1-Samuel 2   [1-Samuel 2:18] BUT SAMUEL MINISTERED BEFORE THE LORD, BEING A CHILD, GIRDED WITH A  LINEN EPHOD. <<CHILD>>: Hebrew "naar" meaning also "youth", and "assistant". <<EPHOD>>: A kind of apron that was conducive to spiritual contemplation. [1-Samuel 2:19] MOREOVER HIS MOTHER MADE HIM A LITTLE COAT, AND BROUGHT IT TO HIM FROM  YEAR TO YEAR, WHEN SHE CAME UP WITH HER HUSBAND TO OFFER THE YEARLY SACRIFICE. [1-Samuel 2:20] AND ELI BLESSED ELKANAH AND HIS WIFE, AND SAID, THE LORD GIVE THEE  SEED OF THIS WOMAN FOR THE LOAN WHICH IS LENT TO THE LORD. AND THEY WENT UNTO THEIR  OWN HOME. [1-Samuel 2:21] AND THE LORD VISITED HANNAH, SO THAT SHE CONCEIVED, AND BARE THREE  SONS AND TWO DAUGHTERS. AND THE CHILD SAMUEL GREW BEFORE THE LORD. Before Hannah gave birth to Samuel she was considered barren. Samuel was something of a miracle and for all Hannah knew a one-time only blessing. Nevertheless Hannah kept her part of the bargain and delivered  Samuel up to the Tabernacle service only seeing him now and again in the course of a year.  The blessing of Eli the Priest came to pass. God blessed Hannah with more children so that she ended up with a decent sized brood of her own.  There is also a known phenomenon of women thought to be barren who adolpt a child and after that become pregnant  and end up showing that they were really quite fertile all along. It is as if their previous barreness was perhaps at least partially the result of a mental bloc that it needed the adopted child to liberate. Alternately people of a mystical turn of mind might say that it had been decreed that a certain child be adopted by the woman in question and until such decree be fulfilled she could not bare children of her own. These mystical explanations often help explain reality but taken to far in the wrong direction they can sink into forbidden superstition. [1-Samuel 2:22] NOW ELI WAS VERY OLD, AND HEARD ALL THAT HIS  SONS  DID UNTO ALL ISRAEL; AND  HOW THEY LAY WITH THE WOMEN THAT ASSEMBLED AT THE DOOR OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE  CONGREGATION. There is a tradition that they did not actually have intercourse with the women  but it was counted to them as if they did. At all events the plain text of the Bible reads as if they did and this was the apparent message we were supposed to receive at the simple level. Yehudah Kiel (Daat Mikra) points out that in Hebrew the construct may be understood to say that "THEY LAY WITH THE WOMEN" does not mean that the sons of Eli were the subject but rather that the women were being lain with in general:  Their management would have been responsible for this state of affairs without they personally colmmitting the offence. [1-Samuel 2:23] AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, WHY DO YE SUCH THINGS? FOR I HEAR OF YOUR EVIL DEALINGS BY ALL THIS PEOPLE. [1-Samuel 2:24] NAY, MY SONS; FOR IT IS NO GOOD REPORT THAT I HEAR: YE MAKE THE LORD'S  PEOPLE TO TRANSGRESS. [1-Samuel 2:25] IF ONE MAN SIN AGAINST ANOTHER, THE JUDGE SHALL JUDGE HIM: BUT IF A MAN SIN   AGAINST THE LORD, WHO SHALL INTREAT FOR HIM? NOTWITHSTANDING THEY HEARKENED NOT  UNTO THE VOICE OF THEIR FATHER, BECAUSE THE LORD WOULD SLAY THEM. [1-Samuel 2:26] AND THE CHILD SAMUEL GREW ON, AND WAS IN FAVOUR BOTH WITH THE LORD,  AND ALSO WITH MEN. [1-Samuel 2:27] AND THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD UNTO ELI, AND SAID UNTO HIM, THUS SAITH THE LORD, DID I PLAINLY APPEAR UNTO THE HOUSE OF THY FATHER, WHEN THEY WERE IN EGYPT IN PHARAOH'S HOUSE? [1-Samuel 2:28] AND DID I CHOOSE HIM OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL TO BE MY PRIEST, TO  OFFER UPON MINE ALTAR, TO BURN INCENSE, TO WEAR AN EPHOD BEFORE ME? AND DID I GIVE   UNTO THE HOUSE OF THY FATHER ALL THE OFFERINGS MADE BY FIRE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL? [1-Samuel 2:29] WHEREFORE KICK YE AT MY SACRIFICE AND AT MINE OFFERING, WHICH I HAVE  COMMANDED IN MY HABITATION; AND HONOUREST THY SONS ABOVE ME, TO MAKE YOURSELVES   FAT WITH THE CHIEFEST OF ALL THE OFFERINGS OF ISRAEL MY PEOPLE? [1-Samuel 2:30] WHEREFORE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL SAITH, I SAID INDEED THAT THY HOUSE,    AND THE HOUSE OF THY FATHER, SHOULD WALK BEFORE ME FOR EVER: BUT NOW THE LORD SAITH,  BE IT FAR FROM ME; FOR THEM THAT HONOUR ME I WILL HONOUR, AND THEY THAT DESPISE ME  SHALL BE LIGHTLY ESTEEMED. [1-Samuel 2:31] BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, THAT I WILL CUT OFF THINE ARM, AND THE ARM OF THY FATHER'S HOUSE, THAT THERE SHALL NOT BE AN OLD MAN IN THINE HOUSE. [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. <<ENEMY>>:  Hebrew "tsar" meaning "rival" i.e. from a rival House of the Priesthood. [1-Samuel 2:33] AND THE MAN OF THINE, WHOM I SHALL NOT CUT OFF FROM MINE ALTAR, SHALL BE   TO CONSUME THINE EYES, AND TO GRIEVE THINE HEART: AND ALL THE INCREASE OF THINE HOUSE   SHALL DIE IN THE FLOWER OF THEIR AGE. Without going into details now. A story is told in the Talmud of a family descended from Eli who were afflicted with misfortunes because of this curse.  They were advised to be generous in giving charity to the poor and so the evil passed from them. So too, every one of us has their own "mission" in  this world that may seem more difficult than that of others at times. There is a reason for everything and we must all do what we must as well as we can and trust in the Almighty to lead us along the way. [1-Samuel 2:34] AND THIS SHALL BE A SIGN UNTO THEE, THAT SHALL COME UPON THY TWO SONS, ON  HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS; IN ONE DAY THEY SHALL DIE BOTH OF THEM. [1-Samuel 2:35] AND I WILL RAISE ME UP A FAITHFUL PRIEST, THAT SHALL DO ACCORDING TO THAT WHICH IS IN MINE HEART AND IN MY MIND: AND I WILL BUILD HIM A SURE HOUSE; AND HE SHALL  WALK BEFORE MINE ANOINTED FOR EVER. [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.   SAMUEL HOME