The Word of God to Samuel and Eli

Readings: I Samuel 3:1-20, Secrets of Heaven #561 (see below)
Photo by NEOM on Unsplash

This is such a beloved story from the Old Testament; it says beautiful things about listening for the voice of God, about call and vocation, about mentorship. Well, at least the first half of it does. The second half is a little more complicated. Yes, from Samuel we learn that it is important to listen for the voice of God. But then, what will that voice say?  What will that voice call us to do? What if it involves judgment? What if it is difficult?

So, first, some background on the text: the book of Samuel comes directly after the book of Judges in the bible. Earlier on, in Exodus and later, the Children of Israel had benefited from having two strong leaders in Moses and Joshua. But then comes a more trying time, which is chronicled in the book of Judges. Tribal wars begin to escalate, the state of things starts devolving. From time to time, leaders called “Judges” rise up to carry Israel through one crisis or another, but the trajectory remains downward and increasingly out of control.  

Now, back when Joshua led the nation, he had placed the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant at a place called Shiloh. Through all the troubles, this where it remained, and where we find ourselves in the story of Samuel. Previous to our text for today, the book of I Samuel introduces us to Samuel’s mother, Hannah, who in a familiar kind of story in the bible, was a favored wife who was also barren. She prays for a child at the tabernacle at Shiloh, and promises that if her wish is granted, she will place the child into the service of the Lord. She does became pregnant, and when Samuel is old enough he becomes an apprentice to Eli, priest of the tabernacle and descendant of Aaron.  But as trustworthy and kind and diligent as Eli was, his sons, also priests, were the opposite. They were corrupt. They were taking more than their share of the people’s sacrifices, and they were sleeping with the women who served in the tabernacle.  And Eli, in his old age, had failed to curtail their excess and their abuse of their role. This is the context of Samuel’s call story.  A society rife with corruption and violence, including even the priests of the tabernacle, and as a result, communication from the Lord was rare.  It felt like God was absent, but even if God was present, no one was listening.

And into this space, the Lord spoke Samuel’s name. Two times Samuel went to Eli, thinking that his master had called him, but he had not, and he sent Samuel back to bed.  The third time, however, convinced Eli that it was the Lord who was calling Samuel, and so he counseled Samuel as to what he should do.  When the Lord called again, Samuel said “Here I am, speak for your servant is listening.”

It is such a sweet and tender scene.  The openness and innocence of Samuel speaks volumes, as does the gentle and wise mentorship that he receives from Eli.  And in the tenderness of the moment, it becomes tempting to stop right there. But this is not the end of the story. The Word that Samuel receives from the Lord contains a judgment upon Eli. Samuel delays communicating this likely painful and awkward truth.  But Eli, admirably, demands to know what the Lord said in full, and he accepts the judgment in full.  His sons cannot remain in leadership, and because he did not restrain them, neither can Eli.  And so Eli steps aside to let Samuel take on the mantle of authority as the one who speaks God’s word.

It is a beautiful call story, but you can see, if we stop too soon we don’t get the whole of it.  God communicates with the world because God loves the world, and God has hope for the world. So, it is important for us to listen for what God is saying. And it is equally important to listen even if God’s word contains judgment upon ourselves and our behavior.  

It may seem to us that the judgment upon Eli was unjust. In the chapter before, he does indeed reprimand his sons, but they do not listen to him. Eli is clearly a good man. He has a good moral compass, he was loyal to God and likely his sons’ behavior pained him considerably. But what he didn’t do is challenge the structures that allowed his sons to take advantage of others. Eli is the part of us that is trying our best but is essentially happy with the status quo. The part of us that attends to what is in front of us faithfully. The part of us that might even be pained and saddened about the ways that other people are behaving but don’t actually do anything about it.

I know I struggle with the Eli part of myself all the time. Things happen in this would that we would never sign off on ourselves, and perhaps we don’t mind saying so.  But how far are we willing to go to change the structures that support or necessitate materialism, poverty, racism, sexual abuse and harassment, and gun violence in the world, just to name just a few. Certainly, I know I go much less far than I might wish to such change things, stymied by overwhelm, confusion, apathy, embarassment or any number of impediments.

And so the difficult question before us all, is whether we —diligent, kind, steadfast Eli— have we restrained our figurative sons? Have we challenged those around us, our families, co-workers and friends, when they have crossed a line, have we called out sexist behavior in real time, have we admonished a friend for a racist joke or idea, have we resisted the dehumanization of others however and whenever it occurs?

