence are ever entrusted to faithful souls.

5. Moral rectitude honoured by God and respected by man (verse 19-21). (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)

Samuel, the model of early piety

I. In the first place, Samuels early piety made him–a model of usefulness. Samuel became a prophet of the Lord, and was very useful in this way He made known to the people of Israel what God wanted them to do, and taught them how they were to serve and please Him. And then he was a judge, as well as a prophet. He went out at stated times among the people, and settled their disputes and quarrels, and so he was the means of promoting peace and happiness among them. He did a great deal of good to the people of Israel in this way.

II. Samuels early piety made him–a model of happiness. Religion is intended to make us happy. Loving and serving God is the secret of true happiness.

III. Samuels early piety made him–a model of perseverance. To persevere means to keep on doing whatever we begin to do without giving up. One reason why some people never succeed in what they begin to do, is that they do not persevere. They soon get tired and give it up. But this was not the way with Samuel. When he began to serve God he persevered in it. He kept on trying without getting tired.

IV. Samuels early piety made him–a model of honour. (R. Newton, D. D.)

The still small voice in the night

I. The Divine call, or, the revelation by a human voice.

II. Now consider–Samuels perception of only the human voice.

1. That when young hearts do not recognise Gods voice calling them, or His purpose with them, it is not a proof or a sign that God is not with them, or that they are not under religious influence.

2. Again, when repeated special calls are not intelligently responded to by the young we are not justified in thinking that the Lord is not leading them.

3. But let me say to the young, What may seem to you only a human voice may be Gods, is Gods, if it asks you to love Him. (G. B. Ryley.)

Divine calls verified

The call of Samuel is very different in its circumstances from the call of St. Paul; yet it resembles it in this particular, that the circumstance of his obedience to it is brought out prominently even in the words put into his mouth by Eli in the text. The characteristic of all Divine calls in Scripture is:

(1) to require instant obedience, and

(2) to call us we know not to what; to call us on in the darkness. Faith alone can obey them.

I. Those who are living religiously have from time to time truths they did not know before, or had no need to consider, brought before them forcibly, truths which involve duties, which are in fact precepts and claim obedience. In this and similar ways Christ calls us now He works through cur natural faculties and circumstances in life.

II. These Divine calls are commonly sudden and as indefinite and obscure in their consequences as in former times. The call may come to us:

(1) through the death of a friend or relative;

(2) through some act of sacrifice, suddenly resolved on and executed, which opens as it were a gate into the second or third heaven–an entrance into a higher state of holiness.

(3) The call may come through the hearing or reading of Scripture, or through an unusual gift of Divine grace poured into our hearts.

III. Nothing is more certain than that some men do feel themselves called to high duties and works to which others are not called. No one has any leave to take anothers lower standard of holiness for his own. We need not fear spiritual pride if we follow Christs call as men in earnest. Earnestness has no time to compare itself with the state of other men; earnestness has too vivid a feeling of its own infirmities to be elated at itself. It simply says, Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (J. H. Newman.)

The child Samuels prayer

I. First of all we shall take our text as the prayer of a little child. When we see any trace of good in our youth, then, like Eli, we should be the more earnest to have them trained up in the faith. Let the child learn the Catechism, even though he does not understand all that is in it; and as soon as the young heart can comprehend the things of Jesus, labour in power of the Holy Spirit to bring it to a simple dependence upon the great sacrifice. It is said of the Rev. John Angell James, Like most men who have been eminent and honoured in the Church of Christ, he had a godly mother, who was wont to take her children to her chamber, and with each separately to pray for the salvation of their souls. This exercise, which fulfilled her own responsibility, was moulding the character of her children, and most, if not all of them, rose up to call her blessed. When did such moans ever fail?

II. Let us now consider the words as the cry of an anxious soul.

III. We will turn to the third view of the text as the prayer of an earnest relieverse I was led to select this text, by finding it in the letter of one who has just been taken away from our classes, and from our Church. She was about to change her position in life in some degree, and the one prayer that seemed to be ever upon her mind, was a prayer for guidance, and she prayed, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. She said she felt that God was about to do something for her, but she did not know what it was; she little dreamed that she was so near the kingdom and the glory, but yet that was the prayer, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. This is a very appropriate prayer for the Christian when he is in providential difficulty. Take thy matters before the God of Abraham, and the Urim and Thummim shall yet speak to thee. Domine Dirige nos, Lord direct us, is a good motto, not only for the City of London, but for the citizens of heaven. In points of doctrine this de, ire humbly uttered may bring us much light. The same course should be adopted by every Christian in matters of practice. As melted wax is fitted to receive the impress of the seal, so let us be ready to accept the Masters teaching. Let His faintest word bind us as with bonds of steel; and let His minutest precept be precious as the gold of Ophir. As for the matters of duty again, be ye ever ready to follow the Master and Him alone. Not Luther, nor Calvin, neither Wesley, nor Whitfield, is to be your Rabbi; Jesus alone is Master in the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it, but where you have not His warrant, let no traditions or ancient customs make you stir so much as a single inch.

IV. We will close by observing that our text seems to us rightly to express the spirit of a departing Christian. He sits patiently upon the rivers brink, expecting that his Master shall open the passage for him to pass over dryshod. He is praying, Speak, Lord, and the sooner Thou wilt speak the more shall I rejoice. Say unto me, Come up hither. Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Voices of God

1.God speaks in the experiences of life. We are but children, and know so little. We can scarcely distinguish the voices which comes to us through the gloom like the murmuring of distant bells, speaking strangely and bewilderingly. There are sad hearts as well as bright ones, and we cannot make out the message of sadness always. I grope my way along the dark corridors, and I plead, Speak, Lord, speak, for thy servant heareth. And above the tumult I hear a voice which bids me forget the things that are behind and reach forward to those that are before. Onward, and into the future we venture, hoping, believing, knowing that though sorrow may endure for the night, joy cometh in the morning.

2. God speaks to us in the inner life–to the souls of His trusting people. St. John says: His voice was as the sound of many waters–helpful, encouraging, loving; the life itself. (J. S. Stone, D. D.)

The listening servant

These were the words of Samuel.

I. They reveal the attitude of attention. The man who never leaves his counting room, the student who never lifts his eyes or his attention from his books, will never know the glories of Mendelssohn or Beethoven. The housewife in whose ears is always the clatter of pots and pans will have no time or attention for a sweeter orchestra. So the man or the woman who never listens to Gods voice will never hear it. The marginal reference makes a verse in the thirty-seventh Psalm read: Be silent to the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. It is a soul silent unto God that is in the best attitude for knowing Him, for hearing Him, and for holding fast the blessings which He bestows. This marks as indispensable the quiet hour, the moments of silent communion, until our senses have become so refined and our spiritual ears so attentive that, like Nicholas Herman, of Lorraine, the devout monk, better known as Brother Lawrence, we too can hear Gods voice above the din of the market place and the buzz of the schoolroom and the clatter of the kitchen. As someone has welt said: The very familiarity of the voice of God in Nature or His Word may dull our accustomed ears to its sound, just as the roar of Niagara is never beard by those who live upon the banks of the Horseshoe Falls, and the whirr of the loom in the factory falls upon calloused ears. Because we are familiar with Gods message in His house, with His written Word, with His songs of praise, we need all the more to stop said listen that we may catch His individual message for our souls. It is said that so great is the hum of business that the people in the streets of London scarcely ever hear the tolling of the bell in the spire of St. Pauls Cathedral. But they could hear if they would stop a moment in the mad rush of trade, and listen.

II. Those words reveal the attitude of obedience. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. The hearing was in order to heeding. Some people seem to think that contemplative people must, of necessity, be very unpractical and useless people. They point to the almost barren lives lived by many monks and nuns and others, who, as they say, retired from the world to live lives of spiritual meditation and exclusion from evil. But it was in their retirement from the world, in their seclusion from lifes active duties, that they made their mistake. They listened to Gods voice, but it was not in the attitude of readiness for self-denying, active obedience. Hearing should always be for heeding. The seasons of contemplation should lead to other and longer seasons of service. In Christian contemplation the ideals of the Christian should glow luminous and living. Hearing in order to heeding; contemplation in order to service; this should be the attitude and method of the true Christian. (G. B. F. Hallock, D. D.)

Speak, Lord

The child Samuel was favoured above all the family in which he dwelt. The Lord did not speak by night to Eli, or to any of Elis sons. In all that house, in all the rows of rooms that were round about the Tabernacle where the ark of the Lord was kept, there was no one except Samuel to whom Jehovah spoke. The fact that the Lord should choose a child out of all that household, and that He should speak to him, ought to be very encouraging to you who think yourself to be the least likely to be recognised by God. Notice also that, while God had a very special regard for young Samuel, he had, in that regard, designs concerning the rest of the family. Gods elect are chosen, not merely for their own sake; they are chosen for Gods names sake, and they are also chosen for the sake of mankind in general. The Jews were chosen that they might preserve the oracles of God for all the ages, and that they might keep alight the spark of Divine truth that we Gentiles might afterwards see its brightness; and when Gods Special love is fixed upon one member of a family, I take it that that one ought to say to himself or herself, Am I not called that I may be a blessing in this family?

1. And, first, I will speak to you upon the soul desiring–desiring to be spoken to by God: Speak, Lord. We cannot endure a dumb God. It is a very dreadful thing to have a dumb friend, a very painful thing to have a wife who never spoke with you, or a father or mother from whom you could never hear a single word of love; and the heart cannot bear to have a dumb God, it wants Him to speak. For what reason does the soul desire God to speak to it? Well, first, it desires thus to be recognised by God. It seems to say, Speak, Lord, lust to give me a token of recognition, that I may know that I am not overlooked, that I am not flung away like a useless thing upon the worlds dust heap, that I am not left to wander like a waif and stray.

2. More than that, this desire of the soul is a longing to be called by God. When the Lord said to the child, Samuel, Samuel, it was a distinct, personal call, like that which came to Mary: The Master is come, and calleth for thee, or that which came to another Mary when the Lord said to her, Mary, and she turned herself, and said, Rabboni, that is to say, my dear Master. Speak, Lord, speak to me; call me.

