He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.

he spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.

In a pillar of cloud He speaketh unto them, They have kept His testimonies, And the statute He hath given to them.

His voice came to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his witness, and the law which he gave them.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar - He spake to the men of other times; to those who called upon his name. It cannot be meant literally that he spake to "Samuel" from the "cloudy pillar" - the pillar which guided the Israelites in the wilderness, unless that term be understood in the general sense as denoting the "Shechinah" - the visible symbol of the divine presence - the cloud that rested on the ark. The idea is, that God his people in ancient times from the cloud - the symbol of his presence; that he communed with them; that he heard their prayers; that he gave them his commandments; that he interposed in their behalf, and that it was not a vain thing that they worshipped him. All this was as true of Samuel - it is as true now of those who call upon God - as it was of Moses and Aaron.
They kept his testimonies - They obeyed his laws, and he thus heard and answered them.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar - That is, he directed all their operations, marchings, and encampments by this cloudy pillar. See Exodus 33:9.
They kept his testimonies - Do ye the same, and God will be your portion as he was theirs.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar,.... In the pillar of the clouds of glory, as the Targum; in which the Lord went before the children of Israel in the wilderness, to lead them, and protect them from heat in the day, Exodus 13:21, that is, he spake in this to Moses and Aaron; for it ceased when they came to the land of Canaan; instances of which see in Exodus 19:9, some have thought that the Lord might speak to Samuel also out of a cloud, when he called upon him, and it thundered, since clouds and thunder go together, 1-Samuel 12:18, the cloudy pillar was a type of Christ; and it is by him the Lord has spoken all his mind and will, when he was clothed with a cloud, or became obscure in the form of a servant; and it is through him, the Mediator, that men have access to God, and answers of prayer from him:
they kept his testimonies; the law, and the precepts of it, which were testifications of the mind and will of God; these Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, kept, though not perfectly, yet sincerely, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God:
and the ordinance that he gave them; the ordinance of the passover, with the several rituals of the ceremonial law, which was an ordinance of God until the Messiah came; and we, under the Gospel dispensation, ought to keep the ordinances of Christ in faith and love, as they have been delivered to us; and such only can expect to be heard and answered by the Lord; and this is the reason of the mention of these things; see Psalm 66:18.

cloudy pillar--the medium of divine intercourse (Exodus 33:9; Numbers 12:5). Obedience was united with worship. God answered them as intercessors for the people, who, though forgiven, were yet chastened (Exodus 32:10, Exodus 32:34).

Spake - To some of them: to Moses and Aaron, Exodus 19:24, Exodus 33:9-11; 1-Samuel 7:9, &c.