WHO is there amongst my young readers that has not become familiar with the woodcut upon the opposite page. It represents our present theme. There is the aged priest, as his garments and breastplate tell. He sits, with one hand holding a roll, which may well be supposed to be “the book of the law of the Lord,” and before him stands a child, with uplifted hand, speaking earnestly to the venerable man, who seems to listen with the kindest and deepest attention. That priest is Eli. The child is Samuel. What may be the occasion and subject of their converse we have now to learn.
Israel was at that time in a sad state. Eli, the high priest, was one who really loved the Lord, but his sons were very wicked men, and though he mildly reproved them, he still suffered them to go on in their wickedness, until men, on their account, “abhorred the offering of the Lord.” God was about to punish both the people and their rulers: but before he lifted his hand to smite, he prepared one who should be both a witness for him, and an instrument of deliverance to the people. That witness—that instrument—was the child Samuel.
Long had the heart of Samuel’s mother felt the sad state of Israel. What could she, a woman, do to bring about a change Alas! what could man do? Nothing. God must interpose. His arm alone could bring deliverance. But he had promised a deliverer. The seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent’s head. A prophet like unto Moses would God raise up. A king had been described—one from among the people—who should not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left. These intimations were well known to Hannah, and she spread them before the Lord. She was childless: but all power belonged to God, and might not she yet be the mother of this Seed, this Prophet, this King? Year after year, she cried to God. Such was her concern that we are told “she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.” And God heard her prayer. He gave her a son. Not the promised Seed, but one of his types and forerunners. Not that Prophet, but yet a prophet unto the Lord. Not the King whom God had chosen, but the one who had to anoint for king “the man after God’s heart”— the head of that royal line which terminates in him who is “the Root and the Offspring of David.” What a change for Hannah! From the moment Eli told her prayer was heard, “her countenance was no more sad.” She called her son Samuel, which means “asked of God.” As soon as he is weaned she presents him to the Lord at Shiloh. It was not for herself she had asked him of God, and she yields him up at once. “Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord.” She sings with holy triumph of what the Lord had done, and of what he would yet accomplish. “He shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Such was the birth of Samuel.
The child’s place at Shiloh seems to have been to wait on the aged Eli. “The word of the Lord,” we are told, “was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” Think of that, dear reader, in this day of Bibles and Testaments, when the word of the Lord is within every one’s reach, and you can scarcely meet with man, woman, or child, who either has not, or has not had, a copy of God’s word. There were but the five books of Moses, and perhaps Joshua, then; and for some time there had been no one sent of God to speak in his name to the people. Moses and Joshua had been long dead; others who had been raised up as judges and deliverers, had passed away; and while the priests and the sanctuary were in so sad a state, there was no one able to speak for God—no open vision.
One night, when the aged Eli was laid down, and Samuel also, the lamp still burning, however, in the holy place, Samuel heard a voice calling him by his name. He thought it was Eli, and ran to him at once, saying, “Here am I; for thou callest me.” Eli assured him that he had not called, and bade him lie down again. Again the voice is heard, “Samuel! Samuel!” and again the child goes to Eli. “Here am I; for thou didst call me.” He is sure this time, or thinks he is, that it was his aged friend and guardian who had called out for him. Once more he is bid lie down again, and again the mysterious voice calls; “Samuel! Samuel!” The venerable priest begins to perceive how the matter stands. He advises Samuel, the next time he hears the voice, to answer “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” The child lies down, and as at other times the sounds are heard, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel answered, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” And now Samuel receives, by the same voice, a solemn message from God to deliver to Eli. It is the Lord who has been calling him; and God’s call has made Samuel a prophet of the Lord.
We call things and persons by certain names, by which they are already known, and which sometimes are given them because of what they are. One youth calling another a liar, or a coward, does not make him so; and it is well for all my young readers to remember this. Neither does the praise of partial friends, who may give you good names, make you entitled to them. Many a one has been made dux in the class without really deserving that title, as his own conscience tells him. But when God calls a man, he makes him what he calls him. This call of Samuel was to make him a prophet; and he was a prophet from that time to the end of his life. The Lord’s call made a Saul of Tarsus an apostle, and how he seems to delight in speaking of himself as “called an apostle.” See Rom. 1:1,1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Romans 1:1) and many other passages. Remember, dear reader, that when God calls a man, or even a child, he makes him what he calls him.
Have you yet heard the Lord’s call? I do not mean his call to be a prophet or an apostle, but his call to be a Christian, a saint, a believer in the Lord Jesus. Paul, writing to the Christians at Rome, speaks not only of himself as a called apostle, but of them as “called saints.” “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” (Rom. 1:77To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7).) You have the same expression in 1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2); and, further on in that chapter, we have a great deal about this call of God. We read of “them which are called” (vs. 24); and in verse 26, “For ye see your calling, brethren.” Saul of Tarsus was, by the Lord’s call, made a Christian and an apostle at the same time; and Samuel was made a prophet and a saint that night at Shiloh. He did not distinguish the Lord’s voice from that of Eli; and when he had shown this by waking up twice and going to Eli, as though he had called him, we are told: “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.” That night he began to know the Lord, and thus became a saint: the word of the Lord was revealed unto him, and thus he became a prophet.
My dear reader, do you “yet know the Lord”? You have heard of him from the lips of parents, teachers, friends. So had Samuel from the lips of Eli. Besides, his home was the Lord’s sanctuary. He was a sanctuary child; and yet he knew not the Lord. Ah! you may hear of the Lord Jesus, and read of him, and live among those who love him and worship him, and yet know not the Lord. How sad this is! Is it your case? Oh that, if it be, this last number of GOOD NEWS for this year may be to you the Lord’s own voice, as though he were calling you by name, “John!” “Thomas!” “Mary!” “Hannah!” Is he not singling you out—making you feel just as though you heard your name pronounced? It may be none of these, and not Saul or Samuel either; but the Lord knows what it is. There is one name we all alike bear, young and old, rich and poor. What name is that, are you asking? Sinner! Can you doubt? May God give you to answer to the name of SINNER. Do you ask, What can God have to say to me as a sinner? Can he utter anything but my sentence of eternal woe? Listen! Say to him, “Speak, Lord, a poor sinner hears!” Now listen again. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool!’ Listen again. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Hearken once more. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
May you, in these words, or in such words, hear the call of God, as if addressed to you by name; and may you henceforth live and behave as those whom God has called to be his own dear children. God grant it, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake.