And the boy Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was rare in those days; a vision was not frequent.
Two pictures sit side by side here: a boy serving God, and a nation where God had almost stopped speaking. Why had messages from God become so rare, and what was God doing about it?
This verse follows the account of Eli's sons and the ruin they brought. One writer sees meaning in the boy's linen ephod, and in who now stood for Aaron's priestly line.
It is refreshing and yet most sad to think of the child Samuel growing up in an atmosphere like this. Refreshing, because the Lord kept him untouched while the shameful uproar raged all around him. But it is sad that one so tender had not only to see this awful state of things, but to speak out against it. The mention of the ephod, the priestly garment, suggests that the only spotless robe in the priesthood had fallen on a little child. For the time being, we might say, he stands for the house of Aaron, which had fallen into ruins in the hands of Eli and his sons.
Older translations call the word of the Lord "precious," which can mislead. The plain sense is rare. Samuel went on with his Levite service through those lean years, and no word had yet reached him.
He went on serving as a Levite during the time when the word of the Lord was precious (literally, rare); there was no vision. Up to this time Samuel had not known the Lord, and the Lord had not yet revealed His word to him (verse 7).
The second phrase is about public guidance drying up — including the Urim and Thummim, one of the ways God gave answers to the nation.
"No open vision" means there was no public revelation of God's will concerning His people; no open showing of His mind, either by dreams, or prophet, or by Urim and Thummim.
Knapp reads the arrival of a faithful prophet as a down payment on something larger:
Yes, raising up the faithful prophet was the pledge of the "faithful priest." It pointed to Him who would hold in Himself the office of Prophet, Priest and King — the "Anointed One," the "Faithful and the True."
It would be easy to blame the whole famine on the failing old priest. One writer spreads the blame wider, and warns us not to excuse ourselves by pointing at leaders.
Someone else's failure is never a reason to ignore God's mind and will. If "the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision," it was not all Eli's fault — the general state of the people had something to do with it.
The verse describes decline, but not the end of God's word. One writer traces what grace did in the drought.
Often in times of ruin the enemy blocks the revelation of the mind of God… But though it was blocked, the word had not been stopped. Grace provides for the needs of each era. And here is the comfort: it is often in the darkest days of decline that God gives the most new light, to guide and encourage His own… The unfaithfulness of the priests had almost cost God's people the ordinary way He had set up for coming to Him. But His grace could not leave them without help and without a way to communicate with Himself. So He gives Samuel — that is to say, prophecy. Through it He comes near to man in sovereign grace and makes His mind known.
The chapter also marks a turning point in Israel's history. Samuel is more than a replacement for Eli. He is the link to what comes next.
This chapter brings Samuel forward and marks him out for a most serious place: he is the herald of the change under way. He was to be the intermediate link in preparing the way. If the king was coming, there is a forerunner. Before the coming of Messiah, John the Baptist prepared the way. So in this book Samuel stands in a similar relation to the king.
One writer turns the older wording "precious" into a personal question. He makes it a test of your walk with God, not of the size of your group.
If this is not the case with you and me, we are not walking with God. You may say, I belong to a society that numbers its thousands and thousands. We do not read that there were thousands of Enochs, before the flood, who walked with God. Is the word of the Lord precious to you? The more that blessed word is attacked, is it still the more precious to you?
- Famine — Guidance from God had dried up. "No open vision" meant no public word by dream, prophet, or Urim and Thummim.
- Cause — The drought was not Eli's failure alone. The state of the whole people shared in it. No one else's failure excuses our own.
- Grace — God did not answer scarcity with silence. He gave prophecy — a new channel to reach a people whose priesthood had broken down.
- Vessel — He used a child in a linen ephod, kept clean in a foul setting, wearing the last spotless robe of a ruined priesthood.
- Direction — Samuel is a forerunner. He heralds the coming king, as John the Baptist later prepared the way for Messiah.
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli lay in his place (now his eyes began to grow dim, he could not see),
Shiloh at night: an old priest asleep in his usual spot, his eyesight failing, and God about to speak — but not to him. It reads like a note on an old man's health. Commentators read the whole nation's condition in it, and a warning to any leader who stops watching.
In this scene each detail stands for something.
In this night scene we have a picture of the moral condition of the nation at the time of the calling of Samuel. Eli the priest was "lying down in his own place" — a symbol of spiritual sloth. His eyes should have kept watch over the interests of his God and the welfare of His people Israel. Instead they had "begun to grow dim so that he could not see." His dimness of vision was only a figure of that lack of moral discernment that marked him at the time.
One writer traces Eli's decline chapter by chapter.
In 1 Samuel 1, Eli lacked discernment; in 1 Samuel 2, he lacked the moral courage to separate himself from evil; here, his eyes are dim and he cannot see. And yet the lamp of God had not yet gone out — a striking image of his moral condition. What is more, this guide of the simple proves to be dull of understanding. It was only at the third call that "Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy." Yes, "dull of hearing": that is exactly what he had become. Samuel was simply ignorant, which is a thousand times better. When there is godliness, God remedies ignorance.
Eli's failing sight had a cause in his own household.
Here we find a feature of Eli's spiritual weakening that is not mentioned in the first two chapters: "for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons blasphemed God, and he did not restrain them" (v. 13). Eli knew the evil, and he had authority to repress it in his sons, but he did not use it. How often does the spiritual weakening of the head of a family come from his slackness? He should have kept order and discipline where God gave him authority. This is a great cause of ruin.
The principle reaches past Eli.
The eyes of Eli began to grow dim so that he could not see. It is so wherever known evil is allowed or excused. Dimness of perception of divine truth is sure to be the result.
Why mention an old man's eyes at all?
The call comes suddenly at night, when men are asleep, but not the Shepherd of Israel. The dim eyes of the priest, and the hint that the tabernacle lamp was almost out, are not just decoration. Such was the state of things which made the new intervention of the Lord necessary. Eli was there in his place, but the Voice does not address Eli — not even though the message concerns him closely and sadly. For God's face is turned away from him.
Eli had every credential. None of it gave him ears.
There is the strong and aged Eli, the very priest of Jehovah. Yes, age, antiquity, office, authority — all these he has, and he is in the dwelling-place of God, but he does not hear a word. He had grieved the Lord by allowing evil. Can we hear and understand the voice of the Lord if we are allowing evil? Impossible!
The verse also marks a handover.
