The Call of God to Old Testament Characters. Lesson 7.

The Call of God to Old Testament Characters

Lesson 7

Lesson Text—I Samuel 3:1-4

I Samuel 3:1-41 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he

could not see;


3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;4 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.


I Samuel 3:5-75 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.


6 And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.


I Samuel 3:8-108 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.


9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Focus Verse—I Samuel 3:10

I Samuel 3:10And the Lord came, and stood,

and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel

answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Focus Thought

The proper training of a child can

prepare him to respond positively to

God’s call.

I. Samuel Was Given to the Lord as a Child

Culture ConnectionBending the Twig

The old proverb holds great truth—’Tis education forms the tender mind; just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined. The training of a child’s mind is crucial to his future development. The little burr oak sapling I planted in my backyard several years ago is now over ten feet tall.


Early on, it developed a split leader, which I pruned, following the time-honored horticultural principle that proper pruning brings healthy growth and increased productivity. Then it developed another split leader, which I pruned again. The shadowing by another tree caused it to list in a southwesterly direction. I pruned the branches of the other tree to let in more sunshine and staked the little burr oak sapling straight with a six-foot stake.


When it outgrew my stake, I designed another stake and brace to accommodate its growing height.

Now, at ten feet tall, the little oak is straight, but still wearing a brace. Years from now, barring any tragedies, the burr oak will be a grand patriarch in my garden’s little forest. My pruning and training will help it reach its full potential.

With children, the same horticultural principles come into play.

I. Samuel Was Given to the Lord as a ChildTrain the child, mold the mind, and

watch the child reach his fullest potential. As parents teach God-ordained principles to a child, godly growth can be expected. By allowing godly influence free rein in the child’s life, the parents will bless the child with the ability to respond positively to God’s call.


Contemplating the Topic

Woven into the flawed fabric of Old Testament characters is the golden thread of Samuel. Known as one of the most outstanding prophets, Samuel’s birth, boyhood, and ministry were exemplary.


In this lesson we will study the stages of Samuel’s life: a special baby, a dedicated child, a serving boy, and a faithful prophet. Looking through the kaleidoscope of biblical characters, we will focus on a child called of God and a man used of God to deliver messages from God to kings and nations. We will contrast Samuel’s life to that of the prophet Eli, a man who spoke for God but failed to obey certain aspects of God’s will for his life.


Emphasized in this lesson will be the necessity of proper training of children. In the lives of these characters we will see the result of parents who disciplined their children and those who did not.

God used Samuel as a child. Children are often instrumental in influencing their parents and others to go to church and live for God. They can be taught to be sensitive to the voice of God.


Like Samuel who became a productive adult, children can be trained in such a way that when they are grown, they will be a blessing to the work of the Lord. Children grow up to be adults. Whatever teaching and training we invest in them will determine largely what they will become. When God called the child Samuel, He envisioned a developed adult who would benefit His kingdom.


Searching the Scriptures

Samuel Was Given to the Lord as a Child

Along with his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, Elkanah made an annual trip from his home in Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice unto the Lord. The Tabernacle resided in Shiloh until the Temple was built in Jerusalem.


Constant friction between the two wives heated up the atmosphere in Elkanah’s family, for Peninnah had children but Hannah did not. The Bible says, “The LORD had shut up her womb” (I Samuel 1:5-6). Peninnah, whom the Bible called Hannah’s “adversary,” provoked the barren woman until she despaired of ever having children. On the journey to Shiloh, Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah tried to console his wife by assuring her he was better to her than ten sons, but Hannah would not be pacified. She wanted a son.

A. Hannah Made and Kept Her Vow

A. Hannah Made and Kept Her Vow

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:10-11).

Transparency 1


Hannah wanted a son desperately. Praying and weeping, she vowed that if God would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life. The priest Eli observed all of this from his seat by a post in the house of the Lord. The woman swayed as she prayed, and he judged that she had been drinking, for he saw her lips move in prayer but heard no words.


When he reprimanded the woman, she said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto” (I Samuel 1:15-16).

It is interesting that Hannah said, “There shall no razor come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:11), indicating a dedication of her babe to the Lord as a Nazarite while he was still in the womb.


A Nazarite could not eat grapes or anything that came from the vine. He could not defile himself by touching a dead body, and he could not cut his hair until the vow had been fulfilled. The Nazarite vow could be taken for a certain amount of time, or it could last a lifetime. (See Numbers 6; Judges 13:7.)

Many confuse the Nazarite vow with the term “Nazarene.” Jesus was a Nazarene, for He was of the city of Nazareth in Galilee, but He was not a Nazarite.


When Eli announced that God would grant Hannah’s petition, hope blossomed in her heart. Shortly after they returned home she conceived and bore a son, calling his name “Samuel,” which means “asked of God.”

When the time came for Elkanah and the family to attend the yearly sacrifice, Hannah did not go. She told her husband she would wait until Samuel was weaned. At that time she would take their son to Shiloh and leave him there permanently.


She said, “I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever” (I Samuel 1:22).

After Hannah weaned Samuel she took her boy, along with her sacrifice, to the house of the Lord.

I Samuel 1:26-28“Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that

stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he

worshipped the LORD there” (I Samuel 1:26-28).

B. Samuel Was a Servant to EliB. Samuel Was a Servant to Eli

“And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest” (I Samuel

2:11).


Hannah’s son was a gift both to the Lord and to Eli, for serving the Lord in the Tabernacle also meant serving the man of God. We do not know in what ways Samuel assisted the priest, but obviously he answered Eli’s every beck and call. “But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod” (I Samuel 2:18). The law stipulated that priests ministering before the Lord should wear an ephod, among other articles of dress. (See Exodus 28:4.)


Samuel, in training and ministering, wore a priest’s ephod. According to I Samuel 2:19, Hannah brought Samuel a new coat each year. The ephod connected him to the Lord; the coat connected him to his mother.

Wearing two coats made Samuel responsible to two worlds, the spiritual and the physical. We as Christians also wear two coats. We not only have an obligation to the Lord but also to our family and fellowman.


Jesus instructed us to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (See Matthew 22:37-39.) Many fulfill their responsibility to one world but neglect their responsibility to the other. Wearing only one coat tilts us out of balance. A truly spiritual person will not only be faithful in his love and service to God, but he will be faithful in his love and service to his fellowman.

I Samuel 2:26“And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the

Lord, and also with men” (I Samuel 2:26).

Samuel wore these two coats successfully. He found favor with God and with man.

II. God Had a Message to DeliverGod Had a Message to Deliver

God always has a message for mankind, and mankind’s salvation depends on his response to that message. Although at times the message has varied in content, the intent of the message has always been the same: obey God and prosper; disobey God and suffer.


The intent of God’s message to Adam and Eve in the Garden equated basically to the simple message of salvation today. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is today. Some obey and many disobey.


Throughout time God delivered His message in various ways. He appeared and spoke to people directly through angels often called “the angel of the LORD.” (See Genesis 16:1-13; 21:17-19.) God spoke to Moses through a burning bush (Exodus 3:2) and to Balaam through a donkey. (See Numbers 22:28.) God also spoke to man through His prophets.

A. God Had Spoken to EliA. God Had Spoken to Eli

“And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the

LORD” (I Samuel 2:27).


Because of the evil of Eli’s sons and his reluctance to discipline them properly, God sent a man of God to rebuke Eli. With the rebuke came a prophecy detailing the injurious things that would happen to him and his house. It is the nature of God’s mercy to issue warning before retribution or indictment before judgment. With Eli it was the latter. God told Eli that He would cut off his “arm” and the “arm” of his father’s house, meaning He would remove their authority.


The prophecy included a message that Eli’s offspring would die in the flower of their age and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, would both die the same day. These calamitous prophecies happened to Eli and his posterity because they did not obey God’s will.

An example of their disobedience concerns the priest’s portion of the sacrificial animals.


The law apportioned the breast and the right shoulder to the priests, and they must be obtained in the prescribed way. (See Leviticus 7:31-34.) God’s portion was the fat, which had to be burned. Hophni and Phinehas violated this law. When a person offered a sacrifice, before the fat was burned the evil sons of Eli demanded their portion. If the offerer protested, they threatened him, saying, “Thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force” (I Samuel 2:16).


As if this were not evil enough, I Samuel 2:22 stated that Hophni and Phinehas “lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” When Eli rebuked them for their evil deeds, “they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them” (I Samuel 2:25).

Their disobedience destroyed their reputation among the people and any possibility of relationship with God.


“Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD” (I Samuel 2:17). If we disregard the message of God, we can become a stumbling block to people who are interested in God. They watch for cohesion between what we preach and what we practice.


The message to Eli also said, “Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?” (I Samuel 2:29). Obviously Eli did not condone his sons’ actions, but his feeble attempts at discipline could not stop them.

B. God Sent Eli a Message by Samuel

B. God Sent Eli a Message by Samuel

God tried to send Eli a message by Samuel, but the young boy did not know how to receive it. Having no experience at hearing the voice of the Lord, Samuel did not recognize the Lord when He spoke to him (I Samuel 3:7).


Some people do not recognize the voice of the Lord because their sin erects a sound barrier. Others hear the voice of the Lord, recognize it, but ignore it. Innocent and naive Samuel was not guilty of either; he simply did not know how to recognize the voice of the Lord.

We must teach our children both how to recognize the voice of the Lord and how to cultivate sensitivity to spiritual things. Their young hearts are so malleable that it is not difficult to

mold them.

III. God Will Use a ChildGod Will Use a Child

“And a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).

Although Isaiah 11:6 apparently referred to a condition in the kingdom age, it underscored the reality that God uses children.


Many know the familiar passage in the Gospels: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Luke 18:16-17).

