1 Samuel, Chapter 3 - Voice of God | Prophets of Israel Daily

Shalom and welcome to the prophets of Israel daily. This is the book of Samuel chapter 3. My name is Jeremy Gimpel and I'm here with my kuta Arimitz. Ari, how are you? >> Thank God I'm doing well, Jeremy. Good to see you. >> Yeah, it's great to be here. All right. Well, this series is brought to you by the land of Israel network at the land ofisrael.com. And if you're enjoying this series, click on the like button, subscribe to the channel. That actually helps this message get in front of more and more people. We're just learning that. And if you want to learn all of the prophets from the beginning, you can watch and learn all of the book of pro of Joshua, all of the book of judges at the land of Isisrael.com. I mean, I have a friend, he just started Joshua, and he just binged on the entire series in a couple of days. He had a few long car rides scheduled, and he finished the whole book. And so, that's always open to you at the landofisrael.com. All right, so let's get right to it. Um, chapter 3. Well, before we open up chapter 3, we really have to like step in to the world that Samuel Shmoel is being born into. And it's at this stage in history, Israel is alone on every front. Politically, there's no leader. Militarily, the Philistines are encroaching from the west and Israel is losing ground. Spiritually, the high priest is old and blind, and his sons are corrupt beyond repair. And they've destroyed the tabernacle spiritually. And now chapter 3 opens with the verse that sort of sets the stage for the emergence of the word of Hashem was precious rare in those days and there was no vision breaking through or there was no widespread revelation. See in Hebrew it's the words are yakar the word of God was precious. In Hebrew that means both rare and valuable because when something is rare that's when it becomes precious. And the word neifrat it's usually translated as widespread saying that you know there were just the visionary prophets wasn't a common thing in that time but nephratz also means breaking through. It implies it's like something is pushing through a barrier. It's breaks out. It's like opening through the silence. And at that time nothing was breaking through. Heaven was quiet silent and the channel between above and below just gone off air. And so it was in that vacuum being totally alone. It's like the vacuum before creation. It's like the darkness before light. Jeremy, when I think about that sort of description, the vacuum before creation, you know, that's the end of Judges, the the collapse, the silence, the the absence of vision. I can't help but to but to feel how close that is to something that we're going through today. Because while it's painful to say it, try to point to a single towering religious leader in our generation the way previous generations could. A real a single one, someone whose word carries across the entire Jewish world. Someone you could point to and say, "There that's the voice of our generation. That's someone who everyone could get behind. I can't really think of one." And that's not to say that there aren't great rabbis, but it's just we don't have that, you know. And I'll tell you the truth. I sort of take strength from that on some level because maybe, just maybe, that's not a failure. Maybe it's a sign because here in the darkest and most leaderless moment of Israel's history, we're about to meet the greatest prophet since Moses. Hands down. No question about it. Samuel doesn't appear in a in a golden age. He appears in this vacuum that you're talking about. He appears precisely when the absence of leadership has become unbearable and when no one was expecting anything at all. >> Yeah, exactly. I feel that is exactly where Israel is holding today. I don't see any leader on the horizon, but it's exactly when no one is expecting it at all. That's when the leader arrives. All right, so let's continue. Um, here's the scene. It's the middle of the night. The tabernacle in Shilo. The lamp of God is still burning. The text gives us the detail of that deliberately, just like one small flame illuminating the darkness. And the young Shmoel is lying down in the sanctuary near the ark of the covenant. And that alone is remarkable. I mean, he's so holy. He doesn't just visit the tabernacle. He lives there. He's so comfortable there. He's resting there and just lying down there inside the tabernacle. Eli the priest is old and he's lying nearby. His eyes are already growing dim. And then verse four says like this, And Hashem called to Samuel and he answered, "He name me. Here I am." So he ran to Ali and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And Samuel is called by God. He gets up. He runs to the old priest, Alien and says, "Hania, here I am. You called me." And Ali says, "I didn't call you. Go back and lie down." And so Samuel goes back. And then it happens again. And he says, "Shool." And he runs to Alien. He says, "Well, I didn't call you my son. You know, it happens a third time." And three times the voice of God calls Shuel. Three times the boy doesn't recognize it. And the text gives us this reason in verse 7. And Shuel had not yet known Hashem. And the word of Hashem had not yet been revealed to him. So when it says that he didn't know Hashem, he