Yahweh said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle.
The writer may have intended to mark the beginning of Samuel’s ministry with his statement that the lad opened the doors (i.e., the curtained openings into the courtyard) of the Lord’s house (1 Samuel 3:15; cf. 1 Samuel 1:28 b). [Note: See J. Gerald Janzen, "’Samuel Opened the Doors of the House of Yahweh’ (1 Samuel 3:15)," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 26 (June 1983):89-96.] Evidently the curtained openings were closed at night.