The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 72

slPrp, hears a voice calling l,im. and spring- xix. 3), a calamity which Jcrcminh compares ing up, natnrnlly hurries to '.Eli, supposing to the fall of Shiloh (Jcr. vii. 12, 14; xxvi. that he needed his scrYiccs. Eli had not 6, 9), inasmuch as both of these events in• hc•nr,1 t.hc voice, and concluding that it was Yolved the ruin of the centre.I seat of the a mistake, bids Samuel retnrn to his bed. Jewish religion, and were both accompanied .\gain the voic-c rings upon his car, and again by revolting cruelties. ho hastens to Eli, only to be told to lie down Ver. 12.-1 will perform. Literally, "I :1cr:1in. will raise up," i. e. l will excite and stir up "'in nr. i the reason is gil'en why Samuel into active energy 1111 the denunciations of v:is tl,11s thrice rnist.,kcn. Samuel did not the man of Goel (eh. ii. 27), which hitherto vet know Jehovah, neither was the word of have been as it were asleep ancl at rest. All Jehovah yet revealed unto him. Doubtless things which. Better,.quite literally, all tltat he kne\\· ,Tcho,ah in the "i\·ay in which the I have spoken. When I begin, I will also sons of Eli ,lid not know 'him (eh. ii. 12), make an end.· In the Hebre,v two infinitives ,. e. in his conscience and spiritual life, but used as gerunds, " beginning and ending," he did not know him as one who rc-veals his i. e. from beginning to end. The Hebrew will unto men. Prophecy had long been a language constantly thus·uses infinitives with mre thing, and though Samuel had often great force ; as, for instnnce, in J er. vii. 9 : heard God's mice in the recesses of his heart, " What ! stealing, murdering, committing speaking to him of right and ,nong, he knew adultery," &c . r,othing of God as a living Person, giving Ver. 13.-For I have told him, &c. These <mnmands for men to obey, and bestowing words mny be translated, with the Septuagint knowledge to guide them in doing his will. and Vulgate, "For I have told him that I "\'"er. 8.-But Eli was neither so inexperi- would judge his house," referring back to the <'nced, nor so lost to all sense of Jehovah message of the man of God; or, with the being the immediate ruler of Israel, as not Syriac, "And I will show him that I do juclge to perceive, when Samuel came to him the his house." For ever. I. e. finally; his house third time, that the matter was Divine. shaU pass away. Bis sons made themselves Possibly he recalled to mind the visit of the vile. The verb used here invariably means man of God, aud had some presage of what to curse,· but" they cursed themselves" does the message might be. At all events he bade not, without straining, give a good sense. Samuel lie calmly down again, because the The Septuagint for "themselves" reads God, best preparation for hearing God's voice is and the Sy:riac the people. Buxtorf says obedience and trustful submission. (' Lex. Rab. ,' sub l~pl;) that the right reading ,·er. 10.-And :Jehovah came, and stood, is me, and that this is one of eighteen places and called as at other times. It is some- where the scribes have changed.111e into t l1ing more than a -roice; there was an themselves or (hem. But while thus ,there is objecti-re presence; and so in ver. 15 jt is much uncertainty about the right text, the called, not hazon, a sight seen when lil a evidence is too uncertain to act upon, and it state of ecstasy, but mareh, something seen is best to translate, " His sons have brought when wide awake, ana in the full, calm pos- a curse upon themselves," while acknow- session of enry faculty. As at other times ledging that the ordinary rendering would simply means <Ul before, as on the two pre- be "have cursed themselves." And he re- vious occasions. But now, instead of hurry- strained them not. The Versions generally ing to Eli, Samuel obediently waits for the take. the verb used here as equivalent to one revelation of the Divine will, saying, ''Speak; differing only in having a softer medial con- for thy servant heareth." sonant,;,;,:, = ;,~:,, and translate rebuked; THE MESSAGE TO ELI (vers. 11-18). Ver. but that really found in the Hebrew text 11.-Behold, I will do. Rather, I do, I am signifies "to weaken, humble, reduce to uow doine:. Tl.·)ugh the threatened ruin may powerlessness." The A. V. takes neither ono be delayed for a few years, yet is it already verb nor the other in the renclcring re- in actual progress, and the fall of Eli's house strained. Eli ought to have prevented his ,ri;J be but the consummation of causes sons from persisting in b1inging clisgracc upon already now at work. At which both the God's service by stripping them of their ofl:ice. ears of every one that heareth it she.II Their wickedness was great, ancl required a tingle. This implies the announcement of stern and decisive remedy. some ennt so frightful and unlooked for Ver. 14. -Sacrillce nor offering. The first that the news shall, as it were, slap both ears of these is zebach, the sacrifice of 11n animal nt once, and make them smart with pain. by the shedcling of its blood ; the second is Aud such an event was the capture of the the minchah, or unbloody sacrifice. The ark, aucl the barbarous destmction of the guilt of Eli's sons could be_ purged, ~- e. ex- Jiricsts and sanctuary at Shiloh. The phrase piated, by none of the appornted offermgs for 1B again used of the destruction of Jerusalem siu, because they had hardened themselves by Nelmchaclnezzar (2 Kings xxi. 12; Je1·. in their "'rong-doing even iifter the solemn ~II. Ill. 1- 21.) TIIE FinST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 6'T