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. read more
Light withheld. The facts given are— 1 . A lack of the manifest revelations of the Divine will to which Israel had been accustomed. 2 . A consciousness of this want on the part of the few pious in Israel. 3 . The continued service of Samuel in the ordinary routine of the sanctuary. 4 . The resumption of the manifest revelation by the call of Samuel to receive it. 5 . Samuel experiences difficulty in recognising the call of God. 6 . Eli renders to him the assistance... read more
The old priest and the child prophet. Every imagination must be struck by the contrast between the old man and the child. The more so, that the natural order of things is reversed. Instead of admonition to the child coming through the lips of age, admonition to the aged came through the lips of childhood. 1. THE CHARACTER OF ELI ILLUSTRATED . 1 . His good points. The Lord had ceased to speak to or by Eli; but when the old priest perceived that the Lord had spoken to the... read more
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 1 Samuel 3:15 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,... read more
The faithful servant. "Speak; for thy servant heareth." The wellknown picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, representing the child Samuel in the attitude of prayer, aptly expresses the spirit of his whole life. His own language in response to the call of God does this still more perfectly, and "contains the secret of his strength." It also teaches us how we should respond to the Divine call which is addressed to us, and what is the spirit which we ought ever to possess. For God speaks to us as... read more
Behold, I will do. Rather, I do, I am now doing. Though the threatened ruin may be delayed for a few years, yet is it already in actual progress, and the fall of Eli's house will be but the consummation of causes already now at work. At which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. This implies the announcement of some event so frightful and unlooked for that the news shall, as it were, slap both ears at once, and make them smart with pain. And such an event was the... read more
Privileges and cares. The one great fact here set forth is that God reveals to Samuel— 1 . The judgment impending over the house of Eli, and its reasons. 2 . That Eli had been already informed of its nature. 3 . That the judgment when it comes will cause the most intense consternation in Israel. I. An ENTRANCE ON SUPERIOR PRIVILEGES . Hitherto Samuel had waited on man. Now he is honoured to hear the voice of God, and wait directly on the Divine presence. His... read more
I will perform. Literally, "I will raise up," i.e. I will excite and stir up into active energy all the denunciations of the man of God ( 1 Samuel 2:27 ), which hitherto have been as it were asleep and at rest. All things which. Better, quite literally, all that I have spoken. When I begin, I will also make an end. In the Hebrew two infinitives used as gerunds, "beginning and ending," i.e. from beginning to end. The Hebrew language constantly thus uses infinitives with great... read more
For I have told him, etc. These words may be translated, with the Septuagint and Vulgate, "For I have told him that I would judge his house," referring back to the message of the man of God; or, with the Syriac, "And I will show him that I do judge his house." Forever . I.e. finally; his house shall pass away. His sons made themselves vile. The verb used here invariably means to curse ; but "they cursed themselves" does not, without straining, give a good sense. The Septuagint for... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 3:13
I will judge his house for ever - I will continue to execute judgments upon it till it is destroyed. His sons made themselves vile - See 1 Samuel 2:12-17 , 1 Samuel 2:22-25 . He restrained them not - He did not use his parental and juridical authority to curb them, and prevent the disorders which they committed. See at the conclusion of the chapter, 1 Samuel 3:21 ; (note). read more