3:1 As promised to God by Hannah, Samuel is raised as a prophet under the care of Eli. Samuel is built and nourished as a prophet in the midst of a faithless generation. Those who have remained true to God are few.
3:2 Literally and physiologically, Eli loses his place as prominent teacher of the word. Eli has ashamed God by allowed his sons to live wickedly in the house of the Lord. Eli's sons are supposed to represent God, instead, their actions influence people to further abandon God.
We can understand how impactful we each are by this account of Hophni and Phinehas. God has expressed anger against Eli and his sons because their behavior is destroying the grace faithful men and women before them have built. What we say and do matters to the people and world around us.
3:3 Before Eli's final, figurative dismissal, God calls to Samuel. It is mentioned that before the candle (lamp) goes out where the ark of God is, God reaches out to Samuel: God always ensures that there is a light in the world for His children who are walking in darkness toward Him.
Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Children of God serve Him as righteous beacons. Safe havens. Wise observers. Awakened watchmen. God is ready to established Samuel as such and more. Samuel, evidently, is ready as well. God chooses the perfect timing for all things. As a prophet of the Lord, Samuel will guide his generation with the word of God in a time when it is desperately needed. There is corruption even in the house of the Lord, where people are supposed to be able to come to rest and learn in grace. (We know just how infuriated God is when His house is corrupted by wickedness, Matthew 21:12-13.)
3:4-5 Samuel mistakes the voice of God as Eli's voice: "Here am I." We learn from this that while Samuel is an attentive, dutiful and passionate pupil (arising immediately at beckoning) he does not yet have a personal relationship with God. Samuel does not yet recognize the voice of God. This is a journey of development of faith for each individual - reaching the point when we recognize our spiritual Father's presence in addition to His word.
Eli tells Samuel that he did not call him and sends him to go lay down again.
3:6-7 Again, the Lord calls to the young boy: "Samuel!" and Samuel responds: Here am I. Once, twice, and given a third time, the Lord will raise Samuel as a prophet. The implied process is important. Our faith is layered. There is acknowledgment and then acceptance. There is hearing and then listening. There is committing and sustaining.
God has been calling to Samuel his entire life, and because Samuel keeps listening, God keeps reaching out for him. Because Samuel keeps answering, God continues to prepare him for a great purpose. God calls each of our names as well, as long as we continue to listen for and to Him.
For a second time, Eli tells Samuel that he did not call him and sends him to go lay down again. Eli has been Samuel's teacher. Eli himself is not a corrupt man, but his inability to confront evil renders him incapable of the job. God needs children who will be warriors against evil. God needs spiritual soldiers who will choose righteousness over even family (if family is corrupt, like Eli's is). But Eli has taught Samuel, his young and eager student well. Samuel has been receptive to the word of God... ready even when woken from sleep for service toward the Lord.
3:8 Samuel hears his named called again and goes to Eli. Without frustration, for a third time Samuel proclaims: Here am I. These are beautiful words on God's hears. An eager child, ready to absorb His word, do His work. Further study is done on these three words in this work: Who Am I v. Here Am I.
When we are open to God's word, love and will, He is ready to take us places we never dreamed possible. The words God, Here am I, tell Him that we trust Him to do whatever He wants to our lives. He will use our lives to majorly impact the lives of so many others. He tailors us, propels our greatest potential toward fulfillment.
Eli begins to understand that God is calling out to Samuel.
3:9 Eli instructs Samuel to return to his bed and the next time he hears his name called answered the call this way: Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. This is a bold and righteous declaration. By saying this to God, we tell Him that not only are we receptive to His word, we are ready to act on it. We hear, in the perceptively deep way that His word teaches us to, Matthew 13:9. We see His vision for the humanity. We understand the purpose and meaning and are ready to be proponents of it.
3:10 This time, when God calls to Samuel, Samuel answers God. This is symbolic: Raised as a prophet, Samuel is taught to be receptive to God's word, will and voice. For his service as a prophet will depend on his ability to be familiar with God's voice and to follow His instruction.
3:11 God explains to Samuel that He has massive plans for the children of Israel - massive enough that even the foretelling of it will shock people.
3:12 He tells Samuel that Eli's house will diminish into nothing because of its wickedness. A corrupt line of spiritual teachers are removed from their platform; God is righteous and indignant on behalf of His children who are taught evil by corrupt men.
3:13-14 Eli has already been told by God of this, it will not come as a shock to him.
3:15-16 Samuel wakes in the morning will everything God explained to him on his heart. Samuel is troubled; he does not want to upset Eli with the word he received from God. Samuel's empathy reveals more of his character: he does not have a harsh or arrogant heart. Although privileged to have been personal visited by God, Samuel is not hasty to boast about it.
3:17 Eli comforts Samuel by allowing him to be truthful without fearing admonishment or hurt feelings. Samuel's service to God as prophet requires that he be vocal of His will and honest in every circumstance. Not that Samuel was contemplating it, but Eli explains that to deny or oppose God's will is the worst thing he could possibly do. In Mark 3:39 that for all of the sins humanity commits, the one which is unpardonable is to be visited by the Holy Spirit (Righteousness alive and present) and to oppose It.
Samuel did not want to oppose God - he simply did not want to hurt Eli with the harsh truth. But Eli's family caused their end and Eli understands this. Jesus explains to the disciples that a worker of God needs strength and courage, Matthew 20:22. After all, the confrontation of evil and the denial of death itself requires deep and steadfast faith. Samuel will at times need to speak things which are difficult to say, the disciples who came after him had to experience things which we difficult to endure (imprisonment, violence, rejection, scoffing). God ensures that His steadfastly faithful children are equipped for the job but steadfast faith is a requirement.
3:18 Understanding, Samuel speaks the entire revelation to Eli. No sugar-coating, no omissions. Eli accepts the word of the Lord, he knows that his sons have caused great damage and must be uprooted.
3:19 Samuel continues to mature under the direction of God. He absorbs it all, cherishing and exalting the will and word of the Creator and Organizer of the earth, humanity and universe. In Luke 2:52 we learn that Jesus was raised in similar fashion, under the love and direction of Wisdom Himself.
We are offered the same opportunity: to grow and learn under His wing. We must be rapt and dutiful students and God will send us also out into the earth prepared and able to move mountains, nations, whatever and whomever blocks or damages justice.
3:20 It becomes known and understood to the entire body of the children of Israel that Samuel is a prophet, chosen and raised by God. Remember that Samuel was conceived by faith and drawn out of Hannah's womb by faith. His birth was unlikely, before God. His status as prophet impossible. A miracle came into existent over a raw, honest prayer.
3:21 The Lord appears again to Samuel in Shiloh, carrying the force of the word and will of God.
