Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 2:35
And I will raise me up a faithful priest, [that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
35. This verse forms no part of the sign, but is to be connected with 1Sa 2:33.
a faithful priest ] The prophecy is commonly supposed to have been fulfilled in Zadok, whose descendants retained the High-priesthood till the end of the monarchy (1Ch 6:8-15). But that Samuel is meant seems clear on the following grounds.
( a) The faithful priest is obviously contrasted with the unfaithful sons of Eli. This points to Samuel not Zadok. The account of his call is given immediately in ch. 3 and it concludes by saying ( 1Sa 2:20), “all Israel knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord,” a connecting link with the present passage, for it is the same Heb. word which is rendered “faithful,” “sure,” and “established.” This is followed by the death of Hophni and Phinehas (ch. 4).
( b) The “sure house” which is promised does not necessarily imply succession to the priesthood. But if it had originally done so, might not the privilege have been forfeited by the sin of Samuel’s sons (ch. 1Sa 8:3), as in the case of the exactly similar promise to Jeroboam (1Ki 11:38) ? That Samuel’s descendants flourished is clear, for his grandson Heman (1Ch 6:33) was David’s chief musician, and father of fourteen sons and three daughters (1Ch 25:1; 1Ch 25:4-5).
( c) “He shall walk before mine anointed (not, for ever, but) all the days of his life” (cp. 1Sa 1:22). This is most naturally referred to Samuel, who was God’s instrument for establishing the kingdom, and occupied a unique position as the authorised adviser of Saul.
( d) But it will be said, Samuel was no priest, only a prophet-judge. True he was not a priest by descent, and is nowhere expressly so called. But the expression I will raise up’ (used so commonly of the judges) implies an extraordinary office. And during his lifetime Samuel filled the place of High-priest. The prerogative of the line of Aaron was in abeyance for a time, as a punishment for the corruption of Eli’s sons. Ahitub the son of Phinehas never appears in the history. Ahiah is not mentioned till after Saul’s first rejection in Samuel’s extreme old age (1Sa 14:3). Samuel exercised priestly functions by intercession (1Sa 7:9), by offering sacrifice (1Sa 7:9-10), by benediction (1Sa 9:12-13), by anointing Saul and David (1Sa 10:1, 1Sa 16:13, cp. 1Ki 1:34). He may be compared with Moses who though not strictly a priest was sometimes regarded as such (Psa 99:6).
mine anointed ] See notes on 1Sa 2:10, 1Sa 10:1 , 1Sa 12:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Zadok is meant rather than Samuel. The High Priesthood continued in the direct descendants of Zadok as long as the monarchy lasted (see 1Ch 6:8-15).
Mine anointed – in its first sense obviously means the kings of Israel and Judah Psa 89:20; Zec 4:14. But doubtless the use of the term MESSIAH ( Christos) here and in 1Sa 2:10, is significant, and points to the Lords Christ, in whom the royal and priestly offices are united (Zec 6:11-15 : see the marginal references). In this connection the substitution of the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec for the Levitical may be foreshadowed under 1Sa 2:35 (see Heb. 7).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 2:35
And I will raise me up a faithful priest.
Rejection and election
I. The principle of Divine rejection is always the same.
1. There is nothing arbitrary in Gods dealings with men.
(1) They seem so to us–
(2) Only because we are ignorant of many of the facts with which He is acquainted.
(3) If we know the whole, we should see how entirely all His doings are referable to His eternal love and wisdom.
(4) We must never therefore justify Gods dealings by mere appeals to His power, to His right to do as He pleases, as though His pleasure could ever be at variance with the dictates of infinite love and perfect wisdom.
2. The real cause of rejection is always found in the enmity against God in the natural man. And this enmity shows itself in self-will. Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despite Me shall be lightly esteemed (1Sa 2:30).
(1) So it was in Saul: Hath the Lord as much pleasure in burnt offerings and in sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
(2) So in the sons of Eli. They did not love Gods will or way.
(3) The most awful example in Judas.
II. God will not have His work neglected on account of our unfaithfulness. I will raise up a faithful priest (1Sa 2:35). In the Old Testament, Samuel came into the place of Elis family. In the New Testament, Matthias came into the place of Judas. Note here, in conclusion, two separate lessons.
1. To those who refuse Gods work. They will be rejected, but the work will not be left undone.
2. To those who offer themselves to that work in sincerity and devotion. What is their course?
(1) Fidelity: a faithful priest.
(2) Sympathy with the purposes of God: Do according to that which is in mine heart.
(3) The protection and blessing of God: I will build him a sure house.
(4) Endurance: He shall walk before mine anointed forever. (W. R. Clark, M. A.)
