Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 3:11
And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
11 14. Announcement of the Doom of Eli’s House
11. I will do ] I am doing. The catastrophe is certain. With God the future is as the present.
at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle ] This expression is found again in 2Ki 21:12, and Jer 19:3. In the latter passage there may be a tacit reference to this passage, suggesting a comparison between the destruction of Shiloh and the destruction of Jerusalem, such as is found elsewhere in Jeremiah (1Sa 7:12-14, 1Sa 26:6).
The appalling catastrophe thus predicted was the impending defeat of Israel by the Philistines, the death of Eli’s sons and Eli himself, the capture of the Ark, and the desolation of the national Sanctuary.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
More accurately, the which whosoever heareth both his ears shall tingle. This expressive phrase occurs again twice (marginal references) with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. It is remarkable that Jeremiah repeatedly compares the destruction of Jerusalem with the destruction of Shiloh (Jer 7:12, Jer 7:14; Jer 26:6, Jer 26:9; Compare Psa 78:60-64).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 3:11-16
I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
Causes of Elis overthrow
There are several impressive lessons urged by Gods treatment of Eli.
I. First of all it is clear–and it ought to be made most distinct, because of a great practical delusion which exists upon this point–that it is not enough that there be many good points in a character. Character ought not to be a mere question of points at all. Character ought not to be viewed in sections and departments, in aspects and occasional moods. Character should have about it the distinctness of wholeness, entirety. Our goodness is not to be an occasional impulse or a transitory appearance of moral conscience and moral concern for others. Out of our character there is to stream continuous and beneficent influence. When our moral training is perfected we shall not have points of excellence; our whole character will be massive, indivisible, and out of it will go an influence that will constrain men to believe that we have been with God, and that we have imbibed the very spirit of his righteousness. Eli was amiable. A great many mistakes are made about amiability. A man may be amiable simply through mere want of interest or force; he may be so constituted that really he does not much care who is who, or what is what. Eli had religious impulses. What then? There is a sense in which religious impulse may be but constitutional. We must not overlook the constitutional condition. Let us clearly understand, therefore, that mere religious sensibility, religious impulse and religious susceptibility, must not be understood as proclaiming and certifying sound religiousness of character. Eli treated Samuel without official envy or jealousy. So far so good. But absence of envy may come of mere easy good nature. There are men in the world who do not care one pinpoint who is at the head of affairs. That is not magnanimity; that is not nobleness.
2. The second lesson that is urged upon us by this view of Elis position is–that divine discipline is keen–intensely spiritual. The inquiry is, Can you point out any vulgar sin in Eli? Sin is not measurable by vulgarity. Some men seem incapable of seeing sin until it clothes itself in the most hideous forms. Forms have nothing to do with sin. Herein we see the keenness, the spirituality of Divine discipline.
3. See further, in this case, the terribleness of Gods displeasure. But the way of the transgressor is hard; he is making a hard pillow for his head. Be he high priest or doorkeeper; be he mighty in gift or obscure in talent–God will not spare him. If judgment begin at the house of God, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (J. Parker, D. D.)
The causes of Elis overthrow
Can you find one vulgar sin in the venerable high priest? We cannot see, looking at the page in the light of merely literary critics, where the great lapse was. We know not but that if Eli, as portrayed in the inspired book, were set up as the standard of determination, a great many would fall short of his lofty altitude. These considerations justify the interest of the question how Eli came to be dispossessed of the priesthood. Look at his noble treatment of the child Samuel. When did he chide the young prophet? When did he superciliously snub the child? Look at the unpriestliness of his tone when he talks to the child. Looking at some aspect of Elis character, what reverence we feel for the old man! We see that he was a fine interpreter of the supernatural section of life. He was not self-obtrusive; he was no mere priest; he introduced men immediately to God; he did not claim any power of exclusive or tyrannic mediation. Look, again, at the submissiveness of his tone when his doom was pronounced. Then look at the mans interest in the ark of the Lord. Down to the very last, we see that Eli was an intensely religious man, from whom God withdrew His covenant, and on whom He pronounced such severe judgments. We would, therefore, repeat with fervour and with emphasis, that the conscience of universal man asks: Lord of heaven and earth, is this right? In looking at the failure of Eli as involving a moral question between the Creator and the creature, we are prepared to teach that the obligations of character must always control the obligations of covenants. All Gods covenants are founded upon a moral basis. A covenant is but a form; a covenant is merely an arrangement, if it be not established upon moral conditions. There are circumstances in which Gods faithfulness and Gods unchangeableness are seen, not in fulfilling, but actually in the annulling, of covenants. God will never maintain the letter at the expense of the spirit. There is a pedantic morality amongst men which says, The bond must be kept to the letter, and which cares nothing for the spirit of the engagement. Gods morality is not a morality of ink and seals and witnesses. It involves life, spirit, motive, purpose. Were God to keep to the letter at the expense of the spirit, He would be no longer God. His unchangeableness is in His righteousness, not in His formality. Our confidence in Him is this:–That He will set aside His oldest servants, His first-chosen men, His most princely vice-regents and interpreters–he will utterly destroy them from the face of the earth, and hurl after them the written covenants He has made with them–if they trifle with eternal truth, with infinite purity! To cover a corrupt life with the blessing of His approbation, simply because there is a literal covenant to be carried out, would be to deny every element which makes Him God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. The Lord said to Samuel] He probably saw nothing, and only heard the voice; for it was not likely that any extraordinary representation could have been made to the eyes of a person so young. He heard a voice, but saw no similitude.
