1 Samuel 3:10

Once more; and it shall be, if he call thee; the voice, or the Lord by it: that thou shalt say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth; his meaning is, that he should not rise and come to him, as he had done, but continue on his bed, on hearing the voice again, but desire the Lord to speak to him what he had to say, to which he was ready to attend: so Samuel went and lay down in his place; which, as commonly understood, was in the court of the Levites, See Gill on "1 Samuel 3:3". 1 Samuel 3:10 Ver. 10. And the Lord came, and stood,....

3:1-10 The call which Divine grace designs shall be made effectual; will be repeated till it is so, till we come to the call. Eli, perceiving that it was the voice of God that Samuel heard, instructed him what to say. Though it was a disgrace to Eli, for God's call to be directed to Samuel, yet he told him how to meet it. Thus the elder should do their utmost to assist and improve the younger that are rising up. Let us never fail to teach those who are coming after us, even such as will soon be preferred before us, Joh 1:30. Good words should be put into children's mouths betimes, by which they may be prepared to learn Divine things, and be trained up to regard them.

And the Lord came, and stood,.... At the place where Samuel lay; either there was, as Kimchi, a form before his eyes in the vision of prophecy, some visible corporeal shape assumed; or a bright splendour an illustrious appearance of the glory of God; or it may be rather the voice, which before seemed to be at some distance whereabout Eli lay; it now seemed nearer, and was as the voice of one just by him, that sounded in his ears: and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel: repeating his name, in order the more to excite his attention: then Samuel answered, speak, for thy servant heareth; he leaves out the word Lord, which Eli bid him use; for he might be afraid as yet to make mention of the name of the Lord in the vision of prophecy, as Kimchi speaks; or lest it should be the voice of another, as Jarchi; as yet he might not be quite certain whether it was the voice of the Lord, or the voice of a man; for that he should have any mistrust of its being the voice of a demon or spectre, there is no reason to believe.

1 Samuel 3:10 . The Lord came and stood, &c. — Before, the Lord spake to him at a distance, even from the holy oracle between the cherubim: but now, to prevent all further mistake, the voice came near to him, as if the person speaking had been standing near him. And Rabbi Kimchi thinks the expression denotes some glorious appearance of God to him, because it is the same which is used Numbers 22:22-31 , where the angel is said to stand to oppose Balaam’s proceedings. And so the Targum, The Lord was revealed, and stood and called, &c.

Verse 10. - And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at other times. It is something more than a voice; there was an objective presence; and so in ver. 15 it is called, not hazon , a sight seen when in a state of ecstasy, but march , something seen when wide awake, and in the full, calm possession of every faculty. As at other times simply means as before , as on the two previous occasions. But now, instead of hurrying to Eli, Samuel obediently waits for the revelation of the Divine will, saying, "Speak; for thy servant heareth." THE MESSAGE TO ELI (vers. 11-18). 1 Samuel 3:10

The Lord came ; before, he spake to him at a distance, even from the holy oracle between the cherubims; but now, to prevent all further mistakes, the voice came near to him, as if the person speaking had been present with him. And stood ; before, the voice passed by him, now the speaker fixeth his abode with him for a time, till he had uttered his whole mind to him. As at other times ; as he had done before. Samuel, Samuel ; his name is here doubled, to engage him to the more speedy and diligent attention.

5-18. he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me—It is evident that his sleeping chamber was close to that of the aged high priest and that he was accustomed to be called during the night. The three successive calls addressed to the boy convinced Eli of the divine character of the speaker, and he therefore exhorted the child to give a reverential attention to the message. The burden of [the Lord's message] was an extraordinary premonition of the judgments that impended over Eli's house; and the aged priest, having drawn the painful secret from the child, exclaimed, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good." Such is the spirit of meek and unmurmuring submission in which we ought to receive the dispensations of God, however severe and afflictive. But, in order to form a right estimate of Eli's language and conduct on this occasion, we must consider the overwhelming accumulation of judgments denounced against his person, his sons, his descendants—his altar, and nation. With such a threatening prospect before him, his piety and meekness were wonderful. In his personal character he seems to have been a good man, but his sons' conduct was flagrantly bad; and though his misfortunes claim our sympathy, it is impossible to approve or defend the weak and unfaithful course which, in the retributive justice of God, brought these adversities upon him.

When Samuel had lain down again, "Jehovah came and stood," sc., before Samuel. These words show that the revelation of God was an objectively real affair, and not a mere dream of Samuel's. "And he called to him as at other times" (see Numbers 24:1 ; Judges 16:20 ), etc.). When Samuel replied in accordance with Eli's instructions, the Lord announced to him that He would carry out the judgment that had been threatened against the house of Eli ( 1 Samuel 3:11-14 ). "Behold, I do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle," sc., with horror (see 2 Kings 21:12 ; Jeremiah 19:3 ; Habakkuk 1:5 ).