Eli's eyes were "dim," and the Lord called Samuel. In other words, Eli's house is passing away, and the faithful priest is about to come on the scene. Eli was grey-haired and dim-sighted. He could spend his time in sleep and darkness, while the Lord's voice was sounding so very near him. Solemn — most solemn warning!
A priest was meant to be the discerning one. Drowsiness does not stop with the sleeper.
Nearness to God was meant to give the priests good judgement about holy and unholy, clean and unclean, so that they could teach the people (Leviticus 10:9-11). Grace has put every believer into the priestly place, but are we in the power of it? Are we spiritually discerning?... The poor old man was sleepy, and could only say again and again, "Lie down again." "So then let us not sleep, as others do," says the Apostle, "but let us keep awake and be sober" (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Nothing is easier than to slip into a drowsy spiritual condition... The Lord in His infinite mercy keep us from that terrible state which would lead us drowsily to quiet others who are awake. God forbid that we should ever say to one to whom He is speaking, "Lie down again."
- Cause — Eli let evil stand when he had the power to stop it. Dim sight follows allowed wrong.
- Symptom — He lies down in his place and cannot see, a picture of spiritual sloth. Eyes that should have watched God's interests had stopped watching.
- Consequence — the failing sight explains why God stepped in afresh. His voice passed over the priest it most concerned.
- No cover — age, office and authority, inside God's own house, did not give Eli ears to hear.
- Warning — his only reply was "lie down again." The danger is not just sleeping, but quieting someone God is waking.
and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel lay in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was,
It is night. The lamp of God is close to going out, an old priest with failing eyes has lain down, and a boy lies near the ark. Into that scene God speaks to Samuel for the first time.
Each detail in the scene also describes Israel's spiritual state.
In this night scene we have a picture of the moral condition of the nation when Samuel was called. Eli the priest was "lying down in his own place" — a symbol of spiritual laziness. His eyes should have watched over the interests of his God and the welfare of His people Israel. Instead his "eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see." That failing sight pictured the lack of moral discernment that marked him at the time. The lamp of God still burned, but its light was fading, as if about to go out and leave the place in darkness.
Writers take the dying lamp in two different ways. Some read it as plain neglect of a standing command:
Samuel had lain down "before the lamp went out." This implies that they let it go out regularly, against the commandment. Everything pointed to weakness and exhaustion.
Others say the command was never meant that strictly:
Some think the command to keep the lamp burning "always" clashes with 1 Sam. 3:3. But the Hebrew does not mean "always" in the absolute sense. It means continually, or steadily. The lamp burned from evening to morning, without a break for that time.
Either way, the dying light says something about Israel:
The lamp is the symbol of testimony. At that time Israel's testimony to the nations was very low. The people were living in sin, and their leaders were corrupt and weak. Very soon after this a dying saint exclaimed, "The glory has departed from Israel" (1 Sam. 4:21), and she was right. Nothing is a testimony for God unless it is pure and holy. This is true both of a company of believers and of each person.
The verse calls the place a temple, but no temple stood in Jerusalem yet. The same building carried more than one name.
It was still called "the tabernacle of the congregation" (1 Sam. 2:22), but also "the temple of the Lord," and "the house of the Lord" (1 Sam. 3:3, 15). These later names only pointed forward to the house that would later stand in Jerusalem.
Naming the ark here is itself news. The record had been silent about it since a dark day in Israel's past.
Two hundred full years had passed since Scripture last mentioned the ark... From that dark day of lust, revenge and slaughter, down to Samuel's time here, the "ark of God's testimony" never appears once. It is as if God hid Himself after that deed of darkness done by the people called by His name, until His people might return to Him. Now, under Samuel, it comes once more into prominence, for the light of God's testimony was about to revive.
The boy lay down at God's meeting place with His people.
Despite man's failure and departure from God, with all the death and disaster it brought, God's faithfulness remained. The conditions of God's house were still there, and the ark of God is seen. In the awful moral darkness light was available, and the meeting place of God with His people remained... Samuel had not yet grasped these great thoughts of God. But he put himself close to them. In the place where God would draw near to His people, Samuel drew near to God.
Some question whether he was sleeping at all, since the text does not say so:
"And Samuel was laid down" — "to sleep" is supplied, and would perhaps be better left out. Perhaps he was not asleep, as a healthy boy would be. Perhaps he was praying, or keeping watch in case the sacred lamp went out and left everything in darkness. That lamp was never meant to stop burning.
The turn in the story comes from God's side, not from the priesthood.
God is not unmindful of His people whatever their condition. So the Lord begins to act on His own, in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." In such a low condition, we might have expected the people — or the priest on their behalf — to call on the Lord. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."
- Dim. Eli lay down with failing eyes. His dim sight pictures a leader who had lost moral discernment.
- Dying. The lamp stood for testimony. Commentators differ over why it was low — neglect, or the normal burning from evening to morning — but Israel's witness was low with it.
- Near. The ark, unmentioned for two hundred years, appears again — and Samuel lies down beside God's meeting place with His people.
- Called. Nobody prayed for revival; God Himself spoke first, in sovereign grace, to a child in the dark.
- Not yet. The lamp had not yet gone out. Light remained, and God acted while it did.
that Jehovah called to Samuel. And he said, Here am I.
The lamp of God is nearly out, and the old priest Eli lies down with failing eyes. Then a voice speaks one name in the dark — why does God pass over the priest and call a boy?
Israel was at a low point: little teaching from the Lord, dim sight, a fading light. One writer shows who moves first in such a state.
It is a solemn thing when the people of God have little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls. It is solemn when they lack spiritual discernment, and when the testimony to God among them is dying out. This is true of His people as a whole, and of any group of them. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. However, God is not unmindful of His people whatever their condition. So we find the Lord begins to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." We might have thought that, in such a low condition, the people — or the priest on behalf of the people — would have called upon the Lord. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."
Eli was the priest on duty — the obvious person for God to speak to.
The call comes suddenly at night, when men are asleep, but not the Shepherd of Israel. The priest's dim eyes and the hint that the tabernacle lamp was about to fail are not just scenery. Such was the state of things which made the new intervention of the Lord necessary. Eli was there in his place, but the Voice does not address him, even though the message concerns him closely and sadly. God has turned His face away from him. To Samuel, though, the Voice is something audible — not just a hint or an impression on the heart.
God spoke a name, not a general announcement. The voice sounded so human that Samuel took it for Eli.