3. Speak, Lord, moreover, that I may be instructed.

4. We sometimes mean by this expression, Speak, Lord, for our guidance. We have got into a great difficulty, we really do not know which way the road leads–to the right or to the left–and we may go blundering on, and have to come all the way back again; so we specially need the Lord to speak to us for our guidance.

5. At times, also, we want the Lords voice for our comfort.

II. Now, secondly, let us think of the Lord speaking. Suppose that the Lord does speak to us; just think for a minute what it is.

1. It is a high honour. The peers of the realm are not so honoured when they see their Queen as you are when you see your God, and he speaks with you. To be permitted to speak with Him is a delight; but to hear Him speak with us is heaven begun below.

2. It is a very solemn responsibility. Jesus Christ spoke to Saul of Tarsus out of heaven, and from that hour Paul felt himself to be the Lords, a consecrated man, to live and die for Him who had spoken to him.

3. To hear God speak to us will bring us many a happy memory.

4. I think I must also say that it is a probable mercy that God will speak to you.

5. But how does the Lord speak? someone asks.

1. God often speaks to His children through His works.

2. God also speaks to His children very loudly by His Providence.

3. But the Lord speaks to us chiefly through His Word.

4. But the Lord has a way of sometimes speaking to the heart by His Spirit

I think not usually apart from His Word–but yet there are certain feelings and emotions, tendernesses and tremblings, joys and delights, which we cannot quite link with any special portion of Scripture laid home to the heart, but which seem to steal upon us unawares by the direct operation of the Spirit of God upon the heart. Christians are not alike favoured. One may be a child of God, like Eli, and yet so live that God will not speak with him; and, on the other hand, one may be a child like Samuel, obedient, beautiful in character, and watchful to know Gods will, praying, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth; and then God will speak to you. It is not to all that He speaks, but He would speak to all if they were ready to learn what He had to say.

III. The soul hearing. We have had the soul desiring, and the Lord speaking; now for the soul hearing: Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.

1. I think we have here an argument: Lord, do speak, for I do hear. There are none so deaf as those that will not hear.

2. Yet it appears to be an inference, as well as an argument, for it seems to run like this, Lord, if thou speakest, of course thy servant heareth.

3. Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth, seems also to contain a promise within it, namely, that if the Lord will but speak, we will hear. I remember being asked to see a person, and I thought that he wanted to learn something from me; but when I saw him for three-quarters of an hour, he spoke the whole time, and afterwards he told a friend that I was a most delightful person to converse with! When I was told that I said, Oh, yes, that was because I did not interrupt the man! He was wound up, and I let him run down. But conversation means two people talking, does it not? It cannot be a conversation if I do all the talking, or if my friend does it all; so, in conversing with God, there must be, as we say, turn and turn about, You speak with God, and then sit still, and let God speak with you; and, if He does not at once speak to your heart, open His Book, and read a few verses, and let Him speak to you that way. Some people cannot pray when they wish to do so. I remember George Muller sweetly saying, When you come to your time for devotion, if you cannot pray, do not try. If you cannot speak with God, do not try. Let God speak with you. Open your Bible, and read a passage. Sometimes, when you meet a friend, you cannot begin a conversation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The listening soul

The story of Samuel begins before he was born, as the story of a river begins up on the mountain side, where the spring bursts forth from its rocky reservoir The great snowdrifts on the mountain summit, and the deep caverns in the depths of the hills, are interesting chapters in the story of a riverse So back of Samuel with his open ear and his open heart toward heaven are a good father and a pious mother; people who were faithful to God and who sought to do their duty. They did not lay up great wealth for Samuel, but they gave him the heritage of a good name, and above all things they gave him the heritage of faith in God, and of love for things good and pure. Let every man who had a praying mother thank God. A home that is fragrant with the reading of the Bible and musical with the sound of family worship is something to be grateful for as long as one lives. Better than gold, better than all the worlds luxuries, is the inheritance given by a Christian mother to her children.

1. In the first place, it is a very interesting fact to note what; is directly stated here, that up to this time Samuel did not know the Lord. Of course there was a sense in which Samuel did know the Lord. He knew what one can know about God in seeing others worship; but his own heart did not go out to God in prayer and love; and in that deep, inner, personal sense he was without God. Is that not exactly your case? You have heard about Christ since you were a little child, and you feel that; you know e great deal about Him, and yet in the truest sense you do not know Him.

2. I want you to notice again that God called Samuel three times before he answered. Has not God called you again and again? You heard the call and you understood it, but you did not answer. Perhaps God came to you at a time of some disgrace because of your sin. Your conscience spoke as it had never spoken before. God called you then with clanging notes of alarm; and your heart said, I ought to kneel to God; I ought to seek the forgiveness of my sins. You knew it was Gods call to you, but you did not answer. Perhaps it was a great joy that came, and the goodness and gentleness of God filled your heart with up springing praise. With warm heart and tearful eyes you exclaimed, God is so good to me, I ought to yield Him my heart, I ought to give Him my open thanks, I ought to let the whole world know how good He is to me. It was Gods call to you, but you did not answer.

3. I call your attention to the fact that God called Samuel by name. Samuel, Samuel, is the way the Lord talks to the boy. God spoke to Abraham in the same way. When the Lord Jesus met Saul on the way to Damascus it was a personal message he brought him, and he cried out to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? God knows us all by name; you are not lost in the crowd to Him. No one can tell how much it will mean if you will only listen to God and answer His call tonight. It is quite possible that if some who hear me now, who are called of God through this word, would yield their hearts in response to Gods call, it would be the beginning of a life equally as useful. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)

Speak, Lord.–

Use of the Divine name in prayer

You observe that He did not say, Lord; perhaps he hardly dared to take that sacred name upon his lips. He was impressed with such solemn awe at the name of God that he said, Speak; for Thy servant heareth. I wish that some Christian men of my acquaintance would leave out the Lords name a little in their prayers, for we may take the name of the Lord in vain even in our supplications. When the heathen are addressing their gods, they are accustomed to repeat their names over and over again. O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us! or, as the Hindoos do when they cry, Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram! repeating the name of their god; but as for us, when we think of the infinitely-glorious One, we dare not needlessly repeat His name. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Responsive souls

In a court of justice a number of violins were lying on the table. The ownership of one of them was in question. It did not differ in appearance from the others, but one witness said he would know it among a thousand. I would know it, he said, even if I were blind. How? asked the astonished judge. By its voice, replied the old man. It would speak to me as no other violin can speak. It is speaking to me now. And, listening, he bent low until his ear almost touched the instrument. Then he grasped another that lay beside it, and with his right hand swung the bow across the strings. A low, deep, throbbing, pulsing note broke the stillness of the courtroom. When it ceased, with hand uplifted and with bow pointing to the table where the other instruments still lay, the old player waited expectantly. Across the room, faint, yet clearly audible, came the same sweet, low, throbbing note, yet far richer, sweeter, and purer, as though some celestial master player had swept the strings. That, said the old man, was the voice of the violin. It has a soul, and it has speech. But a false note, rude sounds, or mere discords will not open its lips. So whenever I strike a true note, if the old violin be in the room or near at hand, it will always answer. Thus should it be with the human soul when God, its true proprietor, speaks, answering with a glad and ready response, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.

Heavenly voices

Lady Henry Somerset, becoming restless and unsatisfied in early life with worldly honour and gaiety, began to question in good earnest the meaning and end of life. The more she studied the Word, the more she felt that there was a reality in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that her great need was personal consecration and an active share in the Divine effort to save the world. Still, the light was not given until one day in her garden, alone with Jehovah, questioning the existence of such a thing as Providence, she heard a voice say distinctly, Act as if I were, and you shall know that I am. The voice was not addressed to the material ear, but the words were distinct to the ear of Lady Henrys soul. They made a deep impression, and the more she thought upon the mysterious matter the more she was convinced that it was really a voice from heaven, sent in answer to her pleadings for light and guidance. She resolved to follow the counsel so strangely sent, and when she put the resolve into action a flood of light dispelled all the darkness, solved every doubt, so that she exclaimed, in a rapture of conviction, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. (Christian Herald.)

Guides to religious experiences

Although God spoke to Samuel he needed Elis instruction to enable him to recognise the voice. He heard someone knocking at the door of his heart, but when he looked out all seemed dark until Eli told him in what direction to look for the unseen visitor. We need the direction of those who have become more accustomed to obey such voices, and have thus learned by experience the meaning of such intuitions, (R. C. Ford, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. The Lord cane, and stood] He heard the voice as if it was approaching nearer and nearer; till at last, from the sameness of the tone, he could imagine that it ceased to approach: and this is what appears to be represented under the notion of God standing and calling.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The Lord came; before, he spake to him at a distance, even from the holy oracle between the cherubims; but now, to prevent all further mistakes, the voice came near to him, as if the person speaking had been present with him.

And stood; before, the voice passed by him, now the speaker fixeth his abode with him for a time, till he had uttered his whole mind to him.

As at other times; as he had done before.

Samuel, Samuel; his name is here doubled, to engage him to the more speedy and diligent attention.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And the Lord came, and stood,…. At the place where Samuel lay; either there was, as Kimchi, a form before his eyes in the vision of prophecy, some visible corporeal shape assumed; or a bright splendour an illustrious appearance of the glory of God; or it may be rather the voice, which before seemed to be at some distance whereabout Eli lay; it now seemed nearer, and was as the voice of one just by him, that sounded in his ears:

and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel: repeating his name, in order the more to excite his attention:

then Samuel answered, speak, for thy servant heareth; he leaves out the word Lord, which Eli bid him use; for he might be afraid as yet to make mention of the name of the Lord in the vision of prophecy, as Kimchi speaks; or lest it should be the voice of another, as Jarchi; as yet he might not be quite certain whether it was the voice of the Lord, or the voice of a man; for that he should have any mistrust of its being the voice of a demon or spectre, there is no reason to believe.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

When Samuel had lain down again, “ Jehovah came and stood,” sc., before Samuel. These words show that the revelation of God was an objectively real affair, and not a mere dream of Samuel’s. “ And he called to him as at other times ” (see Num 24:1; Jdg 16:20), etc.). When Samuel replied in accordance with Eli’s instructions, the Lord announced to him that He would carry out the judgment that had been threatened against the house of Eli (1Sa 3:11-14). “ Behold, I do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle,” sc., with horror (see 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3; Hab 1:5).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.

