1 Samuel 4:15

15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old ¹and his eyes were set so that he could not 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Samuel 4:15 In-Context

13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.

14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, "What is this uproar?" Then the man hurried and came and told Eli.

15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

16 And the man said to Eli, "I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today." And he said, "How did it go, my son?"

17 He who brought the news answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 14:4; [1 Samuel 3:2]