He shall walk before Mine anointed forever.—
Holiness becometh Gods Minister
As precious liquors are best kept in clean vessels, so is the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. Who, indeed, would knowingly pour a choice wine into a tainted cask? It would be no instance of his wisdom if he did so. When we hear of men living in sin and yet claiming to be the ministers of God, we are disgusted with their pretences, but we are not deceived by their professions. In the same manner, we care little for those who are orthodox Christians in creed if it is clear that they are heterodox in life. He who believes the truth should himself be true. How can we expect others to receive our religion if it leaves us foul, false, malicious, and selfish? We sicken at the sight of a dirty dish, and refuse even good meat when it is placed thereon. So pure and holy is the doctrine of the cross that he who hears it aright will have his ear cleansed, he who believes it will have his heart purged, and he who preaches it should have his tongue purified. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 35. A faithful priest] This seems to have been spoken of Zadok, who was anointed high priest in the room of Abiathar, the last descendant of the house of Eli; see 1Kg 2:26; 1Kg 2:27. Abiathar was removed because he had joined with Adonijah, who had got himself proclaimed king; see 1Kg 1:7.
I will build him a sure house] I will continue the priesthood in his family.
He shall walk before mine Anointed] He shall minister before Solomon, and the kings which shall reign in the land. The Targum says, “He shall walk kodam Meshichi, before my MESSIAH,” and the Septuagint expresses it, , “before my CHRIST; ” for, in their proper and more extended sense, these things are supposed to belong to our great High Priest and the Christian system: but the word may refer to the Israelitish people. See Clarke on Heb 9:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A faithful priest, to wit, of another line, as is necessarily implied by one total removal of that office from Elis line, before threatened. The person designed is Zadok, one eminent for his faithfulness to God and to the king, who, when Abiathar, the last of Elis line, was deposed by Solomon, was made high priest in his stead, 1Ki 2:27,35; 1Ch 29:22.
That shall do according to that which is in mine heart; and shall not dishonour or disobey me to gratify his sons, as thou hast done.
I will build him a sure house, i.e. give him a numerous posterity, as that phrase is used, Exo 1:21; 2Sa 7:11; 1Ki 11:38, and confirm that sure covenant of an everlasting priesthood made to Phinehas, of Eleazars line, Num 25:13, and interrupted for a little while by Eli, and his, of the line of Ithamar, unto him and his children for ever. And this was manifestly verified until the Babylonish captivity, Eze 44:15; and there is no reason to doubt of its continuance in the same line till Christ came.
He shall walk, i.e. minister as high priest.
Before mine anointed; either, first, Before king Solomon, who was anointed king, 1Ki 1:39, and before the succeeding kings, who are commonly called anointed, or the Lords anointed, as 1Sa 12:3,5; 24:6,10; Psa 89:38,51; La 4:20. Or rather, secondly, Before Jesus Christ; first, Because this title of Anointed, or Christ, or Messias, (both which words signify only the Anointed,) is most frequently and eminently ascribed to Christ, both in the Old and New Testament, and therefore it is most reasonable to understand it of him, when there is nothing in the text or context which determines it to any other. Secondly, Christ is the main scope and design, not only of the New, but of the Old Testament, which in all its types and ceremonies represented Christ; and particularly, the high priest was an eminent type of Christ, and did represent his person, and act in his name and stead, and did mediately what John Baptist did immediately, go before the face of the Lord Christ; and when Christ did come, that office and officer was to cease. Thirdly, The high priest is seldom or never said to walk or minister before the kings of Israel or Judah, but constantly before the Lord, and consequently before Christ, who as he was God blessed for ever, Rom 9:5, was present with, and the Builder and Governor of, the ancient church of Israel, as is manifest from Act 7:35; 1Co 10:4; Heb 3:3-6, and many other places; and their temple is particularly called his temple, Mal 3:1, because all the temple worship was performed in his presence, and had a special respect unto him, and therefore the high priest is most properly said to walk before him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I will raise up a faithful priest,…. Not Samuel, as some, for he was not of the seed of Aaron, and of the priestly race; nor had he a sure house, for his sons declined from the ways of truth and justice; but Zadok, as it is commonly interpreted, who was put into the office of the high priest by Solomon when he came to the throne, in the room of Abiathar, of the line of Eli; who was an upright man, and faithfully discharged his office, and answered to his name, which signifies righteous, see Eze 44:15 that shall do according to that which is in my heart, and in my mind: according to the secret will and pleasure of God, as revealed in his word; do everything relating to the office of an high priest, according to the laws of God respecting it; so the Targum,
“that shall do according to my word, and according to my will:”
