First Samuel 3:15

The Bible says in First Samuel 3:15-21, “And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.[16] Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.[17] And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.[18] And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.[19] And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.[20] And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.[21] And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.” After Samuel told Eli what God had revealed to Samuel: the fact that Eli would see his sons killed and would lose what all Israelites wanted, a secure future for his descendants; it is interesting what Eli’s response was in verse eighteen. Eli said, “It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.” At least Eli accepted God’s decision. God knows what is best. God has a plan. Even when the worse things happen to us, they are still a part of God’s plan. Even if they are chastisements because of our own failures, they are still part of God’s plan. It is best to accept them by faith and keep trusting in the Lord Jesus the best that we can.

It is a great privilege to be called to serve God in the place He has chosen for you to be his servant. Anyone can be replaced. Eli was on his way out, but Samuel was on his way up. The Lord chastised Eli, but the Lord chose Samuel. The Lord was with Samuel, the Lord had prepared Samuel, the Lord made Samuel’s way to prosper from a spiritual standpoint, and the Lord revealed himself even more to Samuel. Which one would you like to be like: Eli or Samuel? Make sure that you can honestly say to the Lord, “Speak, for thy servant heareth.”

The Bible says in First Samuel 4:1-9, “And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.[2] And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.[3] And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.[4] So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.[5] And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.[6] And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.[7] And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.[8] Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.[9] Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.” Verse one tells us that God continued to bless and use Samuel more and more. Samuel’s teachings went out to “all Israel.” Maybe the Lord will do the same thing in our country. It is exactly what every country needs: God to raise up someone who will take the Word of God to the rest of the nation. That is why we want to make sure that children get the best Christian education and formation that they can get. If they are exposed to the things of the Lord early on like Samuel was, who knows what the Lord might do through their lives.

But things do not get fixed in a nation easily once a nation has gone as far away from God as Israel had. Israel had a great problem with the Philistine people, and Israel had an internal problem with the wicked priests: the sons of Eli. We can tell from this passage which one God thought was the biggest problem: the sons of Eli. God allows thousands of Israelites to die, and God allows the Philistines to win in the battle over Israel just to get rid of the sons of Eli. God said they would die for their sins, and so they died. God determines who lives and who dies and when and how. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

The Bible says in First Samuel 4:10-17, “And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.[11] And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.[12] And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.[13] And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.[14] And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.[15] Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.[16] And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?[17] And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.” What God said would happen is what happened. The sons of Eli were killed. That was God. God arranges things so that people die at their appointed time. And many other bad things happened too. Israel lost the battle, and many Israelites were killed. The ark of the covenant was taken. In verse thirteen it says about Eli, “his heart trembled for the ark of God.” Eli was not concerned for his sons because they were dirty rotten rascals. But evidently Eli knew that the ark was in a vulnerable place in the battle. And sure enough, the worse thing possible happened: the ark was taken by the hated Philistines.

The Bible says in First Samuel 4:18-22, “And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.[19] And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.[20] And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.[21] And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.[22] And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.” Of course, it is important to notice again that Eli was not astonished that his sons were killed. He knew they deserved it. But Eli did not expect the ark of God to be taken. That shocked him, and that horrified him. Eli lost his balance and he died. You cannot hide from the holy God and His judgment. If you have any unconfessed sins, you had better confess them quickly with true repentance, or God may do things in your life and in your family to show forth His holy nature and to bring glory to His name. As it says to Christians in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” It was not just Eli who would suffer for his unrepented sins: it was his whole family and all of his descendants. God is holy, and He is going to prove how holy He is. Not only did his two sons die, not only did Eli die, not only were all of his descendants cast out of the priesthood, but his daughter-in-law died in childbirth, and as she died she named the child Ichabod because she said, “The glory is departed from Israel.” Repent and confess before it is too late for you. You might know the Lord, but chastisements can be severe.

The Bible says in First Samuel 5:1-12, “And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod.[2] When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.[3] And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.[4] And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.[5] Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.[6] But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.[7] And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.[8] They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.[9] And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.[10] Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.[11] So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.[12] And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.” One of the things that is interesting about this passage is that it appears that the Israelites did absolutely nothing to get the ark of the covenant back. God did it. God can get anyone to do anything, if God wants to. If you came to Christ, it is because God did it. If anyone else comes to Christ, it is because God does it. If any Christian wakes up out of their sleep and finally gets a zeal to serve Jesus, it is because God does it. Sometimes we just need to let go, and let God. Often the Lord wants us to act and do what we can, but there are other things where we just need to wait and see what the Lord is going to do. He knows our heart, and He hears our prayers. Let us put one hundred percent trust that God can do anything, and if it is important to Him, He will get it done. He can put prayer and Bible back in our schools, He can clean up the cesspool of Hollywood, He can give us leaders and judges who love our nation and who love truth and goodness, He can save souls, He can revive Christians, and He can fill our churches with people who hunger to hear the Word of God.

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