27 And there cometh a man of God unto Eli, and saith unto him, 'Thus said Jehovah, Was I really revealed unto the house of thy father in their being in Egypt, before Pharaoh's house, 28 even to choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to Me for a priest, to go up on Mine altar, to make a perfume, to bear an ephod before Me, and I give to the house of thy father all the fire-offerings of the sons of Israel? 29 Why do ye kick at My sacrifice, and at Mine offering which I commanded 'in' My habitation, and dost honour thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat from the first part of every offering of Israel, of My people? 30 'Therefore—the affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel—I certainly said, Thy house and the house of thy father, do walk up and down before Me to the age; and now—the affirmation of Jehovah—Far be it from Me! for he who is honouring Me, I honour, and those despising Me, are lightly esteemed. 31 'Lo, days 'are' coming, and I have cut off thine arm, and the arm of the house of thy father, that an old man is not in thy house; 32 and thou hast beheld an adversary 'in My' habitation, in all that He doth good with Israel, and there is not an old man in thy house all the days. 33 'And the man I cut not off of thine from Mine altar, 'is' to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thy soul; and all the increase of thy house do die men; 34 and this 'is' to thee the sign that cometh unto thy two sons, unto Hophni and Phinehas—in one day they die both of them; 35 and I have raised up for Me a stedfast priest; as in My heart and in My soul he doth do; and I have built for him a stedfast house, and he hath walked up and down before Mine anointed all the days; 36 and it hath been, every one who is left in thy house doth come in to bow himself to him, for a wage of silver, and a cake of bread, and hath said, Admit me, I pray thee, unto one of the priest's offices, to eat a morsel of bread.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 2:27-36
Commentary on 1 Samuel 2:27-36
(Read 1 Samuel 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.