1 Samuel 2:12-17

Eli’s Sons Misuse Their Sacred Office

2:12 The sons of Eli were wicked men. ¹  They did not recognize the Lord’s authority. ²  2:13 Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ³  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ⁴  in his hand. 2:14 He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites ⁵  when they came there to Shiloh.

2:15 Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, “Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won’t take boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ⁶  2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ⁷  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

2:17 The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they ⁸  treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.

1 Samuel 2:29

2:29 Why are you ⁹  scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? ¹⁰  You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness.”

[2:12]  ² tn Heb “they did not know the Lord.” The verb here has the semantic nuance “recognize the authority of.” Eli’s sons obviously knew who the Lord was; they served in his sanctuary. But they did not recognize his moral authority.

[2:13]  ³ tn Heb “the habit of the priests with the people [was this].”

[2:13]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew word occurs only twice in the OT, here and again in v. 14. Its exact meaning is not entirely clear, although from the context it appears to be a sacrificial tool used for retrieving things from boiling water.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “living.”

[2:16]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[2:17]  ⁸ tc Heb “the men,” which is absent from one medieval Hebrew ms, a Qumran ms, and the LXX.

[2:29]  ⁹ tc The MT has a plural “you” here, but the LXX and a Qumran ms have the singular. The singular may be the correct reading; the verb “you have honored” later in the verse is singular even in the MT. However, it is more probable that the Lord here refers to Eli and his sons. Note the plural in the second half of the verse (“you have made yourselves fat”).

[2:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “which I commanded, dwelling place.” The noun is functioning as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb. Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation.