1 Samuel 3:1-20, Psalm 139:1-6, Psalm 139:13-18, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Psalm 81:1-10, 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, Mark 2:23-28, Mark 3:1-6
A). THE CALL OF SAMUEL AND THE FALL OF ELI.
1 Samuel 3:1-20.
I). HE IS CALLING YOU BY NAME.
1 Samuel 3:1-10.
The days of the Saviour-Judges were drawing to a close and, as in our own days, “the word of the LORD was rare” (1 Samuel 3:1). There was a dearth in the land, but not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God (Amos 8:11). For the present, civil and religious power resided in a declining priesthood - but in time this would give way to a new order of prophets, then a new order of kings - culminating in the manifestation the King of kings.
1. The Call of God (1 Samuel 3:1-8).
The name of Samuel means “the LORD hears” (1 Samuel 1:20). Eli’s name means “my God” - a name which appears again in Jesus’ cry of dereliction from the Cross (Matthew 27:46). There is a touch of irony in the fact that Samuel heard the LORD, but thought it was the old priest.
Although he was employed in the temple, Samuel did not yet know the LORD (1 Samuel 3:7). Churches sometimes do not lack workers, but working in a church is not what puts us on a right standing with God. It is necessary to have a personal encounter with the Lord.
Length of service is not what commends us to God, either. Eli, the old priest, was failing in his sight (1 Samuel 3:2). This was true physically, but also to a certain extent spiritually. Eli’s sons were turning out bad, and he chose to turn a blind eye to their sin (1 Samuel 3:13).
The call of God is what makes all the difference in our lives. We do not have to be on our death bed - or dying on a cross next to the Cross of Jesus (Luke 23:42-43) - in order to hear His word of mercy. Young people, we are exhorted to ‘remember our Creator in the days of our youth’ (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Older people, it is not too late to ‘seek the LORD while He may be found’ (Isaiah 55:6).
Mercifully, the LORD called young Samuel “before the lamp of God went out” (1 Samuel 3:3). This is not only a call to salvation, but also a call to a specific service. There is plenty of work to be done in God’s vineyard, but the labourers are few (Matthew 9:37).
2. The Right Response (1 Samuel 3:9-10).
Although he was losing his spiritual perceptiveness, Eli at last realised - after his sleep had been interrupted the third time - that it was the LORD who was calling Samuel (1 Samuel 3:8). Even in his spiritual drowsiness, the gift of discernment had not yet quite passed from him. We are reminded of another high priest who, solely on account of his office, prophesied things which were beyond his understanding (John 11:49-52). Sometimes the truth comes out of unworthy lips.
Three times Samuel had run to Eli. As far as the boy was concerned, since he did not know the LORD, he was being obedient. Every time his name had been called, he had dutifully run to his master saying, “Here I am!”
Now at last Eli gave him instructions in how, and to whom, rightly to respond: “Speak LORD; for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9). At the fourth call, Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). Samuel did not at this point mention the name of the LORD.
We must test the voices we hear, in order to discern whether they are from God (1 John 4:1). Perhaps Samuel was still unsure of this whisper in the night. Or perhaps he feared to take the name of the LORD upon his lips in case he spoke unworthily.
The right response to the call of God is the willing response. The voice which the disciples heard in the mount of transfiguration instructed us to listen to Jesus (Mark 9:7). The mother of Jesus rightly advised the servants at the wedding feast to ‘do whatever he tells you’ (John 2:5).
The Good Shepherd is calling us by name (John 10:3). I wonder what specific service He is calling us to today, and what our response shall be? Speak Lord, for your servant is listening… ‘Here am I; send me’ (Isaiah 6:8).
II). A FAILING PRIESTHOOD.
1 Samuel 3:11-20.
What an initiation into the ministry of God’s Word! The boy Samuel was now informed of the judgment which the LORD had already given against the house of Eli (1 Samuel 3:12-14; cf. 1 Samuel 2:30-31). No wonder the LORD warned Samuel that it would cause both his ears to tingle (1 Samuel 3:11)!
This prophecy came at such a time as when ‘the Word of the LORD was rare’ (1 Samuel 3:1), there being ‘no widespread revelation.’ Days when there was a dearth in the land: but ‘not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD’ (cf. Amos 8:11). Days like our own.
Samuel, too, ‘did not yet know the LORD’ (1 Samuel 3:7) - but that was about to change. Mercifully, the LORD called young Samuel ‘before the lamp of God went out’ (1 Samuel 3:3). This is both a temporal reference, and a spiritual one.