1Sa. 3:11. The ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. A mark of dread and horror. (See 2Ki. 21:12 and Jer. 19:3.) As a sharp, discordant noise pains ones ears, so the news of this harsh punishment shall give pain to all who hear of it (Langes Commentary on Kings).

1Sa. 3:12. I will also make an end. He does not mean that He would begin and make an end at once; but that He would persevere in His punishments, and not desist when He began, till all His threatenings were fulfilled, viz., in the death of Eli, and of his sons, and the slaughter of eighty-five priests of this family by Doeg, and the thrusting Abiathar out of his office, and so depriving that family of its dignity and honour (Patrick).

1Sa. 3:13. Judge. To judge on account of a crime is the same as to punish it. (Keil.) Restrained. He contented himself with mere remonstrance when, as High Priest and Judge in Israel, he had severer measures at his command, which he ought to have employed, setting aside his personal feelings of parental tenderness. (Hobson.)

1Sa. 3:14. Sacrifice nor offering. Neither the bloody nor unbloody offerings. (See Lev. 16:6.) The sin of Elis sons was so heinous as not to be purged by this appointed sacrifice. (Hobson.)

1Sa. 3:15. Opened the doors. This appears to have been a part of Samuels duty. We have not to think of doors opening into the Holy Place, however, but of doors leading into the court. (Keil.)

1Sa. 3:16. My Son. How much is expressed in this one word. (Thenius.)

1Sa. 3:17. Observe the climax in the words with which, in three sentences, Eli demands information from Samuel; it expresses the excitement of his soul. He asks for the word of the Lord; he demands an exact and complete statement, he adjures Samuel to conceal nothing from him. (Langes Commentary.)

1Sa. 3:19. None of his words fall to the ground. A metaphor from arrows shot out of a bow, which hit the mark. (Patrick.)

1Sa. 3:20. From Dan to Beersheba, i.e., from the northern to the southern extremity of the land. Dan (anciently called Laish) was a northern frontier town, and Beersheba was situated on its southern border. That Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. A very important statement. What Samuel did in offering sacrifices, etc. (see 1Sa. 7:9) was not, as some seem to imagine, an irregular intrusion into the priestly office. But in a time of great degeneracy and confusion, when the exercise of the ordinary functions of the Levitical priesthood was in abeyance, Samuel was specially raised up by God, and received an extraordinary commission from Him to do what He did in maintaining the worship of God, and all Israel knew, by visible tokens, that he was established to be an expounder and interpreter of Gods will (Wordsworth).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH1Sa. 3:10-21

THE SIN OF OMISSION AND THE GRACE OF SUBMISSION

I. The mere omission of one man may be the calamity of many. Many and terrible disasters have often been brought upon many people by one mans omission in the performance of his duty. If the man who stands at the wheel of the vessel omits to look at the compass, he may bring death or ruin to hundreds of his fellow-creatures, as well as loss of reputation to himself if he should survive the wreck. If one miner neglects properly to secure his light, the death of all his fellow-workmen may as truly lie at his door as if he had slain each one separately with his own hand. Omissions permit the play of forces which are destructive to human life, and therefore are sometimes as guilty as commissions. Elis great sin was a sin of omission: His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. His omission of parental restraint permitted the unchecked play of the evil passions of his children, and brought as sure and as terrible a destruction upon them as if he had taken their lives with his own hand. And the evil consequences of his neglect of restraint did not end with them; the mischief which was thus left to work spread into every household in the land, and soon the whole nation had cause to mourn over their high-priests omission of his duty. If Eli had restrained his sons, he would certainly have delivered his own soul from blood-guiltiness, and might have delivered them from such a public execution, and the nation from overwhelming disgrace. Mere protestation against sin will do something to stem the tide, or if it is powerless to do that it is a witness against it. A godly man can sometimes do no more than can a pillar in the midst of an eddying river. He can but offer the resistance of his own life and words to the prevailing current of iniquity. He cannot check its onward course. Less than this will not deliver him from guilt, but this will do it. If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. (Eze. 33:8-9.) This is all that God requires when men can do no more. Eli had hardly done this and his power to do moreto hinder his sons from continuing their public profanation of Gods house and servicesconstituted him a partaker in their sins, and to some extent in their punishment when he restrained them not. This great omission of his life made him the instrument of bringing the wrath of God, not only upon his house but upon his nation.

II. A noble nature has no pleasure in the downfall of a rival. A generous soul is grieved at the afflictions that come upon men even through their own sin. He not only rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth not in the punishment that iniquity brings even when the downfall of the evil-doer is the occasion of his own promotion. If a young man sorrows over the just disgrace of those whose fall is his own stepping-stone to promotion, he shows that he is possessed of a truly noble disposition. Samuel was not gladdened by being thus honoured by God, seeing that the message he received was charged with heavy tidings concerning those whom he honoured to some extent. Some consciousness of his own advancement must have been borne in upon him by this revelationhe must have had some presentiment that the setting of Elis sun would be the rise of his own, yet he shrinks from showing the vision evidently not only from unwillingness to grieve his aged friend, but from a sense of sorrow at the terrible retribution which awaited him and his.

III. The highest wisdom under Divine chastisement is the submission which justifies God. There are children who will justify their human parents even when they are under correction, because they have such confidence in the character of those parents, and because their own consciences convict them of deserving that which they are now suffering. Gods children should always be able to do this. They ought to be so assured of His unimpeachable justice and wisdom, as well as of His love, as to be able at all times to echo the words of Eli, and thus to justify the ways of God to men. Eli here proves himself a true son of Abraham in the full assent he gives to Abrahams assurance, Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25) Being fully convicted of his own negative sins, and of the positive crimes of his children, he takes the course of true wisdom, and yields himself and his family into the hands of that King who he knows can do no wrong.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

1Sa. 3:11. When God executes judgment upon anyone, all should tremble at these examples of severity upon others, and say with Paul, Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear (Rom. 11:20).De Sacy.

1Sa. 3:12. Execution of justice is Gods work, though His strange work (Isa. 28:21), and when once He beginneth, He will go thorough-stitch with it; He will neither dally nor desist till it be done.Trapp.

1Sa. 3:13. The judgment that was to fall on Ithamar is the likeness of the judgment which has followed the corruption and the nepotism of the clergy everywhere. It was to begin with the alienation of the people from the worship of the sanctuary; it was to end in a violent revolution, which should overthrow with bloodshed, confiscation, and long humiliation the ancient hereditary succession and the whole existing hierachy of Israel.Stanley.

Parents cannot do Gods work, and God will not do theirs; but if they use the means, God will not withhold His blessing.A. Clarke.

Oh, it is dangerous to do the work of God negligently. Eli was a magistrate, and should have put forth his authority and punished those ungodly children. That you (who are magistrates) be terrors to evil-doers is expressed as one of your chief duties (Rom. 13:3). If you are not, look to yourself, for God hath iron hands for justices that have leaden heels, and will one day strike them home for forswearing themselves to spare others. He will be a terror to thee and make thee a terror to thyself, who will not at His command be a terror to evil-doers. Thou sinnest in others whilst thou sufferest them to sin, and thou shalt one day suffer with them (Rev. 18:4). Cowards are more fit to be slaves than rulers. A magistrate should be like Moses: in his own cause as meek as a lamb, in Gods cause as stiff as an oak, as bold as a lion. He that spareth the bad hurteth the good. The chirurgeon must cut off incurable members, and the physician of the State must purge out the peccant humours of the body politic, lest they infect and injure the whole.Swinnock.

For the iniquity which he knoweth. Both by that prophet (1Sa. 2:29), and by that domestical chaplain, his conscience.Trapp.

1Sa. 3:13-14. The guilt and consequences of parental unfaithfulness.

I. The sin here mentioned. It is not said that Eli set his sons a bad example. It is evident, on the contrary, that his example was good. Nor is he accused of neglecting to admonish them; for we are told that he reproved them in a very solemn and affectionate manner. But though Eli admonished he did not restrain. He did not employ the authority with which he was clothed, as a parent, to prevent them from indulging their depraved inclinations. Every parent who is not as careful of the morals as he is of the health of his children; everyone who takes more care of the literary than of the moral and religious education of his children, is guilty of this sin.

II. The punishments denounced. They are here denounced generally; but are described at large in the preceding chapter.

1. That most of his posterity shall die early. The sin of which Eli was guilty naturally tends to produce the consequence here threatened. If parents wish their sons to die before they reach half the common age of man, they cannot adopt measures better calculated to produce this effect than to cast loose the reins of parental authority.

2. That such of his children as were spared should prove a grief and vexation, rather than a comfort to him. This was not less terribly fulfilled in the family of David. We are told respecting one of his children, that his father had not displeased him at any time, saying, Wherefore hast thou done so? We may then conclude that he was equally culpable in his treatment of his other children. And what was the consequence?. This part of the threatened punishment, like the former, is the natural and almost inevitable consequence of the sin against which it is denounced. Especially will such parents usually meet with unkindness and neglect from their children if they live to be dependent on them in their old age.

3. That his posterity should be poor and contemptible. Children who are not restrained by their parents will almost inevitably contract habits of idleness, instability, and extravagance, which naturally lead to poverty and contempt. Here again we see the natural consequences of Elis sin in its punishment. Lastly, God declares that none of the methods thus appointed to obtain the pardon of sin, should avail to procure pardon for the iniquity of his house. This awful threat conveyed a plain intimation that they should die in their sins, and this too, was the natural consequence of his conduct. He had suffered them to follow without restraint those courses which rendered them unfit for heaven until their day of grace was past. They were given up to a hard heart and a reprobate mind. They could not now be brought to repentance, and of course, no sacrifice nor offering could purge away their sins. Thousands now in the region of despair, and thousands more on their way to join them will for ever curse their parents as the authors of their misery. The terrible punishments denounced against this sin show how exceedingly displeasing it is to God.

1. Because it proceeds from wicked and hateful principles Sometimes it proceeds from the love and practice of vice In religious parents, it almost invariably proceeds from indolence and selfishness There is also much unbelief, much contempt of God, and much positive disobedience in this sin.
2. Because it entirely frustrates His design in establishing the family state.
3. On account of the good which it prevents, and the infinite evil which it produces. No sin tends to produce more or greater evil and misery.
4. Because those who are guilty of it act a most unnatural part. God knew that it would not be safe to trust us with the education of immortal souls, unless we had powerful inducements to be faithful to the trust. He, therefore, implanted in the heart of parents a strong affection for their offspring, that they might be thus induced to educate them as they ought. But those who neglect to restrain their children do violence to this powerful operative principle, and may be said to be like the heathen, without natural affection.Payson.

1Sa. 3:15. As the child Samuel was not elated by this vision and revelation vouchsafed to him in the temple, but went humbly to Eli, and when it was morning did the daily work prescribed to him,so the child Jesus, after the honour paid to him in the temple, went down to Nazareth, and was subject to Mary and Joseph (Luk. 2:51).Wordsworth.

As this is the first circumstance which throws light upon the character of one who was destined to become a great man in Israel, it behoves us to regard it well. Most lads of his age evince much eagerness in communicating anything surprising, without much regard to the pain it may be calculated to inflict. Samuel knew that he had been highly honoured by a special communication from God. The burden of a great doom had been imparted to him, and such secrets of high import it is hard for youth to bear undisclosed. But with Samuel there was one consideration that overruled every other. The secret concerned his venerable lord, who had been as a father to him, and could not fail to afflict his spirit.Kitto.

1Sa. 3:18. Though we must groan and feel Gods hand, yet we must not grumble and fret at His dealings. Patience is thy duty under the sharpest providence. He is too just to be questioned, too good to be suspected, and too great to be quarrelled with. Eli doth not fall in His face in a passion, but falls down at His feet in humble submission.Swinnock.

Told him every whit. Bitter truths must be spoken, however they be taken, and if ministers be mannerly in the form, yet in the matter of their message let them be resolute.Trapp.

If Eli have been an ill father to his sons, yet he is a good son to God, and is ready to kiss the very rod he shall smart withal: It is the Lord, whom I have ever found holy and just, and gracious, and He cannot but be Himself; let Him do what seemeth Him good, for whatsoever seemeth to be good to Him, cannot but be good, howsoever it seems to me. Every man can open his hand to God while He blesses; but to expose ourselves willingly to the afflicting hand of our Maker, and to kneel to Him while He scourges us, is peculiar only to the faithful.Bishop Hall.

I. A judicious discovery from whence all evils come. It is the Lord. He is omnipotent, and who hath withstood His power. He is just, and will bring no evil without good cause. He is wise, and whatsoever evil He bringeth He can draw it to a good end. He remaineth the same God in the fire and in the earthquake which He was in the still voice; the same when He slew the Israelites as when His light shone upon their tabernacle. His glorious attributes cross not one another. His justice taketh not from His mercy, nor His mercy from the equity of His justice; but He is just when He bindeth up, and merciful when He woundeth us. The same God that overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea, that slew great and mighty kings (Psa. 136:15; Psa. 136:17-18) did deliver up His own people, did deliver up the ark to Dagon: for His justice, His wisdom, and His mercy did endure for ever.

II. A well-grounded resolution. Let us learn with Eli to kiss the Son, lest He be angry (Psa. 2:12), nay, to kiss Him, and bow before Him when He is angry; to offer Him up a peace-offering, our wills, of more power than a hecatomb, than all our numerous fasts and sermons, to appease His wrath. This is the truest surrendry we can make. I do not only obey God, and do what He would have me, but I am of His mind, saith the heathen Seneca. The stubbornest knee may be made to bow, and obedience may be constrained. But the true Israelite doeth it with joy and readiness, and though he receive a blow he counteth it as a favour, for He that gave it hath taught him an art to make it so.Anthony Faringdon.

1Sa. 3:20. Not only of the whole Church in general, but of every Christian hearer in particular, it is demanded that, with reference to the doctrine taught, he shall perceive whether it is right and true or not, and stand his ground. In the case of Samuel the word did not hold goodthe prophet has no honour in his own country. He comes before us here as a prophet who has much honour in his own country

(1) Because he was a faithful prophet of God;
(2) because he was counted worthy by God of continual revelations through His word;
(3) and God confirmed his proclamations by the publicly manifested fulfilment of them as a fulfilment of his word.Cramer.

When Samuel had entered into an immediate relation to God, a relation between him and the nation also began. He receives through them the dignity of a prophet, of a mediator between God and the nation. With him prophecy mounted a new step. While the prophets had previously entered powerfully into the history only in solitary decisive instances, his prophetic activity was a continuous one.Hengstenberg.

1Sa. 3:21. God breaks through the silence of many years, and reveals Himself to Samuel. Wherefore was this? Samuel had a childlike faith; therefore he was very dear to God. The words are remarkable, the child was a child (see notes on 1Sa. 1:24), and he grew before the Lord. He was a child in innocence, humility, simplicity, holiness. He was holy amid scenes of unholiness. In spite of the pernicious example of Elis sons, the priests of God, the child stood firm; he was true to God in the most trying circumstances, therefore God revealed Himself to him. The child Samuel was preferred to the aged Eli, the high priest and judge; and thus, as Theodoret remarks, God showed that holy childhood is better than hoar hairs. He was wiser than the aged, and had more understanding than his teachers, because he kept Gods commandments (Psa. 119:99-100).Wordsworth.

The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel. It is with, perhaps, one exception the earliest instance of the use of the word which has since become the name for all Divine communication. The Lord uncovered the ear, such is the literal expression; a touching and significant figure taken from the manner in which the possessor of a secret moves back the long hair of his friend, and whispers into the ear thus laid bare the word that no one else may hear. It is a figure which precisely expresses the most universal and philosophical idea conveyed by the term Revelation, thence appropriated in the theological language of both East and West. The Father of Truth, says Professor Mullerindicating his own use of this phrase to describe the mission of the Semitic raceschooses His own prophets, and He speaks to them in a voice stronger than the voice of thunder. It is the same inner voice through which God speaks to all of us. That voice may dwindle away and become hardly audible; it may lose its Divine accent, and sink into the language of worldly prudence; but it may also from time to time assume its real nature with the children of God, and sound into their ears as a voice from heaven. A Divine instinct would neither be an appropriate name for what is a gift or grace accorded but to few, nor would it be a more intelligible word than special revelation.Stanley.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF 1Sa. 3:1-2

THE FIRST DEFEAT AT EBENEZER

On the connection of the first clause of this verse with the following paragraph see Critical and Expository Notes on the chapter. Adopting the view of Kiel and others, we remark

I. That there may be an obedience which will bring punishment. Upon the people and upon the priests of Israel at this time there rested the curse of unpardoned sin. Elis sons had neither confessed their guilt nor amended their lives, and the religion of the entire nation was very much like that depicted by Isaiah at a later period, when, delivering the word of the Lord, he tells both rulers and people that their incense is an abomination, and their feasts a trouble and a weariness unto the Most High because they had forsaken Him in their hearts. (See Isa. 1:1-15.) Therefore punishment came to them while in the act of obeying the word of the Lord by Samuel. As there had been no obedience unto life, there was now an obedience unto death. This act of obedience was doubtless in conformity to the national desire, and the desire to free themselves from the yoke of the Philistines was both natural and right in itself, but it was unaccompanied by a willingness to submit to the righteous law of Jehovah and to obey His word, and therefore it brought judgment instead of blessing. There are many parallel cases in individual history. Many men make plans and try to gratify desires which may in themselves be lawful, but they cannot have the Divine blessing because they set aside the indispensable Divine condition of having in the first place a right relation to God by pardon of sin and righteousness of life; and therefore their efforts to free themselves from difficulties or to gain a more desirable condition often end in placing them in a worse position than they were in at first. But in the case before us it was not the mere effort to gratify a lawful desire that brought the judgment, but an undertaking engaged in in obedience to a Divine command. As in the case of Balaam, obedience was made a means of punishment. That false prophet at last set out on his journey in obedience to the word of the Lord, but Gods anger was kindled because he went (Num. 22:22), and punishment came to him even in his obedience. Israel at this time desired a national victory without national repentancethey desired freedom from the yoke of the Philistines without submission to the yoke of Jehovah, and thought that this would be true freedom. Their numbers were great, and they imagined that numbers would avail them in conflict with their ancient enemy, even although they lacked cleanness of hands and purity of heart before God. They ignored the conditions of success laid down for them by the mouth of MosesIf thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth and the Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face; they shall come out against thee one way and shall flee seven ways. But they again found from bitter experience that the Divine threatening was no idle word. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and His statutes which 1 command thee this day. the Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them (Deu. 28:1; Deu. 28:7; Deu. 28:15; Deu. 28:25).

II. Where the moral condition for victory is wanting, it is better to have defeat. The word which came to Israel and led them out to defeat was a blessing, because defeat was just what they needed at the time. The defeat in circumstance that leads to an improvement in character is a victory in reality. If national or individual loss in material things leads to moral gain, it is better than the most splendid worldly success. How terrible seemed the defeat of all the purposes and plans of the mighty monarch of Babylon when he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen; but it was a great moral victory, for it brought him to a higher moral standing, and taught him to praise and honour Him that liveth for ever and ever (Dan. 4:34). Many a man in humbler walks of life has learned to know himself and his God in the day which has seemed to bring him nothing but defeat and ruin. The defeat of Israel at this time was the first of a series of steps by which, under the rule of Samuel, they rose to a more healthy state of national life; and, therefore, what was in the first instance a judgment was in the end a blessing. A victory over the Philistines, when they were in a state of opposition to God, would have been a far greater national calamity in the end than the two crushing defeats recorded in this chapter. Freedom from chastisement, either in the nation or in the individual, is the most terrible curse which God can inflct. Far better is it to suffer the severest punishment for sin.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

1Sa. 3:1. Not only were the people to learn that the Lord had departed from them, but Samuel also was to make the discovery that the deliverance of Israel from the oppression and dominion of its foes was absolutely impossible without its inward conversion to God.Keil.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

10. The Lord came, and stood From 1Sa 3:15 we learn that Samuel beheld a vision as well as heard a voice, and, therefore, it is most natural to understand the words came and stood as designating a visible appearance. God was not only personally but visibly there, either in human form (Gen 18:2; Gen 18:33; Jos 5:13-15) or in some angelic or surprising manifestation. Exo 3:2-6. Hitherto Samuel had seen nothing, but had only heard the voice. Thrice the voice had called, and thrice the child had gone to Eli, supposing he had called. All this served as preparation for the vision, not only rousing Eli from his thoughtlessness, and putting his mind in a state of anxious expectation, but also impressing Samuel with a feeling that something remarkable was pending. Having thus prepared the way, the Lord not merely called as at other times, but he also came and stood, that is, revealed himself by some visible manifestation; and this, perhaps, so awed and surprised the child that he omitted the name of the LORD from the answer which Eli had directed him to make in case he heard the voice again.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 3:10. The Lord came, and stood, &c. These last words, which are the same as those used in the history of Balaam, Num 22:22; Num 23:30 are employed to denote some appearance; and, therefore, both Jewish and Christian interpreters have supposed, that GOD revealed himself to Samuel under some bright and glorious symbol.

