The Story of the Bible

So the child Samuel stayed at Shiloh and lived with Eli the priest in one of the tents beside the Tabernacle. As he grew up he helped Eli in the work of the Lord's house. He lit the lamos, and opened the doors, and prepared the incense, and waited on Eli, who was now growing old and was almost blind.

Samuel was all the more a help and a comfort to Eli because his own sons, who were priests, were very wicked young men. Eli had not trained them to do right, nor punished them when they did wrong, when they were children; so they grew up to become evil, to disobey God's law, and to be careless in God's worship. Eli's heart was very sad over the sins of his sons; but now that he was old He could do nothing to control them.

It had been a long time since God had spoken to men, as in other days God had spoken to Moses, to Joshua, and to Gideon. The men of Israel were longing for the time to come when God would speak again to his people as of old.

One night Samuel, while yet a child, was lying down upon his bed in a tent beside the Tabernacle; he heard a voice calling him by name. It was the Lord's voice, but Samuel did not know it.

He answered, "Here I am!" and then he ran to Eli, saying, "Here I am. You called me; what do you wish me to do?"

And Eli said, "My child, I did not call you. Go and lie down again."

Samuel lay down, but soon again hear the voice calling to him, "Samuel! Samuel!"

Again he rose up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am; for I am sure that you called me."

"No," said Eli, "I did not call you. Lie down again."

THE BOY WHO LIVED IN THE TEMPLE

A third time the voice was heard; and a third time the boy rose up from his bed and went to Eli, sure that Eli had called him. Eli now saw that this was the Lord's voice that had spoken to Samuel. He said:

"Go, lie down once more; and if the voice speaks to you again, say 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' "

Samuel went and lay down, and waited for the voice. It spoke as if some one unseen were standing by his bed, and saying, "Samuel! Samuel!"

Then Samuel said to the Lord, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

And the Lord said to Samuel:

"Listen to what I say. I have seen the wickedness of Eli's sons. And I have seen that their father did not punish them when they were doing evil. I am going to give to them such a punishment that the story shall make every one's ears tingle who hears it."

Samuel lay in his room until the morning. Then he arose and went about his work as usual, preparing for the daily worship and opening the doors. He said nothing of God's voice until Eli asked him. Eli said to him:

"Samuel, my son, tell me what the Lord said to you last night. Hide nothing from me."

And Samuel told Eli all that God had said, though it was a sad message to Eli. And Eli said, "It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him."

And then the news went through all the land that God had spoken once more to his people. And Hannah, the lonely mother in the mountains of Ephraim, heard that her son was the prophet to whom God spoke at his messenger to all Israel.

From that time God spoke to Samuel, and Samuel gave God's word to the twelve tribes.

How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark

1 Samuel iv: 1, to vii: 1.

While the old priest Eli was still the judge, though he was now very feeble, the Philistines came up against Israel from the plain beside the sea. A battle was fought, and many of the Israelites were slain. Then the chiefs of the people said:

"We have been beaten in the battle, because the Lord was not with us. let us take with us against our enemies the ark of the covenant from the Tabernacle, and then the Lord will be among us."

So they went to Shiloh, and they took out from the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (see Story Twenty-seven in Part First) the ark of the covenant, and the two sons of Eli the priest went with the ark to care for it. When the ark was brought into the camp of the Israelites all the men of war gave a great shout, so that the earth rang with the sound.

And when the Philistines heard the shouting they wondered what caused it, and some one told them that it was because the God of the Israelites had come into their camp. The Philistines were afraid, and they said to each other:

"Woe unto us, for such a thing as this has never been seen! Who shall save us from this great God who sent plagues on the Egyptians? Let us be bold, and act like men, and fight, so that we may not be made servants to the Israelites, as they have been to us!"

The next day there was a great battle. The Philistines overcame the Israelites and slew thousands of them. They killed the two sons of Eli, and they took the ark of the Lord away with them into their own land.