1 Samuel 2:32

32. Thou shalt see an enemy There can be given no satisfactory exposition of this verse as it stands in the authorized version, or by understanding either Samuel or Zadok to be the enemy referred to. The marginal reading gives a far better sense to the first part of the verse Thou shall see the affliction of the tabernacle; but what follows for all the wealth which God would have given Israel makes no sense, and has no sufficient warrant in the Hebrew text. The word ישׂב , which is rendered give both in the text and margin, means to be good, cheerful, glad; and, in the Hiphil form, to cause to be good, cheerful, etc. Thus in Proverbs 15:13, our translators have rendered it maketh cheerful “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” We would therefore translate the passage thus: Thou shall see an affliction of the habitation (tabernacle, as in 1 Samuel 2:29) in all which made Israel glad. That which above all things else made Israel glad and joyous was the possession of the ark of the covenant. Witness the joyful shout of the army when it was brought into their camp at Eben-ezer, (1 Samuel 4:5,) and the joys of Israel when David brought it to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 6:0. The greatest calamity that could befall the tabernacle was the loss of the ark, the symbol of the Divine presence; and Eli lived to see that bitter affliction, (1 Samuel 4:11; 1 Samuel 4:18,) which was emphatically an affliction of the tabernacle in respect to ( ב ) all that was wont to make Israel glad. His sudden death, when he heard that the ark was captured, was as much as to say, If the ark is lost ALL is lost. So bitter an affliction was this to the nation that it was chronicled as “the captivity of the land.” See note, Judges 18:30.