and I will build him a sure house; which some understand of a numerous family and posterity he should have to succeed him, so that there should never be wanting one of his seed to fill up that high office; or rather it may design the establishment of the high priesthood in his family, which was an everlasting one, as promised to Phinehas his ancestor, and which continued unto the times of the Messiah, who put an end to it, by fulfilling it; unless it can be thought that this may refer to the temple built by Solomon, which was a firm house, in comparison of the tabernacle, which was a movable one; it was built for Zadok and his posterity, who was the first that officiated in it as a legal priest. There is one writer, who says m,
“this agrees with no man, only with our Lord Jesus, who is called our high priest, that offered up a sacrifice to the Father for us therefore to Christ properly this prophecy belongs; but, according to the history; to Zadok:”
and Christ is said indeed to be a faithful, as well as a merciful high priest, faithful to him that appointed him, and faithful to those for whom he officiated; he always did the things which pleased his Father, was obedient to his will and commands in all respects; and a sure house is built by him, his church, against which the gates of hell can never prevail: however, the next clause is by others interpreted of him,
and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever; or “before my Messiah”, as the high priests did; they were types of Christ, and represented him, and acted under him, and in his stead, and prefigured and pointed at what he was to do, when he came in the flesh, and now does in the most holy place in heaven. Though it is more commonly understood of Zadok and his posterity, walking or ministering, as the Targum, before Solomon the Lord’s anointed, and before the kings of the house of David, as they did until the Babylonish captivity.
m Procopius Gazaeus in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(35) A faithful priest.Who here is alluded to by this faithful priest, of whom such a noble life was predicted, and to whom such a glorious promise as that he should walk before mine anointed for ever, was made? Many of the conditions are fairly fulfilled by Samuel, to whom naturally our thoughts at once turn. He occupies a foremost place in the long Jewish story, and immediately succeeded Eli in most of his important functions as the acknowledged chief of the religious and political life in Israel. He was also eminently and consistently faithful to his master and God during his whole life. Samuel, though a Levite, was not of the sons of Aaron; yet he seems, even in Elis days, to have ministered as a priest before the Lord, the circumstances of his early connection with the sanctuary being exceptional. After Elis death, when the regular exercise of the Levitical ritual and priesthood was suspended by the separation of the ark from the tabernacle, Samuel evidently occupied a priestly position, and we find him for a long period standing as mediator between Jehovah and His people, in sacrifice, prayer, and intercession, in the performance of which high offices his duty, after the solemn anointing of Saul as king, was to walk before the anointed of the Lord (Saul), while (to use the words of Von Gerlach, quoted by Erdmann), the Aaronic priesthood fell for a long time into such disrepute that it had to beg for honour and support from him (1Sa. 2:36), and became dependent on the new order of things instituted by Samuel. (See Excursus C at the end of this Book.)
The prediction I will build him a sure house is satisfied in the strong house and numerous posterity given to Samuel by God. His grandson Heman was the kings seer in the words of God, and was placed by King David over the choir in the house of God. This eminent personage, Heman, had fourteen sons and three daughters (1Ch. 6:33; 1Ch. 25:4-5).
Samuel also fulfilled the prophecy He shall walk before mine anointed for ever in his close and intimate relation with King Saul, who we find, even after the faithful prophets deathalthough the later acts of Saul had alienated the prophet from his sovereignsummoning the spirit of Samuel as the only one who was able to counsel and strengthen him (1Sa. 28:15).
Of the other interpretations, that of Rashi and Abarbanel, and many of the moderns, which supposes the reference to be Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, who, in the reign of Solomon, superseded Abiathar, of the house of Ithamar (the ancestor of Eli), alone fairly satisfies most of the different predictions, but we are met with this insurmountable difficulty at the outsetCan we assume that the comparatively unknown Zadok, after the lapse of so many years, was pointed out by the magnificent promises contained in the words of the man of God to Eli? The words of the man of God surely indicate a far greater one than any high priest of the time of Solomon. In the golden days of this magnificent king, the high priest, overshadowed by the splendour and power of the sovereign, was a very subordinate figure indeed in Israel; but the subject of this prophecy was one evidently destined to hold no secondary and inferior position.
Some commentators, with a singular confusion of ideas, see a reference to Christ in the faithful priest, forgetting that this faithful priest who was to arise in Elis place was to walk before the Lords Christ, or Anointed One.
