1 Samuel 3:1-20 (NIV)

Raising a child at my age was not exactly what I had in mind. My boys were grown, and, to be honest, I hadn’t done a very good job with them. When my wife died at the birth of the second one, I guess I didn’t choose well for a second wife. Oh, she took care of the boys, fed them well enough, washed their clothes and all that, but she never really took to them like their mother would have. So … I guess I spoiled them.

And it didn’t help that when they were little, they would follow me around the temple. A meal often followed the sacrifice, with the family eating what had not been offered to God and to the priests. The boys would hang around, and people would give them treats, choice pieces of the meat. And they grew older, they began to expect that, even ask for something. I should have stopped it, but I didn’t see the harm in it until it was too late.

By the time they were grown men, they would help themselves to whatever was cooking for the family, sometimes even taking something of what had been set aside for God. And by then, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. They just ignored me.

Then that woman, Hannah was her name, came into the temple one afternoon and presented me with her son! He must have been four or five years old. I couldn’t even raise my own boys! What was I going to do with this one, and at my age!

I didn’t remember her story, but obviously, she did. Five years later, she told me the exact words spoken. She had been praying for a son, moving her lips but not saying any words aloud. “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

I don’t know, maybe I had just had an argument with my sons, because I wasn’t very nice to her. “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

“Not so, my lord. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

I probably bowed my head, regretting the sharp words I had spoken to her. I raised my hand in blessing. “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

She responded, “May your servant find favor in your eyes,” and left. I didn’t expect to see her again. But now, here she was, with the child she had prayed for.

Yes, there were things that a child his age could do to help. He could certainly fetch and carry, if things weren’t too big. I couldn’t very well refuse her, because she had made the promise to God. So I graciously accepted the child and thanked her.

With tears in her eyes, she turned away. I think I even saw a couple tears on the cheeks of Elkanah, her husband. They had both waited a long time for this child, and now they were giving him up. Not an easy thing to do.

As they walked away, I looked down at the child. Of course, he was watching them go, but he was also holding my hand. I could tell he was trying not to cry, but not succeeding, either. Finally he looked up at me.

“What’s your name, boy?” I asked him.

“Samuel.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“God has heard.” He paused, then continued proudly with a speech his mother probably taught him. “Mother told me she prayed to God that he would give her a son and that she would give me back to the Lord when I was old enough. I am old enough now.” He squared his shoulders and stood tall. “So here I am.” He wiped his nose with his sleeve and smiled up at me.

“What’s in your bag?” I asked, trying to sound curious and friendly.

“Daddy made these for me.” From his small woven bag he pulled out a couple of hand-carved figures, a bird and a lamb. “And Mother gave me these.” His mother had sent him with a small sweet bread and a piece of cheese. “May I keep them?”

His question surprised me. “Of course!” I put my hand on his head. “And we’ll make sure you don’t go hungry.”

I made him a bed of blankets in one of the store rooms. Most of the time he slept there, but as he grew older, he sometimes slept near the Ark of the Covenant. I explained to him that the Ark was sacred, that it held the two stone tablets that had been given to Moses.

“So that’s where God sleeps?”

“Sort of. God doesn’t live in just one place at a time, like we do. But this is a special place for God.”

After that, he slept near the Ark more often.

He was a bright child, eager to please, very observant. He learned quickly. In a short time he would recognize what I was about to need and bring it to me even before I asked. I know that young children often ask questions, but his were insightful, thoughtful questions. Of course, he often wanted to know why we did certain things. Sometimes I would tell him, “Because God said to do it that way.” He would respond with an “Oh,” but then within a day or two he would ask the question a different way. That boy challenged me, let me tell you, in a way my sons never had.

And everyone liked him. As he grew older, he learned the sequence of events for the sacrifice. He was always in the right place at the right time to help people. He didn’t interfere with the priestly duties, but he helped everything go smoothly.

