1 Samuel 2:27

GOD'S PROPHETIC WARNING OF ELI

"And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, "Thus the Lord has said, `I revealed myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh. And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from my people of Israel. Why then look with a greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings which I commanded, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves upon the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?' Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: `I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever'; but now the Lord declares: `Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold the days are coming, when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity which shall be bestowed upon Israel; and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The man of you which I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his eyes and grieve his heart; and all the increase of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this which shall befall your two sons Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart; and I will bring him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and shall say, "Put me, I pray you, in one of the priest's places, that I may eat a morsel of bread."'"

The International Critical Commentary has a remarkably excellent summary of what these verses say. "An unnamed prophet comes to Eli and rehearses the benefits he and his house have received from Yahweh. The ingratitude with which he has treated his benefactor is pointed out, and the removal of his house from the priesthood is foretold, with the consequent impoverishment of his descendants.[20]

"I revealed myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt." In fact, God revealed himself to all Israel while they were still slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh, but this does not say that he chose Aaron and the Levites at that time, because those choices occurred after the revelation at Sinai.

"Why then look with greedy eyes at my sacrifices?" This statement and the words that follow clearly make Eli himself blameworthy.

"I promised ... but now, Far be it from me" (1 Samuel 2:30). All of God's promises are conditional absolutely upon the fidelity of the one to whom the promise came. Jeremiah spelled this out dramatically in Jeremiah 18:7-10.

1 Samuel 2:32, above, is an exceedingly obscure and doubtful passage, and the RSV rendition of it here is the result of extensive emendation,[21] a necessary procedure at times in order to come up with some likely meaning.

"All the increase of your house shall die by the sword of men." This prophecy was dramatically fulfilled by Doeg's massacre of the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 22:17,18).

The prophecy that Hophni and Phinehas would die on the same day (1 Samuel 2:34) was fulfilled when the Philistines defeated Israel and captured the ark of the covenant (1 Samuel 4:11).

"The ark was not restored to Israel during the times of Samuel; and the tabernacle itself was moved from Shiloh to Nob, probably in the time of war. And when Saul had all the priests put to death, it was removed to Gibeon, where it necessarily fell more and more into contempt."[22]

"I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, etc." It is usually agreed among scholars that this is a reference to Zadok. However:

"It also refers to all the priests whom the Lord would raise up as faithful servants of his altar, and only receives its complete and final fulfillment in Christ, the true and eternal High Priest."[23]