Bible Commentaries
1 Samuel 3

Verses 1-10

1 Samuel 3:1 to 1 Samuel 4:1 a. . . all Israel.— Another section of the Life of Samuel (see above, p. 273).

1 Samuel 3:1-10 . Call of Samuel.

1 Samuel 3:1 . child: na’ ar, anything from a baby to a man of forty.— precious. . . open, rather “ rare . . . frequent” ( mg.) .

1 Samuel 3:2. in the temple, etc.: Samuel slept in the shrine where the Ark was, in order to protect it. Contrast this with the later arrangement which placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies, only entered by the high priest one day in the year.— temple: a building, not a tent; note the door in 1 Samuel 3:15.

1 Samuel 3:3 . ark: ’ aron. “ Ark” in “ Noah’ s ark” and “ the ark in the bulrushes” is tebhah.

1 Samuel 3:4 ; 1 Samuel 3:6 . Samuel: LXX “ Samuel, Samuel,” as in 1 Samuel 3:10.

1 Samuel 3:7 . know the Lord: explained by the rest of the verse.

1 Samuel 3:10 . came and stood: the writer is still in the primitive stage in which God is thought of as a glorified man.

Verses 10-18

1 Samuel 3:10-18 . In Obedience to the Command of the Lord, Samuel Announces to Eli the Doom of his House.— Parallel to the Deuteronomic section ( 1 Samuel 2:27).

1 Samuel 3:12 . Probably an addition by the Deuteronomic writer to connect with 1 Samuel 2:27 ff.

1 Samuel 3:13 . I have told: read, “ thou shalt tell.”

1 Samuel 3:19 to 1 Samuel 4:1 a . . . all Israel.— Samuel established as Prophet.