God often uses children to influence their parents. With hearts tender toward God, they voice a concern to go to church even when their parents are not interested.


Many families have initiated church attendance and have become believers because of the influence of their children.

A. Children Can Learn to Hear God’s VoiceA. Children Can Learn

to Hear God’s Voice

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not

depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).


Children can learn to hear and recognize God’s voice. As Eli instructed young Samuel to respond to God’s voice, we also can teach our children to respond to God. Spiritual perception requires training. While it may not be difficult to direct children in the way of God’s Spirit, it takes much time to prepare them to become proficient in this area.

B. Children Can Speak God’s Message

B. Children Can Speak God’s Message

When Samuel finally was able to recognize the voice of the Lord, God told him that He had not forgotten His previous prophecy against Eli and his house and would perform it—from beginning to end—until everyone’s ears tingled at the news. “For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained

them not.


And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever” (I Samuel 3:13-14). Young Samuel received these terrifying words and lay sleepless until the morning at which time Eli called him.


Sensing that God had given a message to Samuel, Eli asked, “What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me” (I Samuel 3:17). When Samuel delivered the message, Eli said, “It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good” (I Samuel 3:18).

IV. Children Can Become Productive Adults

Children Can Become Productive Adults

“And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground” (I Samuel

3:19).


Samuel grew up in the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and there is no record of his ever leaving the house of the Lord until he became an adult. The only evidence we have of his serving the Lord away from the house of the Lord is I Samuel 7:15-17.

I Samuel 7:15-17“And Samuel judged Israel all the

days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal,

and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to

Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he

built an altar unto the LORD” (I Samuel 7:15-17).

I. Samuel Was Given to the Lord as a ChildChildren can become productive

adults, but this will only happen through proper oversight and training. Every child needs help in order to develop spiritually. Even the children of believers need guidance and training in order to develop spiritually.

A. Samuel Judged Israel Forty Years

A. Samuel Judged Israel Forty Years

“And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life” (I Samuel 7:15).

Samuel served and judged Israel faithfully in an unbroken chain of dedication. Throughout the failures by Israel and its king, he stayed faithful to the Lord. In the midst of loss and death, he maintained a right relationship with the Lord.


The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant in the battle in which Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were slain. When word reached Eli that his sons were dead and the Ark of the Covenant seized, “he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy” (I Samuel 4:18).


The tragic news of death and defeat involving her husband, father-in-law, and the ark of God sent Phinehas’s wife into immediate labor, and she birthed a son. Just before she died in childbirth, the attending women told her the child was a boy, and she named her son Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel” (I Samuel 4:21).


After the return of the Ark of the Covenant and the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Philistine domination, the elders of Israel came to Samuel and said, “Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD” (I Samuel 8:5-6).


The Lord told Samuel the people had not rejected him as their prophet and judge but had rejected their God. He told him to do as Israel asked but to warn them of the manner in which the king would reign over them. Samuel told Israel of the oppression an earthly ruler would inflict, but the people refused to heed the voice of Samuel and said, “Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” (I Samuel 8:19-20).


Samuel witnessed the escalating failures of Saul, Israel’s new king, but he lived long enough to anoint David as the next king. David proved to be the most popular king of Israel. And although King David failed the Lord more than once, his heart communed with God much more than did the heart of Saul.

B. Proper Training of Children Makes the Difference

B. Proper Training of Children Makes the Difference

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not

depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).


Proper training of a child creates an awareness he or she can never erase. What is put into him will stay with him all of his life. Children, like animals, may have the right bloodline, but they still require training. An eaglet is capable of flying, but it must develop its ability. It does not leave the nest with the flying expertise that it will acquire later. A bird dog will hunt instinctively, but a trainer must develop its natural ability in order for it to be able to point, flush, and retrieve effectively.


When Paul referred to Timothy’s heritage of unfeigned faith from his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, the apostle implied that what is passed to the succeeding generation requires development. He wrote, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6).


Many construe the promise in Proverbs 22:6 to mean our children will never depart from the training we have given them. However, the verse of Scripture does not mean our children will never fail; it merely guarantees they never can block from their memory the essence of what their parents have done and said. For this reason, parents need to do everything they can to train their children properly, for that makes all the difference.


Internalizing the Message

We have seen how God miraculously answered the urgent plea of Hannah for a son. She promised she would give her son to the Lord. Faithful to her promise, Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle and placed him in the care and service of the high priest, Eli.


God sent Eli a message concerning his failure to discipline his sons. Neglecting the initial message of warning, Eli received the same message through young Samuel after the child learned to recognize the voice of God. Children can learn to recognize God’s voice and be used to speak God’s message. Many children have influenced their parents as well as others to attend church and meet God.


Children can become productive adults in the kingdom of God through the example of Samuel who grew up to become an effective prophet and judge in Israel. May we never underestimate the value of a child whom God has called.

The Call of God to Old Testament Characters. Lesson 7.

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