1 Samuel 1:20

Called his name Samuel, &c.— We have often had occasion to observe, that the reason of names imposed is given in the context; which being the case here, it is surprising that interpreters should have wearied themselves in search of other etymologies. According to Marsham, Samuel was born in the interval of the forty years that the people of Israel served the Philistines. Vignoles thinks that Eli had abdicated the high-priesthood, that he was only judge when Samuel was born, and that he was born in the third year of Eli's administration. See his Chronol. tom. 1: p. 76.