1 Samuel 3

tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? 29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days to come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thy 32 And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever.

33 And the man of thine, whom I shall not them: not Israelites, we may hope, but the female Canaanites, who were employed to assist in the service of the taber- Eli, hearing this, remonstrates with his ungodly sons, not so early, we may fear, as he ought to have done; winked at their crimes, perhaps, (as is too often done,) as “juvenile indiscretions,” and not fully exerted his authority, either as a father, or a judge, to correct them. But Eli now reasoned with his sons with much affection and tenderness, warning them of the consequences. him,” and may act as mediator with the offended party; “The judge shall judge ut if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?” Their offence was treason against God, for which the law provided no atonement, and covenant no mediator; at least after the death of Moses.

“But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them;” which, if rightly translated, means, that they had hardened their hearts against God, like Pharaoh, till God utterly rejected them, and sealed their doom. (See exposition of Exod. (1 Samuel 7)and destruction of Eli’s house. 15 Samuel, though loath, telleth Eli the vision. 19 Samuel groweth in credit. 20 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. 2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; 4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.; about the 5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. 6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel, And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down unto him. 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him, God had sent to reprove him, he replied, “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, ((2 Chronicles 25:16).) and hast refused to hearken unto my counsel.” The Lord also sends “a man of God,” a prophet, to warn Eli himself of the consequences of his criminal tenderness toward his sons; but whether this was before or after Eli’s reprimand to them, is by no means clear. Chap. III. Ver. 1—21. Samuel called to the prophetic office, in which he is acknowledged by all Israel.—We have seen, in the close of the first chapter of this book, that Samuel was a man devoted by his mother to the service of God, under the care of Eli, who seems to have taken him to wait upon his person, prefatory to the ensuing to sleep in an anti-chamber. In the old narrative, however, we are told, that “the word of the Lord was precious in those days,” there being “no open vision;” which we understand, no angelic appearances, as in the times of the patriarchs and judges. By “the word of the Lord,” we understand prophetic communications, for they had no Bible, as we have, to read, or to consult. The books of Moses were probably the only ones yet written, and copies of these were in very few hands besides those of the priests, Levites, and perhaps few of them, as we read of no professed scribes till the time of David. ((2 Samuel 8:17).) This is worthy of being mentioned, not only as accounting for the ignorance of the divine law, which we observe in some instances at this early period, but more especially to stimulate our own attitude, who live in a land of Bibles, and of gospel privileges, and so encircled by knowledge on every side, that we may well say, This is a day of “open vision.” But to return to Samuel: the first revelation he received was of a painful nature, as it respected the judgments denounced against the house of Eli.

Samuel, however, faithfully relates the whole to the afflicted priest, who receives it with that submission to the divine will which marks him as a truly pious character, and an eminent believer under the Old Testament dispensation, though defective in that energy which marked the character of Samuel and many others, and especially culpable in too great indulgence to his ungodly children: “His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” Samuel, however, grew in grace and in knowledge, had repeated visitations of the prophetic Spirit, “and all Israel… knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord;” and as such, therefore, recurred to him on all occasions on which his counsel and instruction might be wanted.

Notes on the verses

Ver. 25. The judge.—Hebrew, Elohim, is here translated “the judge." Under the Theocracy, “God was judge himself,” but the presiding his representative; just as in the Court of King’s Bench, London, always represented by the chief justice.—Because the Lord would slay them.—Dr. Clarke contends, that the particle Ki should be translated therefore, as in (Psalms 16:10). (Hosea 9:15), &c. “hearkened not, therefore the Lord purposed to destroy them;” but Dr. Boothroyd retains our present version, because; which, as above explained, seems consistent with the divine conduct. Ver. 27, House of thy father.—That is, Aaron; (Exodus 28:1), &c. The priesthood descended from him to Eleazar; then to Phinehas; afterwards to Ithamar, Aaron’s youngest son, from whom Eli was descended, and some think was then transferred to Samuel, who was of the family of Kohath, (Numbers 4:4), &c. compare ver. 35.; but there are difficulties in his genealogy which we cannot here unravel. Ver. 29. Wherefore kick ye.—Rather, “spurn ye;” so Boothroyd. It appears from this and the preceding verses, that Eli’s sons were epicures, and not content with what the law allowed them, picked all the choice pieces out of the sacrifices for themselves, whether belonging to the Lord in sacrifice or the offerer.—Honourest thy sons.—By permitting his sons to deal with the sacrifices, and to be served first, by taking their part before the priest was fat, &c. was burnt to the Lord, Eli thus honoured his sons above God.—Bage king is Ver. 31. I will cut off thine arm.—That is, I will destroy the strength, power, influence, and authority of thee and thy family; of which the arm of man being the instrument is used as the emblem.—Bagster. The text would then read, “They Ver. 32. Thou shalt see an enemy.—See Margin: [which appears to be the right translation: for agreeably to this prediction, he did see the tabernacle deprived of the ark, which was its glory, and lived to hear that it was captured by the Philistines.]—Bagster. Dr. Boothroyd, (following the Vulgate,) reads, “With envy thou shalt see a rival, (mulum,) who in every thing shall do good to Israel;” meaning Samuel. Ver. 35, in Chap. III. Ver. 3. Ere the lamp, &c.—(Before sunrise; for it is probable the lamps were extinguished before the rising of the sun: see the parallel passages.)—Bagster. Ver. 7. And Samuel did not yet know the Lord.—See the Margin.

Cause somewhat differently, supplying a word from the context, thus; “Now Samuel did not know the voice of the Lord, This refers only to the word of prophecy, for he was evidently truly pious.