1 Samuel 2:23

23 And he said to them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil deeds from all this people.

1 Samuel 2:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:23

And he said unto them, why do ye such things?
&c.] As to impose upon the people that bring their offerings, by taking more than is due, and in a very indecent and imperious manner; and especially to defile the women when they came to worship: these were very scandalous sins, and deserved a more severe reprimand, and indeed a greater chastisement than by mere words; Eli should have rebuked them more sharply, and laid open the evil of their doings, and as a judge punished them for them:

for I hear of your evil doings by all this people;
the inhabitants of Shiloh, or who came thither to worship, who were continually making their complaints to Eli; which still shows his backwardness to reprove them in the manner he did until he was obliged to it by the continual remonstrances of the people against the practices of his sons; he did not attend to the information he had from a few persons, until it became general.

1 Samuel 2:23 In-Context

21 So Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before Jehovah.

22 And Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they lay with the women that served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

23 And he said to them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil deeds from all this people.

24 No, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people transgress.

25 If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him? But they hearkened not to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was minded to slay them.