Yet this divine-human Voice, how sweet it is! In every age it is the same. Calling one, too, by one's name, for by name He knows His sheep. But may we not also, like Samuel here, mistake the divine voice because it is so human — expect it far off, and miss it because it is near?
One writer reads the scene as a picture of two states: dull routine religion and living faith.
Formalism always becomes dim-sighted, while faith becomes wide awake. While the lamp of God in the temple was virtually ready to go out, God had His own way of causing revival. Samuel had lain down, but was not asleep when God called him. The quickness of the little boy's response shows a beautifully obedient spirit.
Samuel ran to the wrong person, but he ran. One writer sees in that the reason God trusted him with more.
Three times the Lord calls Samuel. If he did not at first recognise the Voice, he was at least prompt in answering, and ran to Eli, whom he supposed had called him. Willing child! He was faithful in what was least, and God would entrust him with greater things. That is a needed lesson for us all, and above all for those new to faith in Christ. Be content, dear young Christian, to serve in little things. Then, if He sees fit and there is need, your God can promote you to more important ministry.
Notice the kind of person God chose for this work.
It is also significant to notice the character of the one the Lord uses for the prophetic office. He had been devoted to the Lord as a Nazirite, and the record calls him, again and again, the child. He is separate from the evil he speaks against. He is devoted to the interests of the Lord. And, like a child, he is aware of his own weakness and lack of wisdom. So he is dependent on the Lord and drawing all his resources from the Lord. Such is the one the Lord uses to reach the consciences of His people.
Why a prophet and not the priest? One writer draws the line between the two.
The office of the priest is to draw near to the Lord on behalf of the people, and so keep relations with the Lord going. The prophet works the other way. Through him the Lord draws near to the people, when the people's failure has broken those relations. For this reason the prophet comes to the front in a day of ruin.
- Cause. Teaching was scarce and the light was low. That is when God spoke first, on His own initiative.
- Bypass. The voice reached the boy, not the priest in his place. Failure at the top does not stop God.
- Name. God called one person by name, in a voice so human that Samuel took it for a man's. The danger is expecting Him far off and missing Him near.
- Answer. Samuel was lying down, but not asleep. He ran. God builds greater service on small faithfulness.
- Result. A child, separate and dependent, became God's new channel when the old one had failed.
And he ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call lie down again. And he went and lay down.
God speaks at a time when almost nobody is listening, and the first word He says is a boy's name. Samuel answers at once, but he runs to the wrong person — so why Eli, why did God call more than once, and how does anyone recognise a voice they have never heard?
Nothing in the chapter suggests that anyone was asking God to speak. One writer points out who took the first step, and what God does when His people are at their lowest:
It is a solemn thing for the people of God as a whole, or for any company of His people, when there is little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls. It is solemn when they themselves lack spiritual discernment. It is solemn when the testimony to God among them is dying out. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. However, God is not unmindful of His people whatever their condition. So we find the Lord begins to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." We might have thought that in such a low condition the people would have called upon the Lord, or the priest would have called on their behalf. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."
Samuel gets the sender wrong, yet he does not hesitate. One writer sees that promptness as the thing that counted:
Three times the Lord calls Samuel. If he did not at first recognise the Voice, he was at least prompt in answering, and ran to Eli, whom he supposed had called him. Willing child! He was faithful in what was least, and God would entrust him with greater things. That is a needed lesson for us all, and above all for those who have just come to the faith of Christ. Be content, dear young Christian, to serve in little things; then, if He sees fit and the need arises, your God can promote you to more important ministry.
Why Eli? As far as the boy knew, there was no one else there — and the old priest missed what was happening twice:
Samuel had laid down, but was not asleep when God called him. The eagerness of the little boy's response shows a beautifully obedient spirit. He ran to Eli, for there was no one else there, so far as Samuel knew. Eli could only tell him he had not called. At the second call, this unusual experience should have alerted Eli. Instead he tells Samuel to lie down again.
Samuel lived in God's house and served there, yet he could not tell God's voice from a man's. One writer draws a distinction here that reaches far beyond that night:
The point here is personal knowledge of the Lord. Samuel belonged to Him, served Him, and worshipped Him from his infancy. But he had not yet met the Lord face to face. It may happen in our Christian life that we rejoice in the finished work of the cross on our behalf without knowing the Lord personally. Knowing salvation and knowing the Author of salvation are two different things.
Eli's answer comes from a man whose sight has faded, in body and in soul:
Poor Eli! His eyesight has almost gone, and so has his faithfulness. Lying down to sleep is a fitting picture of his spiritual state. To human eyes the case looked hopeless. How unlikely that God would step in! And yet it is just then that He does speak, and to a little child. He must call three times before it dawns on Eli that the Lord is speaking to the child. He had told him to "go and lie down again," just as many careless people would try to quiet those to whom God is speaking.
God could have stopped after the first misunderstanding. Instead He called again, and again — and one writer turns that into a lesson for us:
Though three times mistaken, the Lord did not lose patience with His little servant. Oh that we might learn from Him in this, as in everything else! May we be patient with one another, and above all with those we think are slow to understand.
Preachers have long pressed this scene on the young, on the grounds that Samuel's situation is not rare but ordinary:
He was a little fellow, whose father and mother were God's children, but though he lived with Eli in God's house, he "did not yet know the Lord." That was strange, was it not? And yet I know something stranger still. There are many of my young friends here tonight, and they have lived longer than Samuel, and Jesus has called them many a time, but they do not yet know Him as their Saviour.
- The call — no one in Shiloh was asking God to speak; He began it Himself, in the darkest hour, by naming a child.
- The answer — Samuel got the speaker wrong but the response right. God builds larger service on faithfulness in small things.
- The gap — he served in God's house and still did not know God's voice. Knowing salvation and knowing the One who saves are two different things.
- The obstacle — "lie down again" is the voice of dimmed sight. That is how careless people quiet a soul God is speaking to.
- The patience — three mistakes did not exhaust God. The call came again. He asks us to be that patient with each other.
And Jehovah called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I did not call, my son lie down again.
Samuel is a child serving at the sanctuary, and a voice speaks his name in the night. He answers the only way he knows — he runs to the old priest asleep nearby. The verse raises three questions: why Samuel mistook the voice for a man's, why Eli sent him back, and why God kept calling.
The call was not a feeling or an inner impression. One writer notes how ordinary it sounded:
To Samuel the Voice is something audible — not a simple hint or impression on the heart. At the same time it is very human. The boy imagines it is Eli speaking, three times over, because he has not yet learned to recognise Jehovah.
