1 Samuel 2:29

29 Why hast thou cast away with the heel my sacrifice, and my gifts, which I [have] commanded to be offered in the temple; and thou honouredest more thy sons than me, that ye eat the principal parts of each sacrifice of Israel my people? (Why hast thou kicked away my sacrifice, and my gifts, which I commanded to be offered in the Temple; and why hast thou honoured thy sons more than me, so that ye eat the principal, or the choicest, parts of each offering from my people Israel?)

1 Samuel 2:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 2:29

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice, and at mine offering, which
I have commanded in my habitation
To be offered in the tabernacle, where the Lord had his dwelling; which they might be said to kick and spurn at, despising them, as if there were not enough of them, nor the best of them given to them for their maintenance; a metaphor taken from cattle well fed and fat, which kick and spurn with their feet at even the owners and feeders of them. The Targum is,

``why do ye use force with the holy offerings?''

that is, take them away by force, when there was such a sufficient quantity allowed them for their support. Some understand this of their driving away such, that before used to bring their sacrifices to be offered, but being so ill treated, refrained from bringing them:

and honourest thy sons above me;
by suffering them to take their part of the sacrifices, and even what did not belong to them, before God had his part, or before the fat was burnt; and by continuing them in their office, to the dishonour of God, his name and worship, when they ought to have been turned out by him and punished; but by this he preferred the honour of his sons before the honour of God, and chose rather that he should be dishonoured, than that they should be censured:

to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel
my people?
they took the best pieces of the peace offerings from them by force, having no right unto them; and this they did to indulge their luxury and sensuality, which Eli connived at; and it is highly probable took part of the roasted meat his sons provided for themselves, out of the choicest pieces of the offerings of the people; since he himself is included in this clause, "to make yourselves fat", as his sons might be, and it is certain he himself was, ( 1 Samuel 4:18 ) .

1 Samuel 2:29 In-Context

27 Soothly a man of God came to Eli, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Whether I was not showed apertly to the house of thy father, when he was in Egypt, in the house of Pharaoh? (And a man of God came to Eli, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Was I not openly showed to thy father's family, when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house?)

28 And I chose him of all the lineages of Israel to be a priest to me, that he should go up to mine altar, and should burn incense to me, and that he should bear before me a priest's cloak; and I gave to the house of thy father all things of the sacrifices of the sons of Israel. (And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, so that he could go up to my altar, and burn incense to me, and that he would wear the ephod; and I gave to thy father's family all of the sacrifices of the Israelites.)

29 Why hast thou cast away with the heel my sacrifice, and my gifts, which I [have] commanded to be offered in the temple; and thou honouredest more thy sons than me, that ye eat the principal parts of each sacrifice of Israel my people? (Why hast thou kicked away my sacrifice, and my gifts, which I commanded to be offered in the Temple; and why hast thou honoured thy sons more than me, so that ye eat the principal, or the choicest, parts of each offering from my people Israel?)

30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel saith these things, I speaking spake, that thine house, and the house of thy father, should minister in my sight till into without end; now forsooth the Lord saith, Far be this from me; but whoever honoureth me, I shall glorify him; forsooth they that despise me, shall be unnoble. (And so the Lord God of Israel saith these things, Before I said, that thy family, and thy father's family, shall serve before me forevermore; but now the Lord saith, Far be this from me; yea, whoever honoureth me, I shall glorify him; but they who despise me, shall be despised.)

31 Lo! [the] days come, and I shall cut away thine arm, or thy power, and the arm of the house of thy father, that an eld man be not in thine house (so that no man shall grow old in thy family).