Good Weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
If you’ve ever read or heard someone talk about ‘hearing the voice of God’, I wonder what you have thought? Does God talk to human beings? If so, what language does God speak and how do humans discern that it is God speaking to them? Come with me again back to the town of Shiloh in Israel about 3000 years ago. Stand with me in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, the remarkable “Tent of Meeting” where, beginning with Aaron in the days of Moses, God and spiritual men had encounters.
Perhaps you remember it was in this ‘Holy place’ in the Jerusalem Temple that the Christmas story began as the priest Zechariah was praying at the Altar of Incense when the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared to him and informed Zechariah that God had heard his prayers and old Elizabeth his barren wife would become pregnant. (Luke 1) Zechariah was to name that miracle son John and he would become known as John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah (Christ)!
About 1100 years before that Gabriel visit to the Temple, young Samuel was sleeping in the “Tabernacle” next to that same “Altar of Incense” when suddenly he heard his name called. Yes, this Tabernacle was the portable “Tent of Meeting” designed by God and constructed by Moses and anointed men and women in about 1475bc, and yes, Joshua brought that Tent into the Promised Land as they crossed the Jordan river, and yes, that Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh where finally now, more than 300 years later, Samuel is about to have an encounter with God!
The great Temple built in Jerusalem under the guidance of King Solomon became the permanent replacement of the mobile Tabernacle. It was much larger and ornate but built with the same specific design of two interior rooms…the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.
So come with me again back to Shiloh, to the Tabernacle, where Samuel is sleeping near the veil that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Suddenly Samuel heard a voice call his name! Yesterday we saw that Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli the High Priest, as he had been trained to do. But Eli was sleeping and when Samuel asked Eli why he had called him, Eli told Samuel he had not called him, and he should return to his sleeping place. Samuel went back into the Tabernacle, laid back down on his mat, but I doubt he fell quickly to sleep again. He was sure his name had been called, but why would Eli deny he had called Samuel?
After a short while, perhaps just about the time Samuel was ready to doze off to sleep, sure enough, Samuel heard his name called again! And again, Samuel did as he had done before, running to Eli. But once again Eli denied having called Samuel and told him to return to his sleeping place. Now this time, I’m fairly certain young Samuel was unable to sleep. Wide awake he wondered what was happening? The record explains this ‘defining moment’ like this: “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to Samuel.” (1 Samuel 3:7)
Now, that’s a very interesting phrase, isn’t it? I wonder what you think it means. It tells me that neither priests Hophni nor Phinehas and not even Eli the High Priest had yet explained to young Samuel the deep spiritual truths of the God of Israel; nor the significance of the Tabernacle, and the prayerful daily encounters with God which should be taking place at the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. It tells me Eli had not explained the holy significance of the Ark of the Covenant and the top of the Ark, called the ‘Mercy Seat’, and the Presence of God which the High Priest was supposed to encounter each year as he entered there to intercede for Israel, on the Day of Atonement. (Lev. 16)
It tells me that while Eli may have given Samuel the historical story of Moses and the construction of this “Tent of Meeting”, and perhaps Eli had told Samuel about Moses and his eight hikes up Mount Sinai to meet with God, and that the “Tent of Meeting” was designed by God to be a place God and Moses and Aaron, and their descendants could meet with God. It appears to me however Eli explained all that, he did not awaken in Samuel any expectation that God might someday speak to Samuel!
In short, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas evidently were simply going about the functions of the priesthood, but they had no authentic relationship with God nor any genuine interaction with God, thus they were unable to explain to Samuel all the wonder and mystery of the God of Israel. Oh my, what a spiritual disaster!
These spiritual leaders were not only failing Israel they had miserably failed Elkanah and Hannah who had entrusted them with the mentoring of their miracle son Samuel. While Samuel had a tender young heart and was doing all he could to learn his duties, as explained by Eli and perform them faithfully and well, Eli had done nothing to prepare Samuel to meet God and become the man of God Samuel had been born to become!
In the middle of his night grogginess, when awakened by young Samuel a third time, Eli finally realized something supernatural was happening in the Tabernacle. Something he had perhaps longed for years to experience himself. The record gives us this brief explanation: “Then Eli realized it was the LORD calling the boy. So, Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if He calls you again, say, ‘Speak LORD, for your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.” (1 Samuel 3:9) Now this time as Samuel returned to his sleeping place in the Tabernacle, both Samuel and Eli were wide awake, I believe! I doubt Eli rolled over in his bed and went back to sleep. Eli may have gotten up and began to pray, asking God to forgive him for his spiritual lethargy and the spiritual apathy which had become the culture of Shiloh under his leadership. Perhaps Eli prayed for Samuel, asking God to please do in and with Samuel, for God’s great glory and the good of Israel, what God had never done with Eli’s own two sons.
Samuel likely didn’t lay down either but sat and waited, perhaps with growing anxiety. What was this voice? Why was this voice calling Samuel? What would be the message of this voice if it called out to Samuel again this night? Look at him, young Samuel, perhaps 8 or maybe 10 years old, waiting for his first miracle encounter with God.
The record says: “Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel, Samuel!’
Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10) What does it mean my friends? When the record says the LORD “stood there” does it mean Samuel saw the LORD standing in the Tabernacle, near the Altar of Incense, as Zechariah, more than 1000 years later, would see the angel Gabriel standing there calling his name? I don’t know. What I do know is Samuel heard his name called twice, in his own language.
Samuel did not run and hide but responded almost exactly the way Eli had told him. I say ‘almost exactly’ because, do you see there is an important word Samuel did not speak which Eli told him to speak? The word is the name of God “LORD“. I believe Samuel omitted that word because he had not yet met the LORD. This was Samuel’s first encounter and like Moses at the burning bush, (Exodus 3) Samuel waited to let the voice introduce itself to Samuel and explain why this was happening. Oh my!
I think we should pause right here and ponder this encounter between young Samuel & God. What is Samuel about to hear and learn? How will it change his life, for no one ever has an authentic encounter with the Creator of the Universe and walked away unchanged! And one last question… have you ever had an encounter with God?
Now, in the night quiet of this Tabernacle encounter, let this worship song lead us to what’s happening here, what if God called your name in the night? And tomorrow, join me here in the Tabernacle, and we’ll witness together what Samuel experienced.
Today’s Scripture is 1 Samuel 3:7-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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