hadn't grown into an intimate relationship with Hashem yet. It's special because we're actually witnessing Samuel's first baby steps as he becomes a prophet in Israel. You know, I I think what strikes me most about those three failed attempts is how earnest Samuel is throughout. And also, I can't help but to just, you know, what what he ends up doing to Aog and being a leader of Israel. And there's something very cute about him right now, wearing his little robe that his mom made him and going to. It's cool to see his sort of or cute origin story. But, you know, he he just understanding how he's dealing with this. He doesn't ignore the voice. He doesn't roll over and go back to sleep. Every single time he leaps up, he runs. He presents himself. Heni, here I am. He's doing everything right except directing it at the right address. He's doing his best, right? And I think there's this innocent beauty to it. His instinct to respond, to show up, to present himself is completely correct and healthy and good. He just needs a teacher to help him sort of harness it properly. And who teaches him? Ellie, the high priest. The same Ellie whose house is about to be condemned. The same priest whose failures this very chapter is about to detail, right? His he he's old. His eyes are failing. His sons have disgraced everything he built. And yet he's the one who perceives about Shu what Shmu cannot perceive about himself. He sees the calling before the one being called can even see it. >> You know, it's true. Ay and Shu have just a really unique relationship. I mean, Eli raised him as a young child and now he's teaching him the ways of the prophets and sending him on his way to become a great leader in Israel. And so Eli tells him in verse 9 gives him instructions, "Go lie down and if he calls you again, you shall say, speak Hashem, for your servant is listening. Hashem of a tells him to say, speak Hashem, for your servant is listening." So Samuel goes back, he lies down, and the voice comes a fourth time. Hashem comes. It's not just a voice, but God's presence now is right beside Shuel. And he calls Shuel his name twice. And that doubling of the names really brings us back to Abraham. Abraham at the binding of Isaac and then Moshe Moshe at the burning bush. It's like calling his name twice. It's symbolized that heaven is calling all of Schmool, his past, his future, the child that he's been up until now, and the prophet that he's about to become. And Schmool responds. But I want to point out something that he says that's really important. Eli tells him to say, "Speak, Hashem, for your servant is listening." But what Schmool says is, "Speak for your servant is listening." The name is gone. Shm leaves out Hashem. And it's like, why? And I think it really gives you an insight into Shu and where he's at. You know, Eli is a seasoned priest. And from the outside, he already recognized that this was the voice of Hashem. But Shmu himself, he's just not there yet. And Eli said, "Speak directly to God. Call him by his first name." And it shows how humble Shu was and how tamim, how innocent and inexperienced he was. It's like this is his first prophecy and he just can't act out of that intimacy that he doesn't have yet. >> Yeah, Jeremy. you know, now now that I'm a father, Shane and I, we started off a little bit late. We had our oldest daughter, Dvash, at the age of 40. And that created a whole new world of identifications and sensitivities, and I can't help but to feel the pain that must be in Ellie's heart because the contrast couldn't be more dramatic between Schmool and his own sons and Pinas, right? I mean, his sons may have known the right words. They may have worn the priestly garments. They may have performed the ceremonies. They may have even said all the correct names in all the correct places. And yet the text tells us they were corrupt to the core. That they did not know Hashem. They had the formula without the truth behind it. Right? In their minds, back to my fourth grade rabbi, in their minds, they knew the right buttons to press on the vending machine. Right? And here is Samuel, young, uncertain, fumbling his first prophetic response. And he leaves out the name because he isn't yet sure enough to say it. And and in that honesty, in that refusal to act with a certainty that he doesn't yet have, he becomes the vessel through which Hashem actually speaks, right? The one who didn't yet feel right saying the name of Hashem is about to become the one through who the name of Hashem will be heard across all of Israel, all of history. Right? That is not a coincidence. >> It's really beautiful in that humility. It mirrors the person Moses, the prophet Moses. And we'll see soon that Schmool really becomes a Moseslike figure in that generation, a spiritual leader. He's leading them into war. He like becomes this giant that Israel has never seen in centuries. And so this is Shuel's first prophecy. And it's not exactly a message of comfort. Look at verses 11 and 13. Behold, I'm about to do a thing in Israel which both ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. On that day, I will fulfill against Ay all that I have spoken against his house from beginning to end. For his sons brought a curse upon themselves, and he did not restrain them. So, this is Shuel's first prophetic experience. And it's a devastating, deadly word of judgment against the house of the very man who just helped him hear it. I mean, it's like the morning comes and is terrified. He doesn't want to talk to Aliyah obviously and Ali is like guardian, his teacher, his mentor, the man who raised him from childhood. He's in the sanctuary and the prophecy is pretty much telling him like this is going to be the end of you and your legacy. But Eli calls him and demands that Shamu tells him exactly what happened. Verse 17, what is the word that he spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you if you hide from me a single word. So Eli asks to hear the judgment against himself fully. There's no softening here. It's like Schmool tells him everything, his lineage, his legacy are all going to be ended by God. And Eli's response is pretty righteous. It's just surrender and acceptance. Verse 18, Eli says, "He is Hashem. What is good in his eyes, he will do." You know, Jeremy, your wife Tila, she always points out that I'm like the poster boy for the truth that when someone becomes a father, their brain chemistry changes and they oxytocin, they become super emotional. And maybe that's what's happening here. But when I read this, you know, again, and I heard what Ellie said, I almost I won't say that I cried, but tears almost came to my eyes just over that because Ellie is there's something very lovable about him. Something so tragic about him. He's not a simple man. He's the high priest of Israel, right? He's given his life to the service of Hashem. And he's being told by a boy he raised that his house is finished and that his sons will not be atoned for and that his legacy will be cut off. And his response is not bitterness, not argument, not grief that he's just trying to hide. Just he is Hashem. He will do what is good in his eyes. Right? That is faith at its deepest. Not the faith of someone whose life is going well. the faith of someone who has lost everything, that stands to lose everything, that is in the midst of losing everything and can still say he is Hashem. It's inspiring, you know, and notice what what he doesn't do. He doesn't punish Samuel for delivering the message. He doesn't withdraw from him in shame. He receives the word of God. And even when it's a word against himself, he receives it with dignity, which is a great lesson also for Samuel to see that played out in real time. You know, that may actually be Ellie's final and most important teaching to Samuel. How to receive the word of Hashem even when it costs you everything. And by the way, what a sharp contrast to the way we see King Saul received the very same news. But let's not jump too far ahead. Back to you, Jeremy. >> Yeah. All right. I think at the end, you know, even though his kids were off the path of righteousness, Ali was a man of God and received his decree with faith. And the relationship between Shuel and Ali, it's such a drama between mentor and student. I don't know anything else like it. And when the chapter closes, it closes with something really beautiful. And Shuel grew. This is verse 19. And Shuel grew and Hashem was with him. And he did not let any of his words fall to the ground. Not a single word that Shul spoke fell to the ground. That is the mark of a true prophet. I mean, his words take root. They carry weight in the real world because everything he said was true. Verse 20. And all of Israel from Dan to Beva knew that Samuel was faithful as a prophet of Hashem. So in a time when there was not much prophecy, everyone recognized this man is special. And so from the northernmost point of the country to the furthest in the south, it was a time where there's just like no, it was so rare to have any prophets. And the entire nation recognizes this young man child. It's unclear exactly how old he is right now at this point as a prophet in Israel. He is first framed as a prophet. And that's really important. Only then he becomes a judge and he becomes a leader and a military man. First everyone recognizes him as a prophet. And you know friends, what I think that's telling us today is that a new leader is on the way. The book of Samuel, the rise of Samuel, King Saul and King David, it's a prophecy for our generation, the lack of national spiritual leadership in our generation in the land of Israel. It's like no other time before. And the vacuum we're in right now where the word of Hashem is yakar. It's precious and rare in our days. It's not going to last forever. We're almost there. The stage is being set just like it was in the times of Samuel. And we're so fortunate to be a part of this generation, this generation that's going to bring the Torah from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem. And on that note, if you're enjoying this series and the book of Samuel and you want to take the next step on the journey, we want to invite you to join our global community and become a member of the land of Israel network, the land of Israel fellowship. We gather live every week. We would love to see you there. I mean the movement is growing and your membership supports our mission here in Judea and helps us bring the Torah from Israel to the world. So with that my friends will see you tomorrow as we continue our journey through the book of Samuel in chapter 4. See you tomorrow.