1 Samuel 4:15

15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.

1 Samuel 4:15 in Other Translations

15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

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

15 who was ninety-eight years old and blind.

15 Eli was ninety-eight years old then, and blind.

15 At that time Eli was 98 years old, and his gaze was fixed because he couldn't 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, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” The man hurried over to Eli,

15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.

16 He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

Cross References

• 1. S 1 Samuel 3:2