And whenever his parents came for their annual sacrifice, Hannah always brought him a new robe she had made. Samuel had a cousin of the same age, and she would fit Samuel’s robe to him. Fortunately, they both stayed pretty much the same size.

Over the years, Elkanah and Hannah had three sons and two daughters. I’m sure they were loved, but I could see how special Samuel was to her. It showed in her eyes, in the way she touched him, and in the workmanship she put in his robe each year.

I always told Elkanah how grateful I was to have the boy. He would tell Hannah, and she would beam. She would hug her son and hold him close. He didn’t really know her any more, but he knew she was his mother and therefore special. He would hug her back, even later on when he became a teenager.

Like I said, Samuel was good boy, helpful, caring, everything my own sons were not. The time came when I had a visitor, a prophet, a man of God, who told me that, because of the sins of my sons, they would die, and that none of my family would live to old age.

So it really came as no surprise when God spoke to Samuel. He must have been about ten and I was sleeping in my room. Old age, probably. My eyes didn’t see very well, so I spent a lot of time sleeping. The lamp of God was still lit, and Samuel was resting near the Ark of the Lord.

He came into my room and said, “Here I am.”

I must have looked at him kind of funny, because he repeated, “Here I am.” And he added, “You called me.”

“I didn’t call. Go back and lie down.”

I went back to sleep, only to be awakened again.

“Here I am, for you called me.”

“No, I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.”

Now like I said, old age had affected my eyes, and probably my mind as well, but the third time I figured out what was happening. He wasn’t hearing me; he was hearing God call.

I heard him come into my room and announce his presence.

I told him gently, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ”

I did not sleep the rest of the night. The Divine did not speak to humans these days. The prophet had brought me God’s message some time back. Would this be a repeat of that message or something else?

Finally morning came and I heard stirring in the house of God. I called to the boy, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am.”

“What was it he said to you?” I spoke sternly because this was important. He had to learn to deliver bad news if he was going to be a prophet. I knew he was. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.”

When he hesitated, I knew it was bad news.

Basically, he told me what the prophet had said, that God was about to punish my family forever, that their sins would not be forgiven by sacrifice or offering forever.

What could I say? The sin was theirs, but it was also mine, because I had allowed them to blaspheme God. “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

And it happened. Not right away. At least I was able to see Samuel grow up and become highly respected throughout the country.

Now the Philistines were our bitter enemies. They were better armed than we were, as they had steel, and we only had bronze weapons. So they came out to battle against us. Our soldiers were not well armed or well trained, so when the two armies met face to face, we lost the first battle.

The elders were upset. “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines?”

They huddled together and came up with what they thought was a good plan. “Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

After all, they reasoned, we were God’s chosen people. Surely if the Ark went with our army, we would defeat the Philistines and bring peace again to our land.

They sent for the Ark, and my two sons carried it to the battlefield.

I was doubly worried. Even though my sons had not turned out the way I would have liked, I loved them. But even more important to me was the Ark of the Covenant. It must not fall into enemy hands. Surely God would not allow that to happen.

I sat at my seat near the city gate, waiting for word from the battle, hoping for word that my sons and the Ark would be returning soon. Only, well, it didn’t happen that way. A man came running from the battle line. I heard the commotion from the crowd.

“What is the meaning of this uproar?”

The man came to me. My eyes were so bad I didn’t see his torn clothes or the dust on his head. “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”

“What happened, my son?”

 “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

Narrator’s voice:

At the mention of the ark of God, Eli fell back in his chair, breaking his neck when he hit the ground. He had judged Israel for forty years when he died.

For consideration:

General Questions

1) How does this story follow its Scripture?

2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?

3) What is the message of this story?

4) How does the message apply to us today?

Specific Questions

5) Why would Eli accuse Hannah of being drunk?

6) What would it be like for an old man to raise a child by himself?

7) How would you feel if you could only see your child once a year?

8) When have you had to deliver bad news to someone? How did you feel?