1 Samuel 3:1-21
Panggilan Samuel
Ayat 1-3
1 Pada masa itu, Firman TUHAN jarang didengar, dan penglihatan tidak banyak terjadi. 2 Eli, imam TUHAN, sudah tua dan hampir buta. 3 Samuel, masih muda, melayani TUHAN di bawah bimbingan Eli.
Panggilan Pertama
Pada suatu malam, ketika Samuel sedang tidur di ruang doa Tempat Kudus, 4 ia mendengar suara memanggil namanya: "Samuel! Samuel!" 5 Samuel bangun dan pergi kepada Eli, kata-kata: "Here I am, for you called me." 6 Tetapi Eli menjawab: "I did not call you, go back and lie down." Dan kembali Samuel tidur.
Panggilan Kedua
7 Ketika itu, Samuel belum mengenal TUHAN, dan Firman TUHAN belum pernah diwahyukan kepadanya. 8 Samuel kembali tidur, lalu didatangi suara itu lagi: "Samuel! Samuel!" 9 Samuel bangun dan pergi kepada Eli, kata-kata: "Here I am, for you called me." 10 Eli menjawab: "I did not call you, my son. Go back and lie down."
Penyadaran Eli
11 Ketika itu, Eli mengerti bahwa TUHAN memanggil Samuel. 12 Lalu Eli berkata kepada Samuel: "Go and lie down, and if He calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.'" 13 So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Panggilan Ketiga
14 Kemudian, didatangi suara itu lagi: "Samuel! Samuel!" 15 Samuel menjawab: "Speak, for Your servant hears." 16 Lalu TUHAN berfirman: "Behold, I will do something in Israel that will make both ears of whoever hears it tingle."
Wahyu TUHAN
17 "What He has is Mine, and what is Mine is His. 18 And I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 19 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. 20 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever." 21 Samuel lay until morning, and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord.
Dalam ayat-ayat ini, kita melihat bagaimana Samuel, seorang anak muda, dipanggil oleh TUHAN untuk menjadi nabi-Nya. Eli, imam TUHAN yang sudah tua, tidak mengerti bahwa TUHAN memanggil Samuel. Tetapi ketika Eli mengerti, ia memberikan petunjuk kepada Samuel untuk menjawab panggilan TUHAN. Wahyu TUHAN datang kepada Samuel, dan ia menjadi nabi besar dalam sejarah Israel.