The ears – shall tingle.] It shall be a piercing word to all Israel; it shall astound them all; and, after having heard it, it will still continue to resound in their ears.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will do a thing: those things which are related in the next chapter, which though done by the Philistines, God here ascribes to himself, because he was the first and chief cause of it, by withdrawing his helping hand from Israel, and by delivering the ark, and Elis two sons, and the rest of people, into his and their enemies hands.
Both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle; which will be so terrible, that not only those that feel it shall groan under it, but those that only hear the report of it shall be struck with such amazement and horror, which will make their heads and hearts ache. A metaphor from him, who being surprised with some great and hideous noise, such as thunder or great guns, his head is much affected with it, and the sound or tingling of it abides in his ears a good while after it. This phrase is used also 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the Lord said to Samuel,…. The voice of the Lord continued speaking to him: behold,
I will do a thing in Israel; which may be particularly interpreted of the taking of the ark, and the slaying of the two sons of Eli; and which is elsewhere represented as the Lord’s doing, for the sins of Eli’s family, Ps 78:61
at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle; be struck with horror and amazement, and quite stunned, and know not what to think or say, like persons surprised with a violent clap of thunder, which strikes their ears so strongly, that the noise of it is not soon gone from them; this was verified in Eli, and in his daughter-in-law particularly, who, at the news of the above things, the one fell backwards and broke his neck, and the other fell into labour and died; and all Israel were struck with astonishment at these things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Eli and His House Threatened. | B. C. 1128. |
11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. 14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. 15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. 17 And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee. 18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
Here is, I. The message which, after all this introduction, God delivered to Samuel concerning Eli’s house. God did not come to him now to tell him how great a man he should be in his day, what a figure he should make, and what a blessing he should be in Israel. Young people have commonly a great curiosity to be told their fortune, but God came to Samuel, not to gratify his curiosity, but to employ him in his service and send him on an errand to another person, which was much better; and yet the matter of this first message, which no doubt made a very great impression upon him, might be of good use to him afterwards, when his own sons proved, though not so bad as Eli’s, yet not so good as they should have been, ch. viii. 3. The message is short, not nearly so long as that which the man of God brought, ch. ii. 27. For, Samuel being a child, it could not be expected that he should remember a long message, and God considered his frame. The memories of children must not be overcharged, no, not with divine things. But it is a sad message, a message of wrath, to ratify the message in the former chapter, and to bind on the sentence there pronounced, because perhaps Eli did not give so much regard to that as he ought to have done. Divine threatenings, the less they are heeded, the surer they will come and the heavier they will fall. Reference is here had to what was there said concerning both the sin and the punishment.
1. Concerning the sin: it is the iniquity that he knoweth, v. 13. The man of God told him of it, and many a time his own conscience had told him of it. O what a great deal of guilt and corruption is there in us concerning which we may say, “It is the iniquity which our own heart knoweth, we are conscious to ourselves of it!” In short, the iniquity was this: His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, he frowned not upon them. If he did show his dislike of their wicked courses, yet not to that degree that he ought to have done: he did reprove them, but he did not punish them, for the mischief they did, nor deprive them of their power to do mischief, which as a father, high priest, and judge, he might have done. Note, (1.) Sinners do by their own wickedness make themselves vile. They debauch themselves (for every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lusts, Jam. i. 14) and thereby they debase themselves, and make themselves not only mean, but odious to the holy God and holy men and angels. Sin is a vile thing, and degrades men more than any thing, Ps. xv. 4. Eli’s sons made light of God, and made his offerings vile in the people’s eyes; but the shame returned into their own bosom: they made themselves vile. (2.) Those that do not restrain the sins of others, when it is in the power of their hand to do it, make themselves partakers of the guilt, and will be charged as accessaries: Those in authority will have a great deal to answer for if they make not the sword they bear a terror to evil workers.
2. Concerning the punishment: it is that which I have spoken concerning his house,1Sa 3:12; 1Sa 3:13. I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, that is, that a curse should be entailed upon his family from generation to generation. The particulars of this curse we had before; they are not here repeated, but it is added, (1.) That when that sentence began to be executed it would be very dreadful and amazing to all Israel (v. 11): Both the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle. Every Israelite would be struck with terror and astonishment to hear of the slaying of Eli’s sons, the breaking of Eli’s neck, and the dispersion of Eli’s family. Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments! If this be done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Note, God’s judgments upon others should affect us with a holy fear, Ps. cxix. 120. (2.) That these direful first-fruits of the execution would be certain earnests of the progress and full accomplishment of it: When I begin I will proceed and make an end of all that I have threatened, v. 12. It is intimated that it might possibly be some time before he would begin, but let them not call that forbearance an acquittance, nor that reprieve a pardon; for when at length he does begin he will make thorough work of it, and, though he stay long, he will strike home. (3.) That no room should be left for hope that this sentence might be reversed and the execution stayed or mitigated, v. 14. [1.] God would not revoke the sentence, for he backed it with an oath: I have sworn to the house of Eli; and God will not go back from what he has sworn either in mercy or judgment. [2.] He would never come to a composition for the forfeiture: “The iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. No atonement shall be made for the sin, nor any abatement of the punishment.” This was the imperfection of the legal sacrifices, that there were iniquities which they did not reach, which they would not purge; but the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, and secures all those that by faith are interested in it from that eternal death which is the wages of sin.
II. The delivery of this message to Eli. Observe,
1. Samuel’s modest concealment of it, v. 15. (1.) He lay till the morning, and we may well suppose he lay awake pondering on what he had heard, repeating it to himself, and considering what use he must make of it. After we have received the spiritual food of God’s word, it is good to compose ourselves, and give it time to digest. (2.) He opened the doors of the house of the Lord, in the morning, as he used to do, being up first in the tabernacle. That he should do so at other times was an instance of extraordinary towardliness in a child, but that he should do so this morning was an instance of great humility. God had highly honoured him above all the children of his people, yet he was not proud of the honour, nor puffed up with it, did not think himself too great and too good to be employed in these mean and servile offices, but, as cheerfully as ever, went and opened the doors of the tabernacle. Note, Those to whom God manifests himself he makes and keeps low in their own eyes, and willing to stoop to any thing by which they may be serviceable to his glory, though but as door-keepers in his house. One would have expected that Samuel would be so full of his vision as to forget his ordinary service, that he would go among his companions, as one in an ecstasy, to tell them what converse he had had with God this night; but he modestly keeps it to himself, tells the vision to no man, but silently goes on in his business. Our secret communion with God is not to be proclaimed upon the house-tops. (3.) He feared to show Eli the vision. If he was afraid Eli would be angry with him and chide him, then we have cause to suspect that Eli used to be as severe with this towardly child as he was indulgent to his own wicked sons, and this will bear hard upon him. But we will suppose it was rather because he was afraid to grieve and trouble the good old man that he was so shy. If he had run immediately with the tidings to Eli, this would have looked as if he desired the woeful day and hoped to build his own family upon the ruin of Eli’s; therefore it became him not to be forward to declare the vision. No good man can take pleasure in bringing evil tidings, especially not Samuel to Eli, the pupil to the tutor whom he loves and honours.
2. Eli’s careful enquiry into it, 1Sa 3:16; 1Sa 3:17. As soon as ever he heard Samuel stirring he called for him, probably to his bed-side; and, having before perceived that God had spoken to him, he obliged him, not only by importunity (I pray thee, hide it not from me), but, finding him timorous and backward, by an adjuration likewise–God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me! He had reason enough to fear that the message prophesied no good concerning him, but evil; and yet, because it was a message from God, he could not contentedly be ignorant of it. A good man desires to be acquainted with all the will of God, whether it make for him or against him. His adjuration–God do so to thee, if thou hide any thing from me–may intimate the fearful doom of unfaithful watchmen; if they warn not sinners, they bring upon themselves that wrath and curse which they should have denounced, in God’s name, against those that go on still in their trespasses.
3. Samuel’s faithful delivery of his message at last (v. 18): He told him every whit. When he saw that he must tell him he never minced the matter, nor offered to make it better than it was, to blunt that which was sharp, or to gild the bitter pill, but delivered the message as plainly and fully as he received it, not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God. Christ’s ministers must deal thus faithfully.
4. Eli’s pious acquiescence in it. He did not question Samuel’s integrity, was not cross with him, nor had he any thing to object against the equity of the sentence. He did not complain of the punishment, as Cain did, that it was greater than he either deserved or could bear, but patiently submitted, and accepted the punishment of his iniquity. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. He understood the sentence to intend only a temporal punishment, and the entail of disgrace and poverty upon his posterity, and not a final separation of them from the favour of God, and therefore he cheerfully submitted, did not repine, because he knew the demerits of his family; nor did he now intercede for the reversing of the sentence, because God had ratified it with a solemn oath, of which he would not repent. He therefore composes himself into a humble resignation to God’s will, as Aaron, in a case not much unlike. Lev. x. 3, He held his peace. In a few words, (1.) He lays down this satisfying truth, “It is the Lord; it is he that pronounces the judgment, from whose bar there lies no appeal and against whose sentence there lies no exception. It is he that will execute the judgment, whose power cannot be resisted, his justice arraigned, nor his sovereignty contested. It is the Lord, who will thus sanctify and glorify himself, and it is highly fit he should. It is the Lord, with whom there is no unrighteousness, who never did nor ever will do any wrong to any of his creatures, nor exact more than their iniquity deserves.” (2.) He infers from it this satisfying conclusion: “Let him do what seemeth him good. I have nothing to say against his proceedings. He is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works, and therefore his will be done. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” Thus we ought to quiet ourselves under God’s rebuke, and never to strive with our Maker.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Doom pronounced on Elis house and Samuel established as a prophet. 1Sa. 3:11-21
11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Elis house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.
16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
17 And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
18 And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.
21 And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
7.
