Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 2:29

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded [in my] habitation; and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

29. Wherefore kick ye ] Better, Wherefore do ye trample upon, i.e. treat with contempt.

at my sacrifice and at mine offering ] When the words are distinguished, that rendered sacrifice (literally slaying) includes as a general term all sacrifices of slain animals: that rendered offering (literally a gift) is applied to unbloody sacrifices, the so-called meat-offering: but the latter is often used in a wide sense to include all kinds of sacrifice, e.g. in 1Sa 2:17. The distinction between the words is fairly observed in the E. V.

in my habitation ] The word is used again in 1Sa 2:32, and in Psa 26:8, of the tabernacle. The Heb. is obscure, and the Sept. rendering diverges considerably from the present text, thus, “And wherefore didst thou look upon my offering and my sacrifice with a shameless eye?”

with the chiefest of all the offerings ] “With the first,” or, “ best part of every offering,” which should have been God’s. See note on 1Sa 2:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Wherefore kick ye – See the marginal reference. The well-fed beast becomes unmanageable and refractory, and refuses the yoke, and bursts the bonds Jer 5:5. So the priests, instead of being grateful for the provision made for them, in their pampered pride became dissatisfied, wantonly broke the laws of God which regulated their share of the offerings, and gave themselves up to an unbridled indulgence of their passions and their covetousness.

Honourest thy sons above me – What restrained Eli from taking vigorous action to vindicate Gods honor, was his unwillingness to lose for his sons the lucrative office of the priesthood. He was willing to rebuke them, he was grieved at their misdeeds, but he was not willing to give up the wealth and plenty which flowed into his house from the offerings of Israel.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice] They disdained to take the part allowed by law; and would take for themselves what part they pleased, and as much as they pleased, 1Sa 2:13-16: thus they kicked at the sacrifices.

Honourest thy sons above me] Permitting them to deal, as above, with the offerings and sacrifices, and take their part before the fat, &c., was burnt unto the Lord: thus they were first served. At this Eli connived, and thus honoured his sons above God.

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

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice; using them irreverently, contemptuously, and profanely; both by abusing them to your own luxury, and by causing the people to abhor and neglect them? He chargeth Eli with his sons faults.

Honourest thy sons above me; permitting them to dishonour and injure me, by taking my part to themselves; choosing rather to offend me by thy connivance at their sin, than to displease them by severe rebukes, and effectual restraints, and just punishments; and so prefer their will, and pleasure, and honour, before mine.

To make yourselves fat; to pamper yourselves. This you did not out of any necessity, but out of mere luxury.

The chiefest of all the offerings; not contented with those parts which I had allotted you, you invaded those choice parts which I reserved for myself.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice, and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation,…. To be offered in the tabernacle, where the Lord had his dwelling; which they might be said to kick and spurn at, despising them, as if there were not enough of them, nor the best of them given to them for their maintenance; a metaphor taken from cattle well fed and fat, which kick and spurn with their feet at even the owners and feeders of them. The Targum is,

“why do ye use force with the holy offerings?”

that is, take them away by force, when there was such a sufficient quantity allowed them for their support. Some understand this of their driving away such, that before used to bring their sacrifices to be offered, but being so ill treated, refrained from bringing them:

and honourest thy sons above me; by suffering them to take their part of the sacrifices, and even what did not belong to them, before God had his part, or before the fat was burnt; and by continuing them in their office, to the dishonour of God, his name and worship, when they ought to have been turned out by him and punished; but by this he preferred the honour of his sons before the honour of God, and chose rather that he should be dishonoured, than that they should be censured:

to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? they took the best pieces of the peace offerings from them by force, having no right unto them; and this they did to indulge their luxury and sensuality, which Eli connived at; and it is highly probable took part of the roasted meat his sons provided for themselves, out of the choicest pieces of the offerings of the people; since he himself is included in this clause, “to make yourselves fat”, as his sons might be, and it is certain he himself was, 1Sa 4:18.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(29) Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice.The imagery of the words are taken from Deu. 32:15 : Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked . . . then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. The image is one drawn from the pastoral life of the people: the ox or ass over-fed, pampered, and indulged, becomes unmanageable, and refuses obedience to his kind master.

And honourest thy sons above me.Although Eli knew well what was right, yet foolish fondness for his sons seems in part to have blinded his eyes to the enormity of their wickedness. It is also probable that he was influenced not by feelings of weak affection, but also by unwillingness to divert from his own family the rich source of wealth which proceeded from the offerings of the pilgrims from all parts of the land. These considerations induced him to maintain these bad and covetous men as his acknowledged representatives in the national sanctuary of Shiloh. Eli then allowed things, which gradually grew worse and worse, to drift, and merely interfered with a weak rebuke; but the day of reckoning was at hand.

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

29. Kick ye at my sacrifice Literally, Why trample ye under foot, that is, despise, treat with contempt, my sacrifices? Eli treated with contempt the offerings by allowing his sons to desecrate the holy service when he had the authority and power to punish them as their sins deserved. In this way he virtually honoured his sons more than God. According to 1Sa 2:15-16, they appropriated the most choice of the offerings to themselves, thus making themselves fat at the expense and reproach of Israel and God.

Habitation The tabernacle, the immediate dwelling place of Jehovah.

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

(29) Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

It should seem to be more than probable from hence, that though Eli did not himself commit the sin of profanation here charged upon his sons, yet he winked at it, and partook in the plunder. For otherwise he could not be said to have made himself fat with the chiefest offerings of the people. Be this, however, as it may, certain it is, from the severity of the reproof the man of God had in commission to deliver to Eli, the hoary priest was not so zealous as he ought to have been for the honor of God; but, instead of disgracing his children, and removing them from their office, he contented himself with merely making a mild expostulation. Alas! how doth nature and natural feelings blind the eye to the steady regard of God’s glory and honor.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Sa 2:29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded [in my] habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

Ver. 29. Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice? ] i.e., Why slight ye, and, as headstrong horses, a trample under foot my holy ordinances?

“ Quae tibi pro vili, sub pedibusque iacent? ”

And honourest thy sons above me. ] Choosing rather to gratify them than to glorify me, by abdicating them from the priesthood. But it may be Eli feared lest the high priesthood should by this means go from his family, as it had before from Eleazar’s for like misdemeanour, which also afterwards befell him, and he by seeking to prevent it, hastened it.

To make yourselves fat with the chiefest. ] Whereby you intrench upon God’s part. And because Eli himself ate part thereof, he is also blamed: or rather because he suffered these disorders. Of Claudius, Emperor, it was said, Non faciendo malus, sed patiendo, fuit. And of Edward the Confessor, that, by Earl Godwin’s insolencies, though a good man, yet, not by doing, but enduring ill, he was held to be a bad prince. b

a Metaph. a refractario pecore. – Pisc.

b Dan. Hist.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)