And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be
my
priest
He did; of all the tribes of Israel the Lord chose the tribe of
Levi to place the priesthood in, and of all the families of that
tribe he chose the house of Aaron, Eli's ancestor, to minister in
the priest's office, see ( Exodus 28:1 )
to offer upon mine altar;
burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings; this is the
altar of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the
tabernacle:
to burn incense;
on the altar of incense, which was in the holy place, and on
which incense was burnt morning and evening:
to wear an ephod before me?
in which was the breastplate, with the Urim and Thummim, with
which the high priest went into the most holy place, where was
the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, and where he inquired
of the Lord by the above things:
and did I give unto the house of thy father all the
offerings made by
fire of the children of Israel?
he did; the priests who were of the house of Aaron had not only
the sin offerings, and part of the peace offerings, but even of
the offerings made by fire, the burnt offerings; the skin of them
was the priest's, and the meat offerings that went along with
them, see ( Leviticus
6:25 Leviticus
6:26 ) and ( Leviticus
8:8-10 Leviticus
8:33-35 ) ( Numbers
18:8-10 ) which were given them for their maintenance. Now
these instances of God's goodness to the family of Aaron are
mentioned to aggravate the sins of Eli and his sons.