(15) And opened the doors.--This is another notice which indicates that the sanctuary of Shiloh was enclosed in a house or temple. We have no record of the building of the first house of the Lord, but from the references contained in the record of Samuel's childhood it is clear that the sacred Tabernacle had been for some time enclosed by, and perhaps covered in with, permanent buildings.

Feared.--"Here was Samuel's first experience of the prophet's cross: the having unwelcome truth to divulge to those he loved, honoured, and feared. Jeremiah felt this cross to be an exceedingly heavy one" (Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 17:15-18; Jeremiah 20:7-18).--Speaker's Commentary.

Verse 15. - Samuel... opened the doors. In Exodus 26:36; Exodus 36:37, the word used, though translated door, really means an opening, protected by a hanging curtain. The word used here means double or folding doors of wood, and we must therefore conclude that solid buildings had grown up round the tabernacle (see on 1 Samuel 1:9), and a wall for its defence in case of invasion, or the assault of predatory tribes. The confiding the keys of these enclosures to Samuel shows that he was no longer a mere child, or he would have been incapable of holding a position of such high trust (on the key as an emblem of authority see Isaiah 22:22). Vision, as noticed above on ver. 10, means something seen by a person awake and in full possession of his senses.

3:11-18 What a great deal of guilt and corruption is there in us, concerning which we may say, It is the iniquity which our own heart knoweth; we are conscious to ourselves of it! Those who do not restrain the sins of others, when it is in their power to do it, make themselves partakers of the guilt, and will be charged as joining in it. In his remarkable answer to this awful sentence, Eli acknowledged that the Lord had a right to do as he saw good, being assured that he would do nothing wrong. The meekness, patience, and humility contained in those words, show that he was truly repentant; he accepted the punishment of his sin.And Samuel lay until the morning,.... It is not said he slept; it can hardly be thought he should, when it is considered what a new, strange, and uncommon thing had befallen him; what honour had been conferred on him a child, that the Lord should vouchsafe to speak and communicate his mind to him, and what dreadful things were said of Eli's family; all which must greatly affect his mind, and keep him waking: however, he lay musing thereon until morning, and then arose:

and opened the doors of the house of the Lord; as he had used to do, and which was the business of the Levites; though he had been so highly honoured, he was not elated with it, nor thought himself above so low and mean an employment in the house of God; nor did he run to Eli or others, boasting of what he had met with that night, but modestly and carefully attended to what was his common and constant employment every morning:

and Samuel feared to show Eli the vision; the vision of prophecy, as the Targum; what God had foretold should befall him and his family, lest he should be grieved on more accounts than one; partly because he, an old man, an high priest, and judge of Israel, was overlooked and neglected, and the prophecy was delivered to a child, and not to him; and partly because of the sad things that should come upon his family.