Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the
Lord;" implying that the appearance of the Lord consisted in His making
Himself known to Samuel through a voice; in other words, that Samuel heard
the Lord speaking. (23) But we are compelled to distinguish between the
prophecies of Moses and those of other prophets, and therefore must decide
that this voice was imaginary, a conclusion further supported by the voice's
resemblance to the voice of Eli, which Samuel was in the habit of hearing,
and therefore might easily imagine; when thrice called by the Lord, Samuel
supposed it to have been Eli.

(24) The voice which Abimelech heard was imaginary, for it is written,
Gen. xx:6, "And God said unto him in a dream." (25) So that the will of God
was manifest to him, not in waking, but only, in sleep, that is, when the
imagination is most active and uncontrolled. (26) Some of the Jews believe
that the actual words of the Decalogue were not spoken by God, but that the
Israelites heard a noise only, without any distinct words, and during its
continuance apprehended the Ten Commandments by pure intuition; to this
opinion I myself once inclined, seeing that the words of the Decalogue in
Exodus are different from the words of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy, for the
discrepancy seemed to imply (since God only spoke once) that the Ten
Commandments were not intended to convey the actual words of the Lord, but
only His meaning. (27) However, unless we would do violence to Scripture, we
must certainly admit that the Israelites heard a real voice, for Scripture
expressly says, Deut. v:4," God spake with you face to face," i.e. as two
men ordinarily interchange ideas through the instrumentality of their two
bodies; and therefore it seems more consonant with Holy Writ to suppose that
God really did create a voice of some kind with which the Decalogue was
revealed. (28) The discrepancy of the two versions is treated of in
Chap. VIII.