And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man. Sermons
1 Samuel 2:22-25. (SHILOH.) A man may possess many amiable qualities, and be, on the whole, a good man, and yet be marked by some defect which mars his character, prevents his usefulness, and makes him the unintentional cause of much mischief. Such a man was Eli. Of his early life nothing is recorded. He was a descendant of Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron, and held the office of high priest, which formerly belonged to the elder branch of the Aaronic family, that of Eleazar (Numbers 20:26), but which was now transferred to the younger, from some unknown cause, and which continued therein until the time of Solomon. At the age of fiftyeight he became judge, and "judged Israel forty years" (1 Samuel 4:18). When first mentioned he must have been at least seventy years old. His sons were children of his old age; for some time afterwards they were spoken of as young men (1 Samuel 2:17), and, as is not uncommon in such cases, he treated them with undue indulgence. He was hasty and severe in reproving Hannah, but slow and mild in reproving them. The inefficiency of his REPROOF appears in that - I. IT WAS NOT ADMINISTERED IN PROPER TIME. The tendency to go wrong generally appears at an early age; and it must have been seen by him in his sons long before the rumour of their flagrant transgressions reached him, if he had not been blind to their faults. But he had no adequate sense of his parental responsibility, was old and weak, of a gentle and easy going temperament, and omitted to reprove them (1 Kings 1:6) until they had become too strongly devoted to their evil ways to be amenable to expostulation. A little plant may be easily rooted up, but when it has grown into a tree it can only be removed by extraordinary efforts. If some children are "discouraged" (Colossians 3:21) by too much strictness, far more are spoiled by too much indulgence. "Indulgence never produces gratitude or love in the heart of a child." II. IT WAS NOT GIVEN WITH SUFFICIENT EARNESTNESS (vers. 23, 24). Gentle reproof may sometimes be most effective, but here it was out of place. 1. It was not sufficiently pointed in its application; being given to them collectively rather than individually, in indefinite terms, by way of question, and concerning things which he had heard, but into the certainty of which he had not troubled himself to inquire. 2. It exhibited no sufficient sense of the evil of sin (ver. 25). He spoke of the consequences rather than of the nature, the "exceeding sinfulness" of sin, and spoke of them in a way which indicated little deep personal conviction. 3. It showed no sufficient determination to correct it. He did not say that he would judge them for their injustice toward men; and with reference to their sin against the Lord, which was their chief offence, he simply confessed that he could do nothing but leave them to the judgment of a higher tribunal. "In the case where the rebuke should have descended like a bolt from heaven we hear nothing but low and feeble murmurings, coming, as it were, out of the dust. Cruel indeed are the tenderest mercies of parental weakness and indulgence. And the fate of Eli shows that by such tender mercies the father may become the minister of vengeance unto his whole house" (Le Bas). III. IT WAS NOT FOLLOWED BY ADEQUATE CHASTISEMENT. The law of Moses in the case of disobedient children was very severe (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). But Eli neither observed this law "when they hearkened not to his voice" (ver. 25), nor took any further steps to prevent the continuance of the evil which he reproved. He had none of the zeal for which Phinehas the son of Eleazar was approved (Numbers 25:11-13); but as a father, a high priest, and a judge he was guilty of culpable infirmity and wilful disobedience (1 Samuel 3:13). "Osiers," says an old writer, "can never be pillars in the State or in the Church." IV. IT DID NOT RESULT IN ANY IMPROVEMENT (ver. 25). Their contempt of reproof showed that they were already infatuated, hardened, and abandoned to destruction; or (reading for - therefore), it filled up the measure of their iniquities, and exposed them to inevitable judgment. "He that hateth reproof shall die" (Proverbs 15:10). 1. Reproof is often a solemn obligation. 2. It should be given in an effective manner. 3. When not so given it does more harm than good. 4. When justly given it should be humbly and obediently received. - D.
