TotD Samuel and God

This was technically yesterday's thought of the day so apologies for late upload.

In the third chapter of first Samuel God calls Samuel. The story goes that Samuel in Shiloh serving the high priest Eli in the Tabernacle. At this point in time the young Samuel does not know the Lord. The Bible tells us that Eli was getting old and was rather fat (due to the corruption of his sons, which he was technically not opposed to as he shared in the spoils). As well as this Eli's eyesight had deteriorated some bit. Samuel was used to helping and serving Eli and he did so without complaining (at least that's what we can gather from the scriptural account).

Note that in verse 3 (1 Samuel 3:3) Samuel is sleeping "where the ark of God is." This is a clear rejection of the standards God has set out in the Torah about how the ark should be approached. It appears as if the Levites in the Tabernacle have forgotten and rejected the word of God on this issue. To me I think it's lucky that Samuel hasn't been punished by God for lying in his presence in a way that should not have been done.

When Samuel hears his name he goes to Eli, and it takes three of these before Eli thinks that it could be God. At this point Samuel goes back to bed and waits for the voice to call him again. The Bible goes on to say:

"And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears."" (1 Samuel 3:10)
This verse stood out to me. 'The LORD came and stood, calling as at other times." God came and stood. God came and stood in the Tabernacle by the mercy seat on which He was thought to dwell.

This is very interesting. Why did Samuel (who likely first wrote this passage) use the word stood? It does not go on to say that Samuel saw the Lord in person at this point. The word stood (which is also in the Hebrew 'He came and stationed Himself') implies a lot more than just a voice in little Samuel's head (or even an audible voice in the room) it implies that God Himself stood, in person, in front of Samuel.

Those of you who were in my CU talk recently will know where this is going (those of you who haven't been I will add it here as well).
How can the Lord stand in front of Samuel? Why is the word stood used? This one verse has brought question after question into my head about the Angel of the Lord and such.

The Angel of the Lord is believed, by some Christians, to have been a pre-incarnate Jesus who came to earth in the Old Testament. For example; it is the Angel of the Lord that talks to Abraham about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but He talks about Himself as if He is the Lord. It is also this person that stands in the fire with Daniel's friends while they are in exile. Hosea calls this individual an angel but He can forgice sins in the time of Moses and who can forgive sins but God alone (see Mark 2).

It makes for an interesting thought. There is, of course, not much evidence that the Angel of the Lord is in this passage of Scripture but the word 'stood' stands out as odd and an indication that, in fact, Jesus pre-Jesus may have stood in front of Samuel.

Anyway that's what I have been thinking about when reading chapter 3 of Samuel 1.