1 Samuel 3

1 Samuel 3:1

JjLND the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. Performed such services at the tabernacle as JEli directed, being now about twelve years old, as Josephus thinks. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days.] God did very rarely in those days reveal his mind to any" person. (See ver. 21.) There was no open vision.] Here vision includes all the ways whereby God revealed himself to men. Which he did then so seldom, that whatsoever revelation there might be privately to some pious persons, there was none then publicly acknowledged to be a prophet, unto whom the people might resort to know the mind of God. Which was the cause that Samuel, being twice called by God to attend unto him, thought it had been Eli who called him: for they were so unacquainted in these days with the prophetical spirit, that we read of no more than two prophets in all the days of the Judges, (iv. 4. vi. 8.)

1 Samuel 3:2

And it came to pass at that time. After the man of God mentioned in the foregoing chapter (ver. 27.) had been with Eli; perhaps that very night after he had delivered his message. I Wlien Eli was laid down.] To sleep. In his place.] In the court of the tabernacle, where there were divers rooms for several uses of the priests; as there were afterward at the temple. And his eyes began to ivax dim, that lie could not see.] Clearly to do his duty, after it grew duskish: which made him, it is likely, go to bed betimes, and leave directions with Samuel what to do, until it was time for him to repose himself. And this might be the reason that Samuel ran so hastily to him, when he thought he called for him, that he might know what he wanted, men of his age, and dimsighted, being less able to help themselves.

1 Samuel 3:3

And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. The lamp in the great shaft of the golden candlestick, which bent towards the most holy place (called the western lamp), never went out; but some other of them did go out when it was morning. (See upon Exod. xxvii. 20, 21.) The meaning therefore is, that, ere it was day, the Lord called Samuel. (See Dr. Lightfoot of the Temple, chap. 14. sect. 4.) And Samuel was lain down to sleep.] In the court of the Levites, as the Targum explains it; or in some other place near to Eli, that he might be ready to assist him on any occasion. The words seem to import, that he had watched most of the night, (for so some were to do, Psal. exxxiv. 1.) and towards morning went to repose himself. For thus the words run in. the Hebrew, and in the LXX. and Vulgar: Before the lamp of God tvent out, and Samuel lay down to sleep in the Jtemple of the Lord, &c. Insomuch, that Victorious Strigelius translates the words thus, And Samuel went to liedown in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, before the lamp of God went out.

1 Samuel 3:4

That the Lord called Samuel. Out of the most holy place. So the Targum: A voice was heard out of the temple of the Lord. And he said, Here am I.] It is likely Eli lay nearer the tabernacle than Samuel did, and yet heard nothing: but the voice passing him by, was directed to Sattiuel, who alone heard it. These words, Here am I, are a form of speech, signifying attention to what was said, and readi* ness to do what should be commanded.

1 Samuel 3:5

And he ran tinto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. He thought Eli had some ministry wherein to employ him, and therefore started up presently, and ran to know what his pleasure was. Which shews the great readiness and promptness of his obedience, which made him come, yea, run at his first.call. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.] He thought he might dream.

1 Samuel 3:6

And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel rose, and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me, &c. He was sure there was nobody yet’ w^r * I K-X CHAP. III.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL come to the temple, it being night and the doors shut, and therefore concluded it eould be none but Eli that called him: and it is probable, the voice was like that of Eli’s.

1 Samuel 3:7

Now Samuel did not know the Lord. He had not yet learned to know discipline from before the Lord, as the Targum interprets it: that is, how God was wont to teaeh and instruct men in his will; which the next words explain. Neither ivas the word pfthe Lord yet revealed unto him.’] He was unacquainted with the way wherein God made known his mind unto the prophets, because he had never spoken to him before: so that he did not know how to distinguish between the voice of God and of a man. Maimonides expounds it, He did not understand that the Lord was wont to speak with a soft, whispering voice; which was therefore called Bath-col.

1 Samuel 3:8

And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he rose, and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. This repetition of the voice so oft, awakened Eli to think that this was no fancy of the child’s; and, therefore, since he knewtha t he did not call him, he concluded the Lord did; and by this means he was disposed to give credit to what Samuel should tell him, as an oracle ofGrd.

