I Samuel 3:1-4:1a
Dear RTB’ers,
Today we meet Samuel, beyond what we have already read of his birth. It’s an interesting story of the Lord calling three times and Samuel going to Eli each time, with Eli recognizing on the third call that it must be the Lord. So then the Lord speaks words regarding Eli and his house, confirming what we already know from yesterday.
To me the important words in today’s reading are in verse 19: And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. With these words Samuel is confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. We need to go back to Deuteronomy to see the origin of this claim. Here is the full passage, first with the Lord speaking to Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. … But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” [Then Moses speaks to the people.] And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. (Dt. 18:18-22a)
So, as we move forward, we know that none of Samuel’s words will “fall to the ground.” He is a prophet, and this is known universally in Israel: And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. (v. 20) Dan is in the far north and Beersheba is in the far south. So whenever we read “from Dan to Beersheba”, we know that the author is speaking of the entire nation of Israel. Samuel – more than a judge, a true prophet!
Blessings!
See also: March 21 (2023) / I Samuel 1-3