1 Samuel 2:22-36

Eli Rebukes His Sons

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard ¹all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how * they lay with ²the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

23 He said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

24 "No, my sons; for the report is not good ³which I hear the LORD'S people circulating.

25 "If one man sins against another, ⁴God will mediate for him; but ⁵if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the ⁶LORD desired to put them to death.

26 Now the boy ⁷Samuel was growing * in stature and in favor both with the LORD and with men.

27 Then ⁸a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, '⁹Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house?

28 '¹⁰Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not ¹¹give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?

29 'Why do you ¹²kick at My sacrifice and at My offering ¹³which I have commanded in My ¹⁴dwelling, and ¹⁵honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?'

30 "Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, '¹⁶I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever * '; but now the LORD declares, 'Far be it from Me-for ¹⁷those who honor Me I will honor, and those ¹⁸who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.

31 'Behold, ¹⁹the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

32 'You will see ²⁰the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an ²¹old man will not be in your house forever *.

33 'Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

34 'This will be ²²the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ²³on the same day both of them will die.

35 'But ²⁴I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and ²⁵I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before ²⁶My anointed always *.

36 'Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, "Please assign me to one of the priest's offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.""'

1 Samuel 2:22-36 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. 1 Samuel 2:13-17
• 2. Exodus 38:8
• 3. 1 Kings 15:26
• 4. Deuteronomy 1:17
• 5. Numbers 15:30; 1 Samuel 3:14; Hebrews 10:26, 27
• 6. Joshua 11:20
• 7. 1 Samuel 2:21; Luke 2:52
• 8. Deuteronomy 33:1; Judges 13:6
• 9. Exodus 4:14-16; Exodus 12:1, 43
• 10. Exodus 28:1-4; Exodus 30:7, 8; Leviticus 8:7, 8
• 11. Leviticus 7:35, 36
• 12. 1 Samuel 2:13-17
• 13. Deuteronomy 12:5-9
• 14. Psalms 26:8
• 15. Matthew 10:37
• 16. Exodus 29:9; Numbers 25:13
• 17. Psalms 50:23
• 18. Malachi 2:9
• 19. 1 Samuel 4:11-18; 1 Samuel 22:17-20
• 20. 1 Kings 2:26, 27
• 21. Zechariah 8:4
• 22. 1 Samuel 10:7-9; 1 Kings 13:3
• 23. 1 Samuel 4:11, 17
• 24. 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 9:12, 13
• 25. 1 Samuel 8:3-5; 1 Samuel 25:28; 2 Samuel 7:11, 27; 1 Kings 11:38
• 26. 1 Samuel 10:9, 10; 1 Samuel 12:3; 1 Samuel 16:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "making the LORD'S "people transgress"
• [b]. Lit "was going on both great and good"
• [c]. Or "first"
• [d]. Or "arm"
• [e]. Or "arm"
• [f]. Lit "He does"
• [g]. Lit "to waste away your eyes and to grieve your soul"
• [h]. Lit "as men"
• [i]. Or "payment"
• [j]. Lit "attach"