1 Samuel 2:33, commentary and pictures

The verse announces judgment on Eli's house because he would not restrain his sons, whose corruption of the priesthood led the people to despise the appointed worship. One man of his family would be left uncut off from the altar for a time, and his living presence amid ruin would wear away Eli's eyes and grieve his heart. All the rest of his descendants would die in the prime of life, so that his house would lose its strength. Though his sons were guilty for their own sins, Eli himself stood condemned because he knew their evil, honored them above God, and kept them in holy office. Standing in sacred office does not release a father from governing his children, and their salvation depends largely on prompt, firm restraint, where failure to correct brings God's curse, grief, and loss upon the household.

Judgment on Eli's House

This verse is part of the judgment announced against Eli's house because he failed to restrain his sons, who dishonored God in their holy office and corrupted the priesthood and the worship service so that the people were led to despise and neglect the appointed worship. One man of his line would not be cut off from the altar but would remain alive and connected with it for a time, and his survival would consume Eli's eyes and grieve his heart with sorrow over the family's ruin. All the increase of his house would die in the flower of their age, in the prime of life, so that his descendants would suffer loss and the family would lose its strength.

Although the sons were guilty for their own wrongdoing, Eli himself was held responsible and cursed because he knew of their sins, honored them above God, and would not remove them from priestly office. The next verse states the governing principle that God will honor those who honor Him and will lightly esteem those who despise Him. God could not communicate through Eli and his sons because their sins like a thick cloud shut out His Holy Spirit, and carrying this message of condemnation to Eli's house was Samuel's commission as a prophet.

The fulfillment was delayed year after year to give time to redeem past failures and to take effective measures to correct the evils polluting the sanctuary, but Eli confessed guilt without the fruits of true repentance, did not renounce the sin, and took no effective action, so Hophni and Phinehas hardened their hearts and grew bolder in transgression. The warnings and reproofs to Eli's house were made known to the whole nation to counteract in some measure the evil influence of past neglect, but they were disregarded by the priests and by the people. Surrounding nations that knew of the iniquities openly practiced in Israel grew still bolder in idolatry and crime and felt no sense of guilt for their sins as they would have had Israel preserved its integrity, making a day of retribution necessary to interpose and maintain the honor of God's name when His authority had been set aside and His worship neglected and despised.

The announced judgment was connected with Israel being given over to its enemies and lacking victory in battle, coming to a head when Israel lost the battle and Eli heard the news, fell backward, and died. Eli remonstrated with his sons but failed to restrain them, and their unfaithfulness brought the announced judgment. The warning given about Eli's house should have guided Samuel in raising his own sons, but Samuel did not let it influence him as fully as it should have and was to some extent too indulgent, and that indulgence appeared in their character and life when they did not heed his precepts or copy his pure unselfish life but turned aside for gain, took bribes, and perverted judgment.

Parental Responsibility and Warning

No sacred service or standing in holy office excuses a father from the duty to train, govern, control, and correct his children, for Eli was held accountable because he knew of his sons' sins and did not remove them from holy office. Parents are required to restrain their children promptly, firmly, and decisively, and the salvation of children depends very much on the course parents pursue, so that decisive discipline could have averted much of the disaster upon Eli's house while failure to act brought God's curse, grief, and loss, with a surviving member left to see and grieve over the family's ruin and descendants dying in the prime of life. Eli's sin was putting human wisdom and self-confidence above God's commands in family government, fearing his sons' displeasure and suffering them to continue in rebellion, allowing them from babyhood and the cradle to grow up without restraint or training to submit their wills and ways until forward, selfish, disagreeable, self-willed, stubborn, irritable, and self-sufficient ways became confirmed habits.

Mistaken love and fondness that indulges a child's selfish and harmful conduct instead of correcting it injures the child and others and fails to prepare the child to serve what is good, nourishing pride and vanity over dress and outward appearance and sowing destructive seed that bears fruit in a heart void of Christian graces and filled with self-love, haughtiness, and uncontrolled passions, causing children to despise parental authority. A father who consents to keep children in his house without permission to correct their wrongs, and a mother who does not approve or allow her children to be controlled, leave children to train themselves as they please to lie, deceive, and steal and to practice iniquity without any sense of sin, forming characters as Satan's agents that will certainly be punished with the plagues to come upon the earth, just as Eli's sons fell beneath God's wrath. God's judgment for such fond, indulgent, partial parenting was disaster and death to Eli himself, ruin to his wicked sons, and ruin to thousands in Israel, and parents who approve and perpetuate their children's wrongdoing, with children who perpetuate their fathers' sins, will be recompensed together and learn bitter lessons.

The same sin of neglecting from the cradle to teach children to submit their wills and ways is numerous in this age and is no less aggravating to God than in Eli's day, and parents will be called to render an account to God for this neglect that causes most church difficulties and ruins souls. God's word carefully studied and faithfully obeyed is the only safe guide in family government because the Creator who bought children with His blood knows their needs and welfare best, and self-confident neglect of it is folly that brings soul-anguish over perverse, unloving children. Fathers who minister in word and doctrine must take far greater pains to give their children beautiful characters that keep the way of the Lord than to give them a stylish appearance, keeping them free from the demoralizing fashions of the age and making them examples of what is taught in the pulpit, with ministers and ministers' wives dressing children in simplicity and modesty approved by God and instructing them to meet the Lord's standard rather than worldly approval by studying the Bible and being doers of the Word, so that the curse of Eli may not come upon them.