The priest Eli was blind in two senses. The old man’s eyes were dim of sight (1 Samuel 3:2); and, metaphorically speaking, he was turning a blind eye to the sins of his sons (1 Samuel 2:29). Yet he had been warned that the LORD would take both his sons in one day (1 Samuel 2:34)!
Now young Samuel, through fear, chose not to reveal the vision to Eli (1 Samuel 3:15). After all, the boy was not told by the LORD to tell the old priest what he already knew. But Eli (whose name means ‘my God’) called Samuel (whose name means ‘God hears’), and he answered as before: “Here I am” (1 Samuel 3:16).
Eli asked Samuel, and threatened him: and Samuel told him everything (1 Samuel 3:17-18). And Eli recognised that it was the word of the LORD, and could only concede: “Let Him do what seems good to Him.” And so, it came to pass.
But, to his credit (perhaps), Eli was more upset at the capture of the Ark of the Covenant than at the death of his two wayward sons (1 Samuel 4:17-18). Eli died that day, too.
It is a sad situation when those who are meant to be lights in the church fall so sadly astray. But there is hope. God was going to raise up a new priesthood. One that would be according to His own heart (1 Samuel 2:35).
Now, after this experience, the child Samuel continued to ‘grow up before the LORD’ (cf. 1 Samuel 2:21); and “the LORD was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19).
The dearth of the word of the LORD was over. “And all Israel knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:20).
If we did not know better, we might wonder whether this new priesthood would come from the Ephraimite boy who was already serving so well in the tabernacle. But this new priesthood would not come from the family of Samuel. On any account, Samuel’s sons would be just as bad as those of Eli (1 Samuel 8:3) - which is what led the people to demand a king (1 Samuel 8:4-5).
Yet Saul failed in his kingship, and was wrong to arrogate the initiative of the priesthood to himself (1 Samuel 13:8-9; 1 Samuel 13:13-14). ‘The man after God’s own heart’ turned out to be David (cf. Acts 13:22). And the promised perfect priesthood is ultimately fulfilled in ‘great David’s greater Son’: our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus appeared in the Temple as a baby, without being noticed by many more than two people (Luke 2:22). Then Jesus appeared in the Temple as a boy of twelve, and astonished all who heard His wisdom (Luke 2:47). Jesus came to establish a new covenant, and to make the once for all, final, and satisfactory sacrifice for the sins of His people (cf. Hebrews 9:28).
Now the Lord creates a new worship and a new people, and establishes a priesthood of all believers.
B). KNOWN BY GOD.
Psalm 139:1-6, Psalm 139:13-18.
What convinced me of the reality of the God of the Bible - 'the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Ephesians 1:3) - was not intellectual argument, but personal encounter.
This occurred in two phases: first in a sense of guilt and dread at the presence of God on account of my very real sinfulness (Isaiah 6:5); then (secondly) in an enormous sigh of relief when I finally yielded to Jesus, recognising all He had done for me. I found that the perceived darkness which had been pursuing me was nothing other than the shadow of the Almighty covering me (Psalm 91:1).
PSALM 139:1-6.
When we read Psalm 139, sometimes it is hard to tell whether we should read it with a sense of dread. The LORD knows me (Psalm 139:1). He knows everything I am doing (Psalm 139:2). He knows where I am going (Psalm 139:3). He knows my every word even before it is spoken (Psalm 139:4).
Or whether our sense of the LORD hemming us in (Psalm 139:5) has more to do with gratitude at His protection than with any sense of foreboding.
This might depend upon whether we are looking at the LORD from outside a personal relationship, or from within. Either way, the concept of an all-knowing God is quite incomprehensible to the finite mind (Psalm 139:6).
PSALM 139:13-18.
God’s knowledge of us far exceeds our knowledge of Him. It was not a bad thing that He hemmed us in when we were in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). This should inform our ethics: it is the LORD who creates the embryo, each one individually (Psalm 139:14).
He was there for us before our beginning (Psalm 139:15). It is the LORD who numbers our days (Psalm 139:16).
The LORD has us in mind, for good (Psalm 139:17). Every morning we experience new mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23) - even in the midst of tribulations (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Each day when we awake - and ultimately on the day of resurrection - we are still with the LORD (Psalm 139:18).
