1 Samuele 2:33 Commento

In this chapter we have, I. Hannah's song of thanksgiving to God for his favour to her in giving her Samuel (Sa1 2:1-10). II. Their return to their family, with Eli's blessing (Sa1 2:11, Sa1 2:20). The increase of their family (Sa1 2:21). Samuel's growth and improvement (Sa1 2:11, Sa1 2:18, Sa1 2:21, Sa1 2:26), and the care Hannah took to clothe him (Sa1 2:19). III. The great wickedness of Eli's sons (Sa1 2:12-17, Sa1 2:22). IV. The over-mild reproof that Eli gave them for it (Sa1 2:23-25). V. The justly dreadful message God sent him by a prophet, threatening the ruin of his family for the wickedness of his sons (Sa1 2:27-36).

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 2 In this chapter the song of Hannah is recorded, Sa1 2:1, 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, Sa1 2:11, and of the wickedness of the sons of Eli, Sa1 2:12, and of Eli's too gentle treatment of them when he reproved them for it, Sa1 2:22 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, Sa1 2:27.

This shall be a sign unto thee,.... A confirming one, that all which had been now said would be fulfilled: that shall come upon thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; which Eli would live to see fulfilled on them; and when it was, he might be assured the rest would be most certainly accomplished, and it was this: in one day they shall die both of them; as they did in battle with the Philistines, Sa1 4:11.

34. For He would have entirely removed the man from His altar, if He had admitted none to the unity of our faith. Therefore He did not entirely remove him, because even though He rejected the reprobate priests of the Synagogue, He nevertheless mercifully brought many of them to the knowledge of Himself. Of these indeed Luke makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles, saying: 'A great multitude of the priests were obedient to the faith' (Acts 6:7). For those were found worthy of so great and new a ministry, who were unwilling to remain in their old state with the lost. But because not only the elect preachers from the Gentiles, but also those who believed from Judaea, were a source of tormenting envy to the Jewish priesthood, there follows: (Verse 33.) 'But one to make your eyes fail and your soul to waste away.' 35. Or for this reason He did not entirely remove a man from His altar descended from him, so that Eli's eyes might fail and his soul waste away, because indeed He did not wish to take up the elect from Judea for the ministry of the new preaching, so that, with them removed, guilt might hold the reprobate fast unto punishment. For the eyes of Eli failed when the supreme priesthood had the truth of faith on the lips of preachers within its hearing, and did not recognize it. His soul also wastes away, because indeed through the punishment of its rejection it withered, when it lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. There follows: (v. 33.) 'And a great part of your house shall die when they have reached manhood.' 36. The age of manhood is the time of the Lord's Incarnation, which indeed the Apostle indicates, saying: "When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5). What then were the precepts of Judea, if not certain instructions of infancy? The Apostle likewise indicates the time of this childhood, saying: "When we were little ones, we were serving under the elements of this world" (Ibid., 3). In the age of manhood, therefore, she died, because in the fullness of time she raged against the Redeemer of the world, and pierced herself through with the sword of unbelief. But it is well that not the whole house, but a great part of his house is foretold as about to die, because some of them believed in the Redeemer. And adding the cause of greater grief, he says: (Ver. 34.) "And this shall be the sign to you, that which shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In one day they shall both die."

For they are men who shine forth from the lofty citadel of strict conduct. As if therefore He were saying: For this reason I do not remove them from My altar, because they are men. For according to the merit of their conduct, strength and loftiness of power is preserved for them. Whence also through the prophet the Lord proclaims the decrees of equity, saying: 'The soul that sins, it itself shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father that of the son' (Ezek. 18:20). The Lord would therefore justly remove a man from His altar on this account, if the son were to bear the iniquity of the father. But from this very fact that a chosen hearer is seen in glory, punishment is heaped upon the reprobate teacher. Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 33.) 'But that your eyes may fail, and your soul may waste away.' For his eyes fail, because those who fulfilled what he perfected by his exhortation are put to shame by his life. His soul also wastes away, because he is compelled to grieve all the more abundantly, while he knows that the good which he taught flourishes through the glory of recompense in his subjects, and yet he himself did not take care to practice it. In these words it should also be noted that he who promises that he will not entirely remove a man from his altar is found to be rare in whom he receives, because indeed of a reprobate teacher there are more hearers who follow the wicked things he does than the right things he teaches. Whence here also a great part of his house is declared to be about to die in the prime of manhood.

Nevertheless, I will not utterly cut off every man from you, etc. A place of repentance is not entirely denied to the sons of Aaron, even though they sinned greatly and grievously in the killing of the Lord; but if any of them wish, let them come to the church repentant, partake of the altar of Christ, while the rest remain in the blindness of their perfidy and envy, by the example of whose pious dispensation, even when Eli and his sons perished, not every man was utterly taken away from the altar of the Lord. For even in the days of Saul, Abijah, the grandson of his son Phinehas, is recorded as serving in the priesthood (1 Kings 13).

And a great part of your house will die, etc. A great part of the house of Eli, reaching adulthood, died when, by the betrayal of Doeg the Edomite, eighty-five priests were slaughtered together in the fury of Saul (1 Samuel 22). But even today a great portion of his house, when they come to the years of understanding, lose the rewards of life by the blade of their own perfidy.

Hannah's prophetic hymn, Sa1 2:1-10. Samuel ministers to the Lord, Sa1 2:11. The abominable conduct of Eli's sons, Sa1 2:12-17. Farther account of Samuel, and of the Divine blessing on Elkanah and Hannah, Sa1 2:18-21. Eli's reprehensible remissness towards his sons in not restraining them in their great profligacy, Sa1 2:22-26. The message of God to Eli, and the prophecy of the downfall of his family, and slaughter of his wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas, Sa1 2:27-36.

And the man of thine - Of this passage Calmet observes: "The posterity of Eli possessed the high priesthood to the time of Solomon; and even when that dynasty was transferred to another family, God preserved that of Eli, not to render it more happy, but to punish it by seeing the prosperity of its enemies, to the end that it might see itself destitute and despised. This shows the depth of the judgments of God and the grandeur of his justice, which extends even to distant generations, and manifests itself to sinners both in life and death; both in their own disgrace, and in the prosperity of their enemies."

HANNAH'S SONG IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD. (Sa1 2:1-11) Hannah prayed, and said--Praise and prayer are inseparably conjoined in Scripture (Col 4:2; Ti1 2:1). This beautiful song was her tribute of thanks for the divine goodness in answering her petition. mine horn is exalted in the Lord--Allusion is here made to a peculiarity in the dress of Eastern women about Lebanon, which seems to have obtained anciently among the Israelite women, that of wearing a tin or silver horn on the forehead, on which their veil is suspended. Wives, who have no children, wear it projecting in an oblique direction, while those who become mothers forthwith raise it a few inches higher, inclining towards the perpendicular, and by this slight but observable change in their headdress, make known, wherever they go, the maternal character which they now bear.