REFLECTIONS.Justly provoked with the ill-conduct of the priests, God had withdrawn his gracious appearances from them. Darkness now reigns in the desolate sanctuary, and neither vision nor dream had for a long time been vouchsafed; but God having raised up Samuel for extraordinary services, and early prepared him, by his exemplary piety, for communion with his blessed self, begins, while he is yet a youth, to manifest himself to him in Shiloh. Note; Early piety is usually favoured with especial impartings of divine consolations. We have,

1. The time when God appeared to him,in the night, when Eli, sinking under age and infirmities, was retired for repose, and Samuel in some room near him, to be ready at Eli’s call. Note; We have to bless God for the bed of repose on which we can sleep in peace, and still more if by refreshing dreams he makes that repose doubly profitable for our souls as well as bodies.

2. The manner in which he appeared. By an audible voice, calling Samuel by his name; who, either awakened with the sound, or awake before, and employed in holy meditation before the morning light, answers immediately, supposing it Eli’s voice, and runs to his chamber, to inquire what he wanted. Eli assures him he did not call, and bids him lie down again. Note; (1.) A willing servant runs at his master’s voice, happy, and therefore in haste, to serve him. (2.) They who see their servants officious to please them, ought, in return, to shew themselves tender of them, and to consult their comfort and repose.

3. Repeated calls are given, and Samuel returns to Eli, persuaded that the voice was his; for he was a child, and had not as yet been used to any such extraordinary manifestations of God’s presence, nor had received any prophetical revelation from him. At first Eli sends him back to his bed; but after a second and third call, he began to reflect, and to conclude that the voice was divine; he therefore bids him lie down again, and at the next call, to answer, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth, as attentive to the notice, and ready to obey the command. Hereupon, no sooner was he composed on his bed, than the Lord stood before him, probably in a human form, as he afterwards appeared in earnest, and called him Samuel, Samuel. Samuel, according to Eli’s instructions, answers, Speak, for thy servant heareth. Note; (1.) We may expect some gracious manifestation from God, when our obedient ear is attentive to the Divine call, and out of his word we are inquiring, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (2.) Such as are elder, and more experienced in the ways of God, should delight to instruct the younger who are training up in the same ways. (3.) They who are careful to observe the good instructions they receive, will find the blessing of so doing.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Sa 3:10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Ver. 10. And the Lord came, and stood. ] In some visible shape, either by an angel, or at least as he did, late in Queen Mary’s days, to Robert Samuel, martyr, who having been long kept in close prison by the Bishop of Norwich without food and drink, saving that he had every day allowed him two or three morsels of bread and three spoonfuls of water, to the end he might be reserved to further torment, he fell one time into a sleep, as it were one half in a slumber: at which time one clad all in white seemed to stand before him, which ministered comfort unto him by these words – Samuel, Samuel, be of good cheer, and take a good heart unto thee, for after this day thou shalt never be either hungry or thirsty. For speedily after he was burned, and from that time till he should suffer, he felt neither hunger nor thirst. And this declared he, as he said, that all men might behold the wonderful works of God. a The like befell Cuthbert Simson, martyr. b

a Act. and Mon., fol. 1547.

b Ibid., fol. 1844.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Samuel, Samuel. Figure of speech Epizeuxis. App-6. See note on Gen 22:11 for the ten reduplications.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

a Message through a Child

1Sa 3:10-21

It was a heavy burden that the young boy had to carry. To remind Eli of his sons shameful sin; to reprove him for his neglect; to utter a judgment which no sacrifice could avert-all this was so painful that Samuel seems to have lain with wide-open eyes till daybreak. Then he appears to have gone quietly about his usual duties, as if still unwilling to disturb the quiet serenity of old age. It almost seems that Samuel realized the implicit rejection of Eli and his family, since he, and not Eli, had received the divine message.

Samuels delicacy in trying to save Elis feelings is as beautiful as the old mans resignation in hearing the awful disclosure of judgment; and in many a trying hour in after-life, he must have recurred to Elis reverent expression of submission: It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good. The secret of a blessed life is to say Yes to God, and as sons to receive the discipline of His chastening and refining providence, Heb 12:7.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

The Call of Samuel

And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak: for thy servant heareth.1Sa 3:10.

1. For Samuel a great change was necessary and imminent. Up to this moment he had lived largely in the energy and motive-power of his mothers intense religious life. It was needful that he should exchange the traditional for the experimental. His faith must rest, not on the assertions of anothers testimony, but on the fact that for himself he had seen, and tasted, and handled the Word of life. Not at second-hand, but at first, the Word of the Lord must come to him, and be passed on to all Israel.

2. It was the call of Samuel to his lifes work. Circumstances, as we say, but circumstances of which a mothers prayer was part, determined the sphere in which that work was to be done. The child ministered unto the Lord before Eli. Then came the Divine voice calling him by name; calling him, out of the many possibilities of an office which he shared with such men as Elis sons, to his own special and high prophetic destiny. The true nature of that call, misunderstood by him at first, was interpreted by the experienced insight of the aged Eli. Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. In obedience he accepted the callSpeak: for thy servant heareth. And by that acceptance his character is sealed evermore. Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. We are not all called to be prophets, but we are called, in our varying ways, to minister to the Lord; and we may learn from this typical history how to recognize and answer our call.

The subject is the Call of a Man to the Work of his Life.

I.The Persons who are Called.

II.The Time of the Call.

III.Its Manner.

IV.Its Purpose.

V.The Responsibility.

I

The Persons who are Called

1. The call of Samuel is an extreme and vivid instance of a truth of which the Bible is fullthe truth that we are all called of God to our several places and occasions of action or of passion, of working or of waiting in the world; in a word, that we all have a vocation. We hardly need the Bible to tell us this, for it is one of the simplest truths of natural religion. The evidences of providential purpose in the world have been criticized in every age, and never more so than in our own. But they have proved too strong to be upset by criticism, and still remain, as they have ever been, among our most necessary forms of thought. And as man is the crown and climax of the visible creation, we naturally expect the purpose which is so abundantly visible elsewhere, to obtain also in the life of man. He too must have a purpose; and to be created for a purpose is, in the case of a free being, to be called to its fulfilment. Thus the vocation of man is a corollary from the design in the world, and may fairly, therefore, be called a part of our natural religion. The New Testament takes up and intensifies this thought, addressing Christians as the called of Jesus Christ, called to be saints, called according to Gods purpose, called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, called out of the darkness, called to liberty, called to eternal life, called to inherit a blessing, called to glory and virtue, and bidding us walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.

What is the course of the life

Of mortal men on the earth?

Most men eddy about

Here and thereeat and drink,

Chatter and love and hate,

Gather and squander, are raised

Aloft, are hurled in the dust,

Striving blindly, achieving

Nothing; and then they die

Perish, and no one asks

Who or what they have been,

More than he asks what waves,

In the moonlit solitudes mild

Of the midmost Ocean, have swelled,

Foamd for a moment, and gone.

That is no untrue picture of the spectacle of life: and yet these men, whose career the poet likens to an eddy of purposeless dust, have none the less been called one by one to glory and to virtue, and shall be called again from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, that God may judge His people.1 [Note: J. R. Illingworth.]

No one can understand any work aright unless he is called to it. Vocation is of two kinds: either it is Divine, comes from above, or from those who have a right to command, and then it is a vocation of faith; or it is a vocation of love, and comes from our equals.2 [Note: Luther.]

I hear from all-wards, all-wise understand,

The great bird Purpose bears me twixt her wings,

And I am one with all the kinsmen things

That eer my Father fathered. Oh, to me

All questions solve in this tranquillity.3 [Note: Sidney Lanier.]

2. There have been times when thoughts like these involved men in serious perplexity as to the compatibility of Divine election with the freedom of the human will. And great caution was then needed in their treatment. But our age, as a whole, has reacted from all such tendencies; and our danger lies in the very opposite direction, that of doubting, or at least ignoring, a particular providence in human affairs. We tend to forget that not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father; and that the very hairs of our head are numbered. We can hardly, therefore, in the present day insist too much upon the thought that our choice and pursuance of a profession in life means our acceptance or rejection of a Divine vocation.

Master Joachim Mrlein has pleased me well to-day with his sermon, for he spoke of the office and vocation of a wife, and a maid-servantnamely, that a wife should think she lives in a Holy Order, and that a servant also may know that her works are good and holy works. This the people can carry home.1 [Note: Luther.]

3. The call may need interpretation. Here again the case of Samuel comes before us. The voice which called him was interpreted by Eli. Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. And all our secret inspirations need a similar process of testing, in the light of our own experience or that of others. Their congruity with our character and circumstances, their relation to our own past prayers, the aspect which they present to unbiased advisers of spiritual mind, their correspondence with what we know of the ways in which others have been led, the degree of their persistence under adverse conditions, are among the points to be considered as throwing light upon our vocation. And when such considerations coincide with and confirm the outward guidance of our circumstances and the inward attraction which we believe to be Divine, we may go forward in the hope that the Lord is with us, and will let none of our words fall to the ground.

And then, Mary, you (I think rightly, in the general) speak much of the intention of God in earthly events by which He deals with us: what then would you say about my case? Do these two years and more waiting not show that I am seeking my work in the wrong direction, or why do they not show this, or how long would show this? Possibly you may say, Wait till some evident call to some other work arises; but then, of course, evident calls enough would soon arise were I to put myself in the way of them, e.g., were I to go along to Clark the publisher and ask him for some work, or go out to Harvey of Merchiston and ask him for some; whereas, so long as I keep myself back from such openings they are not a tenth part so likely to arise. But apart from growlery, let me give you a problem. I will give it you in the concrete, as being easier stated and easier apprehended. Is it right of me to wait and see whether I get a call or no, and let this decide whether I ought or ought not to take a charge? To me it seems not (though its just what Im doing), and on this ground, because in fact we find that God has often suffered men to enter the Church who were not worthybecause, that is, the call of the people does not always represent the call of God.2 [Note: M. Dods, in Early Letters of Marcus Dods, 198.]