And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men. One of the most beautiful things that God has made in the world is growth, and the world is full of it. God did not make a great Samuel at once, but a little child Samuel, who grew before Him. I will speak of four thoughts as included in growing before the Lord.I. Samuel grew AT THE LORD'S HOUSE. At this time there was no temple. There was no tabernacle, with the court round about, where the burnt offerings were consumed on the altar. II. Samuel grew is THE LORD'S SIGHT. This means that the Lord was pleased to see Samuel grow as he did. "Grow in grace" is the Apostle's word. Growth in love is the true progress; for love is holiness, and holiness is light, and light is God. III. Samuel grew BY THE LORD'S GRACE. His mother had lent him to the Lord, and the Lord saw to his growing. IV. Samuel grew for THE LORD'S SERVICE. 1. Little services from little people are acceptable to God. 2. The little grows by and by to the great. (J. Edmond.) I. IT TELLS US OF HIS MOTHER. No biography is complete without that. The father is not of so much consequence in the story; the mother is indispensable. Paint her moral portrait for me, and I can guess what the child will be like. Samuel's life began well, with a praying mother kneeling beside his cradle, and praying lips teaching him the first words he knew. She laid her dearest treasure upon the altar, and prayed, "Take him, O God, and make him Thine and make him worthy." And the Lord answered, as Jesus might have answered, "O, woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Our children will become in the main features what their mothers prayerfully and persistently determine they shall be. The picture of life which the mother always holds up before them will be the end, the ideal towards which they strive, and her daily habitual thoughts, her dominant and ruling thoughts will shape and colour their hopes and dreams. II. WE ARE TOLD ABOUT HIS SCHOOLMASTER. He was the one pupil of a sad-hearted old man. There is a touch of pathos in that part of the story, This child became the one joy of a lonely house, the music in its silent chambers. He came to Eli as the sunbeams come into a prison, or the smell of flowers to a sick man on his bed. He was a joyless old man, wearied and disappointed, who trailed behind him the broken threads of all his life's hopes. His own sons had become his shame, so that he wished he had buried them when they were little ones. His country was in danger, for the people had forsaken God and all good things, and were on the downgrade towards ruin. He was a gentle and kindly old man, but with no strength for the position which he filled. His hands were weak and his eyes dim. Dark was the outlook, and his life was going down with sorrow to the grave. And now see the goodness of the Lord. There comes into his house this sunbeam, this ripple of laughter on the sullen stream, this song in the night. A child whose feet ran in the way of his commandments, a child whom it was good to love and a joy to teach, a child who would take the place of his lost sons and provide new interests and create new hopes. There was something to live for and work for again. The child's presence brought summer into the drear winter, and warmth and cheerfulness into the cold desolate heart. On that child the old man poured his affection and gave all his remaining strength, and the child took lovely shape under these worn but tender hands. He must have been a good schoolmaster though he was no great good at anything else. He was no prophet, but he helped to make a prophet. He had no greatness of his own, but he developed the greatness of another. If Israel owed him nothing else, it owed him a Samuel: and that was no small debt. His life bore that magnificent fruit in its old age, and many a successful life has far less to show at the end. Call no man or woman a failure who has sent out one brave true life to enrich the world. When you think of Samuel do not forget the gentle, tired, old man who was his schoolmaster. III. WE ARE TOLD OF HIS GROWTH. But there are different kinds of growth. Some children grow taller and stronger, but they do not improve in other things. They get a little more knowledge, hut they do not get much wiser. They increase in stature, years, and strength; but they seem to lose, bit by bit, all their goodness, and what was beautiful in them becomes ugly, and what was kind and gentle and innocent becomes selfish and peevish and hard and unlovely. Samuel grew in favour with God and also with man. He grew by prayer. God heard him, and for every prayer gave him a little more wisdom and a little more goodness. And so he grew in obedience, in truthfulness, in modesty, in kindness of heart, in helpfulness. And everybody saw that he was shaping well. For just as we can felt from the first signs whether a tree will grow crooked or straight, and whether a plant will grow into poisonous nightshade or into a fragrant rose bush, and whether the glittering particles under the sea will form a common oyster shell or crystallise into a pearl, so can those who watch a child's life today know what the coming man or woman will be. Samuel was steadily shaping into the life which God had designed for him. IV. THAT HE WAS THE RISING STAR IN A DARK SKY AND THE HOPE OF A GODLESS LAND. It was a dreary and desperate time. The few who, like old Eli, still believed in God and righteousness were at their wits' end. They saw no tiniest rift in the black storm cloud which darkened the sky. And yet, in the midst of all that, God was training this child as a teacher and deliverer, keeping him outside all the impurity and unbelief, giving him a big heart and a wise mind, and fitting him for great leadership. If you read these three chapters, you seem to hear two distinct voices speaking. One is a voice of groaning complaint, sad foreboding; the other, a voice of hope, promise, and good cheer. One tells of greedy priests who were robbing the people and plundering the sanctuary; and then the other voice breaks in, "But the child Samuel grew and ministered before the Lord." Once more the doleful lips take up the strain, and tell again how the ruling men are wallowing in the filthiest sins and the people mocking at religion, and all the wisdom turned to folly; and again the other voice replies, "But the child grew on, grew in favour with God and man." Clouds thickening above, and danger and ruin threatening on every side. Still the child grows, and God is with him. And so God is training our children today. There are always new hopes given to us when we see child life, for in every group of children, especially if they are God-taught children, there are the bright and great possibilities of the future. Instead of the fathers shall come up the children. When there is a dearth of great men there is often a larger abundance of young souls slowly growing into greatness. The seed has been sown and the harvest will be reaped further on. We shall have them again, never fear. The Samuels, the brave leaders, the men made mighty by faith and prayer, they are growing in many a godly home today. The Lord knows them though we do not. (J. G. Greenough, M. A.) 1. In the first place, then, Samuel was very obedient. He was obedient to Eli's will. Eli had only to tell him what to do, and Samuel ran as hard as he could to do it. 2. The second is, respect and affection for an old man. Now, there are net many children that are disposed to find their pleasure in showing respect and affection to old people. Little children very often are inclined to treat old people with neglect — not to show them proper attention. 3. But another thing in Samuel's conduct was his humility. It pleased God to reveal Himself to Samuel. Now, many children would have been puffed up with pride at this. 4. There is one thing more in Samuel's conduct that you ought to notice; and that is his truthfulness. "Samuel told him every whir, and hid not the whole truth from him." When he was examined, he kept nothing back. There was no deceit, no guile, nothing of this kind to spoil his character, or to cause him to lose that favour which he had with all that knew him. But we must say a word about Samuel's circumstances; because perhaps there are some children present who think that he had everything to favour him — that he had no temptations to do wrong. They may think that he had a pious mother, and perhaps a pious father too, and that Eli, with whom he lived, was God's minister, and that he was employed in God's house, and that there were therefore around him circumstances that all tended to make him good. But, if God had not given Samuel a new heart, all these circumstances would not have made him good. But Samuel's circumstances were not all favourable. The two sons of Eli that Samuel had to do with every day were very bad young men. II. HOW ARE YOU TO BECOME LIKE LITTLE SAMUEL? I think I ought to ask you, in the first place, whether you wish to become like little Samuel. In order to be like Jesus, to be in "favour with God and men," you must have "the mind which was in Christ Jesus." I have told you that you must pray to be like Jesus: then, secondly, you must pray to remember the truth of your Bibles. "My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep My commandments. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and men." Now, in order to remember God's Word you must know it — you must learn it. Let me advise you, then, never to let a single day pass without learning some one text of Scripture. The third thing is be go and practise what you know immediately. Our blessed Lord says, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." (W. Cadman, M. A.) People Eli, Elkanah, Hannah, Hophni, Israelites, Pharaoh, Phinehas, SamuelPlaces Egypt, Ramah, ShilohTopics Approval, Becoming, Boy, Child, Continued, Favor, Favour, Grew, Grow, Growing, Increased, Older, Samuel, Stature, YouthOutline 1. Hannah's song in thankfulness12. The sin of Eli's sons 18. Samuel's ministry 20. by Eli's blessing Hannah is more fruitful 22. Eli reproves his sons 27. A prophecy against Eli's house Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Samuel 2:26 1055 God, grace and mercy Library The Child Prophet'And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. 2. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 8. And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; 4. That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. 5. And he ran onto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Reverence in Worship. The Knowledge of God Though the Fore-Mentioned Eternal Moral Obligations Letter xxix. To Marcella. A Private Enquiry Appendix xix. On Eternal Punishment, According to the Rabbis and the New Testament Covenanting a Privilege of Believers. The Mystery Sixth Day. Holiness and Glory. Sanctification. Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity the Christian Calling and Unity. The Sun Rising Upon a Dark World Entire Sanctification The Holiness of God Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel Tiglath-Pileser iii. And the Organisation of the Assyrian Empire from 745 to 722 B. C. Samuel Links 1 Samuel 2:26 NIV1 Samuel 2:26 NLT 1 Samuel 2:26 ESV 1 Samuel 2:26 NASB 1 Samuel 2:26 KJV 1 Samuel 2:26 Bible Apps 1 Samuel 2:26 Parallel 1 Samuel 2:26 Biblia Paralela 1 Samuel 2:26 Chinese Bible 1 Samuel 2:26 French Bible 1 Samuel 2:26 German Bible 1 Samuel 2:26 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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