The Child Clothed With the Linen Ephod.

 1 Samuel 2:18

 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, a   child girded with a linen ephod.

A poignant verse that pierces my mother heart. We live in the days of the idolatry of children. Days where men and women are so consumed with their children, at the expense of God. Dark days when ignorantly and stubbornly, parents continue to give their children to Molech, that ancient god to whom the Israelites sacrificed their children. Through ungodly training and upbringing, many children are the trophies that are rejoiced over in the temples of Dagon, even as the Philistines rejoiced over the heads of Saul and his sons. Many parents have children that belong to them but don't belong to the Lord. A tragedy!

But scripture tells us of a woman who, at the height of her desperation and consequent illumination made a vow to the Lord. She made a vow to give her child to the Lord, if only He would open up her womb. And so before conception, the child was already consecrated and offered up to God. True to form, God heard her prayers and granted her a male child, the pride of every Jewish home. The child grew and after he was weaned, he was taken to the temple. There, from a very tender age, the boy ministered before the Lord.

 

And the child wore a linen Ephod (purity, separation to God, priestly function). While the children of the world wore different brands, this one wore a linen Ephod. And the bible continues to say that after a while, God revealed Himself to this sapling. After this encounter it was said in Israel that the word of the Lord rare, except in the heart and mouth of Samuel, where the words of the Lord bubbled like mighty waters that did not cease till his dying day.

This child who was clothed with the linen Ephod.

1 Samuel 3:1,19-21

[1]NOW THE boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; there was no frequent or widely spread vision.

[19]Samuel grew; the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. [Josh. 23:14.]

[20]And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.

[21]And the Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of the Lord.

Lord, gives us again parents that would labour to ensure that from a young age, their children are clothed with the linen Ephod. Parents that by covenant, position their children before the Lord. 

Shilako Abutaka.