4. But while the call sometimes needs interpretation, the responsibility for hearing it is always our own; and we must not be withdrawn from the path of duty by the wishes or fears of others, still less by considerations of how our course of conduct may appear in their eyes. There is, as usual, deep truth in Shakespeares words, To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

As I look from the isle, oer its billows of green

To the billows of foam-crested blue,

Yon bark that afar in the distance is seen,

Half dreaming, my eyes will pursue:

Now dark in the shadow, she scatters the spray

As the chaff in the stroke of the flail;

Now white as the sea-gull, she flies on her way,

The sun gleaming bright on her sail.

Yet her pilot is thinking of dangers to shun,

Of breakers that whiten and roar;

How little he cares, if in shadow or sun

They see him that gaze from the shore!

He looks to the beacon that looms from the reef,

To the rock that is under his lee,

As he drifts on the blast, like a wind-wafted leaf,

Oer the gulfs of the desolate sea.

Thus drifting afar to the dim-vaulted caves

Where life and its ventures are laid,

The dreamers who gaze while we battle the waves

May see us in sunshine or shade;

Yet true to our course, though our shadow grow dark,

Well trim our broad sail as before,

And stand by the rudder that governs the bark,

Nor ask how we look from the shore!1 [Note: Oliver Wendell Holmes.]

II

The Time of the Call

1. Samuel was laid down to sleep, and the Lord called Samuel. God calls men at unlikely times. The child is gone to rest, to forget in sleep the weariness of the day, and when he goes into the quietness of his own retreat, thinking that the days work is all over, God calls him. There is no night with God; He shines through the everlasting day. He has no set times, and formal periods, and prescribed seasons in which to speak to men. When we may say, Let us be quiet now, the child has gone to rest; let nothing disturb the young slumberer, God comes along the pathway of the darkness, and speaks to the child.

If we had an ear to hear we should not be slow to perceive that God speaks to us at unlikely times. You say, now this is a likely morning in which God will speak to us. We are gathered from many quarters into His house of prayer, and we are here waiting to know what God the Lord will say; and yet it is quite possible we may go away from this chosen place without hearing anything. And sometimes, when we think God a long way off, and we have our own little circle of thought and speculationwhen we are apparently given up to ourselvesGod will come unexpectedly to us, and call us and talk to us, and strike through our souls mysteries and counsels that make us tremble, and wonder, and pray.1 [Note: Joseph Parker.]

Here is a man who is saying to himself, fit auditor, indeedThis will I do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry ; and just as he has concluded his monologue, a voice, terrible as the hand that Belshazzar saw, says to him from a hidden place, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of theean unlikely time.

2. The call came when the Tabernacle was hushed, when the lamp went out, and Samuel was laid down to sleep. In solitude and silence, when the voices of the days disturbance are at rest, God is heard speaking in the heart. So it has ever been. The soul opens its doors to listen when the sounds which attack the senses are not heard. The Invisible One is felt in our consciousness in the lonely places of the earth. There are strange whispers which beset us when the heart is wearied of the world, when work seems vanity, when pleasure is removed, when life passes before us like a dream. We seem to know then what we really are, and wait for a revelation. Then the everlasting Father calls His son, and calls him by his name: Samuel, Samuel, know me; remember me, love me. I stretch out my hands to thee. I am thy Father, hear my voice; come, my child, learn of me righteousness and love, duty and the power of redeeming. It is a personal cry. He who calls, we know then, is akin to us, a living One who lives for us, with love to answer our love.

Not every soul may hear,

Yet to the listening ear

Gods lips are ever near.

III

The Manner of the Call

1. When God speaks He does not always accompany the message with such visible signs as would make acceptance an outward necessity rather than an act of willing obedience. God spoke to Samuel, and there was no outward glory seen. No vision of light accompanied the voice; no form was revealed to assist the ear in the recognition of the Speaker. Neither was the voice audible to any but the child; so that there was no correlative testimony of others to assist him in distinguishing from whom it came, as its solemn accents thrilled upon the silence of the night. Nor does it appear that there was anything in the nature of the voice itself which would prove it to be Divine, or else why did Samuel twice run to Eli, thinking that the old man had called him? It needed the experience of the aged priest to instruct the boy as to the Divinity of the Speaker. Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.

They who are living religiously have from time to time truths they did not know before, or had no need to consider, brought before them forcibly; truths which involve duties, which are in fact percepts, and claim obedience. In this and such-like ways Christ calls us now. There is nothing miraculous or extraordinary in His dealings with us. He works through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. Still, what happens to us in providence is in all essential respects what His voice was to those whom He addressed when on earth. Whether He commands by a visible presence, or by a voice, or by our conscience, it matters not, so that we feel it to be a command.1 [Note: J. H. Newman.]

2. Let us think of some of the ways in which the call of God may come to us.

(1) In nature.Are there not days when the mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and the trees of the field clap their hands, because God is speaking to them? Do you not lift up your eyes to the heavens at night, and watch the stars, and seem to hear God speaking to you in the solemn silence?

I can imagine at once how impatiently the cynic will sneer at what he will regard as a poetic fancy which has been worn threadbare into a deceptive platitude. It was so in the days of the Preacher. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh. And so they cannot even learn that lesson which to us comes intuitively and at once, that Nature is but visible spirit; that God is, and that He is a God of Love. Not to the base, not to the sensual, not to the cold cynic, not to the insolent scorner, but

Every bird that sings,

And every flower that stars the elastic sod,

And every breath the radiant summer brings,

To the pure spirit is a Word of God.

I will quote here the language of one who is dubious about many Christian truths, and I will quote him to show why it is that, standing with uncovered head and awful reverence in the mighty Temple of the Universe, a believer holds that God loves him, and wills his happiness. The earth, he says, is sown with pleasures, as the heaven is studded with stars; and when a man has not been happy in life, we do not hesitate to declare that he has missed one of the aims of his existence. The path of the years is paved and planted with enjoyments. Flowers the noblest and the loveliestcolours the most gorgeous and the most delicateodours the sweetest and the subtlestharmonies the most soothing and the most stirringthe sunny glories of the daythe pale Elysian graces of the moonlightsilent pinnacles of aged snow in one hemispherethe marvels of tropical luxuriance in anotherthe serenity of sunsets, the sublimity of stormseverything is bestowed in boundless profusion; we can conceive or desire nothing more exquisite or perfect than that which is around us every hour. That, then, is one revelation, but it is not all; for I add that Nature, which is but the visible translucence of a Divine agency working upon material things, reveals to us also that this happiness is attainable only in the path of obediencethat this not ourselves (if any feel happier by the use of such pantheistic abstractions) is a not-ourselves which makes for righteousness. Winds blow this lesson to us, and waters roll it, and every leaf is inscribed with it, as those on which the Sibyl wrote out her prophecies of old.1 [Note: F. W. Farrar.]

Thou needst not rest: the shining spheres are Thine

That roll perpetual on their silent way,

And Thou dost breathe in me a voice divine,

That tells more sure of Thine eternal sway;

Thine the first starting of the early leaf,

The gathering green, the changing autumn hue;

To Thee the worlds long years are but as brief

As the fresh tints that Spring will soon renew.

Thou needest not mans little life of years,

Save that he gather wisdom from them all;

That in Thy fear he lose all other fears,

And in Thy calling heed no other call.

Then shall he be Thy child to know Thy care,

And in Thy glorious Self the eternal Sabbath share.2 [Note: Jones Very.]

(2) In Providence.The accidents and events of life are, as is obvious, one special way in which the calls of God come to us; and they, as we all know, are, in their very nature, and as the word accident implies, sudden and unexpected. A man is going on as usual; he comes home one day, and finds a letter, or a message, or a person, bringing a sudden trial on him, which, if met religiously, will be the means of advancing him to a higher state of religious excellence, but which at present he as little comprehends as the unspeakable words heard by St. Paul in Paradise.

Perhaps it may be the loss of some dear friend or relative through which the call comes to us; showing us the vanity of things below, and prompting us to make God our sole stay. We through grace do so in a way we never did before; and in the course of years, when we look back on our life, we find that that sad event has brought us into a new state of faith and judgment, and that we are now other men than we were. We thought, before it took place, that we were serving God, and so we were in a measure; but we find that, whatever our present infirmities may be, and however far we may still be from the highest state of illumination, then at least we were serving the world under the show and the belief of serving God.

A great sorrowlike any other possessionis a great trust. The very magnitude of a great calamity or grief confers in itself the privilege of exception, and, in the measure in which it brings detachment, it brings that true mastery of self without whichno matter how much else we may attainour lives must be incomplete. With some such catastrophe, involving the apparent ruin of his life, and bringing with it his betrayal by those in whom he trusted, Jacques Rutebeuf seems to have been face to face when he wrote

Que sont mi ami devenu

Que javoie si prs tenu

Et tant am?

Je cuit li vens les a ost;

Lamor est morte.

Ce sont ami que venz emporte

Et il ventoit devant ma porte.

This, however, is not the language of him who has won freedom in the loss of things earthly, and to whomthough the favourable answer sought with prayer and bitter tears has been deniedthe gates of heaven itself have been unlocked. It is the complaint of one who dreads the unkindness of the blast and the sharp sting of trust and love betrayed.1 [Note: Lady Dilke, The Book of the Spiritual Life, 168.]

(3) In the Moral Law.The God who reveals Himself to us in Nature and in Providence, reveals Himself also in the Moral Law. It needed no voice from the rolling darkness, it needed no articulate thunder leaping among the fiery hills, to persuade mankind that God spake these words, and said. For that law was written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness. The Jews believe that the souls of all Jews, for generations yet unborn, were summoned from their antenatal home to hear the Deliverance of the Fiery Law; and when a Jew is charged with wrong by another, he says, My soul too has been on Sinai. But it is the souls not of Jews only, but of all mankind, that have been there.