Samuel went to the man he knew. A commentator sees the same reflex far beyond childhood:
The first lesson Samuel was set to learn was to know and obey the voice of the Lord, for when called by Him he ran at first to Eli. As a child, he was under the commanding influence of the high priest's age and sacred office. But this danger is not limited to the young. How readily people hand over to the claimed authority of men a conscience that belongs to God alone! The solemn thing is, as we see here, that where the heart runs after men, in that same degree it leaves God.
Eli's answer is gentle — he calls Samuel "my son" — but it sends the boy away from what God is doing. One writer reads Eli's condition into the scene:
Poor Eli! His eyesight has nearly gone, and so has his faithfulness. Lying down to sleep, he is a fitting picture of the spiritual state he was in... He had told him to "lie down again," just as many careless people would try to quiet those to whom God is speaking. But at last it dawns on the old man that God is there. Weak as he may be with his sons, he does not dare — he would not silence that Voice, slow as he had been to obey it.
Another writer states the rule, and sees it at work in the second call:
Formalism always becomes dim-sighted, while faith becomes wide awake... At the second call, Eli should have been alerted by this unusual experience, but he tells Samuel again to lie down.
Samuel got the speaker wrong, yet he got up at once each time. Faithfulness in a small thing opened the way to a greater one:
Three times the Lord calls Samuel. If he did not recognise the Voice at first, he was at least prompt in answering. He ran to Eli, whom he supposed had called him. Willing child! He was faithful in what was least, and God would entrust him with greater things. We all need that lesson, especially those newly come to the faith of Christ. Be content, dear young Christian, to serve in little things. Then, if He sees fit and the need arises, your God can promote you to more important ministry.
The second call carries no impatience. One writer turns that back on the reader:
Though he was mistaken three times, Jehovah did not lose patience with His little servant. Oh that we might learn from Him in this, as in everything else! May we "have patience one with another," especially with those we think slow to understand.
The repeated call had an aim:
In Samuel's case, the Lord in rich grace repeated the call until He had fully separated him from man to Himself. Happy result of persistent grace! How every truly delivered soul is in debt to it.
Samuel did not yet know the Lord when God called him. That is the ordinary human case, not a special defect:
God will draw near to man. This He did to this child. He came, stood, called, and revealed Himself to Samuel by His word. By nature he did not know the Lord. In this he was like all of us; and he needed this sovereign work of grace by the word to know Him. A revelation from God, perfect as it is and beyond price, is not enough on its own. There must also be a revelation of God by it for individual blessing. Many own a Bible. That makes them more responsible than those who do not have one, yet they live and die in ignorance of God.
- The call is real. God spoke audibly, and the voice sounded so human that Samuel took it for the old priest next door.
- The call is misread. A young heart runs to the man it knows. When the heart runs after men, it leaves God in the same measure.
- The call is hindered. "Lie down again" came from a man whose sight and faithfulness had both faded. Careless people still try to quiet those to whom God is speaking.
- The call is repeated. God did not lose patience with a boy who was wrong three times. Grace kept calling until it drew him from man to God Himself.
- The call makes God known. By nature Samuel did not know the Lord. Owning a Bible is not the same as hearing God's voice.
Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither had the word of Jehovah yet been revealed to him.
Samuel grew up in God's house and served there from his earliest years. Yet this verse says he still did not know the Lord. It draws a line between living among holy things and knowing God Himself.
Samuel was not an outsider. He belonged to God and already served Him. Yet something was still missing.
The point here is personal knowledge of the Lord. Samuel belonged to Him, served Him, and worshipped Him from his earliest years, but he had not yet met the Lord face to face. In our Christian life we may rejoice in the finished work of the cross for us and still not know the Lord personally. Knowing salvation and knowing the Author of salvation are two different things. And someone who does not know the person of Christ has no power to bear witness.
Being close to holy things can even hide God Himself. When Samuel answered the call, he left one word out.
He leaves out the word "Lord." No doubt this is because no one had yet taught him about the Lord Himself. That can easily happen, even to someone surrounded by the outward recognition of the things that belong to Him. In fact such things often hide the real knowledge of Himself.
Samuel's ignorance was not a quirk of his age or upbringing. It is the normal human starting point, and only God Himself can change it.
He came, stood, called, and revealed Himself to Samuel by His word. By nature he did not know the Lord (1 Sam. 3:7). In this he was like us all; and he needed this sovereign work of grace by the word to know Him... A revelation from God is perfect, and precious beyond words. Yet on its own it is not enough. Through it God must also reveal Himself to each person, if that person is to be blessed. Many have the Bible, and that makes them more responsible than those who do not have it, yet they live and die without knowing God.
The same book says of Eli's sons that they did not know the Lord. The wording overlaps; the condition does not.
The Bible says of these godless men, "They did not know the Lord." They held the office of priest, but their hearts were far from God. It was said of Samuel, later, that he "did not yet know the Lord" (chap. 3:7). But that was a very different thing. He was on the way to knowing Him, and to know Him is eternal life. But these sons of Eli had hardened themselves beyond cure, and nothing was left for them but the just judgment of God.
The second half of the verse points beyond Samuel to the nation itself. A shortage of God's word did not mean God had gone silent.
In times of ruin the enemy often blocks God from making His mind known... But hindered is not stopped. Grace provides for the needs of every age. And here is the comfort: it is often in the darkest days of decline that God gives the most new light to guide and encourage His own... The priests were unfaithful, so the ordinary way God had set up for people to come to Him was almost lost. But the grace of God could not leave His people helpless, with no way to communicate with Him.
Samuel's gap has a familiar shape in Christian experience.
Is it not that we may know Him as Saviour long before we know Him as Lord, and as the Lord speaking to us individually? That was true in our own case. And we believe many have never known Him that closely — close enough to receive real messages from Him and to speak with Him.
The verse also speaks straight to the reader.
He was a little boy. His father and mother were God's children. He lived with Eli in God's house, and yet he "did not yet know the Lord." That was strange, was it not? And yet I know something stranger still. Many of my young friends are here tonight. They have lived longer than Samuel. Jesus has called them many times, but they still do not know Him as their Saviour.
- Not yet — Samuel belonged to God, served Him and worshipped Him, yet he had not met Him face to face. Knowing salvation and knowing the Author of salvation are two different things.
