The Cruel Behavior of Eli's Sons in 1 Samuel
Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are depicted in 1 Samuel as "worthless men" who "did not know the LORD" [2]. Their behavior was characterized by injustice towards people and impiety towards God, abstaining from no kind of wickedness [1]. They were descendants of Aaron through Ithamar, and their father Eli was the high priest [3].
Their cruel and corrupt actions primarily involved their abuse of the sacrificial system and their immoral conduct at the tabernacle in Shiloh [6]. They would take portions of the sacrifices that were not rightfully theirs, even before the fat was offered to the Lord, demanding raw meat to roast for themselves [6]. Josephus notes that they would violently take some of the gifts meant for the honorable employment they held [1]. This rapacity and lust filled the people with disgust and indignation, causing them to abhor the Lord's offering [6, 11].
Beyond their greed, Hophni and Phinehas also engaged in sexual immorality with the women who served at the tabernacle, thus profaning the sanctuary [9]. Eli, their father, confronted them about their sins, asking, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people" [9]. However, his rebuke was not enough to restrain them [8]. The prophet Samuel later foretold the calamity that would befall Eli's sons [4].
Their actions were considered a profound contempt for God [8]. The phrase "sons of Belial" is used to describe them, indicating they were perverse, wicked, and profligate individuals [7, 11]. This term suggests they were abandoned wretches who cast off the yoke of God's law [12]. Their conduct was so egregious that it led to a divine judgment against Eli's house, first pronounced by an unknown prophet and later confirmed by Samuel [6]. The Lord declared that He would do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who heard it would tingle, referring to the taking of the ark and the slaying of Eli's sons [10]. Both Hophni and Phinehas were ultimately killed on the same day, and the Ark of the Covenant was lost to the Philistines, fulfilling the prophecy against Eli's family [6, 5].
Sources
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 10, section 1: . Concerning The Birth Of Samuel; And How He Foretold The Calamity That Befell The Sons Of Eli. 1. And now upon the ill state of the affairs of the Hebrews, they made war again upon the Philistines. The occasion was this: Eli, the high priest, had two sons, Hophni and Phineas. These sons of Eli were guilty of injustice towards men, and of impiety towards God, and abstained from no sort of wickedness. Some of their gifts they carried off, as belonging to the honorable employment they had; others of them they took away by violence”
- 1 Samuel “1 Samuel 2:12 (NASB) — Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Eli — (ascension), a descendant of Aaron through Ithamar, the youngest of his two surviving sons. (Leviticus 10:1,2,12) comp. 1Kin 2:27 with 2Sam 8:17; 1Chr 24:3 (B.C. 1214-1116.) he was the first of the line of Ithamar who held the office of high priest. The office remained in his family till Abiathar was thrust out by Solomon, (1 Kings 1:7; 2:26,27) when it passed back again to the family of Eleazar int he person of Zadok. (1 Kings 2:35) Its return to the elder branch was one part of the punishment which had been denounced against Eli during his lifetime, for his cu”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 10, section 1: . Concerning The Birth Of Samuel; And How He Foretold The Calamity That Befell The Sons Of Eli.”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 11, section 1: . Herein Is Declared What Befell The Sons Of Eli, The Ark, And The People And How Eli Himself Died Miserably. FOOTNOTES”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Hophni — (pugilist) and [629]Phinehas (brazen mouth), the two sons of Eli, who fulfilled their hereditary sacerdotal duties at Shiloh. Their brutal rapacity and lust, (1 Samuel 2:12-17,22) filled the people with disgust and indignation, and provoked the curse which was denounced against their father's house, first by an unknown prophet, (1 Samuel 2:27-36) and then by Samuel. ch. (1 Samuel 3:11-14) They were both cut off in one day in the flower of their age, and the ark which they had accompanied to battle against the Philistines was lost on the same occasion. (1 Samu”
- 1 Samuel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Samuel 2:12: THE SIN OF ELl'S SONS. (Sa1 2:12-17) Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial--not only careless and irreligious, but men loose in their actions, and vicious and scandalous in their habits. Though professionally engaged in sacred duties, they were not only strangers to the power of religion in the heart, but they had thrown off its restraints, and even ran, as is sometimes done in similar cases by the sons of eminent ministers, to the opposite extreme of reckless and open profligacy.”
- 1 Samuel (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Samuel 3:13: 3:13 his sons are blaspheming God: They were expressing contempt for God through their actions. • hasn’t disciplined them: Eli rebuked his sons (2:23-25), but he did not restrain them.”
- 1 Samuel (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 2:22: Eli's treatment of the sins of his sons. - Sa1 2:22. The aged Eli reproved his sons with solemn warnings on account of their sins; but without his warnings being listened to. From the reproof itself we learn, that beside the sin noticed in Sa1 2:12-17, they also committed the crime of lying with the women who served at the tabernacle (see at Exo 38:8), and thus profaned the sanctuary with whoredom. But Eli, with the infirmities of his old age, did nothing further to prevent these abominations than to say to his sons, "Why do ye according to the sayings which ”
- 1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 3:11: 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, Psa 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,”
- 1 Samuel (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:12: The sons of Eli were sons of Belial - They were perverse, wicked, profligate men; devil's children. They knew not the Lord. "They know! nor would an angel show Him; They would not know, nor choose to know Him." These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct, described Sa1 2:13-17, caused the people to abhor the Lord's offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation; witness France, Germany, Spain, Ac., from 1792 to 1814.”
- 1 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Samuel 2:11: Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial,.... Not that Eli their father was Belial, a wicked man; but though they had so good a father, they were very wicked men, unprofitable abandoned wretches, that cast off the yoke of the law of God, and gave themselves up to all manner of wickedness: they knew not the Lord; not that they had no knowledge of God in theory, or were real atheists, but they were so practically; they denied him in works, they had no love to him, nor fear of him, and departed from his ways and worship, as much as if they were entirely ignorant of hi”