The great philosopher of Germany might well doubt of all things, till he had found that their certitude rested on the indestructible basis of duty. If all else were shattered under our feet, that would still remain. False miracles themselves could not rob us of it. As in that grand legend of the Talmud, the tree might at the words of the doubter be transplanted from its roots; the rivulet might flow backward to its source; the walls and pillars of the conclave might crack; yea, a voice from heaven itself might preach another Law; yet neither rushing trees, nor backward-flowing waters, nor bending roofs, nor miracles, nor mysterious voices should prevail against our solid and indestructible conviction, and the Eternal Himself should approve our constancy and exclaim from the mid glory of His Throne, My sons have triumphed.1 [Note: F. W. Farrar.]

We must date our full manhood from the hour in which we know that God is speaking to us. This is the third epoch in life. When the conscience becomes king the man is born; and conscience means the knowledge that one has of ones self in the presence of God. Until the moral nature burns and smokes, and rolls forth its thunders and flashes its terrible lightnings; until the soul becomes a Mount Sinai, receiving, reading, recording, and delivering the eternal law of God, the man is not born. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the early songs of Tennyson. There is little in them because the moral nature of the poet is yet to come, because the full man is yet to come. In all those early years there is much loveliness, wonderful sensitiveness to the beauty of nature and art, the power to revel in the charming fields of fancy. But the voice that afterwards shook the nation is not in them. The Vision of Sin breaks the silence. The Two Voices tells of the mistake and the brave endeavour to escape from it, the terrible sorrow in which doubt struggles into faith, and out of which In Memoriam comes, and reveals a new man. The poet is fully here when the man is here, and the man is here when the conscience is here.2 [Note: G. A. Gordon.]

Whenever my heart is heavy,

And life seems sad as death,

A subtle and marvellous mockery

Of all who draw their breath,

And I weary of the throned injustice,

The rumour of outrage and wrong,

And I doubt if God rules above us,

And I cry, O Lord, how long,

How long shall sorrow and evil

Their forces around them draw!

Is there no power in Thy right hand?

Is there no life in Thy law?

Then at last the blazing brightness

Of day forsakes its height,

Slips like a splendid curtain

From the awful and infinite night;

And out of the depths of distance,

The gulfs of purple space,

The stars steal, slow and silent,

Each in its ancient place,

Each in its armour shining,

The hosts of heaven arrayed,

And wheeling through the midnight,

As they did when the world was made.

And I lean out among the shadows

Cast by that far white gleam,

And I tremble at the murmur

Of one mote in the mighty beam,

As the everlasting squadrons

Their fated influence shed,

While the vast meridians sparkle

With the glory of their tread.

That constellated glory

The primal morning saw,

And I know God moves to His purpose,

And still there is life in His law.1 [Note: H. P. Spofford.]

(4) In Scripture.The Lord speaks to us chiefly through His Word. What converse God has with His people when they are quietly reading their Bibles! In the quiet of our room, as we have been reading a chapter, have we not felt as if God spoke those words straight to our heart there and then? Has not Christ Himself said to us, while we have been reading His Word, Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me? The text does not seem to be like an old letter in a book; rather is it like a fresh speech newly spoken from the mouth of the Lord to us.

It is well to notice that the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the Lord. Let us not seek for revelations through dreams or visions, but by the Word of God. Nothing is more harmful than to contract the habit of listening for voices, and sleeping to dream. All manner of vagaries come in by that door. It is best to take in hand and read the Scriptures reverently, carefully, thoughtfully, crying, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. And in response there will come one clear, defined, and repeated message, asseverated and accentuated with growing distinctness from every part of the inspired volume, This is the waywalk in it; this is My willdo it; this is My wordspeak it. Let us hear what God the Lord shall speak.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer.]

(5) In the Spirit.God has a way sometimes of speaking to the heart by His Spiritnot usually apart from His Wordbut yet there are certain feelings and emotions, tendernesses and tremblings, joys and delights, which we cannot quite link with any special portion of Scripture laid home to the heart, but which seem to steal upon us unawares by the direct operation of the Spirit of God upon the heart.

I think we are not half as mindful as we ought to be of the secret working of the Holy Spirit upon the mind. This is a very different thing from being guided by the Spirit of God in all the actions of life so as to obey the will of the Lord, sometimes in cases where we might not have known it to be His will, or might have omitted it. Whenever you feel moved to do anything that is good, do it. Do it even without being moved, because it is your duty, for to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. But, above all, when there comes a gracious influence on the conscience, a gentle reminder to the heart, quickly and speedily do as the Spirit prompts, taking note within your heart that the Lord has laid this particular burden upon you, and you must not cast it from you.2 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]

When Hort decided to enter the ministry he wrote to his parents giving his reasons for the decision. The letter proceeds in this way: I have hitherto studiously confined myself to considerations and arguments. But if these were my only inducements I could not think myself justified in entering on so awful a responsibility; how, then, could I answer the question, Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and ministration? Here, then deliberately, yet with reverence I say, that I trust and believe that I am moved by the Holy Ghost. Nothing less should satisfy me. I believe that the strong and permanent inclination that I feel is of God. I know how miserably and imperfectly I serve Him. I fall into sin, more especially into coldness, indifference, and forgetfulness of Him through the day, yet in the midst of this repeatedly it seems as if He clutched hard at me, and I would not come; and I cannot believe but that He is thus drawing me perseveringly towards His service.1 [Note: Life and Letters of F. J. A. Hort, i. 35.]

We need not hear an articulate voice, such as bade Augustine take and read. Yet kindred experiences even to this are commoner by far than most men dream. Augustines intellectual friends might easily have explained that voice away; but it was the crisis of his history, and through that history it has echoed, and still echoes, with incalculable power in the world to-day. Doubtless, too, it might have been called an irrational and foolish impulse which led St. Francis to stake his all upon the chance occurrence of a passage in the Gospel at a particular moment of his life; still, it was an impulse fraught with untold blessing for subsequent ages of men. In a word, these things are not accidents. They are ways in which God, the Holy Ghost, chooses the weak things of the world to confound the wise; flashing on the mind in an instant, through some chance thought, or sight, or sound, the conviction of His nearness, and the message of His will.

Blessed be Thou for all the joy

My soul has felt to-day!

Oh, let its memory stay with me,

And never pass away!

I was alone, for those I loved

Were far away from me;

The sun shone on the withered grass,

The wind blew fresh and free.

Was it the smile of early spring

That made my bosom glow?

Twas sweet; but neither sun nor wind

Could cheer my spirit so.

Was it some feeling of delight

All vague and undefined?

No; twas a rapture deep and strong,

Expanding in the mind.

Was it a sanguine view of life,

And all its transient bliss,

A hope of bright prosperity?

Oh, no! it was not this.

It was a glimpse of truth divine

Unto my spirit given,

Illumined by a ray of light

That shone direct from heaven.

I felt there was a God on high,

By whom all things were made;

I saw His wisdom and His power

In all His works displayed.

But most throughout the moral world,

I saw His glory shine;

I saw His wisdom infinite,

His mercy all divine.

Deep secrets of His providence

In darkness long concealed,

Unto the vision of my soul

Were graciously revealed.

But while I wondered and adored

His majesty divine,

I did not tremble at His power:

I felt that God was mine.

I knew that my Redeemer lived;

I did not fear to die;

Full sure that I should rise again

To immortality.

I longed to view that bliss divine,

Which eye hath never seen;

Like Moses, I would see His face

Without the veil between.1 [Note: Anne Bront.]

IV

The Purpose of the Call

Its purpose is twofold. It is to call us from the world (in its evil sense), and to God. It is a detachment from the one and an attachment to the other.

1. Detachment.When the rich young man was bidden to sell all that he had and give to the poor, the involved sacrifice was obvious. But though less obvious, the sacrifice need not be less real in the case of those whose undoubted vocation is to accept the responsibility of a great inheritance. To be called to assume early in life the serious attitude towards property which most men acquire only after years; to be daily accustomed to riches, and yet to be detached from them in heart; to forgo luxuries which are in our power; to maintain the warfare with temptation, when temptation is fortified and aided by one of its most invincible alliesthis is, indeed, to live a life of sacrifice. Or again, to be called to public life, and amid its manifold distractions remain free from party bias or personal ambition, pure in purpose, high in aim, setting the affections upon things above, not on things on the earththis, too, is a life of sacrifice, not less intense than when we long for fame and are called to obscurity, or for action and are called to passivity of pain. And it is the same at whatever career we look. We may drift into life aimlessly or selfishly, without much disturbing our ease; but no sooner do we view it as a Divine vocation than we are at once involved in sacrifice; for we are at necessary issue with the evil in ourselves and in the world. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

He was a wise father who firmly severed the rope by which one son was precipitated into the abyss for ever, in order that he might secure the other the half of his happiness. And if one-half of mans being can never fulfil its end in this life, it is but wise to give to it the eternal farewell resolutely and decisively, if the unexpected prospect present itself of enabling the other, which is, after all, the nobler half, to rise out of the caverned gloom into the light of day. Yet it is a desolate sensation and a sharp onethat act of drawing the knife across the strands of the cord, and saying, quietly, For ever. Not a pleasant one when the sullen plunge of that which was once so cherished is heard below in the dark waters of a sea which never gives up her dead. The other half is destined to ascend like the brother saved by the sacrifice of the other Song of Solomon 1 [Note: F. W. Robertson, Life and Letters, 184.]

Another man heard Berry preach his first sermon in Wolverhampton. From that day his place in the church was seldom empty morning or evening. He walked ten miles, in all weathers, every Sunday. He was a publican, holding a seven days licence, and one day he came to his pastor and made himself known, and said: Mr. Berry, I hear you preach every Sunday morning and then I go home and my house is open for the sale of drink from half-past twelve to half-past two. Your preaching has convinced me that this is not right. What must I do? Give it up, said Berry. He did so, and for seven years his house was never open on a Sunday. At the end of that time he came again to Berry and told him that he had scruples about continuing in his business at all. Then come out of it, said Berry, and, although the house had been occupied by his father and himself for forty-five years, he rose to the sacrifice, and gave it up under the influence of the preaching of the man he had learnt to love and trust.2 [Note: J. A. Drummond, Charles A. Berry, 252.]