C). THE SANCTITY OF THE SABBATH.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
The Sabbath is to be “kept” and “sanctified” (i.e. set apart for God) - as the LORD our God has commanded (DEUTERONOMY 5:12). It is to be ‘remembered’ (cf. Exodus 20:8) - which implies that it was already known about prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Implicit in the command to rest is the command to work (DEUTERONOMY 5:13). However, nobody should be required to work more than six days a week. For employers to deny their workers at least one day off per week is not only detrimental to the health of the individual, but also harmful to the efficiency of the organisation.
The Sabbath, furthermore, is for all, in all ranks of society – and even for beasts of burden (DEUTERONOMY 5:14). It is first a Creation ordinance (cf. Genesis 2:1-3), but is now also revealed as a Redemption ordinance (DEUTERONOMY 5:15). It is to be sanctified - kept holy - and is symbolic of our entrance into the ‘rest’ of God (cf. Hebrews 4:3).
D). A SOLEMN FEAST DAY.
Psalm 81:1-10.
This Psalm opens with a summons to resounding praise (Psalm 81:1-3), with reasons to do so attached (Psalm 81:4-7). It continues with an address by God, beginning with a commandment, with a promise attached (Psalm 81:8-10); and going on to upbraid the people for their failure to keep it (Psalm 81:11-14). It ends with a solemn reflection, ruing the day of missed opportunities (Psalm 81:15-16).
Psalm 81:1. There may be a time for quiet contemplative worship, but this is not it. It is a time of loudness, a time of noise. It is a time of fulness of joy. We are not called to be perfect in our singing, but to “Sing aloud” and “make a joyful noise” nevertheless.
And no wonder, for we celebrate here “God our strength” who delivered His people out of Egypt, and sustained them in the wilderness (Psalm 81:5-7, Psalm 81:10). We celebrate “the God of Jacob” who met us where we were, and brought us to where He wants us to be. We celebrate the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who delivered us out of the thraldom of sin and death, and into His heavenly Kingdom. We celebrate the God who has helped us hitherto (cf. 1 Samuel 7:12), and has promised to remain with us forever (cf. Hebrews 13:5).
Psalm 81:2. “Take a psalm.” Choose a ‘psalm, hymn or spiritual song’ (cf. Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Take up the tambourine and bring in the stringed instruments (cf. Psalm 149:3; Psalm 150:4).
Psalm 81:3. “Blow up the trumpet.” This seems to refer to the shofar, the ram’s horn. There are two or three time markers in the verse: “the new moon,” “the time appointed,” and “our solemn feast day” (cf. Numbers 10:10). There are three compulsory feasts in ancient Israel’s calendar (cf. Deuteronomy 16:16), but perhaps the most significant blowing of the “trumpet” is that for the year of jubilee (cf. Leviticus 25:9).
Jesus pronounced Himself the fulfilment of the jubilee promise (cf. Luke 4:18-21). In a sense, the whole church age is the year of jubilee. And the end of that age will be punctuated with another trumpet call (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:52).
Psalm 81:4. “For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.” Christians may think to disqualify themselves from the worship of God because of the times when we have slipped back into the ways of our former selves: but the people of God as a whole are indicated under both their covenant name, “Israel,” and their pre-covenant name “Jacob.” We need not be presumptuous, but our Lord is ever ready to receive back the backslider.
Psalm 81:5. “This He ordained in Joseph.” The LORD was already working for the tribes of Israel when Joseph was sold into captivity by his brethren (cf. Genesis 50:20). The call to worship was already ordained when the LORD later sent Moses to Pharaoh (cf. Exodus 3:18).
“When He went out through the land of Egypt.” The LORD had seen the afflictions of His people, and had mercy (cf. Exodus 3:7).
“I heard a language that I understood not.” (cf. Psalm 114:1). The language of the world is not the language of Zion. Neither is that true worship which is offered to any but to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians, too, need to recognise that we are but ‘strangers and pilgrims in the earth’ (cf. Hebrews 11:13).
Psalm 81:6. “I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.” This was the promised deliverance of Israel (cf. Exodus 6:6-7), but also prefigures ours. We lay the “burden” of our sin at the foot of the Cross, and are released from our slavish attempts to ‘work’ our way into heaven.
Psalm 81:7. “You called in trouble, and I delivered you.” The LORD heard the cry of His people, and sent a deliverer (cf. Exodus 3:9-10). When we put our trust (faith) in Jesus, God hears our cry for forgiveness (repentance), and delivers us from the bondage of sin and of death. Ever after we find God to be the One who hears and answers our prayers.