Further, have we worked to restrain and transform the kind of ideas within ourselves that support injustice? In Swedenborg’s metaphorical universe, sons often represent forms of truth, the shape of our ideas, the way we see things. Corrupt sons are then corrupted, false, misleading ideas. Ideas like “one person can’t change anything,” “those in poverty should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” “we live in a post-racial society,” “I deserve all my personal advantages,” “those people are just like that,” “it will always be this way.” Ideas that perpetuate “othering” and dehumanization and apathy, ideas that make complex things simple and simple things complex, ideas that justify the centering of ourselves and our egos and our comfort.  How far have we been willing to go to challenge these ideas within us?  To uproot them, and strip them of their power so that the Word of God can replace them?
Eli’s failure didn’t come from trying his best to restrain the corruption and bumping up against the limits of what one person can do. Eli’s failure came from whatever excuses allowed him to ultimately overlook his son’s behaviors, to throw up his hands. He spoke to them but did nothing to change the system in which they had free reign. So, this is not about taking responsibility for everything in the world that is bad, but taking responsibility for what we can do. Believe me, I stand convicted in this pulpit as much as anyone.  

So yes, this is a hard hard Word from I Samuel today. Do we perhaps now feel something of Samuel’s ambivalence, something of Samuel’s reticence at hearing what the Lord said. But…there is good news here to be had, for two reasons.

The first is the *existence* of Samuel. If Eli is a part of us, then Samuel is too, just as much. Samuel is the part of us that is devoted, looking to be guided, wanting to hear, committed to showing up, a state fueled by what Swedenborg calls “remains” or a “remnant.”  It’s a bit of a strange term, granted, but what he means by it is that all of the good and true things that we learn throughout our lives, all of our good experiences of love and compassion we have received, these are protected by the Lord deep inside of us. This pure goodness and innocence is preserved, stored within us if you will, ready to be drawn upon when needed. And there will definitely be times when it is needed; our Eli challenges are but one way that we might drift away from or avoid the life of the spirit. But, our Samuel nature is ready to respond to the Lord, our Samuel nature provides a well-spring from which God can work with us and through us.  And this goodness that “remains” with us in this way, it is a gift from the Lord, it is God working every which way to build us up, nourish us, give us chances to succeed and change. “The Lord preserves all these states in us in such a way that not even the least significant of them is lost.” This goodness that God stores up for us is inviolable, no matter how steadfastly we might turn away.

The second piece of good news is Eli’s integrity at his judgment. Eli might have been old and nearly blind, but he knew when the Lord was speaking. The good news is that the part of us that is distracted by worldly things, worldly concerns, the part of us that is afraid or overwhelmed or anxious or weary, that part of us is still essentially and deeply good. This part of us nurtured and mentored Samuel, and recognized the importance of Samuel. It just also needs to open up to the Word of the Lord, accept the judgment and do better, to allow the rise of Samuel to occur and the word of the Lord to become present on the earth. And this is exactly what Eli did.

There is *such* hopefulness in this story. In the midst of chaos we see God doing a new thing, we see God doing what God does: re-creation. But understandably, God doesn’t begin this work with our Eli natures, as good and kind as they might be, for they are mired in the business of the world, mired in linage and tradition and the preservation of what exists. God starts re-creation with Samuel, the innocent openness that will hear and respond. Sometimes we might resist, we might feel uncomfortable about what the Lord is telling us, but that is okay, this is part of being human. The important part is that we are hearing it and recognizing it and wrestling with it, for by contrast, Eli’s sons weren’t hearing anything from God at all. Our Eli natures do not come under judgment because they are impure or imperfect, they come under judgment precisely because God is hopeful for us, and God believes in what we can do and what we can be.  And so Samuel speaks God’s Word and..“The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.” Amen.


Readings:

I Samuel 3:1-20
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 

11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ” 15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “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.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.” 19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD.


Secrets of Heaven #561
To explain what a remnant is: It is not just the good and true things that we learn out of the Lord's Word from the time we are small and that become stamped on our memory. It is also all the states that rise out of those things, such as a state of innocence from babyhood, a state of love for our parents, siblings, teachers, and friends, a state of charity toward our neighbor and compassion toward the poverty-stricken and needy. In short, it is all states of goodness or truth.
These states, along with the good and true things imprinted on our memory, are called a remnant. The Lord preserves them in us, hiding them away in our inner being without our slightest awareness and carefully separating them from the things that are our own — in other words, from evil and falsity.
The Lord preserves all these states in us in such a way that not even the least significant of them is lost.