1 Samuel 4:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Samuel 4:1

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We have Samuel, as a youngster, ministering to the Lord, and God had spoken to him and revealed himself to him. So he was established to be a prophet. He was to be both a judge and a prophet, the last of the judges. Samuel was trained in a very unsatisfactory environment and context. There were the two evil sons, those dreadful sons, of Eli, and they were subverting the very procedures of worship and sacrifice in the tabernacle, the temple, to enrich themselves. They also committed leud acts and adultery. They were scandalous people, and they should really have been severely punished. But at the very least should have been stopped from going anywhere near the place of worship of the Lord. This must have made a tremendous impression on young Samuel. But he was unaffected by this. He remained pure himself; he remained utterly faithful to the Lord, but he saw the wrong, and he had to live alongside it under the rules of those days, and he had to bear it for many years in fact. God had revealed to him that there would be a judgement on the house of Eli and on the sons, and they would forfeit their lives. Until then he had to wait for better times. Within him, no doubt, he burned to see the temple run properly, and the services conducted in purity, and the people judged faithfully. But in a strange way it was to his benefit that he saw all these wrongs, and he knew what was right.The mantle was supposed to pass from Eli to Samuel. Eli was high priest, and until the Lord took him, in those times he would remain high priest. But as a prophet and as a judge, the youthful Samuel was really supposed to have taken over. He couldn't do that without Eli enabling it, and the people of the land desiring it and accepting it. But the mantle never passed from Eli to Samuel until God took Eli's life. The general population knew that Samuel was a judge and a prophet. He was authenticated before them (chapter 3:19). He evidently made short-term prophecies that were accurately fulfilled. So the people listened. But of course he would have preached words of instruction to Israel, and probably top of the agenda of the warning ministry would have been the warning against idolatry. This is the great contention God had with them. They worshipped the true God in a nominal superficial way, and they also crowded their homes with idols from the nations round about. They thought like the idolaters, the pagan nations. The pagan nations in those days would accumulate gods if they could, and we are going to see an example of that in this very passage with the Philistines. They didn't have one god. They might have a chief god, a principal god identified with their nation, but they would have others also, and if they conquered a country then they would assume those gods also. The more gods, the better. And the Israelites were thinking like that. ‘We will have the God of our tradition, and we will have our idols, and we will consult them also and make offerings to them privately at home and in small gatherings on hilltops.’ ‘And the word of Samuel came to all Israel’, and that went on for some years. There was no excuse – ‘And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD’, but they didn't consult him, or listen to his preaching, or respond to him for years. They went on in disobedience and idolatry. Here is the first great demonstration of faith in the life Samuel. He didn't abandon the task. He kept on doing his duty faithfully, even though he was unheeded for the best part of twenty years. ‘Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines in Aphek.’ What an extraordinary thing! Normally, where there is oppression in the period of the judges, you find the people utterly demoralised and the Philistines, or whoever the Canaanites are in question, seem to be supreme and the Israelites are terrified to hit back or push them out beyond their borders. But here, this generation of Israelites seem to be the opposite. They suddenly take it into their heads to expel the Philistines from all the cities that they had taken, so they rise up against them with great confidence. They do not ask at Shiloh; they do not ask Samuel, or even Eli possibly, whether they should do this. They are not listening. They are idolaters and they have not repented of their idolatry, but they have suddenly developed confidence. ‘We are Israelites. Look at our history. God has been with us. He has defeated much more formidable enemies. He has won great battles for us. We can prevail.’ And so they go forward with confidence. When they joined battle Israel was smitten before the Philistines, four thousand men. It’s a small number by comparison with those that come later, but it’s a warning. So the Israelites have the warning of Samuel – which is not specifically mentioned but we know it must have been taking place – and they have the warning of the death of the four thousand.

Application

We have to be careful of this, because something like this happens from time to time, even in the Christian church. There will be a resurgence of confidence which isn’t necessarily accompanied by a resurgence of spiritual life and faith, and putting away of sin, and dependence upon the Lord. We can get into the same position as the Israelites at the end of the period at the judges. We have it even in Calvinism: the New Calvinism, so called. Suddenly there are people, who never did this before, taking an interest in the Puritans, attending historical conferences, and wanting to learn about this, that, and the other. That seems to be what happened in Israel. There was a resurgence of national consciousness and confidence. ‘We have defeated the Philistines in the past; we can do it again.’ But accompanying the new historical interest in Israel, there isn't any spiritual interest and concern. They are carrying on with their idolatry. So we see it today. All of a sudden, all kinds of strange people are interested in the Puritans. It would be a very good thing if they were interested in Puritan spirituality as well, but they are not. There are interested in worldliness and the world, and contemporary worship and, and the Puritans as well. It’s extraordinary; it doesn't fit. There’s something radically wrong.

Some believers, both older people and younger people, have seen some very wrong things in their past lives. They have been in certain churches where there were totally unbiblical practices. Even some younger people have been in churches where they have seen just how things should not be done. You might think, that's a very unsatisfactory context, but at least they feel strongly about what ought to be done, and what is right and what is biblical. Then there are other people who have had a different type of happy background. They have always been in a faithful environment; they have always been in a biblical church. So sometimes we worry. That can be an enormous advantage: all your time, your entire Christian life, has been spent learning, being grounded in things, and you can be deep in the things of God. But also it may be that you don't appreciate anything like as much as those who have had unsatisfactory times too; you don't appreciate what is right. You don't have deep convictions. You won't take a firm stand, defending what is right. It can happen, and sometimes people can dream off and attach themselves to all sorts of unsatisfactory churches or systems or methods, and you think, what a shame: they never appreciated what they had. They never understood the reasons why things were done as they were. Being faithful to the Scripture is so important. Samuel ‘s unsatisfactory background made him very determined and very committed to the things which the Lord showed him were right. Make sure you have deep convictions concerning your heritage and we how you been brought into the things of God, otherwise the devil may just take advantage.

Questions

Many say that the first part of verse 1 really should never have slipped into chapter 4. It should have remained on the end the previous chapter. But it's not so bad that it has done so, because then we don't lose sight of it. ‘The word of Samuel came to all Israel.’ He evidently travelled about; he made sure he was heard; he did get audiences; his word was known. But it was still ignored.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Samuel 4:1 Commentary and Bible Study