“I answered you in the secret place of thunder.” This is Sinai, where the Law was given. But it also thundered at Calvary, where Jesus fulfilled the penalty of the Law on our behalf, and cried, ‘Finished!’
“I proved you at the waters of Meribah.” The people thought they were testing God in this wilderness place (cf. Exodus 17:7; Psalm 95:8-9), but rather He was testing them. How quickly we might forget past mercies!
The God who has blessed us hitherto, will He not still bless us? The God who is ever with us, will He not remain with us forever? The God who is ever-merciful, will He not be merciful yet?
“Selah.” Now is the time for quiet contemplation. To His Name be praise forever.
Psalm 81:8. “Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto you: O Israel, if you will hearken unto me.” This sounds quite like another court case (cf. Psalm 50:7). We could almost forget that this is a psalm, and not a chapter out of Deuteronomy. There are echoes here of: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart’ (cf. Psalm 95:7-8). Of Jesus, too: ‘If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear’ (cf. Mark 4:23).
Psalm 81:9. The LORD reminds His people of the first COMMANDMENT: ‘no other gods’ (cf. Exodus 20:3). As Christians, we owe our all to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other who has a claim upon us, and we must banish anything which seeks to usurp His place in our lives.
Psalm 81:10. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.” We sometimes need to be reminded of what God has done for us in leading us ‘out of the house of bondage’ (cf. Exodus 20:2) - out of the bondage of sin and death and into His glorious kingdom!
Past mercies are the foundation of present prayers, and present prayers are the channel towards future blessings.
“Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” What a PROMISE! The picture is of chicks in the nest, anticipating the return of a parent with a morsel. ‘Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find’ (cf. Matthew 7:7).
Yet it would be sad to limit this just to food. The more we open our mouths in prayer, the more the Holy Spirit assists us in prayer (cf. Romans 8:26-27). The more we pray, the more the Lord shall fill us with the blessings we crave (cf. Philippians 4:19). The more God answers prayer, the more we should open our mouths in praise (cf. Ephesians 3:20-21).
E). PASSING THE LIGHT.
2 Corinthians 4:5-12.
Paul had been concerned by some self-made ‘ministers’ who were nothing better than peddlers ‘making gain by corrupting the word of God’ (2 Corinthians 2:17). Paul and his fellow-ministers, by contrast, were neither dishonest nor manipulative. They were ‘not handling the word of God deceitfully’ (2 Corinthians 4:2): and they were “not preaching themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
It would have seemed appropriate here if Paul had now made mention of his team of ministers being ‘slaves’ to Christ, as he does elsewhere (Philippians 1:1). However, he names them the Corinthians’ bondsmen, “for the sake of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:5). Later, and in three separate places, he will list the trials he has gone through for the advancement of the gospel - ‘boasting,’ he says - but only because they have pushed him to it (2 Corinthians 12:11).
Paul reminds us that the God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness in creation (Genesis 1:3) is the same God who shines the light of the gospel into the hearts of believers when He would make us a new creation (2 Corinthians 4:6). This is the experience of Paul and his ministry team, and of all who have trusted in Jesus down through the ages.
‘The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea’ (Habakkuk 2:14). In the gospel, this promise is in process of fulfilment. The light which we receive is the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Such light, and such knowledge, is found nowhere else, other than in Christ. However, we have this light, this knowledge in clay jars (such as were used for lanterns in ancient times). So, the “glory” within far exceeds the vessel that contains it, “so that the surpassing-ness of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
The fourfold “but not” of 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 provides an encouraging key to understanding what Paul is saying. It is so easy to moan about our circumstances, but we must learn, like the Apostle, to temper them with “but not” - or indeed ‘but God’! Without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5): but with Him we can do all things (Philippians 4:13).
There were times when Paul (and his companions) felt, hard-pressed. Perhaps like Jesus in the place of pressing, aka Gethsemane.
1. Pressed, yes, but not totally crushed.
2. Perplexed, feeling cornered; but not utterly at a loss.
3. Persecuted, pursued; but not forsaken.
4. Prostrated, cast down; but not destroyed.
The Apostle speaks of “always carrying about in our body the death (literally, the putting to death) of the Lord Jesus, that also the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). The word used here for “death” is only otherwise found in Romans 4:19, when Paul speaks of Abraham not considering his own body ‘already become dead’ and of the ‘deadening’ of the womb of Sarah. The second clause of 2 Corinthians 4:10 points to the resurrection power of Jesus at work in our own bodies.
