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Samuel at Shiloh
1 Samuel 2.18-20 and 26
Good News Translation (GNT)
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18 In the meantime the boy Samuel continued to
serve the Lord, wearing a sacred linen apron.
19 Each year his mother would make a little robe
and take it to him when she accompanied her
husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife,
and say to Elkanah, "May the Lord give you
other children by this woman to take the place
of the one you dedicated to him."
After that they would go back home.
28 From all the tribes of Israel I chose his family
to be my priests, to serve at the altar, to burn
the incense, and to wear the ephod [a] to
consult me. And I gave them the right to keep
a share of the sacrifices burned on the altar.
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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union
Samuel
1 Samuel 2.18-20 and 26
The text is sprinkled with allusions to Samuel (2:11,18,19,21,26), contrasting him with the worthless sons of Eli.
While the sons of Eli are living for themselves and ignoring God, God is quietly working in the small child, who dresses like a priest (v 18) and is cared for by his mother who makes a robe for him each year.
Like the Lord Jesus, whom Samuel prefigured, he 'continued to grow both in stature and in favour with the Lord and also with man' - the same description as that of the young Jesus in Luke 2:52.
This may be a low point, but God always keeps a faithful remnant.
This time his purposes are in a child.
God takes children seriously, and preserves those who are committed to him.
It must have been hard for Samuel's mother to leave him at Shiloh, and to see him only once a year.
Yet she did it by faith.
She had not given him to the temple system with all its corruption, but to God.
And God kept hold of him.
This can be very reassuring to those of us who are seeking to raise children in an age of contempt for the things of God.
Remember Hannah, a woman who learnt faith as she handed her problems over to God in prayer.
We too can have her same faith and trust for our children to grow up 'in the presence of the Lord'.
Eli's own words show awareness of judgement (v 25).
How different is Hannah's giving of her son to minister before the Lord (vs 11,18) and the consistent faithful worship of Hannah and Elkanah.
While Eli's sons 'knew not the Lord', Samuel's growth is 'in the presence of the Lord' (v 21, literally 'with the Lord').
He grew 'in favour with the Lord and with people' (v 26; see Luke 2:52).
It is possible to 'grow up and minister in the midst of corruption' (see Philippians 2:14,15),1 for God is still present there.
One does not have to move to a more favourable setting.
The darker the surroundings, the brighter a candle shines.
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