1 Samuel 3:15

SAMUEL REVEALS THE BAD NEWS TO ELI

"Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, `Samuel, my son.' And he said, `Here I am.' And Eli said, `What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you." So Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, `It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.'"

In this passage, we learn that Samuel passed the severest test that any proclaimer of God's Word must confront, that is, the necessity to convey unwelcome words of the Lord to those who need to hear them, and the task is especially difficult if the words must be spoken to those whom we love, respect and honor, as was the case in this instance with Samuel.

"He opened the doors of the house of the Lord" (1 Samuel 3:15). The mention of doors here is not, "Another evidence that the House of Yahweh was not a tent."[24] It only means that, "Solid buildings had been constructed around the tabernacle for purposes of defense."[25] The fact of Samuel's opening these doors gives us a glimpse of the nature of services the young man was providing.

"God do so to you and more" (1 Samuel 3:17). "This type of imprecation is found in the Books of Samuel, Kings and Ruth, but nowhere else in the Bible."[26] It is of interest that almost the exact words of this oath are found in the threat of Jezebel against Elijah (1 Kings 19:2). How strange it is that Jezebel and Eli should both have been familiar with this type of threat.

Regarding the guilt of Eli, it was very extensive, despite the fact that his evil sons took the lead in their offensive and immoral conduct. The indulgent Eli allowed all of the abuses and even profited by them, but did absolutely nothing to correct them.