1 Samuel 2:12

_NOW THE SONS OF ELI WERE SONS OF BELIAL; THEY KNEW NOT THE LORD._ Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, х_ BªNEEY_ (H1121) _ BªLIYAA`AL_ (H1100), sons of worthlessness (cf. Deuteronomy 14:13; Judges 19:22; Judges 20:13, where the phrase occurs in a slightly altered form)] - 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 often done in similar cases by the sons of

11-26 Samuel, being devoted to the Lord in a special manner, was from a child employed about the sanctuary in the services he was capable of. As he did this with a pious disposition of mind, it was called ministering unto the Lord. He received a blessing from the Lord. Those young people who serve God as well as they can, he will enable to improve, that they may serve him better. Eli shunned trouble and exertion. This led him to indulge his children, without using parental authority to restrain and correct them when young. He winked at the abuses in the service of the sanctuary till they became customs, and led to abominations; and his sons, who should have taught those that engaged in the service of the sanctuary what was good, solicited them to wickedness. Their offence was committed even in offering the sacrifices for sins, which typified the atonement of the Saviour! Sins against th...

Verse 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 1 Samuel 2:13-9, 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....

SONS OF BELIAL - See the marginal reference note. The phrase is very frequent in the books of Samuel. In the New Testament, Paul contrasts Christ and Belial, as if Belial were the name of an idol or the personification of evil 2 Corinthians 6:15. This probably led to the use of the term “Belial” in the the King James Version, instead of expressing its meaning, which is “mischief, wickedness.”...

EXPOSITION SAMUEL'S MINISTRATIONS AT SHILOH (1 Samuel 2:11-9). 1 SAMUEL 2:11 THE CHILD DID MINISTER. Left by his parents at Shiloh, Samuel ministered unto the Lord; that is, certain duties were allotted him to perform suited to his age; but few at first, when he was but three years old, but increasing in importance as time went on; for the words refer to the whole period of his service, until Eli's death. At first Samuel would be but a scholar, for, as we have mentioned on 1 Samuel 1:21, there were, no doubt, regulations for the training of children devoted to the service of the sanctuary. T

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 him; so the Targum, "they did not know to fear before the Lord,'' or serve him; or, as Kimchi, "they did not know the way of the Lord,'' that is, practically....

3. THE FAILURE OF ELI AND HIS SONS CHAPTER 2:12-36 _ 1. The wicked sons of Eli (1 Samuel 2:12)_ 2. Samuel before Jehovah and Hannah blessed (1 Samuel 2:18) 3. The empty warning of Eli (1 Samuel 2:22) 4. Judgment announced (1 Samuel 2:27) The corruption of the sons of aged Eli is next exposed. They were sons of Belial; they knew not Jehovah, and yet they ministered in the outward things of the sanctuary. It could result only in the worst corruption. They handled holy things and were wicked in heart and life. It has been well said “a holiness that is but external is the worst unholines

1 SAMUEL 2:12 WICKEDNESS OF THE SONS OF EU. 1 Samuel 2:12. Belial (see 1 Samuel 1:16). 1 Samuel 2:12 f. Move full stop from after Lord to after people, and render they did not regard the Lord, nor the custom (_i.e._ customary share) of the priests from the people. What follows in 1 Samuel 2:13 f. is an abuse regularly practised, followed in 1 Samuel 2:15 f. by an account of a more serious abuse....

The faithless priests of Shiloh 12. _sons of Belial_ WORTHLESS MEN. See note on 1 Samuel 1:16. _they knew not the_Lord] Were ignorant of His character and so despised His laws. Cp. Judges 2:10; Job 18:21; Hosea 4:1....

2. The Childhood of Samuel, 1 Samuel 2:12 to 1 Samuel 3:21. _Eli's sinful sons._ 1 Samuel 2:12-17 12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord. 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; 14 And he stuck _it_ into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. 15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest;