1 Samuel 3:2

_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;_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

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, John 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....

Verse 1 Samuel 3:2. _ELI WAS LAID DOWN IN HIS PLACE_] It is very likely that as the ark was a long time at Shiloh, they had built near to it certain apartments for the high priest and others more immediately employed about the tabernacle. In one of these, near to that of Eli, perhaps under the same roof, Samuel lay when he was called by the Lord....

The passage should be rendered thus: “And it came to pass at that time that Eli was sleeping in his place; and his eyes had begun to grow dim; he could not see. And the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was; and the Lord called Samuel, etc.” Eli’s old age and dimness of sight is probably mentioned as the reason why Samuel thought Eli had called him. Being a blind and feeble old man, he was likely to do so if he wanted anything, either for himself, or for the service of the temple....

EXPOSITION THE CALL OF SAMUEL (1 Samuel 3:1). 1 SAMUEL 3:1 THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS PRECIOUS IN THOSE DAYS. Or rather _rare_;_ _it came but seldom, and there was no proper order of persons from whose ranks the "speakers for God" would naturally step forth. It was this which made the revelation of Jehovah's will to Samuel an event so memorable both for the Jewish nation and for the Church; for he was called by the providence of God to be the founder of prophecy as an established institution, and henceforward, side by side with the king and priest, the prophet took his place as one of the three factors in the preparation for the coming of him who is a king to rule, a Prie

AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THAT TIME,.... When the word of the Lord was scarce and precious, and there was no open vision; or, as Ben Gersom, the same day the man of God came to Eli at night, the following affair happened: WHEN ELI WAS LAID DOWN IN HIS PLACE; on his bed to sleep, in one of the chambers or apartments of the tabernacle; for as there were such in the temple for the priests, so in that: AND HIS EYES BEGAN TO WAX DIM, THAT HE COULD NOT SEE; to help himself to anything he might want when in bed; which seems to be the reason Samuel lay near him, and why, when he heard his voice, he immediately ran to him, supposing he needed his assistance. Some, as Kimchi and others, understand this not of the eyes of his body, but of his mind; and that the Holy Spirit, as a spirit of prophecy, was departing from him, because of his connivance at the sins of his sons; and so the following prophe...

4. SAMUEL'S CALL AND PROPHETIC MINISTRY CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Samuel's call (1 Samuel 3:1)_ 2. The message from Jehovah (1 Samuel 3:10) 3. Samuel the prophet (1 Samuel 3:19) After the priesthood had so completely failed and divine judgment had been pronounced, Samuel receives his call to the prophetic office. He continued his ministrations as a Levite during the time that the word of the Lord was precious (literally, rare); there was no vision. Up to this time Samuel had not known the Lord nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him (verse 7). It must have been near the hour of dawn, for the tabernacle lamp was not yet gone out, when the voice of Jehovah called Samuel by name. He kn

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. 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. templ

SEE. see clearly....

1 Samuel 3:1-10. The Call of Samuel 1. _the child Samuel_ According to Josephus, Samuel had just completed his twelfth year when the word of Jehovah came to him. In later times this age was a critical point in the life of a Jewish boy. He then became -a son of the Law," and was regarded as personally responsible for obedience to it. It was at the age of twelve that "the child Jesus" first went up to Jerusalem along with his parents (Luke 2:42). _ministered_ Cp. 1 Samuel 2:11; 1 Samuel 2:18. _was precious_ Rather, WAS RARE. In the general decay of religion, prophetic communications from God had almost