1 Samuel 3-4

1 Samuel 3-4

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 3: The Prophet Samuel

                Eli (the priest) begins to wax old and lies down on his death bed. While he is there, at night while Samuel was sleeping, he is called by who he thinks is Eli. So Samuel wakes up and goes to see Eli, who claims he did not call him. So Samuel goes back to bed, but again hears "Eli" calling him. So he wakes up and goes to him, and again Eli tells him that he did not call him. So Samuel goes back to sleep. This goes on 3 times before Eli realizes that it is actually the Lord calling him. So Eli instructs Samuel to go back to sleep and if he is called again, then he should arise and speak back to God saying; "...Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth..." (1 Samuel 3:9). Samuel goes back to sleep.

                Again Samuel is awakened by a voice calling him, so he wakes up and does as Eli had instructed him. In verse 10, it says that the Lord "stood" by him when he answered. I am going to take this that the Lord LITERALLY was standing next to his bedside, as he has done in the past and future with ALL PROPHETS that he has called. The Lord tells Samuel that he will do a thing in Israel that will cause all who hear it to tingle. Essentially he is going to destroy the wicked and a lot of people (mostly wicked people) are not going to like it. Samuel is recognized in all of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba as an established prophets of the Lord God. The Lord appears again to Samuel in Shiloh.

Chapter 4: Eli Dies

                The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines, more than 30,000 soldiers of Israel are killed. The Israelites try to use the Ark of the Covenant to defeat the Philistines and it works for a moment, because they get scared, but ultimately they built up enough courage an essentially slaughter the Israelites and steal the Ark of the Covenant. Eli's sons are slain in battle and his daughter in law dies during childbirth. Eli at age 98 years old dies of an accident and breaks his neck. My guess is that he fell? Eli judged Israel for over forty years.