1 Samuel 2:36

_AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT EVERY ONE THAT IS LEFT IN THINE HOUSE SHALL COME AND CROUCH TO HIM FOR A PIECE OF SILVER AND A MORSEL OF BREAD, AND SHALL SAY, PUT ME, I PRAY THEE, INTO ONE OF THE PRIESTS' OFFICES, THAT I MAY EAT A PIECE OF BREAD._ Every one that is left ... shall ... crouch to him for a piece of silver, and morsel of bread. What a striking contrast to the superabundance enjoyed by Eli's two sons! The punishment was suited to the nature of the sin. PUT ME, I PRAY THEE, INTO ONE OF THE PRIEST'S OFFICES - namely, some inferior or menial situation (cf. Ezekiel 44:10). It has been objected that there is an inconsistency in these statement; because if the posterity of Eli, though deprived of the high priesthood, should still be employed in the common offices of the priests, they would have a legal right to the abundant provision with which the t

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 2:36. _SHALL COME AND CROUCH TO HIM_] Shall _prostrate_ himself before him in the most abject manner, begging to be employed even in the meanest offices about the tabernacle, in order to get even the most scanty means of support. _A PIECE OF SILVER_] אגורת כסף _agorath keseph_, translated by the _Septuagint_, οβολου αργυριου, an _obolus of silver_. The Targum translates it מעא _mea_, which is the same as the Hebrew _gerah_, and weighed about sixteen grains of barley. _A MORSEL OF BREAD_] A mouthful; what might be sufficient to keep body and soul together. See the _sin_ and its _punishment_. They formerly _pampered_ themselves, and _fed to the full_ on the Lord's sacrifices; and now they are reduced to a _morsel of bread_. They fed themselves without fear

A PIECE - The word is only found here; but is thought to be connected in etymology and in meaning with the “Gerah,” the smallest Hebrew coin, being the twentieth part of the shekel. The smallness of the sum asked for shows the poverty of the asker....

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 IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT EVERYONE THAT IS LEFT IN THINE HOUSE,.... That is not cut off by death, the few remains of Eli's posterity in succeeding times, after the high priesthood was removed out of his family into another; so that they were reduced at best to common priests, and these, as it should seem, degraded from that office for their maladministration of it, or scandalous lives: SHALL COME AND CROUCH TO HIM FOR A PIECE OF SILVER AND A MORSEL OF BREAD; which Grotius interprets of their coming to God, and bowing themselves before him, and praying to him for the smallest piece of money to cast into the treasury, and for a morsel of bread to be accepted as an offering, instead of a bullock, sheep, lamb, or even a bird, which they were not able to bring; but the meaning is, that such should be the low estate of Eli's family, when another, even Zadok, was made high priest, that t...

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

TO HIM: i.e. to the Anointed [king] of 1 Samuel 2:10, already pointing to the High Priest as being no longer the judge, but subordinate to the king....

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....