In the following verse, Paul reverts to the more usual word for death. A literal rendering of the Greek might be, “For always we who live are delivered to death because of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11). Those who live for Jesus, and are delivered to death for Jesus, will have witness within their own mortal flesh (for all to see) that Jesus is alive!
Finally, the death at work in Paul and his fellow-labourers in the gospel was how (by the Holy Spirit) the life of God (aka the resurrection life of Jesus) was working in the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:12). We thank God for those who have, down through the ages, and in our own lives, thus selflessly and sacrificially worked with God for the salvation of others. May we have grace to pass the light on to others.
F). A SABBATH FOR THE HUNGRY, HEALING FOR THE WITHERED.
Mark 2:23-28, Mark 3:1-6.
Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled’ (Matthew 5:6). The hunger and thirst which He spoke of in that Beatitude is evidently spiritual, but it is amply illustrated in the two factual incidents recorded in this extended passage of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 2:23-28 and Mark 3:1-6).
1. The first section (Mark 2:23-28) is an account of a controversy which arose from the actions of Jesus’ disciples one Sabbath when they were physically hungry.
The ever-vigilant Pharisees had been self-appointed guardians of the old laws and traditions for two or three hundred years by this time. They were looking for some excuse to challenge Jesus - and finding nothing in Him (cf. John 14:30), they sought to bring charges against His disciples.
# This still sometimes happens, so we need to be diligent.
There is no doubt that the Sabbath law is Biblical. It is both a Creation ordinance (Exodus 20:8-11), and an ordinance of Redemption (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). However, what was not so Biblical was the thirty-nine man-made regulations with which the Rabbis had sought to hedge in the Sabbath.
The disciples were accused of doing “that which is not lawful on the Sabbath” (Mark 2:24). “Why do they?” asked the Pharisees.
Jesus’ answered them in much the same way as He overcame the tempter (cf. Matthew 4:1-11) - with Scripture. “Have you not read what David did…?” (Mark 2:25).
# In order for us to be armed and ready for the spiritual battles which we will face, we must take up ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God’ (Ephesians 6:17).
So what did David do? The fugitive David fed his men when they were hungry with the ‘showbread’ (1 Samuel 21:3-6). According to God’s law (and not just by man’s tradition), this was only lawful for the priests to eat (cf. Leviticus 24:5-9).
# The spirit of the law takes priority over rigid application, as we will see in the second part of our passage.
The rule-of-thumb for both parts of the passage is the Dominical saying which hinges them (Mark 2:27-28). No doubt the Pharisees felt that Jesus’ disciples were being unpatriotic by not keeping Israel’s law: but what they were forgetting was that the Sabbath was not an end in itself. It pointed forward to the redemption to come (Hebrews 4:9) - and they refused to recognise the Redeemer in their midst!
Furthermore, Jesus was - like David in the passage which He quoted - a king-in-waiting. Jesus is here identified with the Messianic motif of “Son of man” (cf. Daniel 7:13-14): and as such He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28).
This should have been the end of the argument but…
2. From the fields, we come in to the synagogue for our second scene (Mark 3:1-6). This is not now a controversy, but a courtroom. But who is on trial: Jesus or the Pharisees?
There was a man there with a withered hand.
# Withering speaks to me of thirst, in a dry parched land (Psalm 63:1). Yet the LORD pours water upon the spiritually thirsty, and His Spirit upon our offspring (Isaiah 44:3).
“They” (Mark 3:2) who are “the Pharisees” (Mark 3:6) watched Jesus to see if He would break another petty regulation designed to hedge in the Sabbath. “Arise,” said Jesus to the man, “into the midst” (Mark 3:3).
# Jesus is ‘the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25): so “arise”
“Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil,” Jesus asked His would-be accusers, “to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4). They held their peace. Jesus, who knows the hearts of all men (John 2:24-25), was anticipating the plot that would “immediately” be unleashed against Him (Mark 3:6). Jesus restored the man’s hand, whole as the other (Mark 3:5).
There is the irony. Jesus brings life, and healing. The Pharisees plot (on the Sabbath!) with their sworn enemies (those collaborators!) to murder an innocent man. No wonder Jesus was angry, and aggrieved at their hardness of heart.
# The LORD requires that which is good: to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Not just on the Sabbath, but every day.
