See, I am doing a new thing

 

Reflection Sunday 17^th January 2021

1 Samuel 3: 1 – 20 

As a child I really liked Ladybird books. I didn’t have many, but the ones I had I treasured. Initially I suppose they were read to me – often by my grandmother – but later I’d read them for myself. One I remember was called “Children of the Bible” and one of those children was Samuel. (In fact I think a depiction of Samuel is on the front cover.)

I don’t recall exactly what the Ladybird version covered but I think it was just about Samuel being called by God and Samuel not understanding what was going on. And the kindly old priest Eli explaining to Samuel that the call was from God.

In that respect the Ladybird story was very faithful to the account in the Bible of Samuel being called to become a prophet. But what the Ladybird version didn’t give was the background to Samuel’s call, and if we are to understand Samuel’s calling, we need to understand the background.

Samuel’s mother Hannah had been childless for some time and on one occasion she went to the temple of Shiloh and prayed fervently for a child. She was seen and heard by the priest Eli who said to her:

¹⁷ ‘Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’ 1 Sam 1:17

In due course Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel who she dedicated to God’s service. When Samuel was old enough, she took him to the temple where she told Eli:

 ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he shall be given over to the Lord.’ 1 Sam 1: 27 - 28

Eli was descended from a family of priests and his own sons were priests too. However, we are told that

¹² Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 1 Sam 2:12

And

¹⁷ This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they^[b] were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. 1 Sam 2:17

Consequently (see 1 Sam 2: 27 – 36) God told Eli that this family would be punished, and they would no longer be priests.

We come then to the call of Samuel – the story in my Ladybird book. I suppose in my Ladybird book the moral of the story was that God can use even children for his purposes, and that Samuel grew up to be a prophet and they all lived happily ever after. But the story is much more than that.

The story tells us that the Lord called to Samuel three times and each time Samuel went to Eli as Samuel didn’t recognise the Lord’s calling. This isn’t because – as in the past some commentators have suggested - that Samuel was either very naïve or very dense! No, Samuel is still very young and

In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. 1 Samuel 3:1

How was Samuel to recognise his calling? This is where Eli plays a significant part. When Samuel comes to Eli a third time, the old priest perceives that the Lord is calling the boy.  Eli, the blind priest “sees” what is taking place and tells Samuel what to do.

For me this is an important part of the story and something we can draw upon ourselves. If in the days of Samuel “… the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions”, how much more is that the case now? I feel sure God does speak to some directly nowadays, but all too often when God speaks, we do not hear, or we do not understand. Therefore, we rely on others to help us hear God’s calling and direction for our lives.

It says much about Eli’s humility that he pointed Samuel in the right direction and continues to help him, even though Eli knew that things were not going to end well for him and his family. Especially when it is Samuel who is instructed by God to inform Eli what will happen

¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, ‘He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.’ 1 Sam 3:18

Eli’s calm and faithful acceptance of God’s judgment is a model of faith in difficult circumstances. Eli is not the central cause of the corruption in the priestly order that God will sweep away. But Eli is part of the order of priests and Eli will pay the price of God’s judgment on Eli’s sons. It is what we sometimes call to mind in our Covenant Service. Of remaining faithful to God when we are laid aside by hm or laid low by him. It takes great humility and courage to admit and accept that it is time to pass on the mantle.

Another aspect to this story is that it tells of new beginnings. The old way – the priestly order that has become corrupt – will be swept away and replaced by a new prophetic leadership – the prophet Samuel. It would have been easy for Eli to be so caught up in mourning for what was happening that he completely missed the new thing God was doing with Samuel. But Eli was focused on the new thing. In the words of a prophet even greater than Samuel:

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

 1 Samuel 3 starts with the absence of God’s word - “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions”, - and ends with the proclamation of God’s word through Samuel. A new beginning. In the difficult days of social upheaval in Israel there is a new beginning. God starting a new initiative despite the failures of the past and present. Is this where we are in our own times I wonder? Is God doing something new out of the turbulent times we are living in? Are we tuned in to what he is doing and wants us to do with him? Or do we need a Samuel to point the way?