1 Samuel 3:2

THE LORD APPEARS TO SAMUEL

"At that time Eli whose eyesight had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down within the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" and he ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, "Samuel!" And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears." So Samuel went and lay down in his place."

"Eli was lying down in his own place ... Samuel lay down in his place" (1 Samuel 3:2,9). The phrase within the temple of the Lord (1 Samuel 3:3) does not mean within the Holy of Holies but is a reference to the entire temple area at Shiloh. Sleeping quarters for Eli and Samuel were in some unspecified area and quite near each other.

"Where the ark of God was" (1 Samuel 3:3). This clause modifies "temple of the Lord" and NOT the place where Eli and Samuel were sleeping. This phrase identifies the location of this episode as Shiloh. The KJV is superior to the RSV in this passage, because the RSV arranges the clauses in such a manner as to suggest that Samuel was sleeping in the Holy of Holies, which was definitely not true.

The opinions of scholars such as W. H. Bennett who thought that Samuel slept in the Holy of Holies in order to protect the ark of the covenant[11] and G. B. Caird who wrote that, "Samuel slept in the chamber where the ark was kept,"[12] should be rejected, because only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and not even he could enter it except on the Day of Atonement once a year. Opinions such as these just cited are grossly in error due to commentators' acceptance of the fairy tale about a LATE DATE for the Pentateuch!

"The lamp of God had not yet gone out." The purpose of this clause is to fix the time of day, which was very early in the morning before the light of the seven golden candlesticks (lampstands) had gone out. Some deny that this was the candlestick, pointing out that it was to "burn always" (Exodus 27:20), but there are two excellent reasons, either one of which, nullifies such an objection: (1) In the first place, "The instructions for the seven-branched candlestick to "burn always" apparently meant it would be perpetually relighted."[13] (2) The second reason is that the reprobate sons of Eli who were in charge of things would have done it "their way" instead of the way God commanded it, if such had pleased them.

Dummelow agreed that the lamp here was the "seven-branched candlestick,"[14] and Keil also so identified it, adding the explanation that, "The seven lamps of the candlestick were put up and lighted every evening and burned through the night until all the oil was consumed."[15] Young, writing in the Wycliffe Bible Commentary, also supported this explanation, basing it upon the text in Leviticus 24:2,3.[16] This mention of the lamp of God therefore fixes the time of day as early in the morning just before the light went out of the seven-branched candlestick (lampstand).

"Samuel, Samuel!" (1 Samuel 3:4). "There are only three other double vocatives in the O.T. (Genesis 22:11; 46:2; and Exodus 3:4)."[17]

It is important to note that Eli and Samuel were sleeping quite near each other, because Samuel was apparently accustomed to being called by Eli during the night time. This absolutely forbids the false notion that Samuel was in the Holy of Holies.

"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord" (1 Samuel 3:7). This means that Samuel was not yet acquainted with the manner in which the Lord communicated with mortals. On account of this, he supposed that Eli was calling him to perform some kind of service.

Eli, on the third time of Samuel's responding, finally caught on to the fact that it was the LORD who was calling Samuel, whereupon he instructed Samuel exactly what to do.