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Shemuel Alef Chapter 3

After reading of the stark contrast between the spiritual emptiness of the sons of Eli and the spiritual growth of Shemuel, we now learn about a watershed moment in Jewish history – Shemuel’s first prophetic experience and the beginning of his career as one of the greatest prophets who has ever lived.

Shemuel and Eli were both asleep at the Temple complex. Suddenly, Shemuel hears a voice beckoning to him; assuming that it is the elderly (now blind) Eli who must be in need of his assistance, Shemuel gets out of bed and runs over to him. Eli assures Shemuel that he did not call him and sends him back to bed. This happens twice more; finally, Eli realizes that what Shemuel is hearing is the voice of the Almighty calling to him in prophecy. He instructs his young protégé to respond to the voice next time he hears it and to receive its message.

Hashem informs Shemuel of the imminent destruction of the priestly house of Eli, including the untimely demise of his two sons. Hashem explains that Eli himself is worthy of this terrible punishment because he failed to intervene and prevent his children from desecrating God’s name, and that the sin was so severe that it could not be expiated.

The next morning, Shemuel is understandably hesitant to share the content of the message with Eli, but Eli insists that he be told the truth. One gets the impression that Eli may have suspected that Shemuel’s prophecy, like the prophecy of the unnamed prophet who visited Eli in chapter two, probably had to do with the Heavenly decree against his family. Shemuel divulges the details of the communication he received. Eli, in his typically weak and passive fashion, accepts the judgment of Hashem upon himself and does not argue, repent or otherwise seek to have it overturned.

With Shemuel’s ascendance to the level of prophecy, the Jewish people are finally in a position to be taught, inspired and redeemed by a leader of the highest caliber. Therefore, the process of removing the corrupt “old guard” (i.e., the sons of Eli) from the picture is now underway. It is especially appropriate that the inaugural prophetic vision of Shemuel is itself a revelation about the radical transformations that are about to take place; namely, the replacement of the entrenched, defective and dysfunctional religious establishment with an enlightened, prudent and godly one.
One tragic element of the story is the weakness of Eli HaKohen. Although in all respects a righteous man, he seems to lack the courage or strength of conviction necessary to put a stop to the injustices being perpetrated by his sons. Moreover, Eli interprets the prophetic messages conveyed to him as if they are fatalistic pronouncements. Normally, we view such communications as Hashem’s way of offering us opportunities to learn from our mistakes and rectify them before it is too late; Eli simply resigns himself to what he perceives as inevitable.
The Rabbis note that in Shemuel’s prophecy he is told that the sins of the sons of Eli will not be atoned for through a sacrifice or meal offering; they comment that the sins could, however, have been atoned for by Torah study and charity. In other words, there was no quick ritual fix that would “change God’s mind” about the sons of Eli the way that a superficial religious person might expect. Doing more of the same – more sacrifices, more offerings, more empty, external religious actions – would not serve to shift the worldview such hardened criminals in any fundamental way nor enable them find favor in the eyes of the Almighty.
Real internal change, however, WAS and always is possible. Advances in Torah knowledge and self-understanding, genuine and lasting improvement of character, or the replacement of selfishness and greed with generosity and compassion would have constituted profound and revolutionary change and might very well have led to the cancelation of the devastating decree against the house of Eli.
Sadly, rather than read between the lines of the prophecies and attempt to engage in or facilitate genuine repentance to avert the disastrous consequences that are in store, Eli is unwilling to confront his sons and redirect them constructively. By his own choices and actions, then, Eli is the one who renders the prophetic warning absolute and irrevocable. It is, we might say, a literal example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.