| January 16, 2000 | The Listening Servant | 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1 Samuel 3:10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
In our Old Testament Lesson we are presented with the account of the calling of Samuel to be the Lord's prophet as he is given his first message to deliver. Now, who was Samuel? At the time of our text, he was just a boy who lived in the temple or tabernacle of the Lord and he served under Eli the priest.
The opening chapters of the bible book 1 Samuel contain information about Samuel's birth. He was born to his mother Hannah, who previously had been childless. Hannah came to the Temple of the Lord which was in the city of Shiloh and she prayed faithfully seeking the gift of a child. She promised to dedicate her child to the service of the Lord if she were so blessed. Well, she was blessed and she named her child with the Hebrew phrase "Samuel," which in English means "heard by the Lord." The generic word for God in Hebrew is "el" and you can hear that at the end of the name "Samu-el." Hannah's prayers had been heard by the Lord. As soon as this child was weaned, he was given to the priest Eli to live in the temple and serve the Lord. Samuel was essentially an adoptive son of Eli. Now, Samuel was a young child in the situation in our text, perhaps 12 years old, though he could have been much younger. Eli, on the other hand, was very old. It says in our text that Eli's eyesight was failing him.
This account of Samuel fits between two major periods of the history of Old Testament Israel. There was the period of the judges and then came the period of the kings. Samuel fits between these. Our text notes that he came into a time when prophecy was rare. The Word of the Lord was precious. In other words, God was not speaking through men.
It says in our NIV translation that there were not many visions. Literally, in the original Hebrew, it says that a vision or prophecy had not broken through. This gives a good picture of what it means for God to deliver a prophecy. He must break through from the divine to the human realm and step down to our level. Up to this time, there was not a prophecy breaking through, but that was soon to change through Samuel. As a young boy, Samuel did not know the Lord in the special way of the prophet. The Lord had not yet revealed His Word to Samuel. Now He was going to do so.
So, the Lord comes to Samuel during the night. Apparently it was nearing daylight, for the Lamp of Yahweh had not yet extinguished. This was a lamp which was to be kept burning all night. We translate this lamp into our eternal lamp today. The lamp, always aflame, symbolizes God's constant presence with us.
So, Samuel and Eli were lying down in their bedrooms and Samuel hears his name called. With Eli's advanced age and poor eyesight, Samuel naturally assumes that Eli needs something and he goes to him and gives the common Hebrew greeting, "hin-nay-nee" meaning "Here I am." This is still a common greeting in contemporary Israel, used much like our use of "hello."
Now, Eli had not called Samuel. He may have been asleep. So, he tells Samuel to go back and go to sleep. So, then it happens again, "Samuel." Again he goes to Eli and Eli says he didn't call him. Eli demonstrates what seems to be a growing patience, this time addressing Samuel as "my son." Again Samuel goes back and lies down. Then it happens a third time.
Now perhaps we adults can imagine loosing patience with a young child who is hearing voices in the night. Eli does not seem to lose patience. In fact what we have seems to be a very deliberate and patient action by our God to break through with His prophecy. By repeating this call so many times, God demonstrates that He is actually speaking to Samuel. Both Samuel and Eli know it. After the third time, Eli prepares Samuel for his response when the Lord would call him again. Eli instructs him to respond, "Speak Yahweh, for listening is your servant." So Samuel goes back and lies down again and waits for that call.
The call comes again, but the fourth time seems to be different. The text says that the Lord came and He presented Himself. Perhaps there was a physical manifestation of God with Samuel. Then, that now familiar call came, "Samuel." This time is was repeated: "Samuel, Samuel." Samuel responds with the same response the Eli gave him: "Speak Yahweh, for listening is your servant."
Now that phrase that Samuel used, given from Eli makes an important point. You will notice that the form I used was not quite the same as the New International Version. That version translated it in more polished English to be: "Speak Lord for your servant is listening." I, on the other had, was giving you the literal translation from the Hebrew, preserving the word order. So, rather than "your servant is listening" it is "listening is your servant." Now, you might think this has the same meaning in English, but in Hebrew the word order is very important. The words that come first in the sentence have more emphasis. With our text putting the servant at the end, the importance of the servant is lowered. The act of listening is more important than who is a servant. This is what we might call "humble listening." Listening to the Word of the Lord in such a way that we put ourselves last. Notice how the Lord, or Yahweh is at the beginning of the sentence just after the action that He is doing. "You do the speaking Lord" comes at the beginning, emphasizing the Lord and what he is doing. The listening servant comes at the end of the sentence.
Now, how do you apply the text before us to your life? Naturally, you would reflect upon your own actions of listening to the Lord. How is your listening? Do you really hear the Word of the Lord or do you let the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful? Do you turn your ears to the pure Word of God or do you gather around yourself a great number of teachers to say what your itching ears want to hear?
We need to also reflect upon our listening to see if we come at it from a humble position. Have we put the servant doing the listening at the bottom and the God doing the speaking at the top? Do we humbly submit ourselves to His Word, or do we apply human reason when we don't like what God has to say?
Failing to have humility are those who would consider the account of Samuel and decide that they too must seek to hear God speak to them in voices, personally, outside of His written, objective Word, the Scriptures. Many today are seeking voices and visions. We are never told if God would or would not speak to people today in voices. We cannot rule that out as a possiblity. However, if we go out and actively seek to hear these voices we are putting the servant at the top and the speaker at the bottom. We are emphasizing ourselves. Samuel did not go and seek to hear God speak, but rather, God came to him when God decided to do it. If we seek to hear voices, we would have the attitude that suggests that we can compel God into speaking to us.
All this is done in ignorance of the fact that God has indeed spoken to us through His Son and He has spoken in the written Word. The Scriptures are all we really need. We don't need to seek additional revelation from God. To do so, denies that what we have is valuable and abundant. What was spoken through Jesus was the final word. "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son" says Hebrews 1:1-2. This is the third Sunday in a row that you have heard that text, so you should just about have it memorized.
Further, seeking to hear a voice or see a vision, if we should experience this, leaves us with the question as to whether it is really from God. How can you tell? How do you know it is not an invention of your own imagination? We also know that the working of Satan is accompanied with all power, signs, and lying wonders. How would we know if Satan was the one speaking to us? The only way to be sure is if it matches the Word of God which we already have. If you hear a voice speak something to you which is not from the Bible, then I would urge you to doubt that it is from God.
So, we let the Word of God come to us as Law, showing us our sins in our failure to listen to God as we ought. We see our sinfulness in not listening to what we have and instead seeking other words elsewhere. Now, what can be done about this sin? Should I send you away to try harder to satisfy the requirements of God? Shall we go home and try to do better to listen and hope that we can do it well enough so that we will be free of sin? No, unfortunately, we can never earn our salvation that way. No matter how hard we try, we will not listen well enough to be free from sin.
The answer to sin is not in our works. Rather, the answer to sin comes from one who answered the call of God, like Samuel did. The answer is in the one who heard the call to die on the cross and answered. He is the one who heard the call to life in the resurrection and answered.
He is the one who became the humble servant at the bottom listening to the call of the Father. He "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
The answer to sin came through the one called Teacher and Lord. It came through him called "good." It came from the one called "Jesus."
He is the one who calls us now through Baptism, as Acts 2:38-39 says: "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." We are called to believe that our sins are forgiven by the Servant who listened for our benefit. All glory and honor to our Listening Servant, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.