World English Bible
- The child Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. The LORD’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then.
- At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see),
- and God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in the LORD’s temple where God’s ark was,
- The LORD called Samuel. He said, “Here I am.”
- He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down.
- The LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.”
- Now Samuel didn’t yet know the LORD, neither was the LORD’s word yet revealed to him.
- The LORD called Samuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
- Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD; for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
- The LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”
- The LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
- In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end.
- For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.
- Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be removed with sacrifice or offering forever.”
- Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the LORD’s house. Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision.
- Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.”
- He said, “What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.”
- Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.”
- Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
- All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.
- The LORD appeared again in Shiloh; for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the LORD’s word.
Daily Devotional on 1 Samuel 3
(For Sunday, 21 September 2025)
“The word of the Lord was rare in those days; there were not many
visions.”
—New International Version
The Hebrew term translated “rare” is yāqār—something precious, costly, hard to find. Israel lives in a spiritual drought. Eli’s sons have hollowed out the priesthood (see yesterday’s devotion on chap. 2), and the people no longer expect to hear fresh words from God. Psalm 74 laments a similar silence: “We see no miraculous signs; there is no longer any prophet.” Yet God’s voice has not been lost; it has simply grown selective. He is waiting for an ear that will truly listen.
Cross-references
• Psalm 74 : 9
• Amos 8 : 11–12
• Hebrews 1 : 1–2
Samuel sleeps “in the temple … where the ark of God was.” The phrase “the lamp of God had not yet gone out” points to the seven-branched lampstand that was to burn from evening till morning (Exodus 27 : 20–21). Archaeologists at Tel Shiloh have uncovered storerooms that likely held oil for that very lamp. The narrator is quietly doing theology through setting: the physical flame still burns, hinting that Israel’s spiritual flame can be rekindled.
Western readers often picture a cathedral-like structure, but Shiloh’s “temple” was a large courtyard with a fabric sanctuary—closer to a desert tabernacle than Solomon’s future stone house. God meets His people in humble spaces.
“Samuel!” The boy hears a voice, answers with the Hebrew hinēnî—“Here I am”—but mistakes it for Eli. Three times the scene repeats, a literary device that builds suspense and highlights human dullness. Only on the third attempt does Eli, spiritually sluggish yet still a mentor, perceive that God is speaking. The aged priest teaches the boy one short prayer that can reform a life:
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
(Dābēr, YHWH, kî shōmēaʿ ʿabdēkā.)
The verb shōmēaʿ means more than hearing; it carries the idea of hearing so as to obey (compare Deuteronomy 6 : 4, “Hear, O Israel”). To pray those seven words is to surrender the right to selective obedience.
Echoes in Scripture
• Isaiah 6 : 8 — “Here am I. Send me!”
• Luke 1 : 38 — “May it be to me as you have said.”
• Acts 9 : 6 — “Lord, what shall I do?”
God’s first oracle to Samuel is not comforting. It is a verdict against Eli’s household: judgment for sin “will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle” (an idiom reused in 2 Kings 21 : 12 and Jeremiah 19 : 3). If the message seems harsh, remember that grace and truth are never separable; truth without grace crushes, grace without truth corrupts.
In the morning, Samuel “was afraid to tell Eli,” yet the old priest insists. Eli’s resigned answer—“He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes”—shows a dignity that his sons never displayed. Even in failure, Eli models submission to divine sovereignty, a theme dear to Augustine and the Reformers.
The chapter ends with a three-part crescendo:
A new era begins: the prophetic office will now stand beside (and often over against) the monarchy and priesthood. The child of Hannah’s tears becomes the hinge between judges and kings, between episodic guidance and sustained revelation.
The closing line—“The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word”—prepares us for an even greater fulfillment. John 1 : 14 says the Word became flesh and “tabernacled” among us, using the very verb that names Israel’s sanctuary. In Christ, the final Samuel arrives, and the silence of centuries shatters forever.
• John Chrysostom: “Notice that God called in the night, to show that
no darkness can hide His voice.”
• John Calvin: “God’s voice is never mute, but our ears are often
clogged by our own inventions.”
• John Wesley: “Every revival begins with a listener.”
“Speak, O Lord” by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend (2005).
Its refrain—“Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built and the earth is
filled with Your glory”—echoes the arc of 1 Samuel 3 from personal call
to national renewal.
Lord who speaks in the hush of night,
quiet my racing thoughts,
open my inner ear,
and let Your Word find no hard ground in me.
Where I have grown dull, strike flint and make a spark;
where Your church has slumbered, awaken her with Your call.
Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening—
and, by Your Spirit, ready to obey.
In the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
Amen.