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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 2
Hannah sins praises to the Lord—Samuel ministers before the
Lord—Eli blesses Elkanah and Hannah, and they have sons and
daughters—Sons of Eli reject the Lord and live in wickedness—The
Lord rejects the house of Eli.
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1 AND Hannah
aprayed, and said, My heart brejoiceth in
the LORD, mine chorn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is
enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy
dsalvation.
2 There is anone holy
as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is
there any brock like our God.
3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not
arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of
aknowledge, and by him bactions are
weighed.
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4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
5 They that were full have hired
out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry
ceased: so that the abarren hath born seven; and she that
hath many children is waxed feeble.
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6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he
abringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
7 The LORD amaketh
bpoor, and maketh crich: he bringeth low,
and lifteth up.
8 He araiseth up the
bpoor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar
from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit
the throne of glory: for the cpillars of the earth
are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them.
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9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked
shall be asilent in darkness; for by
bstrength shall no man prevail.
10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to
pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall
ajudge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength
unto his king, and exalt the horn of his banointed.
11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house.
aAnd the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the
priest.
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12 ¶ Now the asons of Eli
were bsons of cBelial; they knew
not the LORD.
13 And the priests' custom with the people was,
that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while
the flesh was ain seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth
in his hand;
14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle,
or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest
atook for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the
Israelites that came thither.
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15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's
servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for
the priest; for he will not have asodden flesh of thee, but
raw.
16 And if any man said unto him, Let them not
fail to burn the fat apresently, and then take
as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him,
Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will
take it by force.
17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great
before the LORD: for men aabhorred the offering of the
LORD.
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18 ¶ But Samuel ministered before the LORD,
being a child, girded with a linen aephod.
19 Moreover his amother made him a
little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up
with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
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20 ¶ And Eli ablessed Elkanah
and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for
bthe loan which is clent to the LORD.
And they went unto their own home.
21 And the LORD avisited Hannah,
so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child
Samuel grew before the LORD.
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22 ¶ Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
24 Nay, my sons; for it is no good
report that I hear: ye make the LORD's people to
atransgress.
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25 If one man sin against another, the judge shall
ajudge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall
intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their
father, because the LORD would slay them.
26 And the child Samuel agrew on,
and was in bfavour both with the LORD, and also with
men.
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27 ¶ And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
28 And did I achoose him out of
all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine
altar, to burn incense, to wear an bephod before me? and
did I give unto the house of thy father all the cofferings
made by fire of the children of Israel?
29 Wherefore akick ye at my
sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my
habitation; and bhonourest thy sons above me, to make
yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
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30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said
indeed that thy house, and the ahouse of thy father,
should bwalk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be
it far from me; for them that chonour me I will honour, and
they that despise me shall be lightly desteemed.
31 Behold, the adays come, that I
will bcut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house,
that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
32 And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
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33 And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
34 And this shall be a sign unto thee,
that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day
they shall adiea
both of them.
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34a Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they
shall die This is a harsh punishment against the two priests of
the temple, the sons of Eli. Two 'sins' of the brothers are listed, one of
misappropriating and handling the sacrifice of the people at the 'temple' and
the second is imoral conduct with strange women. Both are capital crimes
depending on the circumstance, but are they alone all that is going on? One
charge is the because of how they are administering the affairs of the temple,
they are leading the people of Israel astray. There is one set of events
which occur placement wise in the book of Judges in the time of Eli and his
two wicked sons, and that is the placement of the story of the near complete
destruction of the tribe of Benjamin. That story in and of it self is full
of holes, that is the case was never properly judged, the rules of witnesses
was never adhered to and many other items are of a suspect nature of the truth
of the matter or not. Not the 'later commentary editor' of the story places
the priest of the temple who eventually heard the matter and spoke in the
name of the LORD for the LORD, was Phinehas, son Elkenah, son of Aaron. But
that would place the event at the beginning of the judges and possibly as
early as 1400 B.C. in the days of Joshua. But the actual placement in the book
and some details suggest that by going to Mezvah, the sea of the judgment of
the practically self appointed judge Jephthah who reigned by for six years,
which occurs some 320-325 years after Joshua and the several prior judges
betwix. Certainly if the events where in Jephthah's day and Israel met as
Mezpah because of Jephthah's judgment seat there, then the Phinehas of the
temple or House of the Lord could not be Phinehas the son of Elkenah, for that
Phinehas was active as an adult in the wilderness with Moses but could only be
Phinehas the priest son of Eli instead. And this Phinehas was a wicked priest
and could easily have lead Israel wrong falsely to go up to destroy Benjamin.
And this would be the grosses of crimes of misleading Israel in the name of
the LORD. And it would be more consistant with the placement of the story
of the war with Gibeah where it is in the book of Judges rather than flashing
it back to the beginnings of the Judges some three hundred years distant.
And it would further explain why Samuel was needed to replace Eli and why
when Samuel was led by the Lord to place Saul of the remnant of Benjamin as
king, Samuel did it at Mezpah, that same stage upon which the first attack
were led from by the tribe of Judah against Benjamin. This there is the tie-in
which may give alternate cause and reason to the destruction, for it was
Judah who assumed the lands of Benjamin no longer populated by Benjamin in a
'land grab' of Benjamin's lands to Judah including Zelzah of Behtlehem as well
as Jerusalem. Was Judah in dispute with Benjamin over the matter of land
claims? And did Judah take 'advantage' of the 'story' of the Levite's
concubine to led in the attack to Benjamin's demise? I wonder. In there own
defense for their attack upon Benjamin with the whole of Israel with them,
Judah, the record keepers of the stick of Judah could have embelished and even
borrowed part of their case against Benjamin, as it appears they may have done
in the parallel events of Lot's case with the men of Sodom and the men of
Benjamin being as evil as they and ought to be punished though the case was
never properly presented and judged, having only the sole Levite witness to
the alleged murder of the concubine.
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35 And I will araise me up a
faithful bpriest, that shall do according to
that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and
cI will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before
mine anointed for ever.
36 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
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