Did Samuel want to tell Eli what the Lord had told him? 1Sa. 3:15
Samuel was understandably reluctant to tell Eli the message that God had delivered to him; but when Eli threatened him, he told him all. The formula, So may God do to thee, is an imprecation originally connected with the ceremony of slaying an animal at the taking of an oath. The parties pray that the fate of the victim may be theirs, if they fail to perform their vows. When Eli heard the message, he quietly resigned himself to the will of the Lord. Although he had been quite indulgent with his sons, we picture Eli as a man personally devoted to the Lord in heart.
8.
What doors did Samuel open? 1Sa. 3:15 b
The doors of the house of the Lord would be the outer doors through which the people could pass. In later times when the temple was established, there was not only a court for the Jews, but there was a court for the Gentiles. There was also a court for the women. These outer courts could be frequented by many people. Only the priests would go into the tabernacle proper. Samuel must have had the responsibility of opening the gates of the Tabernacle area so that the people coming to worship would have access to the areas which were open to them.
9.
Why did Eli say, It is the Lord? 1Sa. 3:18
Eli knew that what Samuel had told him was the truth. The unnamed man of God had told him these things earlier. He may seem anxious to us as he inquires about the vision given to Samuel. His anxiety would stem from his realization that these things were to come to pass. No doubt he lived each day in fear and dread of the judgment of God. Eli still had the surrender of will and serenity of spirit to say, let him do what seemeth him good. His faith in God caused him to realize that God would only be fair and just in His judgments.
10.
What is meant by let none of his words fall to the ground.? 1Sa. 3:19-20
It shows that the people accepted Samuel as the prophet. His words were words of wisdom and truthfulness and they respected his advice and warnings. Jehovah was with him and left none of His words unfulfilled when He spoke through Samuel. By this all Israel from Dan to Beersheba perceived that Samuel was found trustworthy, or approved, as a prophet of Jehovah. These three verses form a transition between the call of Samuel and the account of his prophetic labors in Israel. Many would be the times that men would come to consult Samuel, and many were the times that he rode about throughout Israel to take the word of the Lord to them.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) The ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.The calamity which is here referred to was the capture of the Ark of the Covenant. Neither the death of the warrior priests, Hophni and Phinehas, nor the crushing defeat of the Hebrew army, would have so powerfully affected the people; but that the sacred symbol of the presence and protection of the invisible King should be allowed to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, the hereditary foes of the chosen race, was a calamity unparalleled in their annals.
It seemed to say that God had indeed forsaken them.
The expression is a very singular one, and re-occurs in 2Ki. 21:12, and Jer. 19:3, on the occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Shall tingle With horror and alarm. As a loud, sharp, discordant note thrills one’s ears with pain, so the bitter tidings of Israel’s woe in the judgment about to fall on Eli’s house would shock all Israel. Compare the similar use of this proverbial saying in 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH’s Word To Samuel Concerning The House Of Eli ( 1Sa 3:11-14 ).
It is probable that Samuel had no notion of what the man of God had said to Eli. It was not the kind of thing that Eli would have shared with a boy. Thus what YHWH said to him must have come as a complete surprise.
1Sa 3:11
‘ And YHWH said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one who hears it will tingle.”
YHWH informs Samuel of the seriousness of what He is about to tell him. For He is about to do something that will stir the whole of Israel and make their ears tingle because of the seriousness of it. The news of the exclusion from the High Priesthood of the ‘reigning’ line would come as a huge shock to Samuel. It was almost unthinkable. High Priests were for ever. And it also portended terrible events to bring it about, something truly earthshaking.
“At which both the ears of every one who hears it will tingle.” This phrase always portends judgment. Compare the use of it in 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3. Indeed Jeremiah would later liken the destruction of the Jerusalem to the destruction of Shiloh (Jer 7:12-14; Jer 26:6).
1Sa 3:12-13
“In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not restrain them.”
Notice the regular prophetic phrase ‘in that day”, which always signals something God will assuredly do in the future, usually in the form of judgment (but be it noted not necessarily always in the end days). And ‘in that day’ YHWH tells him, He will perform against Eli all that He had spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. Then He explains to him that He has informed Eli that His permanent judgment has been passed on Eli’s house for ever because of the iniquity that he knew about and did nothing to prevent. That is, the iniquity of his two sons and their sacrilegious behaviour.
Samuel was, of course, well aware of the behaviour of Eli’s sons, and had probably anticipated that at some time YHWH would act on the matter. But he had probably not dreamed that it would affect his beloved Eli. He was as yet too young to recognise that to fail to put restraint on open sin when it was within a person’s authority, was to be guilty of participation in that sin.
1Sa 3:14
“ And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering for ever.”
And therefore, YHWH explains, He has sworn to the house of Eli that no sacrifice or offering would be able to expiate their sin for ever. Thus Samuel learns, possibly for the first time, that sacrifices and offerings do not inevitably expiate sin. Obedience also is necessary.
