Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 2:31
Behold, the days come, that 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.
31. I will cut off thine arm ] = I will destroy thy strength. “The arm” is a common expression for “might,” “strength.” Cp. Psa 10:15; Zec 11:17. One signal fulfilment of this doom was the massacre of the priests at Nob (1Sa 22:18-19).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will cut off thine arm … – A strong phrase for breaking down the strength and power, of which the arm is the instrument in man (compare Zec 11:17). See 1Sa 2:33.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 2:31-34
I will cut off thine arm.
Judgment upon a false priesthood
As a priest or interpreter of the holy is the noblest and highest of all men, so is a sham priest the falsest and basest; neither is it doubtful that his canonicals, were they the Popes tiaras, will be torn from him one day to make bandages for the wounds of mankind, or even to burn into tinder for honest scientific or culinary purposes. (T. Carlyle.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 31. I will cut off thine arm] I will destroy the strength, power, and influence of thy family.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will cut off thine arm, i.e. I will take away thy strength, which is oft signified by the arm, as Job 22:8; Psa 37:17, or all that in which thou placest thy confidence and security; either,
1. The ark, which is called Gods strength, Psa 78:61, and was Elis strength, who therefore was not able to beat the very tidings of the loss of it, 1Sa 4:18. Or,
2. His priestly dignity or employment, whence he had all his honour and substance. Or rather,
3. His children, to whom the words following here, and in the succeeding verses, seem to confine it, who are the strength of parents: see Gen 49:3; Deu 21:17; Psa 127:4,5.
The arm of thy fathers house, i.e. thy childrens children, and all thy family; which was in great measure accomplished, 1Sa 22:16, &c.
There shall not be an old man in thine house; they shall generally be cut off by an untimely death before they be old.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. I will cut off thine arm, andthe arm of thy father’s houseBy the withdrawal of the highpriesthood from Eleazar, the elder of Aaron’s two sons (after Nadaband Abihu were destroyed, [Nu 3:4]),that dignity had been conferred on the family of Ithamar, to whichEli belonged, and now that his descendants had forfeited the honor,it was to be taken from them and restored to the elder branch.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, the days come,…. Or, are coming g; and will quickly come, in a very little time the things, after threatened, began to take place, even in the days of Eli’s sons, and the whole was accomplished in about eighty years after:
that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house: that is, the strength of him and them, as the Targum, the strength of a man for doing business lying in his arm; meaning by it not long life, as Kimchi, who concludes this sense from what follows; but rather power and authority, or the exercise of the office of high priest, which gave him and his family great esteem and power; or it may be best of all, his children, which are the strength of a man, and the support of his family, see Ge 49:3
that there shall not be an old man in thine house; as there were none when he died, and his two sons, the same day; and the children they left were very young, and Ahitub, who was one of them, could not die an old man, since Ahimelech his son was priest in the time of Saul, who with eighty five priests were slain by his order; and Abiathar his son was deprived of his priesthood in the time of Solomon; though some understand this not of an elder in years, but in office; and that the sense is, that there should be none of his family a senator, or a member of the great sanhedrim, or court of judicature; and so it is interpreted in the Talmud h; with which agree Ben Gersom and Abarbinel.
g “venientes”, Montanus. h T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 14. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(31) I will cut off thine arm.The arm signifies power and strength: Thy power and strength, and that of thy house is doomed. (See for the figure Job. 22:9; Psa. 37:17.)
And there shall not be an old man in thine house.No one more in thy house, O High Priest, who hast so signally failed in thy solemn duty, shall attain to old age; sickness or the sword shall ever early consume its members. This strange denunciation of the man of God is emphasised by being repeated in the next (32) verse, and in different words again in 1Sa. 2:33.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. Cut off thine arm To cut off one’s arm is to deprive him of strength and render him helpless. Thus was Eli’s house disabled. Compare Job 22:9; Psa 37:17; Zec 11:17.
Not be an old man in thine house Because the rest of his family should die in the flower of their age. 1Sa 2:33.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 2:31. I will cut offthe arm of thy father’s house i.e. The power and authority; of which the arm in Scripture is the emblem. The Chaldee renders it, I will cut off the strength of thy seed.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(31) Behold, the days come, that 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. (32) And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house forever. (33) 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.
These are awful denunciations, and are accompanied both with an awful signs and commencement of the threatened visitation. To lose both sons in one day; and that Eli himself should be the witness of this visitation, is a proof that all the other threatened evils would in their season surely come. See 1Sa 4:17 . And what a sad catalogue was to follow? None of the race of Eli should be long lived; there shall not be an old man in thine house forever: that the family of Eli should see an enemy in God’s habitation: perhaps unhallowed men exercising the priestly office: those of Eli’s family, which were permitted to live, should be but for a reproach; perhaps by living in a scandalous manner: and that so far from being in the exercise of the priesthood, which had it been well conducted, would have been perpetuated in Eli’s family, the lowest offices of the servants to the priests, should be eagerly sought after by his posterity to keep them from starving. Behold, Reader! the awful consequences of sin. See in the sad examples of Hophni and Phinehas, that when the kindliest gifts of the people would not satisfy them; their posterity shall want a morsel of bread. See that awful scripture thus strikingly fulfilled, in visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. Exo 20:5 . Perhaps this visitation on Eli’s family was, beside lesser instances, more strikingly shown in the days of Solomon, when Abiathar, who was among the descendants of Eli, was turned out of the Priest’s office. 1Ki 1:491Ki 1:49 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 2:31 Behold, the days come, that 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.
Ver. 31. I will cut off thine arm, ] e.g., The ability and dignity of thy family. See Zec 11:17 . See Trapp on “ Zec 11:17 “
There shall not be an old man in thine house,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
arm = seed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will cut: That is, I will destroy the strength, power, influence, and authority of thee and thy family; of which the arm of man being the instrument, is used as the emblem. 1Sa 4:2, 1Sa 4:11, 1Sa 4:17-20, 1Sa 14:3, 1Sa 22:17-20, 1Ki 2:26, 1Ki 2:27, 1Ki 2:35, Job 22:9, Psa 37:17, Eze 30:21-24, Eze 44:10
Reciprocal: Gen 18:19 – that the 1Sa 3:13 – For I have told him 1Sa 4:18 – his neck Psa 109:13 – Let his Zec 8:4 – There Zec 11:17 – his arm Mal 2:12 – cut
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 2:31. I will cut off thine arm I will take away thy strength, or all that in which thou placest thy confidence. This threatening was fulfilled, when the ark, which is called Gods strength, (Psa 78:61,) and was Elis strength, was delivered into the hands of the Philistines; and more especially when God took away all power and authority from him and his family, both as he was a priest and as he was a judge. Or, thine arm, may mean thy children, to whom the words following seem to confine the expression. Of thy fathers house That is, thy childrens children, and all thy family; which was in a great measure accomplished, 1Sa 22:16.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine {x} arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
(x) Thy power and authority.