Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
Chapter the Third. Synopsis of the Chapter
God again through Samuel predicts the destruction of Heli; and Samuel, adjured by Heli, verse 16, plainly declares it to him.
1. And the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Heli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days: there was no manifest vision. 2. And it came to pass one day, that Heli lay in his place, and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. 3. And ere the lamp of God went out, Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4. And the Lord called Samuel. And he answered: Here am I. 5. And he ran to Heli, and said: Here am I: for thou calledst me. He said: I did not call thee: go back and sleep. And he went and slept. 6. And the Lord called Samuel again. And Samuel arose and went to Heli, and said: Here am I, for thou calledst me. And he answered: I did not call thee, my son: return and sleep. 7. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been yet revealed to him. 8. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Heli, 9. and said: Here am I: for thou calledst me. Then Heli understood that the Lord had called the child, and he said to Samuel: Go, and sleep: and if he shall call thee any more, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and slept in his place. 10. And the Lord came and stood: and he called, as he had called the other times: Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. 11. And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold I do a thing in Israel: and whosoever shall hear it, both his ears shall tingle. 12. In that day I will raise up against Heli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: I will begin, and I will make an end. 13. For I have foretold unto him that I will judge his house for ever, for iniquity, because he knew that his sons did wickedly, and did not chastise them. 14. Therefore have I sworn to the house of Heli, that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated with victims nor offerings for ever. 15. And Samuel slept till morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to tell the vision to Heli. 16. Then Heli called Samuel, and said: Samuel, my son. And he answered: Here am I. 17. And he asked him: What is the word that the Lord hath spoken to thee? I beseech thee hide it not from me. May God do so and so to thee, and add so and so, if thou hide from me one word of all that were said to thee. 18. So Samuel told him all the words, and did not hide them from him. And he answered: It is the Lord: let him do what is good in his sight. 19. And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and not one of his words fell to the ground. 20. And all Israel from Dan to Bersabee knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord. 21. And the Lord again appeared in Silo: for he revealed himself to Samuel in Silo, according to the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to pass to all Israel.
1. NOW THE CHILD SAMUEL.—Josephus, book 5, chapter 11, says he had completed his twelfth year. Wrongly do the Rabbis in the Seder Olam say he was 40 years old; Suidas, Zonaras, Cedrenus, Abulensis, Tornielli, Serarius, Salianus, Mendoza and others follow Josephus. Moreover how old Heli then was is uncertain. St. Ignatius, epistle to the Magnesians, says he was 90 years old; Theodoret, 86; Serarius, 98; Salianus, 72; so that he afterwards still lived 26 years. For he died when he was 98 years old, when Samuel succeeded him, being in his 39th year; but nothing certain about the year of Heli can be established here.
BEFORE HELI,—that is, Heli instructing and directing him, to whose nod Samuel obeyed. The Chaldee, Heli being alive.
AND THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS PRECIOUS,—that is, rare; for things that are rare are dear and precious, as if He said: Rare were the prophets then through whom God spoke, and that on account of the crimes of the sons of Heli the priests, as of the laity. For as the priest is, such is the people. So Proverbs 25, 17, where it is said: “Withdraw thy foot”; the Hebrew has: make precious (the Septuagint, rare) thy foot in the house of thy friend.
THERE WAS NO MANIFEST VISION (prophecy).—The Hebrew nipherats, that is, broken, that is, widely diffused or spread; Vatablus, common; the Chaldee, which would be publicly known; the Septuagint, distinguishing, that is, distinct and clear. This is said in praise of Samuel, that he, in the midst of the darkness of crimes and ignorance, shone forth as a prophet, like a new sun of Israel.
2. HELI LAY IN HIS PLACE,—that is, he slept in that part of the court which was near the tabernacle: while in the more remote part of the court Samuel and the other Levites slept; so the Chaldee.
3. AND ERE THE LAMP OF GOD WENT OUT, SAMUEL SLEPT.—So the Roman Bibles, the Hebrew, Chaldee, Septuagint, Aquila and Symmachus. It is a periphrasis of night. For the lamps of the tabernacle burned at night and were put out in the morning. The sense is as if He said: While the lamps of the tabernacle were still burning, that is, while it was still night, or at least dawn just beginning and dim, and therefore Samuel was still sleeping, the Lord appeared to him. So St. Jerome. Moreover the Septuagint render, before the lamp of God was trimmed, which some explain as if He said: Before midnight, for then the lamps were trimmed, to burn the other half of the night. You may more plainly explain it of the end of the night, as if He said: Before day broke, at earliest morning, before sunrise, when the lamps consumed in the night are wont to be renewed by pouring on oil, the Lord appeared to Samuel. Hence learn to pray at morning and at dawn, when you first awake, to draw in and hear the voice and inspirations of God. For at earliest morning God appeared to Samuel, not in the evening, as Theodoret and Procopius think.
Moreover Rabanus, Angelomus, Eucherius, Abulensis and Cajetan read and punctuate otherwise, namely thus: “Heli could not see the lamp of God before it was put out,” as if He said: Heli, being dim-sighted, could not see in the dawn, when the lamps were still burning; but could see in clear day when the lamps were put out: but we must read with the Roman Bibles, as I said a little before,
5. AND HE RAN TO HELI, AND SAID: HERE AM I, FOR THOU CALLEDST ME.—Hence it seems that Samuel, accustomed in the morning to be roused from sleep by Heli, thought himself called by Heli, not by God, whose voice he had not heard until then. And this voice of God, or of an angel, seems to have been like the voice of Heli, and therefore on hearing it Samuel ran to Heli. So St. Gregory, Cajetan and Mendoza. See here the obedience of the prophet Samuel, for which he deserved to be chosen by God as prophet and prince of the people. Again learn here that God, speaking to Samuel, sends him back to Heli, both that Heli might more diligently consider and believe this oracle of God; and to teach that the oracles of God must be examined and directed by superiors, that due order and the subordination of subjects may be preserved, and that there be no place for diabolical illusion. So Cassian, Conference 2, chapter 14: “That the Lord,” he says, “would not instruct the boy Samuel, chosen by His own judgment, by Himself through the discipline of divine converse; but allowed him to run back once and again to the old man, and that he whom He called to His own speech should be instructed even by the teaching of one who had offended God, provided he was elder; and that He preferred that one whom He had judged most worthy of His calling should be formed by the instruction of the elder, that so both the humility of him who was called to divine ministry might be proved, and the pattern of this subjection be set before the younger by his example.” Hear St. Gregory praising the ready and constant obedience of Samuel. “The boy,” he says, “humbly subject to man and by obedience raised to the lofty height, when called he came, when bidden he returned; what else does he offer us but the form of the highest obedience? For true obedience neither discusses the intent of the commands nor distinguishes the commands; for he knows not how to judge who has perfectly learned to obey.” And a little after: “Who of us,” he says, “would restrain himself from murmuring? who would temper his anger, if he heard himself called twice or thrice, and yet learned from the answer of the caller that he had not been called at all, nor is offended when sent back, because he would not see the mind of the caller or of the one sending back, who knew how to rejoice in this alone, that he obeyed.”