The news must have come to him in a way that chilled his bones. He was learning from the commencement that being a prophet of YHWH was never going to be an easy thing. For he was learning that as a prophet he would be called on to bear the ‘burden’ of others, and to communicate unpleasant news.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Prophecy Against Eli
v. 11. And the Lord said to Samuel, v. 12. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house, v. 13. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, v. 14. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, v. 15. And Samuel lay until the morning, v. 16. Then Eli called Samuel and said. Samuel, my son! And he answered, Here am I. v. 17. And he, v. 18. And Samuel told him every whit, v. 19. And Samuel grew, v. 20. And all Israel from Dan, v. 21. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
(11) And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. (12) In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. (13) For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. (14) And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever.
This information in its consequences, to young Samuel, was not so much what became interesting to him, as to the house of Eli. But yet, we consider what is said of Samuel’s sons, in the after history of his life, who walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment; perhaps, the impression of this first vision to Samuel, was designed to leave a suitable effect upon his heart. See 1Sa 8:3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 3:11-14
“And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end [completing it]. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not [assuredly not] be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever” [a sentence made irrevocable by an oath].
The Causes of Eli’s Overthrow
OUR last subject was the overthrow of the house of Eli. So great an event as the overthrow of a consecrated house ought not to be allowed to pass without careful inquiry into its causes. It is the more important because of a statement in the second chapter of the book that we are now studying: “I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me.” If we once get the notion that God’s covenants are not to be faithfully carried out on his part, our moral foundations are destroyed and our confidence is shaken. For this reason, let us pause at this great breach of a covenant supposed to have been eternal, and ask how that breach came to be made. It must be noted that God himself annulled the covenant. Eli did not say that he wished for release from the bond. Eli did not complain of difficulty or incapacity. The word of rupture was spoken by God himself, thus: “But now the Lord saith, Be it far from me. Let the covenant which was made for ever between me and thee be far from me. I said the covenant was to be an everlasting covenant, and today I recall it. Thy house shall perish.” We are shocked by such words. The conscience of man asserts a kind of right to have such words explained. Life would not be worth having but for profound and complete trust in God’s honour. It were cruel on his part to lift us almost to heaven that he might dash us into the abyss of outer darkness! The covenant was made for ever, yet God annulled it! We pause, as earnest men having some regard for social honour, to know how an eternal covenant can be set aside. The case grows in difficulty, and, to the eye of the mere artist, it increases in dramatic interest as we call to memory the many points of excellence in the character of Eli. Can you find one vulgar sin in the venerable high-priest? He was a man of advanced life, and therefore he had had opportunities of displaying his real quality. He was ninety-and-eight years old; his eyes were dim, that he could not see; he had judged Israel forty years. What of his character? Why was he dispossessed of the priesthood? Was he a drunkard, an adulterer, a liar, a thief, a blasphemer? There is not a tittle of evidence to justify the faintest suspicion of the kind. Nay, more. We can give Eli still higher praise than this: for, after having carefully read his life, as it is detailed in this book, we see not why Eli might not stand most favourable comparison with many of the leading Christians of our day. We cannot see, looking at the page in the light of merely literary critics, where the great lapse was. We know not but that if Eli, as portrayed in the inspired book, were set up as the standard of determination, a great many would fall short of his lofty altitude. These considerations justify the interest of the question how Eli came to be dispossessed of the priesthood.
Look at his noble treatment of the child Samuel. He knew that Samuel was called by the Lord to occupy an official position in holy places; he knew that Samuel was, at least in all probability, to succeed him in his sacerdotal functions. Yet what an absence of the usual elements of rivalry! When did he chide the young prophet? When did he superciliously snub the child? When did he flaunt all his own greatness in the eyes of the little one, and use his power as an instrument of terror, that Samuel might render him homage? Did he ever nibble at the character of Samuel? Did he ever try to reduce the importance of Samuel’s probable position in life? Did he point out blemish after blemish in the child’s character, and deficiency after deficiency in the child’s gifts? It is becoming in rivals to traduce one another. If you cannot actually slay a man, yet it is permissible, by the rules of this honourable rivalry, to scratch him. Yet we find in Eli’s treatment of Samuel nobleness, magnanimity, want of all the little miserable tricks which are made use of by men who seek to enhance their own glory by diminishing the lustre of others.
Look at the unpriestliness of his tone when he talks to the child. Samuel came to Eli in the hour of darkness and said, “Thou didst call me.” Eli said, “No, my child, I did not call thee.” Samuel came again, and yet again. What did Eli do, knowing that Samuel had heard a voice more than human? Did Eli say to Samuel, “Pay no heed to such voice, little child. I am the high-priest of God. If thou dost see a spectre or vision, or hear an unearthly voice or tone, be not led away superstitiously by these things; but come to me, and I will instantly tell thee all about it, and determine what thou hast to do”? That would have been the talk of a priest; that is the native accent of a true priest. Yet Eli said to the child, “It is God that calleth thee; go and speak to him face to face; stand before him and say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” Why, that was not priestly at all; that was putting a man face to face with the Eternal, and clothing the soul with responsibilities which never can be transferred.
Looking at this aspect of Eli’s character, what reverence we feel for the old man! We see that he was a fine interpreter of the supernatural section of life. He was not self-obtrusive; he was no mere priest; he introduced men immediately to God; he did not claim any power of exclusive or tyrannic mediation. Look, again, at the submissiveness of his tone when his doom was pronounced. When he was told that his house would be rooted up, that both his sons should die on one day, that the judgment of the Lord had set in against him and his successors, what did Eli say? Remember, he was nearly a hundred years old; his eyes were dim; for forty years he had maintained a position of supremacy. Men cannot easily throw away the traditions and the social consequence of so long-continued an elevation. Yet when the old man heard his doom, he said, “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth good in his sight.” How few could have shown the same submissiveness, the same religious homage, under circumstances so terrible! An earthquake shaking the foundations of our house, a storm-cloud pouring out its flood upon our inheritance! Yet Eli was no vengeful priest in that hour: he was no mere self-seeker in that terrible day. Even then, when the foundations were rocking under his feet, and all the surroundings of his life were full of tempestuous and devouring elements, he said, with an old man’s tremulous pathos, “It is the Lord.” Equal to, “Let God be true, and every man a liar; he is Sovereign, I am servant; whatsoever the Judge of the whole earth doeth shall be done in righteousness.”
Then look at the man’s interest in the ark of the Lord. When that sacred box was taken out into the battlefield and was captured by the Philistines, Eli’s heart trembled for the ark of God. Down to the very last, we see that Eli was an intensely religious man, from whom God withdrew his covenant, and on whom he pronounced such severe judgments as these:
“I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house…. 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” ( 1Sa 2:31 , 1Sa 2:33 ).
The answer, therefore, to the question which we put as from the conscience of universal man, is this: Eli, notwithstanding all these points of excellence in his character, is distinctly accused of moral defect. That has now to be proved. “Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” These words were spoken to Eli by the man of God, who came to him with the divine message. These words are pointless, if they do not imply that Eli had, by some means or other, brought himself into the list of those who despise God. Then again: “I will raise me up a faithful priest.” These words are out of place, if they do not clearly suggest that, to some extent or other, Eli had been unfaithful to the divine vocation. Yet again: “I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth not for some iniquity of which he is unaware I will bring up in his life iniquities which he himself has pointed out, as such; which he knows to be wickedness in my sight, and out of his own mouth I will condemn him.” Now were God to keep his covenant in the face of such charges, the wicked would in time get advantage over him; the hypocrite might, in the long run, be as God in the world. God shows his Godhead in the cancelling of covenants where there has been a decay of character. Understand, this is not a business covenant; it is not a commercial bond; it is not between one man and another; it is between infinite righteousness and a human creature. We are not entitled to say that we may trifle with our human, social, commercial bonds, because there has been a lapse in character here or there. A commercial bond is a commercial bond. We are now considering covenants between God and man. These covenants cannot exist, except there be sympathy between the Maker and the creature. Moral sympathy, religious similitude: impair that, and of necessity the covenant is destroyed.
Viewed in this light, there are several impressive lessons urged by God’s treatment of Eli. First of all it is clear and it ought to be made most distinct, because of a great practical delusion which exists upon this point that it is not enough that there be many good points in a character. Character ought not to be a mere question of points at all. Character ought not to be viewed in sections and departments, in aspects and occasional moods. Character should have about it the distinctness of wholeness, entirety. Our goodness is not to be an occasional impulse or a transitory appearance of moral conscience and moral concern for others. Out of our character there is to stream continuous and beneficent influence. We lose when we can be talked about in sections. It is no compliment when we have to take out of a character three or four good points and say to those who look on, “Observe these; whatever defects there may be in the character, do not overlook these redeeming points.” When we can talk so about ourselves and about others it is not a compliment, it is a sign of incompleteness. When our moral training is perfected we shall not have points of excellence; our whole character will be massive, indivisible, and out of it will go an influence that will constrain men to believe that we have been with God, and that we have imbibed the very spirit of his righteousness.
Eli was amiable. A great many mistakes are made about amiability. A man may be amiable simply through mere want of interest or force; he may be so constituted, that really he does not much care who is who, or what is what. He may have a senile grin some may call it a smile for anybody and for all persons alike, a nice old man who never says a cross word, and never has a frown upon his face. That is not amiability Here is a man who is naturally unamiable; he looks with a discriminating eye upon men and things; he is very passionate, fiery, self-asserting. Yet, by the grace of God, he is kept back; at times he shakes in the leash; he often seems as if he would break it and be away! Yet God’s hold upon him is such that he speaks gentle words, restrains terms of indignation and wrath, moderates his rising passion. There, though he cannot look very amiable, though he may have a grim face, is the amiable man.
Eli had religious impulses. What then? There is a sense in which religious impulse may be but constitutional. It is more natural for some people to pray than others. It comes easier for some men to go to church than for others. We must not overlook the constitutional condition. We have heard a man say that there were two things in the world he could not tolerate; those two things were, sermons and lectures. We do not condemn the man; it is not worth while going into a rage over such men; by his very make one could see that sermons and lectures could not tolerate him. He would have been a mighty preacher who could have talked to such an auditor. Eli had religious impulses; but religious impulses are not enough. We have known a drunken man knock a Roman Catholic down because the papist said, “John Wesley is in hell.” Was the drunken man a religious character? Certainly not; but he had religious emotions, impulses, sensibilities, and even when he was intoxicated, he would have preferred a hymn to a ribald song. Let us clearly understand, therefore, that mere religious sensibility, religious impulse and religious susceptibility, must not be understood as proclaiming and certifying sound religiousness of character.
