Chapter 3 tells the beautiful story of the “Call of Samuel.” Young Samuel hears a voice calling him in the night, as he lies down to sleep. Samuel thinks that Eli, who is old and blind, must be calling him. So he runs to Eli and asks what he wants. Eli says that he didn't call, and tells Samuel to go back to bed. This happens two more times, and each time Samuel hears the voice calling, he goes to Eli. The third time this happens, Eli realizes that it must be the Lord's voice that Samuel is hearing. So, Eli tells Samuel to answer the voice with the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” When the Lord calls him again, this is how Samuel answers.

God’s words to Samuel are clear. Eli’s sons had done bad things, and Eli had not stopped them. No sacrifice could now keep them from the consequences of their sins. In the morning, Eli begs Samuel to tell him what the Lord said. After Samuel tells him God’s message, Eli accepts that the Lord would do to him and his family what was He knew was good.

There is much that we can learn from the story. The Lord calls Samuel three times before Samuel realizes who is really calling, and answers Him. Numbers in the Bible have symbolic meanings. In this story, the number three represents completeness. When Samuel is called three times, it represents a personal process that is complete, and that gives Samuel a new ability to receive God’s message. (See Apocalypse Revealed 505.)

To “hear” means to perceive, to learn and to come to understand. When Samuel hears and replies to the Lord, he is showing that he is willing to listen to and understand God. It is similar for us. We may not hear the voice of God calling in the night, but we can make space in our lives to try to tune in to His message, in the Word, and in good, wise people we can learn from.

The expression “to hear” can also mean to obey. Someone says, “Do you hear me?” What do they mean? They are asking if you are going to obey. In this story we can see Samuel accepting his role as prophet, i.e. to understand and obey God. So, too, we can recognize God’s messages and begin to obey them in our lives. (See Apocalypse Explained 14.)

The literal story seems to suggest that the Lord would punish Eli and his sons for the wrongs they had done. However, Swedenborg’s Writings teach that the truth is that the Lord never destroys, or is even angry. Instead, evil distances a person from the Lord’s protection and that leaves them vulnerable to the destruction that comes from the evil itself. (See Arcana Coelestia 588.)

208. One heaven is joined with another, or a society of one heaven with a society of another, by the Lord alone, by both immediate and mediate influx, immediate from Himself, and mediate through the higher heavens in order into the lower. ¹ Because the conjunction of the heavens by influx is from the Lord alone, there is most careful provision against any angel of a higher heaven looking down into a society of a lower heaven and talking with anyone there, for, the moment such a thing happens, the angel is deprived of his intelligence and wisdom. The reason for this will be explained. As there are three degrees of heaven, so each angel has three degrees of life, those in the inmost heaven having the third or inmost degree open, while the second and first degrees are closed. Those in the middle heaven have the second degree open and the first and third closed. Those in the lowest heaven have the first degree open, and the second and third closed. As soon, then, as an angel of the third heaven looks down into a society of the second heaven, and talks with anyone there, his third degree is closed. By this closing he is deprived of his wisdom, for his wisdom resides in the third degree, and he has none in the second or first degree. This is what is meant by the words of the Lord in Matthew:

He that is on the housetop, let him not go down to take what is in his house; and he that is in the field, let him not turn back to take his garment. Matthew 24:17-18.

And in Luke:

In that day, he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and he that is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Luke 17:31-32.

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