1 Samuel 2:30

2:27-36 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.

1 Samuel 2:30 . I said — Where, or when did God say this? To Eli himself, or to his father, when the priesthood was translated from Eleazar’s to Ithamar’s family. Should walk before me — That is, minister unto me as high-priest. Walking is often put for discharging one’s office; before me, may signify that he was the high-priest, whose sole prerogative it was to minister before God, or before the ark, in the most holy place. For ever — As long as the Mosaical law and worship lasts. Be it far from me — To fulfil my promise, which I hereby retract.

Verse 30. - I said indeed. By thus acting Eli became an accomplice in the irreligion of his sons, and God therefore revokes his grant of a perpetual priesthood. The promise had been made to Aaron's family as a whole ( Exodus 29:9 ), and had then been renewed to the house of Eleazar ( Numbers 25:13 ). But the house of Ithamar was now in the ascendant, probably owing to Eli's own ability, who during the anarchical times of the Judges had won for himself, first, the civil power, and then, upon some fitting opportunity, the high priesthood also, though I suppose the heads of the houses of Eleazar and Ithamar were always persons of great importance, and high priests in a certain sense. Eli had now the priority, and had he and his family proved worthy, the possession of this high station might have been confirmed to them. Like Saul in the kingdom, they proved unworthy of it, and so they lost it forever. Their names, as we have seen above, do not even occur in the genealogies. I said .... but now Jehovah saith. Can then a promise of God be withdrawn? Yes, assuredly. Not from mankind as a whole, nor from the Church as a whole, but from each particular nation, or Church, or individual. To each separate person God's promises are conditional, and human action everywhere is a coworker with the Divine volition, though only within a limited sphere, and so as that the Divine purposes must finally be accomplished.

Eli then and his sons may suffer forfeit of the promise by not fulfilling the obligations which, whether expressed or implied, are an essential condition of every promise made by God to man. But the high priesthood will continue, and will perform its allotted task of preparing for the priesthood of Christ. "Them that honour me I will honour," states one of these conditions essential on man's part to secure the fulfilment of God's promises. 1 Samuel 2:30

30 . saith ] The Heb. word is one rarely used except of a solemn divine utterance , as in Genesis 22:16 , and very commonly in the prophets. I said indeed that thy house, and the house of the father, should walk before me for ever ] God had promised that the family of Aaron in all its branches should serve perpetually as priests in His presence ( Exodus 29:9 ; Numbers 25:13 ): but now the decree must be reversed, for the faithlessness of Eli’s sons had broken the covenant.

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, {u} Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. (u) God's promises are only effective to those he gives faith to fear and obey him.

(30) . . . but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me. —But the fulfilment of the glorious and gracious promise which involved the walking of the favoured house for ever in the light of the Lord in the blessed courts of the sanctuary with no worldly cares—were they not amply provided for without sowing and reaping?—were they not invested with high honours and universal consideration?—was necessarily dependent upon those that walked, the favoured house carrying out their share of the covenant. To be honoured of God, they for their part must be His faithful servants. Now the life and conduct of the priestly house had wrought the gravest dishonour and brought the deepest shame on the worship and sanctuary of the “King in Jeshurun.”

I said indeed. Quest. Where or when did God say this? Answ. Either, 1. When he made that promise for the perpetuation of the priesthood in Aaron’s family, Exodus 28:43 29:9 . Object. If Eli and all his family had been cut off, yet that promise had been made good in Eleazar’s family: how then was that promise recalled by this sentence against Eli? Answ. It was recalled and made void, though not absolutely and universally to all Aaron’s family, yet respectively to Eli and his family, which were wholly excluded from the benefit of it, wherein otherwise they should have shared; even as God’s keeping of the Israelites out of Canaan and in the wilderness for forty years, and destroying them there, is called his breach of promise , Numbers 14:31 , although the promise of Canaan was not simply made void to all the Israelites, but only to that evil generation of them; or as God’s covenant with David, and with his seed, of which God saith that it should stand fast , Psalm 89:28 , and that he would not break nor alter it, 1 Samuel 2:34 , yet is said to be made void, 1 Samuel 2:35 , to wit, in regard of some particular branches or members of that family. Or, 2. To Eli himself, or to his father, when the priesthood was translated from Eleazar’s to Ithamar’s family, for some cause not mentioned in Scripture, but most probably for some great miscarriage of some of them.

If it be said that there is no such promise recorded in Scripture, it may be so replied, That there are many sayings and doings noted in Holy Scripture which were not spoken of in their proper times and places, as Genesis 24:51 42:21 Hosea 12:4 Luke 11:49 Acts 20:25 . So the sense of the place may be this, That promise and privilege of the perpetuation of the priesthood in Phinehas and his family, made to them Numbers 25:12,13 , namely, upon condition of his and their faithfulness in their office, which is plainly understood, I now take away from that family for their wickedness, and I transfer it to thee and thine, and will fix it there upon the same condition. Should walk before me, i.e. minister unto me as high priest. Walking is oft put for discharging one’s office; before me may signify that he was the high priest, whose sole prerogative it was to minister before God, or before the ark, in the most holy place. For ever; as long as the Mosaical law and worship lasted, as that phrase is oft used. Be it far from me, to wit, to fulfil my promise, which I repent of, and hereby retract. Them that honour me; that worship and serve me with reverence and godly fear, and according to my will, which I esteem as an honour done to me. I will honour; I will advance them to honour, and maintain them in it.

1Sa 2:27-35. A Prophecy against Eli's House. 27. there came a man of God unto Eli, and said … that there shall not be an old man in thine house—So much importance has always, in the East, been attached to old age, that it would be felt to be a great calamity, and sensibly to lower the respectability of any family which could boast of few or no old men. The prediction of this prophet was fully confirmed by the afflictions, degradation, poverty, and many untimely deaths with which the house of Eli was visited after its announcement (see 1Sa 4:11; 14:3; 22:18-23; 1Ki 2:27).