1 Samuel 2:33

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.

Of his family, which should spring from him: whom I shall not cut off from mine altar: from serving there: who though he shall not be an high priest, but a common priest, as all the descendants of Aaron were: shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart; that is, the eyes and heart of his posterity; who though they should see of their family ministering in the priest's office, yet should make so poor a figure on account of their outward meanness and poverty, or because of their want of wisdom, and intellectual endowments, or because of their scandalous lives, that it would fill their hearts with grief and sorrow, and their eyes with tears, so that their eyes would fail, and be consumed, and their hearts be broken: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age; or "die men" (k); grown men, not children, when it would not be so great an affliction to part with them; but when at man's estate, in the prime of their days, perhaps about thirty years of age, the time when the priests entered upon their office to do all the work of it; the Targum is,"shall be killed young men:''it is more than once said in the Talmud (l), that there was a family in Jerusalem, the men of which died at eighteen years of age; they came and informed Juchanan ben Zaccai of it; he said to them, perhaps of the family of Eli are ye, as it is said, 1 Samuel 2:33. (k) "morientur viri", Montanus, Tigurine version; "morientur virile aetate", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator;

1 Samuel 2:33 . The man of thine — That is, of thy posterity. Shall be to grieve thy heart — Shall be so forlorn and miserable, that if thou wast alive to see it, it would grieve thee at the heart, and thou wouldst consume thine eyes with weeping for their calamities. The increase of thy house — That is, thy children. Flower of their age — About the thirtieth year of their age, when they were to be admitted to the full administration of their office.

Verse 33. - The man of thine, etc. The meaning of the Hebrews is here again changed by the insertion of words not in the original. Translated literally the sense is good, but merciful, and this the A.V. has so rendered as to make it the most bitter of all denunciations. The Hebrews is, "Yet I will not cut off every one of thine from my altar, to consume thine eyes and to grieve thy soul;" that is, thy punishment shall not be so utter as to leave thee with no consolation; for thy descendants, though diminished in numbers, and deprived of the highest rank, shall still minister as priests at mine altar. "But the majority of try house - lit, the multitude of thy house - shall die as men." This is very well rendered in the A.V. "in the flower of theft age," only we must not explain this of dying of disease. They were to die in their vigour, not, like children and old men, in theft beds, but by violent deaths, such as actually befell them at Shiloh and at Nob. 1 Samuel 2:33

33 . And the man , &c.] or, Yet every man of thine will I not cut off from mine altar, to consume thine eyes and to vex thy soul; i.e. some will still survive to mourn over the ruin of their family. “ Thine eyes,” “ thy soul,” because Eli is identified with his posterity. But the Sept. has “ his eyes,” “ his soul.” increase ] = offspring, Lat. incrementum. in the flower of their age ] Heb. men : i.e. when they come to manhood.

The meaning is explained by 1 Samuel 2:36 . Those who are not cut off in the flower of their youth shall be worse off than those who are, for they shall have to beg their bread. (Compare Jeremiah 22:10 .) Thine eyes ... thine heart - For a similar personification of the tribe or family see Judges 1:2-4.

(33) To consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart. —The Speaker’s Commentary well refers to 1Samuel 2:36 for an explanation of these difficult words. “Those who are not cut off in the flower of their youth shall be worse off than those who are, for they shall have to beg their bread.” And all the increase of thine house shall die.—In the Babylonian Talmud the Rabbis have related that there was once a family in Jerusalem the members of which died off regularly at eighteen years of age. Rabbi Jochanan ben Zacchai shrewdly guessed that they were descendants of Eli, regarding whom it is said (1Samuel 2:33), “And all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age; “and he accordingly advised them to devote themselves to the study of the Law, as the certain and only means of neutralising the curse. They acted upon the advice of the Rabbi; their lives were in consequence prolonged; and they thenceforth went by the name of their spiritual father.—Rosh Hashanah, fol. 18, Colossians 1.

The man of thine, i.e. those of thy posterity. From mine altar, i.e. from attendance upon mine altar; whom I shall not destroy, but suffer to live, and wait at the altar. Shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart; shall be so forlorn and miserable, that if thou wast alive to see it, it would grieve thee at the very heart, and thou wouldst consume thine eyes with weeping for their calamities. So the phrase is like that of Rachel weeping for her children , Jeremiah 31:15 , which were slain long after her death. The increase of thine house, i.e. thy children. In the flower of their age; about the thirtieth year of their age, when they were to be admitted to the plenary administration of their office, Numbers 4:3 , then they shall die.