This article is part of a series on Old Testament Christophanies. For important background information, see An Introduction to Old Testament Christophanies–with Justin Martyr.
1 Samuel 3 characterizes God’s Word, His Son, as the revealer of Yahweh. Before Samuel became a prophet, he was a boy, serving the Lord in Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was. But it wouldn’t be long until Samuel’s role in Israel would change. On one night, Samuel was lying down in the Tabernacle—which then housed the Ark of the Covenant—during a time when the lights on the lampstand of God hadn’t yet gone out. It was then that the Lord called to him, and Samuel answered, “Here I am.” Thinking it was the high priest Eli who had called, Samuel ran to him. Eli, who had turned in for the night, told Samuel that he didn’t call him and to go back to bed. For a second time, the Lord called to Samuel, resulting in Samuel again coming to Eli and being told to go back to bed (vv. 1–6). Then, in verse 7, the text notes that “Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him.” In light of verse 21, this means that Samuel didn’t yet know Yahweh because He hadn’t yet revealed Himself to Samuel by the Word of Yahweh. Samuel couldn’t know God until he knew God’s Son.
For the third time, the Lord called to Samuel, and again Samuel went to Eli. At this point, Eli knew that it was Yahweh who had been calling Samuel (v. 8). It would seem that Eli realized who had been calling on the third occasion because the number three, at times, signifies a revelation. In verse 9, Eli instructed Samuel to go lie down and that if he was called again, he should answer, “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.”
Before the Lord called out again, He appeared near Samuel’s bed:
Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3:10).
Before, Samuel only heard a voice, calling from a distance (perhaps from between the cherubim, atop the Ark of the Covenant). Now, the Lord came closer. Yahweh’s personal presence is emphasized, for it is stated that He both came and stood. The Targum reads, “the glory of the Lord was revealed and stood forth.”[1] The Word of Yahweh had been revealed to Samuel.
In verses 11–14, the Lord told Samuel that He was about to do something in Israel that would stun everyone who heard about it (principally, the capture of the Ark by the Philistines [1 Sam 4:11]). The Lord would judge the house of Eli because he didn’t rebuke his sons for their iniquity (see 1 Sam 2:29–31). The iniquity of Eli’s house could never be atoned for.
Samuel stayed in bed until morning, at which time he opened the doors[2] of the Tabernacle (v. 15). In verse 15, the Tabernacle is called the house of Yahweh—a reminder of who lived there. At the end of verse 15, we read that Samuel was afraid to tell “the vision” to Eli. “Vision” isn’t translated from the Hebrew hazon, which means something seen when in a state of ecstasy or in a dream, but from mar’ah, which means something seen when awake and in full possession of one’s faculties. Samuel’s vision was more than just a voice or impression made upon his mind. Samuel beheld the actual presence of Yahweh. This encounter was not unlike Abraham’s, where the Word of Yahweh wasn’t just heard, but was also seen (Gen 15:1–5, 17).
Eli asked Samuel what the Lord had said, and that nothing be held back. After Samuel told Eli everything that the Lord had said, Eli responded, “It is the LORD; let Him do what seems good to Him” (vv. 16–18). Eli knew that Yahweh had spoken to Samuel, and that His judgment was certain.
As Samuel continued to grow, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail (v. 19). The Targum says that “the Word of the Lord was his helper” and that “he did not depart” from any of Samuel’s words.[3] From Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, all Israel knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord (v. 20).
The Word in Shiloh
Samuel’s first visit from the Lord wouldn’t be his last:
And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, because the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD (1 Sam 3:21).
The idea is that the Lord appeared again from time to time in Shiloh. This is how the word of Samuel came to all Israel (1 Sam 4:1). In 1 Samuel 3:1, it is noted that word from the Lord was rare and that visions were infrequent. Now that the Lord had revealed Himself to Samuel, He would again appear on subsequent occasions.
Many commentators take “the word of the Lord” in 1 Samuel 3:21 as a message or prophetic inspiration from the Lord. The context, however, suggests that the Word was a person. Yahweh was revealed to Samuel when He appeared near Samuel’s bed, not before when Samuel only heard Him speaking. The Lord is called Yahweh in verses 10 and 11, while in verses 7 and 21 He is called the Word of Yahweh. The Word was Yahweh on earth, revealing Yahweh in Heaven. Although Gill thought it could be a reference to a word of command, he favored the interpretation that “the word of the Lord” refers to
Christ, the Word of the Lord, who appeared to him [Samuel], it is probable, in an human form, as he was wont to do to the patriarchs and prophets, and by whom the Lord revealed his mind and will unto them, being the Angel of his presence, and the messenger of his covenant . . .[4]
Appearances like these in 1 Samuel 3, where Yahweh is called the Word, no doubt led to the Targums referring to many other appearances of God as the Word (Memra). The chapter also provides Old Testament support for the apostle John’s teaching that the Word, who is God in the bosom of the Father, has explained the unseen God (John 1:14, 18). The Son of God is the revealer of Yahweh.
[1] Targum Jonathan to 1 Samuel 3:10, in The Aramaic Bible, vol. 10.
[2] Once in Shiloh, the Tabernacle was evidently housed within a solid structure (see 1 Sam 1:9).
[3] Targum Jonathan to 1 Samuel 3:19.
[4] Gill, Exposition, 1 Sam 3:21.
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