Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 2:13

And the priests’ custom with the people [was, that], when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;

13. the priests’ custom ] The law directed the worshipper to present to the priest the fat of the victim along with the breast and shoulder (Lev 7:29-34). The fat was to be burned on the altar to Jehovah (Lev 3:3-5): the breast and shoulder, after being ‘waved’ and ‘heaved,’ a ceremony of dedication to Jehovah, became the priest’s portion. Hophni and Phinehas were guilty of a double sin. ( a) They robbed the people: not content with the share assigned them, they sent a servant to interrupt the preparation of the sacrificial meal, and seize a further portion. ( b) They insulted Jehovah by demanding their share before the parts consecrated to Him had been duly burned upon the altar ( 1Sa 2:15).

priests ’] Misprinted priest’s in most editions of the Bible.

seething ] i.e. boiling.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Law of Moses defined exactly what was to be the priests portion of every peace offering Lev 7:31-35, as it also gave express directions about the burning of the fat Lev 7:23-25, Lev 7:31. It was therefore a gross act of disobedience and lawlessness on the part of Hophni and Phinehas to take more than the Law gave them. Incidental evidence is afforded by this passage to the existence of the Levitical law at this time.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 13. When any man offered sacrifice] That is, when a peace-offering was brought, the right shoulder and the breast belonged to the priest, the fat was burnt upon the altar, and the blood was poured at the bottom of the altar; the rest of the flesh belonged to the offerer. Under pretence of taking only their own part, they took the best of all they chose, and as much as they chose.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Offered, i.e. presented it to the Lord, to be offered by the priest.

While the flesh was in seething; for as the Lords part of the peace-offerings was burnt upon the altar, so the priests and offerers parts were to be sodden.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13-17. the priests’ custom with thepeopleWhen persons wished to present a sacrifice of peaceoffering on the altar, the offering was brought in the first instanceto the priest, and as the Lord’s part was burnt, the partsappropriated respectively to the priests and offerers were to besodden. But Eli’s sons, unsatisfied with the breast and shoulder,which were the perquisites appointed to them by the divine law(Exo 29:27; Lev 7:31;Lev 7:32), not only claimed partof the offerer’s share, but rapaciously seized them previous to thesacred ceremony of heaving or waving (see on Le7:29); and moreover they committed the additional injustice oftaking up with their fork those portions which they preferred, whilestill raw. Pious people revolted at such rapacious and profaneencroachments on the dues of the altar, as well as what should havegone to constitute the family and social feast of the offerer. Thetruth is, the priests having become haughty and unwilling in manyinstances to accept invitations to those feasts, presents of meatwere sent to them; and this, though done in courtesy at first, being,in course of time, established into a right, gave rise to all therapacious keenness of Eli’s sons.

1Sa2:18-26. SAMUEL’SMINISTRY.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the priest’s custom with the people was,…. Not what was according to the will and law of God, but which the sons of Eli had introduced; and in which they were followed by the rest of the priests, and so it became an established custom, and had the force of a law, statute, or judgment, as the word signifies:

[that] when any man offered sacrifice; not any sort of sacrifice, for if it was a burnt offering, it was wholly consumed by fire, and in that the following custom could not take place; and if it was a sin offering, that was eaten by the priests, and so there was no need of taking such a method as after related; but a peace offering, part of which belonged to the Lord, the fat that was burnt, and the breast and shoulder to the priest, and the rest to the owner, who made a feast of it for his family and friends:

the priest’s servant came while the flesh was in seething; that is, while those parts were boiling for the owner and his family; which was done in some part of the tabernacle, as afterwards in the temple:

with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand; with a three forked instrument, with which he was sent by order of the priest that slew the sacrifice, and offered it, to whom belonged the parts before mentioned, allowed him by the law; but not content with these, he sent his servant, while the rest were boiling, with such an instrument as here described, to draw up more out of the boiling pot.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(13) The priests custom.That is to say, the custom or practice introduced under these robber-priests, who were not content with the modest share of the offerings assigned to them by the Law of Moses. (See Lev. 7:31; Lev. 7:35; Deu. 18:3.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

13. The priest’s custom with the people The sacrilegious custom here described had been profanely introduced in the time of the Judges, and was a sad departure from the law, which gave only certain specified portions to the priests, and required the fat to be burned on the altar. Lev 7:29-34.

A fleshhook of three teeth “The three-pronged fork which fishes up the seething flesh is the earliest type of grasping at pluralities and church-preferments by base means. For students of ecclesiastical history, Hophni and Phinehas are characters ‘of great and instructive wickedness.’ They are the true exemplars of the grasping and worldly clergy of all ages.” Stanley.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments