1 Samuel 2:32

_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 FOR EVER._ And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel. Eli's family were not thrust out from the priesthood until the accession of Solomon, which he did not live to see. The margin of the English Bible has, 'And thou shalt see the affliction of the tabernacle, for all the wealth which God would give Israel.' Agreeably to which announcement Eli did see the tabernacle bereft of the ark, which was its glory, and captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:4; 1 Samuel 4:11; 1 Samuel 4:22). [Gesenius takes _ maa`own_

27-36 Those who allow their children in any evil way, and do not use their authority to restrain and punish them, in effect honour them more than God. Let Eli's example excite parents earnestly to strive against the beginnings of wickedness, and to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the midst of the sentence against the house of Eli, mercy is promised to Israel. God's work shall never fall to the ground for want of hands to carry it on. Christ is that merciful and faithful High Priest, whom God raised up when the Levitical priesthood was thrown off, who in all things did his Father's mind, and for whom God will build a sure house, build it on a rock, so that hell cannot prevail against it....

Verse 1 Samuel 2:32. _THOU SHALT SEE AN ENEMY_ IN MY _HABITATION_] Every version and almost every commentator understands this clause differently. The word _tsar_, which we translate an _enemy_, and the Vulgate _aemulum_, a _rival_, signifies _calamity_; and this is the best sense to understand it in here. The calamity which he saw was the defeat of the Israelites, the capture of the ark, the death of his wicked sons, and the triumph of the Philistines. All this he _saw_, that is, knew to have taken place, before he met with his own tragical death. _IN ALL_ THE WEALTH _WHICH_ GOD _SHALL GIVE ISRAEL_] This also is dark. The meaning may be this: God has spoken good concerning Israel; he will, in the end, make the triumph of the Philistines their own confusion; and the capt

The original text is rather obscure and difficult of construction, but the King James Version probably gives the sense of it. The margin gives another meaning. IN ALL THE WEALTH ... - The allusion is particularly to Solomon’s reign, when Zadok was made priest instead of Abiathar, 1 Kings 2:26. (See 1 Kings 4:20 ff) The enormous number of sacrifices then offered must have been a great source of wealth to the priests 1 Kings 8:63....

EXPOSITION THE DIVINE JUDGMENT UPON ELI AND HIS HOUSE (1 Samuel 2:27-9). 1 SAMUEL 2:27 THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD. The title _man of God_ is the usual appellation of a prophet in the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and as such is applied by Manoah to the angel who appeared to him (Judges 13:6, Judges 13:8). Though the recorded interpositions of the Deity in those times were generally by angels, still the readiness with which Manoah gave his

AND THOU SHALT SEE AN ENEMY IN MY HABITATION,.... Either the Philistines in the land of Israel, where God chose to dwell, who quickly after made war against Israel, and pitched in Aphek, 1 Samuel 4:1 or, as in the margin of our Bibles, and other versions i, "thou shalt see the affliction of the tabernacle"; as he did when the ark of God was taken, at the news of which he died, 1 Samuel 4:17 and so the Targum understands it of affliction and calamity, yet not of the house of God, but of his own house; paraphrasing the words thus, "and thou shall see the calamity that shall come upon the men of thine house, for the sins which they have committed before me in the house of my sanctuary:'' but it seems best to interpret it of a rival, which not he in his own person should see, but whom his

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

A PROPHET FORETELLS THE DEATH OF ELI'S SONS, AND THE EXPULSION OF HIS FAMILY FROM THE PRIESTHOOD. Composed by the Deuteronomic Editor (see above, p. 273), to connect the misconduct of the sons of Eli with the massacre of his house at Nob and deposition of his descendant, Abiathar, from the priesthood in favour of the house of Zadok (1 Kings 2:26 f.); and perhaps also with the unhappy condition of the priests of the high places, after these were suppressed (2 Kings 23:8 f.), though there is no indication that the priests of the high-places as a class were reckoned descendants of Eli. 1 SAMUEL 2:27. MAN OF GOD: see Judges 13:6. D

SEE AN ENEMY. Compare Psalms 78:60....

The doom of Eli's house 27. _a man of God_ i.e. a prophet commissioned by God. Even in the general decay of religion (1 Samuel 3:1) God still had his messengers. The title "man of God" is applied to Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and others. It is specially frequent in the Books of Kings. _Did I plainly appear_ Better, _Did I indeed reveal myself_. See Exodus 4:14 ff., Exodus 4:27; Exodus 12:1; Exodus 12:43 for revelations made to Aaron. _in Pharaoh's house_ IN BONDAGE TO PHARAOH'S HOUSE....