When God Breaks the Silence Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-9
Introduction: A Famine of the Word
We live in an age of perpetual noise. We are bombarded with notifications, breaking news, hot takes, and an endless stream of digital chatter. But for all our noise, we are spiritually deaf. The problem is not a lack of information, but a famine of revelation. We have more words available to us than any generation in history, and yet, like Israel in the time of the judges, the authoritative Word of God is considered rare, and clear vision from Him is infrequent.
The period of the judges was a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes, which is simply a pious way of saying that the nation was a swirling vortex of rebellion and apostasy. And when men refuse to listen to God, He will often, in judgment, stop speaking. A silent heaven is one of the most terrifying judgments God can visit upon a people. It is a sign that the culture has become so saturated with its own voice that it has drowned out the voice of its Creator.
This is the scene we enter in 1 Samuel 3. The official channels of communication with God have gone static. The priesthood, represented by Eli and his worthless sons, is corrupt and compromised. The leadership is blind, both literally and spiritually. The lamp of God, the symbol of His presence and testimony, is flickering and about to go out. It is into this deep darkness, this profound silence, that God decides to speak. And He does not speak to the established, credentialed, and important men. He speaks to a boy. This is a story about how God sovereignly breaks into a fallen world, bypasses corrupt institutions, and raises up a prophet for Himself. It is a story about the difference between religious activity and genuine conversion.
The Text
Now the young boy Samuel was ministering to Yahweh before Eli. And word from Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were infrequent.
And it happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to fade, and he could not see well), and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of Yahweh where the ark of God was, that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am."
Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; go back, lie down." So he went and lay down.
Then Yahweh called yet again, "Samuel!" So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he answered, "I did not call, my son; go back, lie down."
Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, nor had the word of Yahweh yet been revealed to him.
So Yahweh called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli discerned that Yahweh was calling the young boy.
And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
(1 Samuel 3:1-9 LSB)
Spiritual Static and a Flickering Lamp (v. 1-3)
The first verse sets the stage with a devastating diagnosis.
"Now the young boy Samuel was ministering to Yahweh before Eli. And word from Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were infrequent." (1 Samuel 3:1)
Samuel is doing all the right things. He is a boy, dedicated to the Lord from birth, ministering in the tabernacle. He is in the place of worship, under the official spiritual authority. But the spiritual atmosphere is toxic. "Word from Yahweh was rare." This means God was not speaking through the established means, through the priesthood. The heavens were brass. This is a direct consequence of the sin of the house of Eli, which we saw in the previous chapter. When the priests treat the things of God with contempt, God withdraws His Word. A famine of hearing the Word of the Lord is a direct judgment on a faithless people.
The scene is then described with rich symbolism. Eli, the high priest, is lying down. His eyesight is failing. He cannot see. This is not just a medical condition; it is a spiritual metaphor. The seer of Israel cannot see. The spiritual leadership of the nation is blind, inert, and ineffective. He represents a system that is spiritually bankrupt and on the verge of collapse.
But there is a glimmer of hope. "The lamp of God had not yet gone out." This lamp, the menorah in the Holy Place, was to be kept burning continually as a symbol of God's covenant presence. That it is "not yet" gone out means it is close. The testimony of God in Israel is down to a flicker. And right there, in that dim light, "Samuel was lying down in the temple of Yahweh where the ark of God was." He is physically proximate to the very throne of God on earth, the Ark of the Covenant. He is as close as one can get to the manifest presence of God. And yet, as we will see, he does not know Him.
A Divine Call and a Human Error (v. 4-7)
It is into this scene of decay and silence that God sovereignly speaks.
"that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, 'Here I am.' Then he ran to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' But he said, 'I did not call; go back, lie down.' " (1 Samuel 3:4-5)
God initiates. He breaks the silence. He calls Samuel by name. Samuel's response is immediate and obedient: "Here I am." He is a dutiful boy. But his obedience is misdirected. He assumes the call came from the human authority he knows, from Eli. He mistakes the voice of God for the voice of a man. This happens twice. He is eager, he is willing, but he is spiritually tone-deaf.
Then we get the most important diagnostic verse in the entire chapter, the theological key that unlocks the narrative.
"Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, nor had the word of Yahweh yet been revealed to him." (1 Samuel 3:7)
This is a staggering statement. This boy who was dedicated to God from the womb, who grew up in the tabernacle, who ministered before the Ark, who wore a linen ephod, did not yet know the Lord. This is not talking about a lack of information. He knew about Yahweh. He could probably recite the first five books of the law. But he did not have a personal, saving, covenantal knowledge of God. The Word of God had not been revealed to him. This is the difference between religion and regeneration. You can be in the right place, doing the right things, saying the right words, and still be a stranger to God. Proximity to holy things does not impart holiness. This is a permanent warning to all of us who grow up in the church. It is possible to know the catechism but not the Christ.
The Discernment of a Failing Priest (v. 8-9)
God is persistent. His electing grace will not be thwarted by our ignorance.
"So Yahweh called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' Then Eli discerned that Yahweh was calling the young boy." (1 Samuel 3:8)
After the third time, the penny finally drops for the old, blind priest. To his credit, even in his spiritual stupor, Eli figures it out. And here we see a marvelous instance of God's providence. God uses a corrupt and failing leader to instruct the next, righteous one. Eli's personal failures did not completely negate his office. He knew enough to recognize the call of God, even if he could no longer hear it himself. And he gives Samuel the most important piece of instruction he would ever receive.
"And Eli said to Samuel, 'Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, "Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening." ' So Samuel went and lay down in his place." (1 Samuel 3:9)
This is the posture of every true believer. This is the key that turns the lock of revelation. First, it is an acknowledgment of who is speaking: "Speak, Yahweh." It is recognizing the voice of God for what it is. Second, it is an acknowledgment of who we are: "for Your slave is listening." It is the posture of humble, submissive servanthood. It is the creature telling the Creator that he is ready to hear and to obey. This is the attitude that turns a religious boy into a prophet of the living God. Until we get here, until we are ready to subordinate our own thoughts, our own plans, and our own wills to the revealed Word of God, we will remain as deaf as Samuel was in his sleep.
The Word Made Flesh Has Spoken
This story is a microcosm of God's dealings with His people throughout all of history. We, by nature, are like Samuel before this encounter. We may be involved in church life, we may be proximate to the things of God, but we do not know Him. We are spiritually deaf, and the Word of the Lord has not yet been revealed to us.
And we live in a time much like the time of the judges. The Word of the Lord is considered rare. Not because God has stopped speaking, but because the West has stopped listening. Our leadership is, by and large, as blind and ineffective as Eli. The lamp of testimony is flickering.
But God has not left us in silence. The ultimate "word from Yahweh" has come. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). God broke the silence of heaven definitively and finally in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the final vision, the ultimate revelation.
The call to us today is not to lie down and wait for an audible voice from heaven. God has already spoken His definitive Word in His Son, and that Word is written down for us in the Scriptures. The call to us is to adopt the posture that Eli taught Samuel. We are to come to this book, the Bible, and say with every fiber of our being, "Speak, Yahweh, for Your slave is listening."
This is the essence of conversion. It is the moment God's Spirit opens our ears to hear His voice in the gospel. It is the moment we stop mistaking His call for the voice of men, the voice of culture, or the voice of our own hearts. It is the moment we recognize our true position as slaves and His as Lord. Have you learned to listen? Or are you still running to Eli?