1 Samuel 8:3

3 But Samuel's sons didn't follow in his footsteps. They tried to turn a profit, they accepted bribes, and they perverted justice.

1 Samuel 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:3

And his sons walked not in his ways
The meaning of which is not that they did not go the circuit he did, which is too low a sense of the words some Jewish writers give; but they did not walk in the fear of God, in the paths of religion and righteousness, truth and holiness; they neither served God, nor did justice to men, as Samuel had done:

but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment;
indulged to covetousness, sought to get riches at any rate, took bribes, which blind the eyes of judges; and so passed wrong judgment, and gave the cause to those that gave the largest gifts, right or wrong.

1 Samuel 8:3 In-Context

1 Now when Samuel got old, he appointed his sons to serve as Israel's judges.

2 The name of his oldest son was Joel; the name of the second was Abijah. They served as judges in Beer-sheba.

3 But Samuel's sons didn't follow in his footsteps. They tried to turn a profit, they accepted bribes, and they perverted justice.

4 So all the Israelite elders got together and went to Samuel at Ramah.

5 They said to him, "Listen. You are old now, and your sons don't follow in your footsteps. So appoint us a king to judge us like all the other nations have."