1 Samuel 2:23

23 So Eli said to his sons, "Why are you doing those things? All of the people are telling me about the evil things you are doing.

1 Samuel 2:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:23

And he said unto them, why do ye such things?
&c.] As to impose upon the people that bring their offerings, by taking more than is due, and in a very indecent and imperious manner; and especially to defile the women when they came to worship: these were very scandalous sins, and deserved a more severe reprimand, and indeed a greater chastisement than by mere words; Eli should have rebuked them more sharply, and laid open the evil of their doings, and as a judge punished them for them:

for I hear of your evil doings by all this people;
the inhabitants of Shiloh, or who came thither to worship, who were continually making their complaints to Eli; which still shows his backwardness to reprove them in the manner he did until he was obliged to it by the continual remonstrances of the people against the practices of his sons; he did not attend to the information he had from a few persons, until it became general.

1 Samuel 2:23 In-Context

21 The LORD was gracious to Hannah. She became pregnant. Over a period of years she had three more sons and two daughters. During that whole time the boy Samuel grew up serving the Lord.

22 Eli was very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to all of the people of Israel. He also heard how they were having sex with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

23 So Eli said to his sons, "Why are you doing those things? All of the people are telling me about the evil things you are doing.

24 No, my sons. The report I hear isn't good. And it's spreading among the LORD's people.

25 If a man sins against someone else, God can help that sinner. But if a man sins against the Lord, who can help him?" In spite of what their father Eli said, his sons didn't pay any attention to his warning. That's because the LORD had already decided to put them to death.