1 Samuel 2:18-28

18 ¹Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy ²clothed with a linen ephod.

19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year ³when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the LORD give you children by this woman ⁴for the petition she asked of the LORD." So then they would return to their home.

21 ⁵Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. ⁶And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.

Eli Rebukes His Sons

22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who ⁷were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

23 And he said to them, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people.

24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad.

25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, ⁸for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.

26 Now the young man Samuel ⁹continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

27 And there came ¹⁰a man of God to Eli and said to him, "Thus the LORD has said, ¹¹'Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?

28 ¹²Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ¹³to wear an ephod before me? ¹⁴I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.

1 Samuel 2:18-28 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2

In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, 1Sa 2:1-10, and an account is given of the return of Elkanah and Hannah to their own home, and of the care she took yearly to provide a coat for Samuel, and of her being blessed with many other children, and of the growth and ministry of Samuel before the Lord, 1Sa 2:11,18-21,26, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, 1Sa 2:12-17, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, 1Sa 2:22-25 and of a sharp message sent him from the Lord on that account, threatening destruction to his house, of which the death of his two sons would be a sign, 1Sa 2:27-36.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 11; 1 Samuel 3:1
• 2. Exodus 28:4; 2 Samuel 6:14; 1 Chronicles 15:27
• 3. 1 Samuel 1:3
• 4. 1 Samuel 1:28
• 5. Genesis 21:1
• 6. ver. 26; 1 Samuel 3:19; [Judges 13:24; Luke 1:80; Luke 2:40]
• 7. Exodus 38:8
• 8. [Joshua 11:20]
• 9. Luke 2:52
• 10. 1 Kings 13:1
• 11. [Ex. 3 - 12]
• 12. Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:1, 7
• 13. [1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 22:18]
• 14. Leviticus 2:3, 10; Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 7:7, 8, 34; Leviticus 10:14, 15; Numbers 5:9, 10; See Numbers 18:8-19