2. Attachment.It is a call to our lifes work, a call to labour; but first it is a call to God. It is a common mistake to regard our work as leading us to God, rather than God as leading us to our work. But the latter is the true order of vocation. God calls us to Himself, and then sends us to labour in His vineyard, bids us reap where we have not sown, makes us fishers of men. This distinction, though it may seem subtle, is of great practical importance, for it involves the whole question of the right relation between character and conduct, the spiritual and the moral life. If we sever our moral life from its spiritual rootits root in the Father of Spiritsand confine our thoughts to any kind of merely moral practice, however noble, we are liable by degrees to be too absorbed in our work, to over-estimate its importance and our own importance as its agents, to be unduly discouraged by failure or sudden avocation, and finally to lapse into the favourite fallacy of a busy but irreligious agethe fallacy that excess of action can atone for defect of character. Meanwhile, our work itself will lack the note of perfectness which spirituality alone can give, and be either outwardly ungracious or inwardly unreal. Whereas if we regard morality as a function of the spiritual life, and conduct as the consequence and not the cause of character, the natural and necessary outcome and expression of the inner man, all things will fall into their proper place.

What, indeed, is the life spiritual, but that detached life of thought that brings with it increasing comprehension of the

One life within us and abroad

Which meets all motion and becomes its soul.

In its highest sense, it is the one means whereby we may come at some revelation of the true significance and mystery of the Christian dogma of the Incarnation and behold the triumph of the spirit over the flesh: that sovereign triumph not to be won without pain and sorrow and much labour, yet surely to be won by all those who will obey the commandment which Chaucer sums for us in the words

Hold the hye wey, and let thy ghost thee lede.1 [Note: Lady Dilke, The Book of the Spiritual Life, 148.]

V

The Responsibility

1. Gods call may be obeyed or it may be disobeyed. There lies our responsibility. Samuel answered by prompt obedience. Very different in its circumstances was St. Pauls call, but it resembled Samuels in this respect, that, when God called, he, too, promptly obeyed. When St. Paul heard the voice from heaven, he said at once, trembling and astonished, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? This same obedient temper of his is stated or implied in the two accounts which he himself gives of his miraculous conversion. In the 22nd chapter of Acts he says, And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And in the 26th, after telling king Agrippa what the Divine speaker said to him, he adds what comes to the same thing, Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Similarly, we read of the Apostles, that Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. Again, when He saw James and John with their father Zebedee, he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And so of St. Matthew at the receipt of custom, he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

The biographer of the lives of Franois and Christina Coillard (Coillard of the Zambesi), in describing the departure of Christina Mackintosh to join her intended husband in South Africa, says: A few weeks visit to Asnires followed that she might know his mother, and Christina sailed for South Africa in the John Williams (November 23, 1860). Such grief I never saw and can hardly bear to think of now, said her sister, writing of it forty-five years later. Those who have passed through such experiences know that the sense of vocation in no way lessens the pain of parting, and indeed often makes it sharper. The heart which accepts that mysterious thingthe Call of Godsuffers in advance the anguish of all experiences to come, and at the moment there seems no joy, no element of compensation, only the conviction that it must be obeyed on peril of the soul. Indeed, the crisis of obedience is like death itself, for it is the step by which the soul passes from one sphere of being to another, and learns for the first time to walk by faith and not by sight. Such is the moment to many when the grating of the gangway pulled ashore sounds the knell of the old life, and the voyage just beginning forms the true parable of the life to come.1 [Note: Coillard of the Zambesi, 98.]

Though the shore we hope to land on

Only by report is known,

Yet we freely all abandon,

Led by that report alone;

And with Jesus

Through the trackless deep move on.

2. If we have heard Him speak in this way, how have we received His Word? Perhaps with joy at first, with hope, excitement, eager faith? Yes, perhaps so. But the question for us all is: How long has the eagerness lasted; has the faith grown cold; have the ideals become worn out by length of time; has the hope been chilled by trial; has the perseverance grown craven; have we, who placed ourselves in the front of the battle, fled from it to take our pleasure, or deserted to the army of selfish wealth and engrossing sin and the transient world? Alas, this is an experience we have all known, save a happy few. But in the silences of life we are troubled by echoes of the ancient cry; nor do we ever quite forget what we have once listened to in youth, what once we have thrilled to hear. And if we have not obeyed, or have fallen from obedience, God, at least, does not forget. If we have no perseverance, He has. Our leaving of Him, our neglect of righteousness, love, and justice, of our duties to men; our selfish, vain, or idle life, bring with them their necessary fruits. We must eat them, and we are poisoned by them. Bitterness, loneliness, sorrow, misery of heart, are ours by law. And then He speaks again: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. So we hear Him in the words of Jesus. And, tired with long ploughing under the yoke of our own will, which weighed heavier and heavier as the years went by; tired out by sowing and never reaping; worn with the trouble of loving ourselves only, and with the loneliness it brings; sick at last of the lie of accusing others as the cause of our troubles, when their cause is in ourselves; contrite and broken-hearted, but desiring to love God and to take all the consequences of loving Him; eager to be loved by Him, for we are too much alone; longing to try righteousness and to rest in its peace, to forgive others and to forgive ourselveswe answer, at last, in the darkness of lifes tabernacle: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

Professor Elmslie has said, Eli is one of the most unfortunate men in the Bible. We constantly hear him described as a weak, worthless father, a mere worldling, with no heart or soul in him. I think if he could bring an action for libel against preachers and commentators, he would get generous damages. Was his tuition so bad and defective that his sons turned out ill? Who was it that trained the child Samuelthe strong, powerful Samuel, who crushed abuses and corruptions, drove out idolaters, and won battles for Israel? The Gospel is a savour from death unto death to those who are perishing, and a savour of life unto life in them that are being saved. The model ministry of Jesus produced different results in John from those in Judas. The influence of Eli was effective in moulding the character of Samuel, and yet it was impotent in the case of his own two sons.1 [Note: E. Morgan.]

Still, as of old, Thy precious word

Is by the nations dimly heard;

The hearts its holiness hath stirred

Are weak and few.

Wise men the secret dare not tell;

Still in Thy temple slumbers well

Good Eli: O, like Samuel,

Lord, here am I!

Few years, no wisdom, no renown,

Only my life can I lay down;

Only my heart, Lord, to Thy throne

I bring; and pray

A child of Thine I may go forth,

And spread glad tidings through the earth,

And teach sad hearts to know Thy worth!

Lord, here am I!

Young lips may teach the wise, Christ said;

Weak feet sad wanderers home have led;

Small hands have cheered the sick ones bed

With freshest flowers:

O, teach me, Father! heed their sighs,

While many a soul in darkness lies

And waits Thy message; make me wise!

Lord, here am I!

And make me strong; that, staff and stay,

And guide and guardian of the way,

To Thee-ward I may bear, each day,

Some fainting soul.

Speak, for I hear; make pure in heart,

Thy face to see; Thy truth impart,

In hut and hall, in church and mart!

Lord, here am I!

I ask no heaven till earth be Thine,

Nor glory-crown, while work of mine

Remaineth here; when earth shall shine

Among the stars,

Her sins wiped out, her captives free,

Her voice a music unto Thee,

For crown, new work give Thou to me!

Lord, here am I!

Literature

Brooke (S. A.), The Old Testament and Modern Life, 195.

Farrar (F. W.), The Silence and the Voices of God, 3.

Garbett (E.), The Souls Life, 52.

Huntington (F. D.), Christian Believing and Living, 16.

Illingworth (J. R.), University and Cathedral Sermons, 120.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Deuteronomy1 Samuel, 267.

Meyer (F. B.), Samuel the Prophet, 27.

Morgan (E.), The Calls of God, 113.

Newman (J. H.), Parochial and Plain Sermons, viii. 17.

Parker (J.), The City Temple (1870), 40.

Simpson (P. C.), in Men of the Old Testament (Cain-David), 245.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xliii. (1897), No. 2526.

Tyndall (C. H.), Object Lessons for Children, 140.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons preached in Brighton, 1st Ser., 213.

Wilson (J. H.), The Gospel and its Fruits, 3.

Christian Age, xxxvi. 146, xliii. 402 (Abbott).

Christian World Pulpit, lii. 24 (Potter).

Church of England Pulpit, xl. 181 (Pegg).

Churchmans Pulpit: Third Sunday after Trinity, x. 101 (Park); Sermons to the Young, xvi. 299 (Neale).

Homiletic Review, xxxiv. 313 (Potter); li. 369 (Gordon).

Treasury (New York), xix. 47 (Hallock).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

the Lord came: This seems to imply a visible appearance, as well as an audible voice.

as at other: 1Sa 3:4-6, 1Sa 3:8, Samuel did not now rise and run as before, when thought he Eli called, but lay still and listened. All must be silent, when God speaks. Observe, however, Samuel in his reply left out one word: he did not say, Speak, Lord, but only Speak, for thy servant heareth; perhaps, as Bp. Patrick suggests, out of uncertainty, whether it was God that spake to him or not. However, by this answer way was made for the message he was now to receive, and Samuel was brought acquainted with the words of God and visions of the Almighty.

Reciprocal: Gen 22:11 – Abraham Gen 46:2 – Jacob Exo 3:4 – Moses Jos 5:14 – What saith Dan 10:19 – Let Joh 20:16 – Mary Act 10:4 – What Act 22:7 – Saul

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Sa 3:10. The Lord came and stood, &c. Before, the Lord spake to him at a distance, even from the holy oracle between the cherubim: but now, to prevent all further mistake, the voice came near to him, as if the person speaking had been standing near him. And Rabbi Kimchi thinks the expression denotes some glorious appearance of God to him, because it is the same which is used Num 22:22-31, where the angel is said to stand to oppose Balaams proceedings. And so the Targum, The Lord was revealed, and stood and called, &c.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 3:10-18. In Obedience to the Command of the Lord, Samuel Announces to Eli the Doom of his House.Parallel to the Deuteronomic section (1Sa 2:27).

1Sa 3:12. Probably an addition by the Deuteronomic writer to connect with 1Sa 2:27 ff.

1Sa 3:13. I have told: read, thou shalt tell.

1Sa 3:19 to 1Sa 4:1 a . . . all Israel.Samuel established as Prophet.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible