(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 3:1–10, “And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.”
Samuel started his apprenticeship as a priest from a young age. There were many responsible jobs to be done around the Tabernacle and Eli’s sons were not doing that kind of work. The sad comment about Eli’s period of responsibility is just an extension of the comments made about the time of the Judges: “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” However, the comment was expressed in another way by saying that no one listened to the Lord so the Lord’s message was precious, that is, extremely rare. Very few people even knew that the Lord would speak to individuals and even fewer knew what this message would sound like. It seems as though Samuel was responsible for lighting the lights near the place of worship and he slept close by so that they could be kept alight, as was required. Samuel was asleep and heard someone calling him during the night. Eli had never taught Samuel that the Lord would call to people and his only experience of that was when the prophet came and gave him the Lord’s message. Perhaps the Lord had already tried to speak to Eli in person but he wasn’t willing to hear what the Lord had to say. When Samuel heard the Lord’s voice calling him in the night he assumed that it was Eli and ran to see what Eli wanted. Elis told Samuel that he hadn’t called him and that he should go back to bed. This happened three times before Eli realised that it was the Lord. he told Samuel to wait for the call to come again and then say, “Speak, Lord: for thy servant heareth.” Sure enough the Lord called again and Samuel used the words that Eli had told him to use.
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