The Next Morning (1 Samuel 3:15-18).
‘ And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of YHWH. And Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision.'
Notice that it does not say ‘slept'. It is doubtful whether he could sleep. As he lay on his mattress his thoughts must have been turning over and over. How could he possibly tell his beloved mentor what God had told him? And when he rose in the morning wondering what on earth the day would bring, he said nothing to Eli but went to the doors of the outer court, and opened them ready for the new day. He did not dare to say anything to Eli.
‘ Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” '
Eli may only have had dim sight, but he could hardly have failed to notice how quiet Samuel was, and calling to Samuel he said, ‘Samuel, my son'. And in what must have been a very strained voice, Samuel replied, ‘Here I am.'
‘ And he said, “What is the thing that YHWH has said to you? I pray you, do not hide it from me: God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he said to you.”
Eli must have know perfectly well that Samuel had received some important message. He probably even suspected that it concerned himself. And so he quietly asked him for full details of what YHWH had said to him. He asked him what had been said, and to hide nothing, and put him under a mild oath not to do so on pain of God's displeasure. Note the threefold injunction, a sign that it was necessary for Samuel to answer. The use of ‘God' rather than YHWH (which is continually in use in this passage) demonstrates that this was a common oath, regularly used and therefore fixed in its phraseology (compare 1 Samuel 1:17. But there 1sa used YHWH).
‘ And Samuel told him every detail, and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is YHWH. Let him do what seems good to him.” '
And obediently Samuel explained to him everything that he had been told. He must have been very relieved when the godly Eli took it calmly. But Eli's faith was sufficient to acknowledge that it was YHWH Who had spoken and that YHWH knew what He was doing. Let Him therefore do what seemed good to Him.
Eli was a godly man. The problem was that he had just been too weak to deal properly with his headstrong sons. He is a warning to us all not to be too reticent in dealing with sin. Where we have responsibility we must take the blame if we do not fulfil our responsibility.