This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Samuel 1-7” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 7, 1997.
About this sermon
Samuel eclipses Eli here much as Christ eclipses the Levitical priesthood itself, a pattern set from Samuel’s very first calling. That calling establishes the template Isaiah and Jeremiah will later follow, the prophet like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18. Even Eli’s own resigned confession, ‘it is the LORD,’ shows something closer to New Testament faith than expected.
Sermon transcript
We will begin our reading this morning in Deuteronomy 18, we will move to 1 Samuel 3, and we will conclude in Acts 3. This is Deuteronomy 18, and we are reading from verse 15. I’ll give you attention to God’s word. This is a reading from the New American Standards version.
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen. You shall listen to him. This is according to all that you ask of the Lord your God in Horb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God. Let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die. The Lord said to me, they have spoken well.
I will raise up a prophet from among the countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.’
Then turning over to 1 Samuel 3, beginning at verse 1. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli, and the word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place, now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well, and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, that the Lord called Samuel, and he said, Here I am.
Then he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. He said, I did not call, lie down again. So he went and lay down. The Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. But he answered, I did not call my son, lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time, and he arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy.
And Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be if he calls you that you shall say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Then the Lord came and stood and called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening.
The Lord said to Samuel, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle, and that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.
So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son, and he said, here I am. He said, What is the word that he spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also if you hide anything from me of all the words that he spoke to you. So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him, and he said, It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.
Thus Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fail. All Israel from then, even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord, and the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
This is verse 22. Moses said, The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. To him you shall give heed to everything he says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. And likewise all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announce these days.
It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. For you first God raised up his son and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.
The first verse of 1 Samuel 3, at least at its beginning, has us looking over our shoulder. But before we are done today, I trust that we will be looking into the glory of God. The first sentence of that first verse in chapter 3 reads, Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. This sentence has us looking backward, as it were, over our shoulder, because it reads almost word for word like the last sentence in 1 Samuel 2 verse 11. A sentence that reads this way, But the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. Now I’m sure that in hearing those two sentences read to you that you can pick up the slight changes between them. There are a couple. One change is this.
In chapter 2, verse 11, Eli is clearly identified as, quote, the priest, unquote. But you note in the description in chapter 3 verse 1, that approach to Eli disappears. As the description of Eli the priest disappears, we are witnessing then the departure of the priesthood itself from Eli. This being worked out in narrative form for you as the writer makes his way through the story.
Samuel’s rise will mean Eli’s demise. Eli’s divestiture from office means Samuel’s investiture with office. But Samuel’s movement into the priesthood is greater than just the replacement of a man with a boy. For it anticipates the great transition, the great movement that is coming. It anticipates the arrival of the priesthood of Jesus Christ himself. As Samuel displaces Eli then, so Jesus Christ displaces the entirety of the Old Testament priestly order.
An order known for its imperfections, its limitations, and even its corruptions now, as we reflect upon Eli and his family. But the entirety of this Old Testament priestly order is destined to be overcome in a greater administration still, in the administration of a heavenly sanctuary. This opened up by a final sacrifice which has as its purpose the perfecting of the consciences of the people of God, and that through the faithful mediation of the only one by whom the saints of God are to persevere in their faith unto the end.
I’ve pretty much given you a summary of the epistle to the Hebrews. Samuel’s emerging priesthood, therefore, in the way in which it overtakes Eli’s, does in fact help us, even as we stare into the Old Testament story, to appreciate better the greater and more monumental movement in the history of salvation, when the exalted everlasting, righteous priesthood of Jesus Christ eclipses the earthbound, temporal, limited, even corrupted priesthood of the Levitical order.
Here you have a preview of what’s coming. But those of you who have been here for the duration of these messages on 1 Samuel know that I’ve said all of this before. And you may be wondering to yourself this morning, why is he saying it again? Well, it is actually in the interest of another change. that we observe as we move from 1 Samuel 2 verse 11 to 1 Samuel 3 verse 1. It is in the interests of that change that I press on in this message, for that change will alert us to a further element still, a yet newer element being introduced into Samuel’s story at this point.
You see, that other change from 2.11 to 3.1 is this. 2.11 doesn’t mention Samuel’s name. 3.1 does. Now I know what some of you are thinking. How in the world does he make so much of so little? And why in heaven’s name does he bother? Or you might be saying to yourself, if you’ve been here for the duration of the series, Oh no, we’re going over that lean thing again.
You might recall, Charlie, that you preached on that issue long ago, when you were taking up the difference between chapter 2, verse 11, and verse 18 in that same chapter, where we observed the same phenomenon. Now, I haven’t forgotten what I said to you about the difference between 2.11 and 2.18, but you will notice that the appearance of Samuel’s name in that 2.18 text, yes, in contrast to what is in 2.11, was for the purpose of furthering your consideration of the displacement of Eli by Samuel and his coming priesthood. The priesthood was in view as you move from 2.11 to 2.18. And that is why in 2.18 Samuel appears not only named, in contrast to 2.11, but clothed.