- Not by nature — no one starts out knowing God. Samuel needed a sovereign work of grace through the word, and so does everyone else.
- Not the same — Eli's sons also did not know the Lord. But they had hardened beyond cure, while Samuel was on his way to knowing Him.
- Not silenced — the word was rare because the priests had failed. Yet grace kept a way open, and God gave the most new light in the darkest days.
- Not too young — the call came to a child, and many older people still have not answered it. The question is whether you know Him yourself.
And Jehovah called again the third time, Samuel! And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that Jehovah was calling the boy.
The third call comes, and the boy still runs to the old man. Eli, not Samuel, works out who is speaking — so why does God keep calling a boy who does not yet know Him, and why the child and not the priest?
No one was asking God to break the silence. The first move was His, and it came at Israel's lowest point.
It is a solemn thing when the people of God, or any group of them, have little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls. It is solemn when they lack spiritual discernment, and when the testimony to God among them is dying out. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. But God does not forget His people, whatever their condition. So the Lord begins to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." In such a low state, we might have expected the people to call on the Lord, or the priest to call on Him for them. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."
Position and rank did not decide who heard from God. God passed over the men with official standing and chose a young Levite.
Under the law the sons of Aaron were much nearer to the Lord than this young Levite, but they were passed by and he was called. It was an act of sovereignty. Had the priests then any ground for complaint? Had the people? Surely not. How much had the Lord done for them all, and what return had they made? His sovereign right then was to choose and to call whom He would.
The old man's insight arrives late, and what he grasps is not comfortable. He works out that God is speaking, and that God is not speaking to him.
At Samuel's third coming, Eli "perceived that the LORD was calling the boy." What an indirect, yet forceful rebuke to the privileged high priest, through whom God had promised to reveal Himself for His people. What must have filled his mind? God had passed him by — the old man, the elder — and had spoken instead to a mere child. "Go, lie down," he says; "and if He calls you, say, Speak, LORD, for your servant hears." "If He calls you" — did the rejected priest almost hope that it was not really the voice of God, or that He might not call again? Eli, no doubt, feared the worst.
Eli's slowness had a cause.
Formalism always becomes dim-sighted, while faith becomes wide awake... At the second call, Eli ought to have been alerted by this unusual experience, but tells Samuel again to lie down. Not until the third time did he begin to realize that the Lord was calling Samuel.
Samuel's error was natural, and it is also a warning. He assumed the call came from the man in authority over him.
The first lesson Samuel had to learn was to know and obey the voice of the Lord, for when the Lord called him he ran at first to Eli. He was a child, and the age and sacred office of the high priest had a commanding influence over him. But this danger is not limited to the young. How often people too readily bow the conscience, which belongs to God alone, to authority that men have seized for themselves!... The solemn thing is, as we see here, that where the heart runs after men, in the same degree it leaves God.
Three wrong answers did not end the conversation.
Though three times mistaken, the Lord did not lose patience with His little servant. May we learn from Him in this, as in everything else, and "have patience one with another" — especially with those we think are slow to understand.
The repeated call also had a result.
With Samuel, the Lord in rich grace repeated the call until He had separated him from man to Himself. Happy result of persistent grace! Every truly delivered soul owes a debt to it.
- Silence — The testimony was dying out and no one was asking God to speak; He acted from Himself, in sovereign grace.
- Sovereignty — Those nearer by office were passed by, and a child was called; God chooses whom He will.
- Slowness — Eli sees it only at the third call, and what he sees rebukes him. Formalism goes dim-sighted; faith stays wide awake.
- Substitution — Samuel ran to a man three times; where the heart runs after men, in the same measure it leaves God.
- Steadfastness — God kept calling until Samuel was His and not man's. Every delivered soul owes something to that same patience.
And Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down; and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Jehovah, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Three times a voice calls a boy in the dark. Three times he runs to the wrong man. Only when the old priest works out what is happening does Samuel learn what to say. In verse 9, Eli hands him the words that will make his faith his own.
Samuel answered every call at once, though he ran to the wrong person. One writer contrasts his alertness with the sleepy house he served in:
Samuel's first revelation from God comes at a time when Eli had lain down to sleep and his eyes had begun to grow dim. God means us to apply this spiritually too. Formalism always becomes dim-sighted, while faith becomes wide awake. While the lamp of God in the temple was almost ready to go out, God had His own way of causing revival.
Running back and forth to Eli was small, unglamorous service. That is why it mattered:
Three times the Lord calls Samuel. Even if he did not recognise the Voice at first, he was quick to answer. He ran to Eli, who he thought had called him. Willing child! He was faithful in what was least, and God would entrust him with greater things — a needed lesson for us all.
Eli needs three calls to work out what is happening. The difference between the two men is not how much they know:
It is not until the third call that "Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy." Yes, "dull of hearing": that is what he had become. Samuel was only ignorant, which is a thousand times better. When there is godliness, God remedies ignorance.
Twice Eli had already told the boy to go back to bed. That instinct carries a warning:
The poor old man was sleepy, and could only say over and over, "Lie down again." … May the Lord in His infinite mercy keep us from that dreadful state. It would lead us, half asleep, to quiet others who are awake. God forbid that we should ever say to someone God is speaking to, "Lie down again."
Eli could not receive the message himself, but he could tell Samuel how to receive it. It was also the end of Samuel's dependence on him:
Up to that moment, Eli's teaching had shown Samuel the way to enter into communication with God (v. 9). Now he is in direct relationship with the Lord, and the Lord is entrusting His secrets to him.
Eli's own words, "if he calls you," hint at his dread. The verse ends with the boy obeying:
"If he calls you" — was the rejected priest half hoping it was not really the voice of God, or that God might not call again? No doubt Eli feared the worst. So Samuel obeys and lies down once more, no doubt with a beating heart, to hear the Voice again.
Samuel had lived in the sanctuary since childhood, yet the chapter says he did not yet know the Lord. One writer sees the same gap in Christian lives today:
The point here is personal knowledge of the Lord. Samuel belonged to Him, served Him and worshipped Him from infancy, but he had not yet met the Lord face to face. In our Christian life we can rejoice in the finished work of the cross on our behalf without knowing the Lord personally. Knowing salvation and knowing the Author of salvation are two different things.
When the call came, Samuel left out one word: "Lord." Commentators differ on why. One reads it as a gap in his knowledge:
He leaves out the word "Lord." No doubt no one had taught him before about the Lord Himself. That can happen all too easily, even to someone surrounded by the formal acknowledgment of His things. In fact such things often tend to obscure the real knowledge of Himself.
