1 Samuel 2:12

Eli's Evil Sons

12 Eli's sons were evil men. They didn't know the Lord.

1 Samuel 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:12

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial
Not that Eli their father was Belial, a wicked man; but though they had so good a father, they were very wicked men, unprofitable abandoned wretches, that cast off the yoke of the law of God, and gave themselves up to all manner of wickedness:

they knew not the Lord;
not that they had no knowledge of God in theory, or were real atheists, but they were so practically; they denied him in works, they had no love to him, nor fear of him, and departed from his ways and worship, as much as if they were entirely ignorant of him; so the Targum,

``they did not know to fear before the Lord,''

or serve him; or, as Kimchi,

``they did not know the way of the Lord,''

that is, practically.

1 Samuel 2:12 In-Context

10 Those who oppose the LORD will be totally destroyed. He will thunder against them from heaven. He will judge the earth from one end to the other. "He will give power to his king. He will give honor to his anointed one."

11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. But the boy Samuel served the LORD under the direction of the priest Eli.

12 Eli's sons were evil men. They didn't know the Lord.

13 When anyone came to offer a sacrifice, here is what the priests would do. While the meat was being boiled, the servant of the priest would come with a large fork in his hand.

14 He would stick it into the pan or pot or small or large kettle. Then the priest would take for himself everything the fork brought up. That's how Eli's sons treated all of the people of Israel who came to Shiloh.