Clothed with the linen ephod. I ask you, who wears the linen ephod? Well, not every boy in Israel. the linen ephod is a priestly garment. And even at this juncture, then, you are being instructed that by the way Samuel dresses, he is preparing to display Eli.
But the fact now that Samuel’s name appears in the first verse of the third chapter, And that, in deliberate contrast to what we find in chapter 2, verse 11, serves an entirely different purpose. In you, here, is not so much the contrast between Samuel and Eli, although that is still there.
Wait, it is still there. But much more immediately, the introduction of his name at this point serves as a means to contrast him to the enigmatic figure that appears at the end of chapter 2, specifically the unnamed man of God who is presented to you in verse 27. Isn’t it strange that this man comes out of nowhere? He comes with no name, seemingly no identity other than the fact that he is the man of God, and he speaks to Eli. But his namelessness now stands in contrast to Samuel, whose name is in prominence. Then the man of God came to Eli and said to him, thus says the Lord.”
Here is someone, then, it seems, who stands in prophet’s style, in prophet’s style. We’re changing gears. We’ve been talking about priests. But here is one at the end of chapter 2 who stands in prophet style before Eli, delivering a prophet’s message.
He is the Lord’s ambassador, his envoy. He is his word-bearer. But now as we begin the third chapter, Samuel Samuel is going to line up beside him, this one who has just delivered the message previously. He is going to line up beside him, and yes, even in some remarkable ways, contrast him. As Samuel’s service, as the Lord’s messenger, as the Lord’s ambassador, his envoy, as the replaces even the service that is rendered by the unnamed man of God.
This stuff is intricate and meant to be powerful. This means then that as much as 1 Samuel 3 wishes us to be carried along With the theme of the replacement of Eli’s priesthood with Samuel’s priesthood, it means even more to tell us about Samuel as the coming, greater, definitive prophet. Here he comes. The word might have been rare. previously, and the visions infrequent, but no more, because there is going to be an explosion of revelation. Now, the first Samuel 3 has this as its theme, namely, the prophethood of Samuel, seems to be irrefutable from the text itself.
To begin with, we have the simple matter of the parameters of the chapter. Look at them. You have the second sentence in verse 1. The rarity of the word, the infrequency of visions. This statement in itself demands resolution. It is forcing you, through the story, to a conclusion. It is seeking resolution. We anticipate then, even as we read it, the change which an answer to this predicament sets before us. And that answer has arrived in full force by the time you reach the chapter’s end. For there you read paraphrased form. The Lord was with Samuel and let none of his words fail. All Israel knew Samuel was the prophet of the Lord because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by his word. Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
Pervasive, powerful, overwhelming, standing in direct contrast to what you had read at the beginning of the chapter. The problem at the beginning of 1 Samuel 3 was in fact, yes, a lack of a prophet. It would seem that even more than that, the lack of an age of the prophet. a transformation in history itself, in which the prophetic reality impressed itself upon the consciousness of the people of God. The theme of 1 Samuel 3, then, is the call of Samuel as a prophet in light of the great transition in salvation history, which the Lord in his sovereignty is affecting. It is further observed along these lines that we find in the course of chapter 3 many indications that now we have in Samuel a pattern for the callings of other prophets. Some commentators have made a great deal out of the temple environment. You will note in verse 3 that the temple is specifically mentioned. That might strike you as an optimistic. because you realize that the temple hasn’t been built yet. But there it is. Did the writer make a mistake? No, he’s making a theological point. There is a connection.
Say, some commentators in this temple environment with what we find later in the call of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 6. Further, so the commentators, we find link with other prophets around the issue of Samuel’s age. He was but a boy. He is described as such. The age problem is raised later by the prophet Jeremiah, you may recall. He says to the Lord, in his response to the Lord’s call, I’m but a youth. You’ve got the wrong person.
So there are these words, but as we have already intimated, It is not enough for us merely to note the parallels between Samuel’s call to office as a prophet and the call of others. It is not enough to rightly identify the theme of 1 Samuel 3 as the theme of Samuel’s prophethood. It is not enough to rightly match the beginning and the end of this chapter. It is not enough just to see in Samuel another prophet.
For there are hints running through this chapter that suggest something far greater still, that to which we have already pointed. For one thing, we find the extraordinary language in verse 10 about the actions of the Lord. These are unique. We are told that the Lord comes and he stands. before Samuel in order to issue his call. I judge that the closest language to this sort of reference that we can find in scripture is the description that we have of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. where God in his glory resided during the period of the Exodus and at the time of the building of the Temple. Now I realize that making that observation may force me to alter some comments that I made last week about Psalm 99. I think that there is a way out for me, but I won’t go into that right now. I will merely make this point.