Another reads it as reverence too deep for the word:
He did not say "Speak, Lord," as Eli had told him to reply. Perhaps his little heart was so full of childlike awe at that moment that he dared not say the word "Lord." But the Lord knew he was willing to listen.
What Eli taught in one night stayed with Samuel for life:
But Samuel had long been trained in subjection to the word of God. "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears" was the formative principle of his character from childhood.
And the posture is not reserved for prophets:
Is it not true that today God passes by all the pretentious official religion that has departed from Him? He reveals to babes the things hidden from the wise and clever. The childlike, obedient spirit that can say, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears," will have a message.
- Awake — Formalism grows dim-sighted; faith stays wide awake. Eli's problem was drowsiness, not lack of knowledge.
- Taught — Eli's last useful act was to teach Samuel how to speak with God. After that night, the boy dealt with the Lord directly.
- Personal — Samuel served and worshipped the Lord for years without knowing Him. Knowing salvation and knowing the Author of salvation are two different things.
- Imperfect — Samuel answered without saying "Lord," and God still spoke. Writers read that missing word as either untaught ignorance or childlike awe.
- Formative — "Speak, LORD, for your servant hears" was not one night's reply. It shaped Samuel's whole character, and it is still the spirit that receives a message.
And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at the other times, Samuel, Samuel! And Samuel said, Speak, for thy servant heareth.
In the days of Eli the high priest, ministry from the Lord had nearly dried up in Israel, and into that silence a voice called a boy by name — four times over. Why the boy, and not the priest?
Notice who takes the first step.
It is a solemn thing when the people of God as a whole, or any company of His people, have little ministry from the Lord to feed their souls. It is solemn too when they lack spiritual discernment, and when the testimony to God among them is dying out. Such was the condition of Israel in the days of Eli. But God is not unmindful of His people, whatever their condition. So we find the Lord beginning to act from Himself in sovereign grace, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." We might have thought that the people — or the priest on their behalf — would have called upon the Lord. It was the Lord, however, who "called Samuel."
The Lord "came and stood" and called Samuel by name. The voice was God's, yet it sounded human.
Yet how sweet this divine-human Voice is! In every age it is the same. It calls one by name, for He knows His sheep by name. But may we not also, like Samuel here, mistake the divine voice because it is so human — expecting it from far off, and missing it because it is near?
Three times Samuel ran to Eli. The Lord called again anyway.
In Samuel's case, the Lord in rich grace repeated the call until He had separated him from man to Himself. What a happy result of persistent grace! Every truly delivered soul is in debt to it.
But why did he run to Eli at all?
Samuel's first lesson was to know and obey the voice of the Lord. We can see why: when the Lord called him, he ran at first to Eli. As a child, he was strongly influenced by the high priest's age and sacred office. But this danger is not limited to the young. A conscience belongs to God alone. How often people hand it over to the claimed authority of men!
Eli had told him to answer, "Speak, LORD." Samuel drops the name. Commentators differ on why. One reads it as a gap in knowledge:
Samuel would surely stay wide awake for the fourth call. He answers, "Speak, for your servant hears." He leaves out the word "Lord." No doubt this is because he had not yet been taught about the Lord Himself. That is all too possible even when a person is surrounded by the formal acknowledgment of His things. In fact such things often tend to hide the real knowledge of Him.
Another reads it as awe rather than ignorance: "He may have felt unfit to take that sacred, awesome Name on his lips. Whatever the cause, we may be sure it was not disobedience to Eli" (C. Knapp).
The one who says "your servant" is a boy.
Notice also the character of the one the Lord uses for the prophetic office. He had been devoted to the Lord as a Nazirite, and the account calls him, again and again, the child. He is separate from the evil he testifies against. He is devoted to the Lord's interests. Like a child, he is aware of his own weakness and lack of wisdom. So he depends on the Lord and draws all his resources from the Lord. This is the kind of person the Lord uses to reach the consciences of His people.
This is not only Samuel's story.
Had things been normal, God would have spoken to the people in and through the high priest, as He Himself had arranged. But since that was impossible, He spoke to and through the man with the willing ear. This is still His way. Seven times the messages to the churches in Asia say, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." This is clearly an individual matter.
- Silence. When ministry dries up and discernment fails, God does not go quiet. He calls first, before anyone calls on Him.
- Name. The voice is God's, yet so human it can be mistaken. He calls His own by name. The risk is expecting Him far off and missing Him near.
- Again. The Lord called again and again until Samuel stopped leaning on a man. Persistent grace — and a warning against handing your conscience to men.
- Servant. God used a child: separate from the evil around him, aware of his own weakness, dependent. That is who He uses to reach consciences.
- Ear. Where the appointed channel fails, God speaks through the one with the willing ear. "He who has an ear, let him hear" — that means you, one at a time.
And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
God's first word to the boy Samuel is not comfort but a sentence. Two questions press: what is the "thing" God is about to do, and why tell it to a child at night instead of to the priest asleep nearby?
The wording is careful. God does not say He will do a thing to Eli but in Israel — the whole nation will feel what falls on one household.
Eli had already heard the sentence passed on his house. Now God prepares Samuel for his work as a prophet by telling him plainly of the judgment coming on the priest, and the reason for it. All Israel is caught up in the judgment that falls on the priest's family, for what the Lord was about to do would happen "in Israel," and make both ears of everyone who hears it tingle. The Lord Himself is about to act.
Eli's sight was failing. The voice sounded close to him, yet it passed him by.
Eli's eyes are "dim," and the Lord calls Samuel: in other words, Eli's house is passing away, and the faithful priest is about to come on the scene. Samuel runs to Eli, but sadly all Eli could say was, "Lie down again." He had no message for the child. Grey-haired and dim-sighted, he could spend his time in sleep and darkness, while the Lord's voice was sounding so very near him. Solemn — a most solemn warning!
A message this heavy seems wrong for a boy's ears. Writers answer that God knew what He was doing, and that the sentence, once started, would run its course fast.
The Lord's message to Samuel is dreadful. It may seem to us too terrifying for the ears of a little boy; but God is wiser than we are — in fact, it is the "little children" who get the warning about antichrist in 1 John 2:18. Samuel knew about the wickedness of Eli's sons, and he needed to know God's thoughts about it too. God's patience with this would end suddenly. He would do in Israel what would make every ear tingle… and once it began, there would be no delay in carrying it out.
