1"The word of the LORD was rare in those days." The sentence does not say Israel lacked religion. Shiloh still stood, the sacrifices still burned, and a boy still ministered before the LORD. The building was busy and God was quiet. Both had been true for a long time, and nobody seemed troubled by it, which may be the saddest detail in the verse.
The chapter lingers over the failing light before God speaks. 2"Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim," and 3"the lamp of God had not yet gone out." An old priest losing his sight and a flame nearly spent. In that dimness God speaks again.
He calls Samuel's name, and Samuel runs to Eli, assuming it must be him. He runs three times. The narrator explains why: 7"Samuel did not yet know the LORD." Samuel has grown up serving in this house and has not yet met the God he serves. Standing near holy things and knowing the Holy One are different distances.
What Eli does next may be the best moment in his story. Old, dim-eyed, and already told that his house is finished, he still perceives what is happening in the next room: 8"Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy." He tells Samuel to lie down and, if he is called again, to answer 9"Speak, LORD, for your servant hears." A failing mentor teaches a younger servant how to listen. Everyone who has learned to hear God has needed an Eli, a parent or a pastor or a friend, who says, this is how you answer.
When the LORD comes and stands and calls again, Samuel answers, 10"Speak, for your servant hears." He leaves out the name Eli gave him to say. Even that fits how faith usually begins. The posture of listening comes first, and confidence comes later.
What God says is hard. Judgment on Eli's house, 14"shall not be atoned for." Samuel is afraid to tell Eli, and Eli presses him. Samuel 18"told him everything and hid nothing from him." That choice, to pass on a hard word he had every reason to soften, marks him as fit to carry more. Eli's own answer is the last humble thing we see him do: 18"It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him."
From that night forward, 19"the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground." A long silence had broken, and it stayed broken. The letter to the Hebrews looks back over all of it and says that God, who spoke to the fathers by the prophets, has "in these last days" spoken "by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). Samuel carried words that were not his own. Jesus is the Word himself.
"Speak, for your servant hears" agrees to listen before knowing what will be said. The servant who says it has given God the right to speak the hard part too.
Prayer
Father, so much of our life is spent busy in your house without hearing your voice. Forgive us for mistaking activity for intimacy. Give us Eli's discernment to help others recognize you, and Samuel's honesty to carry your word even when it costs us. Speak, Lord. Your servants are listening. In Jesus' name, amen.