And Eli said, “What was it that He told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that He told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.”
— First Samuel 3:17-18
Eli must have known that the word of the Lord to Samuel had something to do with him. Samuel did not want to tell Eli all that God had spoken, for God told him that Eli’s house was judged with no possibility of repentance. Eli must have realized all this, for he told Samuel to hold nothing back. And, when he heard the Lord’s word, he said, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him” (3:18). Although he did not control his sons and his eyesight had grown dim, Eli was still a spiritual man.
Adapted from David: After God’s Heart, page 24.
Tomorrow: “Prophet, Priest, and Judge”