1 Samuel 3:9

Tlierefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant hear eth. He tells him, in effect, that it was the voice of God which he heard; and instructs him how to behave himself, when he called again; and to answer, that he was ready to perform whatever he commanded. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.] AVhicH was not far, as I said, from the place where Eli lay.

1 Samuel 3:10

And the Lord came, and stood. This word stood (Kimchi thinks) denoteth some glorious appearance of God to him; because this is the same word which is used in Numb. xxii. 22, 23. 31. where the angel is said to stand to oppose Balaam’s proceedings. And so the Targum: 77ie Lord was revealed, and stood and called, &c. And called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel!] Only he repeats his name, to move the greater attention. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.] He omits the name of the Lord, in his answer which Eli directed him to make: either out of fear, or uncertainty, whether it was the Lord that spake to him, or not.

1 Samuel 3:11

And the Lord said unto Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. Which in our language wc express thus: It shall stun all that hear it: as a man is, when a clap of terrible thunder strikes his cars, which even deafens him, so that he can hear nothing else. This was fulfilled, when the doleful news came that the ark was taken, and both Eli’s sons slain, and he fell down and brake his neck, &c.

1 Samuel 3:12

In that day I will perform against Eli all the things that I have spoken concerning his house. By the man of God in the foregoing chapter. When I begin, I will also make an end.] He doth not mean that he would begin and make an end at once; but that he would persevere in his punishments, and not desist when he began, till all his threatcnings were fulfilled, viz.* in the death of Eli, and of his sons; and the slaughter of eighty-five priests of this family by Doeg, and the thrusting Abiathar (who escaped that slaughter) out of his office, and so depriving that family of its dignity and honour. •

1 Samuel 3:13

For I have told him, that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth. For he could not be ignorant of the crimes committed so publicly;and of which there was such a general complaint. Because his sons made themselves vile.] Or, they made light of God and of his people; having no regard to either of them. Or, they made the service of God vile in the eyes of the people; as the words may be translated, and as the LXX. understand them. And he restrained them not.] He did not frown upon them, as it is in the Hebrew. Which doth not signify, that he shewed no sign of displeasure against their wickedness (for he did chide them, though too gently, for it), but he did not severely reprove them; and when that would not restrain them, turn them out of their office, or suspend them until they were reformed. For which cause God passed this severe sentence upon the whole family; that they should lose the dignity.of the high-priesthood, and be made as vile and contemptible as they had rendered God’s service.

1 Samuel 3:14

And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eliy that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. By iniquity is meant the punishment of iniquity; which he threatens should not bfe removed, or mitigated, by any sort of sacrifices, or oblations, that, could be brought to the altar; but only (as the Gemara upon Rosch Hashanah ventures tcf say) by the law, and by the retributions of the saints. By the law, they mean not merely the study of the law, but the practice of it, by observing Gods.commands; and by retributions of the saints, works of charity, bounty, and liberality, beyond what the Divine law required. (See Dr. Windet, de Vita functorum Statu, p. 193.)

1 Samuel 3:15

And Samuel lay doivn until the morning, and opened the door of the house of the Lord. This was one of the works of the Lcvitcs, to open and shut the door of the court of the Lord’s house. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.] Having no cornmaud from God to do it; and being loath to grieve the old man by telling him bad news. Ver. 1G. Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.] The old man being 30 solemnly threatened by the late message from God to him, was afraid he was concerned in what the Lord had now said to Samuel.

1 Samuel 3:17

And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me, &c. He adjure^ him to declare to him all that he had heard, and conceal nothing; which obliged him to satisfy his desire, as Micaiah and our blessed Saviour did in the like case.. *'

1 Samuel 3:18

And Samuel told him every thing, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good. This sentence being denounced by a child, who had his dependance upon Eli, far from any secular, cunning, being unable to discern between the voice of the Lord and the voice of his tutor, till he instructed him, was a great deal more terrible to Eli than the message