Sermon Central
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1 Samuel 3:1
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Oct 21, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: In this sermon we take a look at Samuel's heritage and how he came to minister before the Lord under Eli, and, why the Lord was quiet in the days preceding Samuel's time as the prophet of Israel.
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Today we will be reading from 1 Samuel 3
Last week we took a look at the first two chapters of 1 Samuel.
Israel was about to emerge from the time of the Judges. That was the period when Israel was ruled by judges. That period lasted about 150 years and it spanned from the death of Joshua and to the anointing of King Saul to be the first King of Israel.
In many churches and to many who proclaim to be followers of Jesus that last statement would be meaningless. Why?
Because even though America is flooded with Bibles, most self-proclaimed Christians either do not know what is in the Bible or choose to reject what is found there.
Many who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ don’t know who Joshua was and what he did, they don’t know about the time of the Judges of Israel, they don’t know the tragedy of King Saul’s life and they don’t know the character of our God who relentlessly pursued His unfaithful people for centuries until He finally granted them their desire to be rid of Him.
These followers of Jesus, who don’t know what is in the Bible, only follow what they think they know about God if they ever really give any consideration to Him at all.
May this never be said of the people of Crossroads! We are people of The Book and that Book is the Bible.
Please join me in your Bibles as we read: 1 Samuel 3
(Prayer for help)
Let’s look again at 1 Samuel 3:1a where it says,
“The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli ….”
This is interesting because from the time of Moses there were two classes of priests in Israel. There were those of the tribe of Levi. This group was known as the Levitical priesthood. They would tend to the care of the Tabernacle and everything that was needed except for serving before the Lord in actual sacrifices.
And then, within the tribe of Levi there was the line of those who were direct descendants of Aaron. These were the priest who could offer sacrifices on the altar and enter into the Most Holy place where the Ark of the Covenant was located.
Levi and his two sons were from the line of Aaron but Samuel was from both the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Ephraim. Samuel was technically a Levite but we see that “The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli …” meaning that Samuel was ministering as a priest from the line of Aaron.
How could he do that? It is most likely that Eli legally adopted Samuel which brought him into the line of Aaron.
In the second half of 1 Samuel 3:1b it says,
“In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.”
Why was that? Why wasn’t the Lord speaking through Eli?
Eli had one great failing. Eli served the Lord faithfully except for his lack of control over his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.
1 Samuel 2:12-17 tells it like this …
“Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD. Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself.
“This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, ‘Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.’
[This person who is referred to as “the priest’s servant” was most likely one of the Levitical priests and was apparently under the influence of Hophni and Phinehas because he was doing what was unlawful according to the sacrificial law.]
