1 Samuel 2:12-36

Eli's Worthless Sons

12 Now the sons of Eli were ¹worthless men. ²They did not know the LORD.

13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant^[a] would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,

14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

15 Moreover, ³before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw."

16 And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish," he would say, "No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force."

17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great ⁴in the sight of the LORD, ⁵for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.

18 ⁶Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy ⁷clothed with a linen ephod.

19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year ⁸when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the LORD give you children by this woman ⁹for the petition she asked of the LORD." So then they would return to their home.

21 ¹⁰Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. ¹¹And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ¹²were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

23 And he said to them, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people.

24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad.

25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ¹³for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.

26 Now the young man Samuel ¹⁴continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

27 And there came ¹⁵a man of God to Eli and said to him, "Thus the LORD has said, ¹⁶'Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?

28 ¹⁷Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ¹⁸to wear an ephod before me? ¹⁹I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.

29 Why then do you ²⁰scorn^[b] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?'

30 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ²¹'I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,'²²but now the LORD declares: 'Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

31 Behold, ²³the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.

32 Then ²⁴in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ²⁵and there shall not be an old man in your house forever.

33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[c] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[d] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^[e]

34 ²⁶And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ²⁷on the same day.

35 ²⁸And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ²⁹And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ³⁰my anointed forever.

36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, "Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread."'"

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1 Samuel 2:12-36 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2

In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, 1Sa 2:1-10, and an account is given of the return of Elkanah and Hannah to their own home, and of the care she took yearly to provide a coat for Samuel, and of her being blessed with many other children, and of the growth and ministry of Samuel before the Lord, 1Sa 2:11,18-21,26, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, 1Sa 2:12-17, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, 1Sa 2:22-25 and of a sharp message sent him from the Lord on that account, threatening destruction to his house, of which the death of his two sons would be a sign, 1Sa 2:27-36.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 30

1. See 1 Samuel 1:16
2. Judges 2:10
3. Leviticus 3:5, 16; Leviticus 7:23, 25, 31
4. [Genesis 6:11]
5. [Malachi 2:8]
6. ver. 11; 1 Samuel 3:1
7. Exodus 28:4; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Chronicles 15:27
8. 1 Samuel 1:3
9. 1 Samuel 1:28
10. Genesis 21:1
11. ver. 26; 1 Samuel 3:19; [Judges 13:24; Luke 1:80; Luke 2:40]
12. Exodus 38:8
13. [Joshua 11:20]
14. Luke 2:52
15. 1 Kings 13:1
16. [Ex. 3 - 12]
17. Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:1, 7
18. [1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 22:18]
19. Leviticus 2:3, 10; Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 7:7, 8, 34; Leviticus 10:14, 15; Numbers 5:9, 10; See Numbers 18:8-19
20. Deuteronomy 32:15
21. Exodus 27:21; Exodus 29:9
22. [Jeremiah 18:9, 10]
23. 1 Kings 2:27; [1 Samuel 4:11, 18, 20; 1 Samuel 22:18, 19]
24. 1 Samuel 4:11; [Judges 18:30]; See Psalms 78:59-64
25. [Zechariah 8:4]
26. 1 Kings 13:3
27. 1 Samuel 4:11
28. 1 Kings 2:35; 1 Chronicles 29:22
29. 1 Samuel 25:28; 1 Kings 11:38; [2 Samuel 7:11, 27]
30. 2 Samuel 22:51; Psalms 18:50; [Psalms 89:20]

Footnotes 5

[a]. Hebrew young man; also verse 15
[b]. Septuagint; Hebrew kick at
[c]. Septuagint; Hebrew your; twice in this verse
[d]. Hebrew increase
[e]. Septuagint; Hebrew die as men

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.