Here in verse 10, there is a deliberate and a close tie being established specifically between Moses and Sam. And as much as Moses is set apart in being prisoned to the cloud of the Lord, so also is Samuel in his call. This is an extraordinary call. Also in verse 18, we have recorded now something of the effect of Samuel’s ministry as prophet. For you will note here that Eli responds to the message that comes from Samuel with words of remarkable spiritual strength. We are struck by them because we may not be prepared for them given our estimations of Enoch.
He’s caught up in corruption. He’s defended his sons. He’s stood for them and honored them before he’s honored the Lord. And now he has received this crushing message, and the response that he gives to that message, as it’s mediated unto him through Samuel, is one of remarkable spiritual strength. He says in response, it is the Lord. It’s almost as if he were confessing. It is the Lord.
Let him do what seems good to him. I will tell you with regard to these words. They are reaching out to another age. They are far ahead of their time. They are striking right at the heart of the response to the gospel that will come from the lips of Jews in a latter time.
When they are visited with devastation and they look upon their plight, it will be those Jews who cry out, it is the Lord, let him do what is good in his sight, that are vindicated in their vindication of God. They will be justified in their justification of the Lord. The very spirit of justification by faith is speaking now in what you hear in the voice of Eli, as if he is undergoing conversion through the voice of this prophet. Like unto those conversions coming, when the emissaries of the gospel will proclaim divine grace, even though it comes through the awful horrors visited upon Israel.
The reason that I raise this point is because the presence of this response from Eli to Samuel, as I say, is so striking, not simply because of its content, but because of its position. Because you see, at the end of Chapter 2, there is no response from Eli.
We are moving from one administration to another, and I am telling you, the latter administration is infinitely more effective. That is the administration in which you have been privileged to live, to which you have been privileged to respond. yourselves. I’ll ask you, can you say, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him. If you can’t, Eli is a better man than you.
Linkage to Moses making Samuel extraordinary, response where previously it was wanton, This too attached to Samuel’s ministry, and then we come to verse 19, where we are told that not one of Samuel’s words failed. Now I know that you wouldn’t expect anything less from a prophet of the Lord, but it is striking that the comment is made as if it had to be made. Not one word of Samuel failed. as if you had now entered into an administration that has this effectiveness and power and sufficiency that was lacking previously, that wasn’t there. The cumulative effect of all of this makes Samuel, from his call, the most extraordinary of figures. Even a prophet who was unique, one who was in fact like Moses, blessed by God, with special service to perform.
Moses spoke of just such a figure, you will recall, recording it on the planes of Moab in Deuteronomy 18, where he reported to Israel God’s promise to raise up a prophet like unto Moses, a prophet whose ministry would be the dividing line between life and death, between one age and another, between heaven and hell. Oh, that we were hearing that message this weekend. What a monumental travesty to the Church of Jesus Christ. Where is the prophetic word?
We see that prophet then, that extraordinary prophet, yes, the form of him in Samuel. So extraordinary is Samuel’s ministry that it stands higher than all the ministries that preceded his. They are all thieves and robbers in comparison to him. His is the landmark ministry. His is the landmark office. His is the landmark prophecy. He separates the times into the ministry before him and that ministry that belongs to him.
This is the significance, then, of that unnamed man of God at the end of 1 Samuel 2. You may have been wondering why he appears at all, for his message is merely repeated, it seems, by Samuel when you come to 1 Samuel 3. He appears, you see, as representative of the entirety of the prophetic ministry that precedes up to the ministry of the promised prophet, Samuel. The pattern is set. just as Moses and all who were with him give way to the promised prophet who is like him. So the unnamed man of God at the end of 1 Samuel 2 gives way to Samuel, the one in whom the pattern of the promised prophet appears. But of course the true and final prophet, the promised prophet, is not Samuel at all, is it? Samuel becomes landmark prophet in anticipation of one infinitely greater than himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has literally raised up, even from the dead.
The one whom Peter in Acts 3.22 declares to be, in fact, the great landmark prophet, by whom the ages are divided, by the population of heaven and hell are determined. Now that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, has ascended to heaven, has dispensed his word to the world through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we are commanded of God, who yes, even in the administration of Christ’s ministry, appeared in the cloud once more to speak to Peter, James, and John, saying, hear ye him.
For as the Lord said through Moses, it shall come about that whoever will not listen to my word, which my prophet will speak in my name, I will require it of him. of you. I put it to you then, just as God has sent to you the final priest, he has sent to you the final prophet. And just as there is no further priest for the people of God but Christ, by whom you are to be saved, so there is no further prophet but Christ, that one who speaks through the scriptures, from whom you are alone to hear the word from God. Are you listening?
Father, if we become confused in the details, let us be certain about the main points. That even as you were calling and establishing your servant Samuel, you were placing before your people that preview of what was coming in the grand, glorious priesthood of Christ, in the grand, glorious prophethood. of our Savior. Now, Lord, may we own his mediation exclusively, and may we embrace his word, and that alone, even over against all other authorities and all other voices.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.