1 Samuel 4:15

15 Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.)

1 Samuel 4:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 4:15

Now Eli was ninety eight years old
Which is very properly observed, he being now come to the end of his days, and which also accounts for his blindness after mentioned:

and his eyes were dim, that he could not see;
could not see the messenger, and read in his countenance, and perceive by his clothes rent, and earth on his head, that he was a bringer of bad tidings; or his eyes each of them "stood" ^F8; were fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men be. In ( 1 Samuel 3:2 ) it is said, "his eyes began to wax dim"; but here that they "were" become dim; and there might be some years between that time and this, for Samuel then was very young, but now more grown up: though Procopius Gazaeus thinks that Eli was then ninety eight years of age, and that the affair there related was just before his death; but it rather appears to be some time before.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F8 (hmq) "stetit", Montanus; "stabant", Tigurine version.

1 Samuel 4:15 In-Context

13 When he got there, Eli was sitting in a chair beside the road, waiting because he was nervous about God's chest. The man arrived and gave the news to the city, and the whole city cried out.

14 Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, "What's all this noise about?" The man hurriedly went and told Eli the news. (

15 Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.)

16 The man told Eli, "I'm the one who just came from the battle. I fled from the battle today." "What's the report, my son?" Eli asked.

17 The messenger answered, "Israel has fled from the Philistines. The army has suffered a massive defeat. Also, your own two sons Hophni and Phinehas have died, and God's chest has been taken!"