1 Samuel3chapter 3

1 Samuel 3:11

“More accurately, “the which whosoever heareth both his ears shall tingle.” This expressive phrase occurs again twice (marginal references) with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It is remarkable that Jeremiah repeatedly compares the destruction of Jerusalem with the destruction of Shiloh (Jer 7:12, Jer 7:14; Jer 26:6, Jer 26:9; Compare Psa 78:60-64).”

1 Samuel 3:11

“Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments! If this be done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Note, God's judgments upon others should affect us with a holy fear, Ps. cxix.”

1 Samuel 3:12

“I will perform - all things which I have spoken - That is, what He had declared by the prophet, whose message is related 1Sa 2:27, etc. When I begin, I will also make an end - I will not delay the execution of my purpose: when I begin, nothing shall deter me from bringing all my judgments to a conclusion.”

1 Samuel 3:12

“In that day - In that time which I have appointed for this work, which was about twenty or thirty years after this threatning. So long space of repentance God allows to this wicked generation.”

1 Samuel 3:13

“Benevolence to such persons is like that mistaken kindness of Eli which he was accused of showing his sons, contrary to the good pleasure of God. A feigned kindness to the wicked is a betrayal of the truth, an act of treachery to the community and a means of habituating oneself to indifference to evil.”

1 Samuel 3:13

“Made themselves vile - Rather, “have cursed themselves,” i. e. brought curses upon themselves. He restrained them not - In the sense of punishing. He did not remove them from their office, which he ought to have done.”

1 Samuel 3:13

“O what a great deal of guilt and corruption is there in us concerning which we may say, "It is the iniquity which our own heart knoweth, we are conscious to ourselves of it!" In short, the iniquity was this: His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, he frowned not upon them.”

1 Samuel 3:14

“Shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering - That is, God was determined that they should be removed by a violent death. They had committed the sin unto death; and no offering or sacrifice could prevent this. What is spoken here relates to their temporal death only.”

1 Samuel 3:14

“Have sworn - Or, I do swear: the past tense being commonly put for the present in the Hebrew tongue. Unto - Or, concerning it. Purged - That is, the punishment threatened against Eli and his family, shall not he prevented by all their sacrifices, but shall infallibly be executed.”

1 Samuel 3:15

“Opened the doors - We learn thus incidentally the nature of some of Samuel’s duties. This duty was quite Levitical in its character. In the interval between Josh and David, when the tabernacle was stationary for the most part, it may have lost something of its “tent” character, and among other changes have had doors instead of the hanging. Samuel feared to show Eli the vision - Here was Samuel’s first experience of the prophet’s cross: the having unwelcome truth to divulge to those he loved, honored, and feared. Compare the case of Jeremiah Jer 15:10; Jer 17:15-18; Jer 20:7-18.”

1 Samuel 3:15

“Doors - Altho' the tabernacle, whilst it was to be removed from place to place in the wilderness, had no doors, but consisted only of curtains, and had hangings before the entrance, instead of doors; yet when it was settled in one place, as now it was in Shiloh, it was enclosed within some solid building, which had doors and posts, and other parts belonging to it.”

1 Samuel 3:15

“Our secret communion with God is not to be proclaimed upon the house-tops. (3.) He feared to show Eli the vision. If he was afraid Eli would be angry with him and chide him, then we have cause to suspect that Eli used to be as severe with this towardly child as he was indulgent to his own wicked sons, and this will bear hard upon him.”

1 Samuel 3:17

“God do so to thee, and more also - This was a very solemn adjuration: he suspected that God had threatened severe judgments, for he knew that his house was very criminal; and he wished to know what God had spoken. The words imply thus much: If thou do not tell me fully what God has threatened, may the same and greater curses fall on thyself.”

1 Samuel 3:17

“THE Lord would not speak directly to Eli, although he was the High Priest. In ordinary circumstances it would have been so, but Eli had grieved the Lord, and thus had lost his honorable standing. God had not cast him off, but He viewed him with such displeasure that He would only speak to him through another person—even as great kings, if they are offended with their courtiers—send them messages by other hands. The Lord sent, first, a man of God to warn Eli of what would be the sure result of his lack of firmness with his sons.”

1 Samuel 3:18

“Samuel told him every whit - Our word whit, or wid, comes from the Anglo-Saxon, which signifies person, thing, etc.; every whit is every thing. The Hebrew את כל הדברים et col haddebarim, “all these words.” It is the Lord - He is Sovereign, and will do what he pleases; he is righteous, and will do nothing but what is just. Let him do what seemeth him good - There is much of a godly submission, as well as a deep sense of his own unworthiness, found in these words.”

1 Samuel 3:19

“Samuel grew - Increased to manhood. The Lord was with him - Teaching him, and filling him with grace and holiness. None of his words fall - Whatever prediction he uttered, God fulfilled it; and his counsels were received as coming from the Lord.”

1 Samuel 3:19

“Fail, &c. - That is, want its effect: God made good all his predictions. A metaphor from precious liquors, which when they are spilt upon the ground, are altogether useless.”

1 Samuel 3:20

“All Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba - Through the whole extent of Palestine; Dan being at the northern, Beer-sheba at the southern extremity. Was established to be a prophet - The word נאמן neeman, which we translate established, signifies faithful: The faithful Samuel was a prophet of the Lord.”

1 Samuel 3:20

“He that began betimes to be good soon came to do good. His established commission from God, and established reputation with the people, gave him a great opportunity of shining as a light in Israel. When old Eli was rejected, young Samuel was established; for God will never leave himself without a witness nor his church without a guide.”

1 Samuel 3:21

“And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh,.... In the tabernacle there; he had appeared before to Samuel, when he called him, and declared to him what he designed and resolved to do to Eli and his family, and now appeared again to him in the same place before the battle of the Israelites with the Philistines, of which there is an account in the following chapter.”

1 Samuel 3:21

“The state described in 1Sa 3:7 was henceforth reversed. Samuel now knew the Lord, and the Word of the Lord was revealed unto him.”