On the whole, the reference to Samuel is the most satisfactory, and seems in all pointswithout in any way unfairly pressing the historical referencesto fulfil that portion of the prediction of the man of God to Eli respecting the one chosen to replace him in his position of judge and guide of Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
35. I will raise me up a faithful priest By this “faithful priest” some have understood Samuel, and others Zadok, while a few argue that both of them may be intended. Samuel, indeed, succeeded Eli as judge of Israel, and during his lifetime the Aaronic priesthood seems to have fallen into neglect; but it is certain that neither he nor his descendants were established in the priesthood, so that it cannot be said that God “built him a sure house.” Therefore it is better to understand Zadok to be this faithful priest. As a part of this prophecy received its fulfilment in the thrusting out of Abiathar, so this verse was fulfilled in the consecration of Zadok. 1Ki 2:35 ; 1Ch 29:22. Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar, (1Ch 24:3,) and therefore God’s promise to Aaron was not made void by the impiety of Eli’s sons, for in Zadok, Eleazar’s posterity were established forever. Compare Num 25:11-13. It is also well worthy of notice that in the temple of Ezekiel’s vision, which symbolizes the spiritual Church of the then future, the sons of Zadok are named as priests. Eze 40:46; Eze 43:19; Eze 44:15; Eze 48:11.
He shall walk before mine anointed for ever Before David, Solomon, and the later kings of Judah, until the passing away of the Hebrew monarchy before the Messianic kingdom, in which Christ himself is prophet, priest, and king.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 2:35. And I will raise me up a faithful priest i.e. Zadok, as it is generally supposed, who was anointed in the room of Abiathar, the last descendant of Eli in the pontificate. See 1Ki 2:27; 1Ki 2:35. I will build him a sure house: i.e. “I will give him a numerous posterity, and I will renew with him the promise which I made to Phinehas the son of Eleazar:” a prediction which was fully justified by the event. See Eze 40:16 and Josephus Antiquit. lib. 10: cap. 4. He shall walk before mine anointed: i.e. “Zadok and his descendants shall continually perform the office of high-priest: before that king whom God shall anoint, and before his successors.” Procopius Gazaeus well remarks, that though, according to the history, this is meant of, and may properly be applied to Zadok, who was put into the priesthood by Solomon; yet it belongs to none in its sublimest sense, but to our Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed of the Father, and the faithful high-priest, who offered up the great sacrifice of himself for the sins of mankind.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Sa 2:35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, [that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
Ver. 35. And I will build him a sure house, ] i.e., Bless him with children, and settle the office firm upon them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
mind = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will raise: 1Ki 1:8, 1Ki 1:45, 1Ki 2:35, 1Ch 29:22, Eze 34:23, Eze 44:15, Eze 44:16, Heb 2:17, Heb 7:26-28
I will build: 1Sa 25:28, Exo 1:21, Num 25:13, 2Sa 7:11, 2Sa 7:27, 1Ki 11:38, 1Ch 6:8-15, Neh 12:10, Neh 12:11
mine: Psa 2:2, Psa 18:50
Reciprocal: 2Sa 23:5 – and sure 1Ch 6:53 – Zadok Eze 43:19 – the priests 2Ti 2:2 – faithful Heb 7:24 – hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 2:35. I will raise me up a faithful priest Of another line, as is necessarily implied by the total removal of that office from Elis line. The person designed is Zadok, one eminent for his faithfulness to God, and to the king, who, when Abiathar, the last of Elis line, was deposed by Solomon, was made high-priest in his stead. Build a sure house That is, give him a numerous posterity, and confirm unto him and his children that sure covenant of an everlasting priesthood made to Phinehas, of Eleazars line, Num 25:13, and interrupted for a little while by Eli, of the line of Ithamar. The high-priesthood continued in his line till the captivity of Babylon, as appears from Eze 40:16; and a long time after it, as Josephus shows, lib. 4. cap. 4. He shall walk before mine Anointed That is, Zadok and his descendants shall perform the office of high-priest before that king whom God shall anoint, and before his successors. The high- priest is said to walk before Gods anointed, chiefly because he wore the breast-plate of judgment, which he was to consult, not in common cases, but for the king, in the affairs of state. For ever A learned writer justly observes, that though this, according to the history, was intended of, and may properly be applied to Zadok, yet in the highest sense it belongs to none but our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered himself to the Father for us, and is our great High-Priest for ever; who in all things did his Fathers will, and for whom God will build a sure house, build it on a rock, so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. For he is the main scope and design not only of the New but of the Old Testament, which, in all types and ceremonies, represented him; and the high-priest especially was an eminent type of him, represented by his person, acted in his name and stead, and did mediately what John the Baptist did immediately, namely, go before the face of the Lord Christ; and when Christ came, that officer and the office he sustained were to cease.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:35 And I will raise me up a {z} faithful priest, [that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
(z) Meaning Zadok, who succeeded Abiathar, and was the figure of Christ.