Eli treated Samuel without official envy or jealousy. So far so good. We commend Eli for abstinence from such interference with Samuel, and criticism of the child as would have been small and contemptible in one occupying the lofty position of the high-priest of the Jews. But absence of envy may come of mere easy good-nature. There are men in the world who do not care one pin-point who is at the head of affairs. That is not magnanimity; that is not nobleness. This is nobleness: the man who wants to be at the head of affairs himself, and feels considerable consciousness that he would be able to sustain the position; he longs for it, works for it, hopes for it day and night. Yet, there is a young man put above him, set on the chief seat, and he himself is kept down. It would be natural for that man to shake an angry hand in the face of his successful rival. Yet, by the grace of God, he says, “I bid thee Godspeed.” He says it perhaps with some difficulty; it does not escape him with that roundness and fervour of tone with which it would escape another man; but he does say it says it from the heart, and the very reluctance of the speech is a sign of its sincerity. That is the man who has, by the power of the Holy Ghost, subdued the devil of jealousy and triumphed over the fiend whose name is envy!
The second lesson that is urged upon us by this view of Eli’s position is that divine discipline is keen intensely spiritual. We have asked, Can you point to any vulgar sin in the high-priest? The inquiry is, Can you point out any vulgar sin in Eli? Sin is not measurable by vulgarity. Some men seem incapable of seeing sin until it clothes itself in the most hideous forms. Forms have nothing to do with sin. Sin is sin before it takes form. Herein we see the keenness, the spirituality of divine discipline. Herein, the Church, as we have already said, fails in its purely spiritual mission. A man is expelled from the Church because he has been discovered drunk. We cannot call that Church discipline. It is simple decency, common respectability; it is not Christian discipline. Christian discipline would have applied itself to the man when he was longing for the drink; when he was drunk in his soul, before he touched the accursed cup. A man is expelled from the Church because he has committed manslaughter. That is not Christian discipline; that is legal discipline, magisterial discipline. Society will expel him. The Church should have expelled him when he was angry without a cause; when it was known that a bad passion had raged in his heart, and he had spoken some unkind, ignoble word. At that point, invisible, impalpable, subtle, known only in all its significance to God, and understood only by those who understand the righteousness of law as revealed by God, at that point Christian discipline would have interposed and asserted the law of right. The Church cannot have discipline except in its most common forms. Discipline would destroy the Church. Discipline would empty every pulpit and disband every Christian assembly if applied in all the keenness and intensity of its divine spirituality. Then let us regard the Church as an hospital; let us regard the Church as an infant school; let us regard the Church as striving after, not as having attained, the fulness of the divine idea; and having come to that conclusion respecting the visible Church of Christ, let us have compassion on some, making a difference let us be charitable one towards another.
See further, in this case, the terribleness of God’s displeasure. “I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth. I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.” These are terrible words. Yet, if they were less terrible we should have less confidence in God. If any one could be more terrible than God, we should not worship him. The measure of his love is the measure of his wrath; the height of his mercy is the height of his judgment. Terrible is a bad man’s fate! He cannot elude God. He may have success; but in his very success he will find a sting which will inject poison into his life, and destroy sweet, profound, refreshing rest! He who starts to war against God, starts on a war the end of which is known from the beginning.
We would that this doctrine could follow us all through our life. We do not invite men to accept Christ because there is a terrible pain following the course of unrighteousness. That is not preaching the Gospel. We do not desire to dwell upon the punishments that befall a bad man with any wish of drawing him from his course because of those punishments. That kind of teaching we have never been able to adopt. But this we do teach distinctly, that the bad man has a painful course before him. Do not leave it on that account! The serpent shall bite you and the adder shall sting you, but do not give it up on that account! The wild beast shall shut his jaws upon you, but do not be righteous on that account! The earth will not have you, the sea will not cover you, hell will not burn you, but do not come to Christ on that account! Be a man; “be a hero in the strife!” We do not urge that men should be good because God will lay the hand of judgment upon them. No man would turn on that account But the way of the transgressor is hard; he is making a hard pillow for his head. Be he high-priest or doorkeeper; be he mighty in gift or obscure in. talent, God will not spare him. If judgment begin at the house of God, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? “I the Lord am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Having started the stream, you cannot dam it back!
What, then, have we to leave our study with these hard words? No. Jehovah says: “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right, none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he shall surely live.” So, then, our “song shall be of mercy and judgment.” Penitence is the one condition on which human souls can find God: repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” What tuneful words words that shine upon our life like angels sent down from heaven! We have all sinned: “there is none righteous, no not one.” Were God to set his mark upon one sin in a thousand and judge us for it, who could stand before him! But we go to Jesus Christ, God the Son, Messiah, God; and we find our infinite security in the fulness of his righteousness, and in the worthiness of his all-prevailing mediation.
