1 Samuel Chapter 3

Listening in the Night

Daily Devotional on 1 Samuel 3
(For Sunday, 21 September 2025)


1. When Heaven Falls Quiet (v. 1)

“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


2. The Lamp That Had Not Yet Gone Out (vv. 2–3)

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.


3. Three Calls and One Insightful Old Priest (vv. 4–9)

“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?”


4. A Hard Word for Tender Ears (vv. 10–18)

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.


5. From Boy to Prophet—A National Turning Point (vv. 19–21)

The chapter ends with a three-part crescendo:

  1. “The Lord was with Samuel.”
  2. “He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.”
  3. “All Israel … recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet.”

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.


Historical Voices

• 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.”


Hymn Suggestion

“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.


Living the Text Today

  1. Evening Practice: Before sleep, read Psalm 139 : 23–24 and pray Samuel’s seven-word prayer.
  2. Hearing Through Others: Like Samuel, allow mentors to help you discern God’s voice; like Eli, be willing to receive hard truth even from younger lips.
  3. Community Flame: Ask whether the “lamp of God” burns brightly in your congregation. Spiritual negligence dims the flame; shared obedience trims and refills it.

Prayer

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.

Narrated version of this devotional on 1 Samuel Chapter 3