Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 3:14
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.
14. shall not be purged ] Lit., shall not cover itself; shall not make atonement for itself. The sons of Eli had sinned, ‘with a high hand,’ against light and warnings, and for such unrepentant presumptuous offenders the Law had no atonement. See Num 15:27-31. The doom of their house is pronounced, and ratified by the oath of God. Clearly however it is only to the temporal punishment of Eli’s family that the words refer in the first instance. Cp. Isa 22:14.
sacrifice nor offering ] See note on 1Sa 2:29.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the marginal references. The sin of the sons of Eli could not be purged by the appointed sacrifices of the Law. In blessed contrast with this declaration is the assurance of the New Testament 1Jo 1:7; Act 13:39.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering] That is, God was determined that they should be removed by a violent death. They had committed the sin unto death; and no offering or sacrifice could prevent this. What is spoken here relates to their temporal death only.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have sworn; which might be done before, though it be mentioned here only. Or, I do swear; the past tense being commonly put for the present in the Hebrew tongue. Unto the house, or, concerning, as the prefix lamed is oft used, as Exo 14:3; 18:7; 2Sa 11:7; Psa 91:11, compared with Mat 4:6.
Shall not be purged with sacrifice, i.e. the punishment threatened against Eli and his family shall not be prevented or hindered by all their sacrifices, as they fondly imagine, but shall infallibly be executed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli,…. Either had done this before, which was signified to him by the man of God, or did swear now for the confirmation of his threatenings, and to assure the certain performance of them:
that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever: not even typically, which was all that legal sacrifice could do; and not so that the priesthood should ever return to the family again, as the office of high priesthood never did; or, as Abarbinel interprets it, because of sacrifice and offering, that the iniquity Eli’s sons were guilty of in taking the flesh of the sacrifices and offerings, which did not belong to them, and before the Lord had his part, should never be expiated.
(There are some sins that are not covered in the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is one of them and the sin against the Holy Ghost is another.
Mt 12:31. Editor.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) Shall not be purged with sacrifice.No earthly sacrifice, bloody or unbloody, should ever purge on earth the sin of the doomed high priestly house. A great theological truth is contained in these few words. in the sacrificial theory of the Mosaic Law we see there was a limit to the efficacy of sacrifice after a certain point in sin and evil example had been reached: a scar was printed on the life which no blood of bullock or of goat could wash away; but the quiet, though sorrowful, resignation with which the old man received the intimation of the certain earthly doom seems to indicate that Eli, sure of the love of the All-Pitiful, looked on to some other means of deliverance, devised in the counsels of the Eternal Friend of Israel, by which his deathless soul, after the earthly penalty, would be reconciled to the invisible King. Did not men like Eli look on in sure and certain trust to the one hope? Did not these holy, though often erring, patriarchs and priests see in those far-back days, as in a glass darkly, the blood of another Victim, which should cleanse the repentant and sorrowing sinner from all sin?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 3:14 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.
Ver. 14. That the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged.] Hence some concluded that their sin was that sin unto death, 1Jn 5:16 for which “there remaineth no more sacrifice,” Heb 10:26 and that they were damned, because so hardened that they could not repent. Rom 1:28 If some of that race proved right, as they did, yet the temporal punishment of losing the chief priesthood could not be averted or avoided.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the iniquity: 1Sa 2:25, Num 15:30, Num 15:31, Psa 51:16, Isa 22:14, Jer 7:16, Jer 15:1, Eze 24:13, Heb 10:4-10, Heb 10:26-31
Reciprocal: Lev 9:7 – offer thy Lev 20:4 – and kill Lev 21:9 – the daughter Jos 24:19 – he will not Mal 2:12 – and him
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 3:14. I have sworn Or, I do swear; the past tense being commonly put for the present in the Hebrew tongue. Unto the house of Eli Or, concerning it. Shall not be purged That is, the punishment threatened against Eli and his family shall not be prevented by all their sacrifices, but shall infallibly be executed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:14 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 {i} ever.
(i) Meaning that his posterity would never enjoy the chief priests office.