Shmuel Alef 2:12

12 Now the Bnei Eli were Bnei Beliyaal; they knew not Hashem.

Shmuel Alef 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.

Shmuel Alef 2:12 In-Context

10 Those striving against Hashem shall be shattered; out of Shomayim shall He thunder upon him [the contentious]; Hashem shall judge the afsei eretz (ends of the earth); and He shall give oz (strength) unto His Melech, and exalt the keren (horn, power) of His Moshiach.

11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his bais. And the na’ar was mesharet (minister) unto Hashem under Eli HaKohen.

12 Now the Bnei Eli were Bnei Beliyaal; they knew not Hashem.

13 And the mishpat hakohanim (kohen’s custom) with the people was, that, when any ish offered zevach, the na’ar hakohen came, while the basar was cooking, with a mazleg (fork) of shlosh hashineayim (three prongs, lit. teeth) in his yad;

14 And he would plunge it into the kiyyor (basin) or dud (kettle) or kalakhat (caldron) or parur (pot); all that the mazleg brought up the kohen took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto kol Yisroel that came there.