The verses that follow give the reason, and it is not simply that great evil existed.
We are plainly told the reason the Lord deals directly with His people. It is only because they themselves refuse to deal with the evils among them. Terrible evils had gone on among the people of God, yet the evil in itself did not bring God's government down on them. No amount of evil would call out God's government if His people judged the evil themselves. The Lord steps in with judgment because the evil was known and left alone.
Eli himself did not share his sons' sins. That did not shelter him.
Can anything be more striking than God's judgment on this principle, which people treat so lightly? — the allowing of evil, even when you yourself are free from that evil. If you keep company with those who practise sin, or who hold false doctrine, you are clearly held as guilty of that very evil yourself. "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues."
The judgment fell soon after, and a dying mother put a name to it.
As she died, she named her baby son "Ichabod," which means "no glory." The glory had departed from Israel. By turning away from God, Israel had brought this state of "Ichabod" on herself. The ark, the glory of God's presence shown among His people, was gone… In a deeper sense the word "Ichabod" is written over what claims to be the church but has departed from the truth.
Samuel is told before the disaster, not after it.
Samuel, alone with the Lord, is taught by Him the true state of the scene he is in, and the judgment about to fall on it (1 Sam. 3:11–14). That is the only place and way to take in prophetic truth simply and without bias. Such truth is vital to a true witness, because the enemy's cunning always works to keep up a false confidence to the very last moment.
- Heard — every ear that catches the news will ring with it, because what falls on one priest's family falls "in Israel."
- Known — evil by itself did not bring this judgment. Evil known and left alone did. When God's people judge evil themselves, He does not step in.
- Shared — Eli was clear of his sons' sins, yet held guilty by association. Stay tied to evil you will not judge, and you own it.
- Swift — God's patience ended suddenly. Once the judgment began, nothing delayed it.
- Ichabod — the end was the ark taken and the glory gone. Writers see the same word over any church that keeps the forms but leaves the truth.
In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house; I will begin and make an end.
God speaks to the boy Samuel at night, and His first message is a sentence of judgment on Eli's house. Two questions press: why repeat a warning already given, and why does the judgment run straight to its end once it begins?
Nothing in this message is new. God had already sent a man to Eli with the same sentence. One writer gives two purposes for the night message; the second concerns Eli:
The second reason for giving His word to Samuel was to confirm His word to Eli about his guilt concerning his sons. The man of God had already told him this. The law said that two or three witnesses must establish every matter. So the Lord would establish His word with the failing priest, and assure him that what He had spoken before would surely come to pass. Eli might wish to think about it as little as possible, but God would remind him of His word this way.
Older translations end the verse: "when I begin, I will also make an end." That is the sense these writers work from. The judgment has no pause in the middle:
God's patience about this would come to an abrupt end. He confirms to Samuel what He had said before to Eli about his house. Once this began, there would be no delay in its accomplishment.
This message also trains Samuel himself, and the judgment it announces reaches past one family:
Eli had already heard the sentence passed on his house. Now God prepares Samuel for his work as a prophet by telling him plainly of the judgment coming on the priest, and the reason for it. All Israel is to share in the judgment that falls on the priest's family. What the Lord was about to do will take place "in Israel," and make both the ears of everyone who hears it tingle. The Lord Himself is about to act.
If the sentence is already fixed, the repetition looks pointless. One writer reads it the opposite way — as evidence that God is still waiting:
The message confirms the previously announced doom of Eli's house. But why repeat what He had already said so fully? Is not once enough for God? Does it not imply that God still waits for man's repentance, even though He has spoken? That He expects men to cry to Him, and to give Him, so to speak, an opportunity to relent? Why should He warn at all, if not for this?
Eli does not take the opening:
But Eli, though he bows under God's hand, does not turn to Him in this way. His spiritual sense is dulled, so he cannot hear the undertone of pity in the threatening wrath. He has no energy to take up the authority entrusted to him, or to act for the One he has so long ignored. So judgment takes its course.
God does not act here simply because evil exists. He acts because no one dealt with it:
We are told plainly what leads the Lord to deal directly with His people. It is only because they themselves refuse to deal with existing evils. Very evil things had been done among the people of God. Yet the evil in itself did not call forth God's dealing in government. No amount of evil would call forth God's government if the evil is dealt with and judged by the people of God. The Lord intervenes in judgment because the evil was known and not dealt with.
The history confirms the threat word by word, and it took a century to complete:
Eli had sinned through his family, and upon his family the judgment would come. His descendants would die in the prime of life, and Hophni and Phinehas would die on the same day. Everyone left of his house would be driven out of the priest's office and left to beg for bread. The later history gives the solemn fulfilment of these predictions. Hophni and Phinehas are killed in the battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cut off the descendants of Eli's house (1 Sam. 22:18). One hundred years after the prediction, King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27).
- Known — The sin was no secret. God stepped in because the evil was known and no one dealt with it.
- Warned — God had already said it once through the man of God. Repeating it through Samuel establishes the word by a second witness.
- Waited — The repeated warning carries "an undertone of pity." God warns because He expects men to cry to Him.
- Refused — Eli bows under God's hand but never turns to Him. His spiritual sense is dulled, so judgment takes its course.
- Performed — Once it begins, nothing delays it. Hophni and Phinehas fall in one day, Saul cuts off Eli's house, and Solomon removes the last of it.
For I have declared to him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he hath known because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
Eli was the priest and judge of Israel. The sin God names against him is not something he did. It is something he failed to stop. God's word to the boy Samuel raises a hard question: what does God do with a man who knows about evil, can stop it, and only talks?
(The quotes below use an older translation: "his sons made themselves vile." The ESV reads "his sons were blaspheming God.")
One word carries the charge — Eli knew. God does not call him ignorant, and does not say his sons fooled him. He had the position and the right to act, and he left that right unused.
Here is a feature of Eli's spiritual weakening that the first two chapters do not mention: "For the iniquity which he has known, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not" (v. 13). Eli knew the evil. He had authority to stop it in his sons, but he did not use it. What good was that authority to him, when God Himself had given it? How often does the spiritual weakening of the head of a family come from his own slackness? He should have kept order and discipline in the place where God meant his authority to work. This is a great cause of ruin.
