Shmuel Alef 2:33

33 And the ish of thine, whom I shall not cut off from Mine Mizbe’ach, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine nefesh; and all the increase of thine Bais shall die anashim [i.e., not zekenim].

Shmuel Alef 2:33 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:33

And the man of thine
. Of his family, which should spring from him: whom I shall not cut off from mine altar: from serving there: who though he shall not be an high priest, but a common priest, as all the descendants of Aaron were,

shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart;
that is, the eyes and heart of his posterity; who though they should see of their family ministering in the priest's office, yet should make so poor a figure on account of their outward meanness and poverty, or because of their want of wisdom, and intellectual endowments, or because of their scandalous lives, that it would fill their hearts with grief and sorrow, and their eyes with tears, so that their eyes would fail, and be consumed, and their hearts be broken:

and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their
age;
or "die men" ^F11; grown men, not children, when it would not be so great an affliction to part with them; but when at man's estate, in the prime of their days, perhaps about thirty years of age, the time when the priests entered upon their office to do all the work of it; the Targum is,

``shall be killed young men:''

it is more than once said in the Talmud ^F12, that there was a family in Jerusalem, the men of which died at eighteen years of age; they came and informed Juchanan ben Zaccai of it; he said to them, perhaps of the family of Eli are ye, as it is said, ( 1 Samuel 2:33 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Myvna wtwmy) "morientur viri", Montanus, Tigurine version; "morientur virile aetate", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so V. L.
F12 T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 18. 1. & Yebamot, fol. 105. 1.

Shmuel Alef 2:33 In-Context

31 Hinei, the yamim are coming, that I will cut off thine zero’a, and the zero’a of the Bais Avicha, that there shall not be a zaken in thine Bais.

32 And thou shalt see Tzar Ma’on [See 1Sm 4:11 and Jer 7:12-14] in spite of all that He will do of tov to Yisroel; and there shall not be a zaken in thine Bais kol hayamim.

33 And the ish of thine, whom I shall not cut off from Mine Mizbe’ach, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine nefesh; and all the increase of thine Bais shall die anashim [i.e., not zekenim].

34 And this shall be HaOt unto thee, that shall come upon thy two banim, on Chophni and on Pinchas: in one day they shall die both of them.

35 And I will raise up for Me a Kohen Ne’eman, that shall do according to that which is in Mine lev and in My nefesh; and I will build for him a Bais Ne’eman; and he shall walk before Mine Moshiach kol hayamim.