Ere the lamp of God went out. — There is a Talmud comment here of singular interest and beauty: “On the day that Rabbi Akiva died, Rabbi (compiler of the Mishnah) was born; on the day when Rabbi died, Rav Yehudah was born; on the day when Rav Yehudah died, Rava was born; on the day when Rava died, Rav Ashi (one of the editors of Guemara) was born. It teaches thee, that no righteous man departs this life before another equally righteous is born; as it is said (Ecclesiastes 1:5): ‘The sun riser, and the sun goes down.’ The sun of Eli had not set before that of Samuel rose; as it is said (1 Samuel 3:3): ‘Ere the lamp of God was out... and Samuel laid down.’” — Tract Kiddushin, fol. 72, Colossians 2.
“It was night in the sanctuary. The high priest slept in one of the adjacent chambers, and the attendant ministers in another. In the centre, on the left of the entrance, stood the seven-branched candlestick, now mentioned for the last time; superseded in the reign of Solomon by the ten separate candlesticks, but revived after the Captivity by the copy of the one candlestick with seven branches, as it is still seen on the Arch of Titus. It was the only light of the Tabernacle during the night, was solemnly lighted every evening, as in the devotions of the Eastern world, both Mussulman and Christian, and extinguished just before morning, when the doors were opened.
“ In the deep silence of that early morning, before the sun had risen, when the sacred light was still burning, came through the mouth of the innocent child the doom of the house of Ithamar.” — Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, Part I.
The Lord called Samuel. — It seems probable that the voice came from out of the “visible glory,” the Shekinah, which on that solemn night of the calling of the child-prophet no doubt rested on its chosen earthly throne — the mercy-seat of God — which formed the top of the Ark, and which was overshadowed by the outspread wings of the golden Cherubim.