Selected Note
Eli ( raised up ) was high-priest of the Jews when the ark was in Shiloh (1Sa 1:3 , 1Sa 1:9 ). He was the first high-priest of the line of Ithamar, Aaron’s youngest son. This is deduced from 1Ch 24:3-6 . It also appears from the omission of the names of Eli and his immediate successors in the enumeration of the high-priests of Eleazar’s line in 1Ch 6:4-6 . What occasioned this remarkable transfer is not known most probably the incapacity or minority of the then sole representative of the elder line; for it is very evident that it was no unauthorised usurpation on the part of Eli ( 1Sa 2:27-28 ). Eli also acted as regent or civil judge of Israel after the death of Samson. This function, indeed, seems to have been intended by the theocratical constitution to devolve upon the high-priest by virtue of his office, in the absence of any person specially appointed by the divine King, to deliver and govern Israel. He is said to have judged Israel forty years ( 1Sa 4:18 ). The Septuagint makes it twenty; and chronologers are divided on the matter. But the probability seems to be that the forty years comprehend the whole period of his administration as high-priest and judge, including, in the first half, the twenty years in which Samson is said to have judged Israel ( Jdg 16:31 ), when some of his civil functions in Southern Palestine may have been in abeyance. As Eli died at the age of ninety-eight ( 1Sa 4:15 ), the forty years must have commenced when he was fifty-eight years old.
Eli seems to have been a religious man; and the only fault recorded of him was an excessive easiness of temper, most unbefitting the high responsibilities of his official character. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, whom he invested with authority, misconducted themselves so outrageously as to excite deep disgust among the people, and render the services of the tabernacle odious in their eyes. Of this misconduct Eli was aware, but contented himself with mild and ineffectual remonstrances, where his station required severe and vigorous action. For this neglect the judgment of God was at length denounced upon his house, through the young Samuel, who, under peculiar circumstances, had been attached from childhood to his person ( 1Sa 2:29 ; 1Sa 3:18 ). Some years passed without any apparent fulfilment of this denunciation but it came at length in one terrible crash, by which the old man’s heart was broken. The Philistines had gained the upper hand over Israel, and the ark of God was taken to the field, in the confidence of victory and safety from its presence. But in the battle which followed, the ark itself was taken by the Philistines, and the two sons of Eli, who were in attendance upon it, were slain. The high-priest, then blind with age, sat by the wayside at Shiloh, awaiting tidings from the war, “for his heart trembled for the ark of God.” A man of Benjamin, with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head, brought the fatal news; and Eli heard that Israel was defeated that his sons were slain that the ark of God was taken at which last word he fell heavily from his seat, and died (1 Sam. iv.).
The ultimate doom upon Eli’s house was accomplished when Solomon removed Abiathar (the last high-priest of this line) from his office, and restored the line of Eleazar in the person of Zadok.
Prayer
Almighty God, thy presence overfloweth all things. All things are naked and open to thine eyes. If we take the wings of the morning and flee unto the uttermost parts of the earth, behold, thou art there! Thou art higher than all height, lower than all depth, and behold, none can take the measure of the breadth of thine infinitude. We come before thee with a song of mercy and judgment; for whilst thou art a terrible God and it is a fearful thing to fall into thy hands thy tender mercies are over all thy works. Thou renewest our strength in compassion; thou upholdest us by thy lovingkindness; and every day thou dost vindicate thy government to us, not by the greatness of thy power, but by the tenderness and persuasiveness of thy love. We have halted in the midst of worldly pursuits and ordinary engagements, that we might bow the knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus; that we might pour out our song of thankfulness, and renew our spiritual vigour by waiting patiently and lovingly upon God. May this hour refresh us exceedingly upon our earthly pilgrimage. May our strength be recovered; may our peace be augmented; may our hope be brightened; may our whole life be brought into truer harmony with thine! Dry the tears of our sorrow. Be pitiful to us by reason of our manifold infirmities. Give to us all the fulness of redeeming love, and pardon our sin, for it is great. Wash us in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Whom thou hast pardoned, do thou also sanctify. To this end pour out upon us the gift of the Holy Ghost, that he may reign in our understanding, control our will, purify our affections, and bring our being into entire subjection to all thy purposes. May there be nothing in us upon which thou canst not look with approval. Sanctify us in body, soul, and spirit. Abide with us; reign in our life; stablish thy kingdom in our souls; put down every rival. Reign thou whose right it is! Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
1Sa 3:11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
Ver. 11. I will do a thing in Israel. ] All the people are threatened, as well us those priests; because for their faults they abhorred the Lord’s sacrifice, and from the priests “profaneness was gone forth into all the land,” Jer 23:15 so that there was “like priest, like people.”
At which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
a Lavat., in Judic., pp. 18,31. Vatab.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
tingle. Compare 2Ki 21:12. Jer 19:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will do: Isa 29:14, Amo 3:6, Amo 3:7, Hab 1:5, Act 13:41
both the ears: 2Ki 21:12, Isa 28:19, Jer 19:3, Luk 21:26
Reciprocal: 1Sa 4:1 – came 1Sa 4:17 – Israel Job 41:9 – shall Jer 28:8 – prophesied
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 3:11. Both the ears of every one shall tingle Or, as we would express it, It shall stun all that hear it. This was awfully fulfilled, when the doleful news came that the ark was taken, and both Elis sons were slain, and when Eli himself fell down and broke his neck.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall {h} tingle.
(h) God declares that sudden fear will come on men when they hear that the ark is taken, and see Eli’s house destroyed.