1 Samuel 3:2 Commentary and Bible Study

Eli was, we have already been told, very old and he was also going blind. He must leave many of the regular temple duties to Samuel, who was by now well instructed in carrying out his service, and he would attend to the needs of Eli and only rest when all was done. The scene is set for this first vision of Samuel’s. They are both in the temple and it is late in the evening. Eli has lain down on his bed, and Samuel also has completed his day’s work and is ready to sleep, but he doesn't actually seem to be asleep. ‘And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD’ – of course it wouldn't go entirely out. The seven-branched lampstand never went entirely out. There would be one stem that would always be kept alight, but all the other stems would die as the olive oil ran low. ‘The Lord called Samuel’, and he thought it was Eli. The manner of the calling was with an audible voice, the voice of a man, so Samuel could easily think it was Eli. It must have been something like Eli's voice, though there was surely something very special about it. Samuel didn't actually realise the nature of the divine calling; he had never received it before, and he ran to Eli and answered as if Eli had called him. Eli said, ‘I called not; lie down again.’ It seems that it would take him a little while to realise what was happening, for he had not received a revelation from the Lord for some time – ‘the word of the LORD was [rare] in those days.’ So Samuel went back to his bed and the Lord called again, and Eli denied it was him again. He still didn't seem to catch on, or admit this was possibly the Lord calling the child.