1 Samuel 2:17

17 And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings.

1 Samuel 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:17

Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the
Lord
That is, the sons of Eli; for they were the ringleaders who set these bad examples, which other priests followed, and therefore the sin is ascribed to them; and which was sadly aggravated by taking what was not their own, and by taking it in a forcible manner, and before the Lord had his part in the offering, and all this done in the tabernacle, in the presence of God; which plainly showed that they had not the fear of God before their eyes, nor any sense of his omniscience and omnipresence, any more than of his holiness and justice:

for men abhorred the offering of the Lord;
it was irksome and disagreeable to them to bring their sacrifices, when they saw the law of God was not attended to, and the rules of sacrificing were not observed; such contempt of God, such abuse of sacrifices, such injury done to the sacrificers, and such covetousness and sensuality in the priests, that it even set the people against sacrifices, and made them loath them, and neglect to bring them. And this aggravated the sin of the young men, though the sacrificers were not excused hereby, ( 1 Samuel 2:24 ) .

1 Samuel 2:17 In-Context

15 And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked.

16 And if the man said to him, First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you will; then the servant would say, No, you are to give it to me now, or I will take it by force.

17 And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings.

18 But Samuel did the work of the Lord's house, while he was a child, dressed in a linen ephod.

19 And his mother made him a little robe and took it to him every year when she came with her husband for the year's offering.