Eli was not silent. He spoke to his sons, and what he said was true and serious. But God sums up the whole thing in one line: "he did not restrain them." Words against evil, with the evil left standing, count for nothing.
Eli hears of all his sons' wickedness and calls them to account. His words are strong and good. But what use are good, strong words when the strong arm of judgment should fall? The law set the penalty for such sacrilege: death. Why did Eli not show himself truly zealous for the Lord's honor? Ah, words, mere words, however strong, are worse than sharing openly in the guilt. Worse, for the man who utters them knows the evil and goes on with it.
Eli held three offices at once, and each of them gave him a means of acting that he never used.
Eli stands toward these shameless offenders as father, high priest, and judge in Israel, all at once. Yet he does nothing, and only shows how powerless he is. Age alone cannot explain it... He never uses the rod placed in his hands, though it might even have saved his sons. He lets them run unchecked toward the judgment of God, which he sees coming but does nothing effective to prevent.
Behind the failure lies a choice about who matters most.
Parents who allow and approve their children in any evil way, and do not use their authority to restrain and punish them, in effect honor their children more than God. They care more for their children's reputation than for His glory. They want to honor them more than they want to honor Him.
Eli did none of the things his sons did. Yet the judgment falls on his house. That points to a principle about staying joined to people who practise evil.
Can anything be more striking than God's judgment on this principle, which men treat so lightly — the allowance of evil? You may be free from that evil yourself. Yet if you are associated with those who practise sin, or hold false doctrine, God holds you guilty of that very evil. "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues."
God's sentence in this verse falls on Eli's house, not on Eli alone. The reason lies in a principle God never sets aside: a man and his household belong together.
Here we see that whatever the personal character of a servant of God may be, if he fails to rule his own house properly, God will not hold him guiltless. Eli should have restrained his sons... he broke his neck about the house of God, because he had not broken his heart about his own house. Suppose he had waited on God about his stubborn sons. Suppose he had acted faithfully and carried out the holy duties given to him. Then the house of God would never have been dishonoured, and the ark of God would never have been taken. In a word, if he had treated his house as part of himself, and made it what it ought to be, he would not have brought down on himself the heavy judgment of Him whose principle it is never to separate the words, "you and your house."
- Knew. The charge is "the iniquity that he knew" — Eli had the facts and the authority, and used neither.
- Spoke. He protested, but words without action are worse than open guilt. The man who speaks them knows the evil and goes on with it.
- Honoured. Leaving a child uncorrected honours the child above God. It guards his reputation instead of God's glory.
- Shared. Your own clean hands do not cover you. Stay joined to people who practise evil, and God counts that evil as yours.
- Lost. Eli broke his neck at the house of God because he had never broken his heart over his own house — and the ark was taken.
And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated with sacrifice or oblation for ever.
Samuel's first message as a prophet is one no child would want to carry. God has sworn an oath against the family of Eli, the priest who had raised him. The words shut a door: no sacrifice, no offering, ever. How can there be a sin the altar cannot cover?
The charge against Eli is not that he joined his sons. It is that he let their wickedness stand:
His sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them. His mild protests did not restrain them at all. In contrast, God backed His words to Eli with a solemn oath: no sacrifice or offering would ever purge this iniquity. For this willful sin there was no offering. God must act in judgment.
Eli's own end mirrored what he had neglected at home:
Eli should have restrained his sons... he broke his neck about the house of God, because he had not broken his heart about his own house. Suppose he had waited on God about sons who went their own way. Suppose he had acted faithfully and carried out the holy responsibilities resting on him. Then the house of God would never have been defiled, and the ark of God would not have been taken.
Whether an offering can cover a sin is not for the sinner to decide. It rests with God alone:
If God appoints something that can make atonement, well and good. If He does not, nothing can ever purge the offender's iniquity. So no sacrifice or offering was ever to purge the iniquity of Eli's house (1 Sam. 3:14)... What a solemn thought this is! Thank God the sinner's case is not beyond remedy if he listens to God. The cases referred to are those of people who reject God's testimony. But God must prescribe the remedy, and the offender must submit to it.
Not every offence had a remedy at the altar, and these offenders were priests themselves:
There were offences that no sacrifice could purge. "Anyone who set aside the law of Moses died without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses," says Heb. 10:28. And these priests did in a way despise God's holy ordinances, which they knew.
The words "for ever" were not a figure of speech. The sentence ran on through generations, and mercy along the way did not cancel it:
Ahimelech belonged to the house of Eli, and God's judgment had doomed that house to be wiped out because of the wickedness at Shiloh... In line with this judgment, Eli's descendants were all killed at Nob, with one exception. God had not forgotten the mercy Ahimelech showed to His anointed. So Abiathar was spared, and he represented the junior house of Aaron all through David's reign. Solomon later removed him, and this fulfilled what the Lord had said about the house of Eli in Shiloh (1 Kings 2:27).
The principle behind the sentence reaches past Eli, and one writer turns it on the reader:
Can anything be more striking than God's judgment on this principle that men treat so lightly? You may be free of an evil yourself. Yet if you allow it, and stay tied to people who practise sin or hold false doctrine, God holds you guilty of that very evil. "Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins."
The oath is not God's last word on priesthood. Alongside the sentence stands a promise:
Man had profaned God's ordinance of priesthood, and for this God would set His own order aside. Yet He said, "I will raise up a faithful priest, who will do what is in My heart and in My mind, and I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before My anointed for ever." How refreshing it is to the weary soul to see mercy rejoicing over judgment again and again. Everything that failed in man's responsibility is made sure in the hands of One who alone is "the faithful and true Witness."
One priesthood could fail. The other rests on an oath:
Israel's priesthood under the law rested on the priests keeping their place in faithfulness to God. It was conditional. The oath to Eli was an oath of irreversible judgment on his house (1 Sam. 3:14). And this setting aside of the house of Eli was to raise up a faithful Priest... the Priest who is made with an oath.
- Known — Eli knew the evil in his house and never stopped it. Mild protest is not the same as dealing with sin.
- Sworn — God settled the sentence with an oath, so nothing could reverse it. The same oath language later marks out a Priest who cannot fail.
- Unpurged — only God appoints what can make atonement. Where He appoints none, there is none — and these priests despised the ordinances they handled.
- Shared — you can be free of an evil yourself and still be held guilty for staying tied to those who practise it.
- Replaced — the house cut off at Nob, and removed at last under Solomon, made room for the faithful priest God promised. Judgment ends in mercy.