Samuel hears God amid corruption
United Kingdom · Draft · BSB
Content revision: cd5364e09b103f5a · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Before Saul · Samuel serves under Eli
Eli’s sons abuse their priestly position while Samuel grows in service. The LORD calls Samuel and gives him a difficult message of judgment against Eli’s house; Israel comes to recognize Samuel as a prophet.
The message is not only about discovering a vocation. Chapters 2–3 contrast Samuel with priests who exploit worshipers and with Eli’s failure to restrain his sons. Samuel tells Eli the judgment rather than hiding it.
Primary Scripture
2:12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
2:13 or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling
2:14 and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.
2:15 Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
2:16 And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”
2:17 Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.
2:18 Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod.
2:19 Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
2:20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
2:21 So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
2:22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
2:23 “Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people.
2:24 No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people.
2:25 If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.
2:26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.
2:27 Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house?
2:28 And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the food offerings of the Israelites.
2:29 Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’
2:30 Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.
2:31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age.
2:32 You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age.
2:33 And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, I will cause your eyes to fail and your heart to grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.
2:34 And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.
2:35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.
2:36 And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”
3:1 And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare, and visions were scarce.
3:2 And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.
3:3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was located.
3:4 Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.”
3:5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
3:6 Once again the LORD called, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” “My son, I did not call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”
3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
3:8 Once again, for the third time, the LORD called to Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you have called me.” Then Eli realized that it was the LORD who was calling the boy.
3:9 “Go and lie down,” he said to Samuel, “and if He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
3:10 Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
3:11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel at which the ears of all who hear it will tingle.
3:12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have spoken about his house, from beginning to end.
3:13 I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them.
3:14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, ‘The iniquity of Eli’s house shall never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”
3:15 Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,
3:16 but Eli called to him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel.
3:17 “What was the message He gave you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God punish you, and ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He said to you.”
3:18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide a thing from him. “He is the LORD,” replied Eli. “Let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
3:19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
3:20 So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD.
3:21 And the LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because there He revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.
Related Scripture
Deuteronomy 18:15–22 · teaching
Moses describes prophetic accountability; Samuel’s recognition can be read alongside these instructions.
1 Kings 2:26–27 · recollection
Kings later connects Abiathar’s removal with the judgment on Eli’s house.
Location evidence
Shiloh is the identified sanctuary locality. The map does not reconstruct Samuel’s sleeping place or the sanctuary’s layout.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.289536, 32.055703]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Shiloh: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.289536, 32.055703]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible · site identifications
OpenBible · site identifications
For the class
What makes listening to God costly for Samuel and for Eli?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/united-kingdom.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm