Quiet, sympathetic, and humble before God, as we find him in his old age, Eli had yet been unable to do more than sow the seed of a future reformation in the community. The very priesthood around him, and even his two sons, were tainted with the prevailing licentiousness. In the words of Scripture, they were men of Belial, or "the pit"—that awful abyss, which, to the Hebrews, was the home of evil spirits. As priests, they should have set an example of godliness; but, instead of that, they looked on their office simply as a means of gratifying their self-indulgence and sensual passions. The Mosaic rites were still observed at Shiloh, and these required that burnt-offerings should be wholly consumed by fire on the altar. Sin-offerings, on the other hand, were eaten by the priests. In the case of peace-offerings, however, the fat of the inside alone was burned on the altar. The priest had then, for his share, the breast and the shoulder, after they had been waved before the Lord; the rest of the victim being returned to the offerer, to be eaten by himself and his family, with such friends as he invited. But this appointed arrangement did not satisfy Eli's sons. "They knew not or cared nothing for Jehovali, nor for the legal due of the priests from the people." 1 Their lawful portion not contenting them, they sent their servants to the place where the share belonging to the offerer was being boiled, and these thrust "a fleshhook of three teeth" into the pot, and claimed for their masters whatever it brought up. Nor was this all; they forthwith demanded, even before the fat had been offered on the altar, a share of the raw flesh, ostensibly to roast, but perhaps also to secure a larger booty. No greater outrage could have been committed than thus to desecrate the sacred offerings, nor was it a slight thing 1 1 Sam. ii. 13. Wellhausen. Thenius. to take away the sacred food from those to whom it belonged. Amidst the prevailing lawlessness such an example set by the sons of the high priest soon showed its natural consequence, by men "holding in contempt the whole service.1 But this was not their whole, or even their worst offence. Women were employed outside the Tabernacle to prepare the sacred bread; to attend to the holy garments, and to lead the sacred songs and dances, in which others of their sex, from all the tribes, joined at the great festivals. 66 The singers," says David,' speaking of the Tabernacle, "go before, the players on instruments follow after, in the midst of damsels playing with timbrels." Indeed, the popular poetry and music were left mainly in the hands of the women till David's time, as we see in the cases of Miriam and of Deborah. The sex was not employed in cleaning the sacred Tent, because females were excluded from part of it; such work, moreover, is usually done by men in the East. These choristers, if we may call them so, the sons of Eli only too successfully corrupted; nor could the gentle high priest rouse himself to his duty further than to give godly counsels to the offenders, instead of inflicting on them stern punishment. "Why do ye such things?" said he; "for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I 5 1 The offence taken at this lawless proceedings of Eli's sons, shows that the people, as a whole, held to the exact observance of the Mosaic worship, at least in Shiloh. 2 Exod. xxxviii. 8. 1 Sam. ii. 22. In both cases the word "assembled," is lit. "did duty." Ps. lxviii. 26. Ewald's Geschichte, vol. ii. p. 502. Exod. xv. 20. Jud. v. 12; xi. 34. xxi. 12 Alterthümer, p. 379 Sea 1 Sam. ii. 1-11; xviii. 6-9: • Literally. hear the Lord's people to be spreading. If a man sin against another, one can pray for him to God; but if he sin against God, who shall intercede for him "s Such weakness brought with it a heavy penalty. A prophet-the first mentioned since the days of Moses -came to Eli with the terrible message: "Thus saith Jehovah. Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father (Aaron) when they were in bondage to Pharaoh,3 and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer on My altar, to burn incense, and wear an ephod before Me? And did I give to the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore will ye wickedly trample down My sacrifice and My offering, which I have commanded them; and honour your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My people?" "For this," he went on to say, "The days come that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house. and will break their strength, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou, the enemy of My sanctuary, wilt look greedily on all the good that God does to Israel," and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever. And yet I will not destroy every one belonging to thee from Mine altar, which thine eyes slight and thy soul despises; but all the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age."7 As a sign that this would certainly happen, he foretold, moreover, that Hophni and Phinehas, Eli's two sons, would die in one day that the priesthood would be continued in the Ewald. Thenius. Sept. 1 Sam. ii. 23–25. 4 Literally. Thenius. Sept. 1 Sam. ii. 27–34. Zunz. Thenius translates it, "And thou shalt look eagerly or a rock of defence, and all the good," etc. • Zunz. 7 Sept., "by the sword." elder line, not in his; and that his race would sink to obscurity and want. How fully this curse was fulfilled will be seen hereafter. But this was not the only announcement of the doom of the worthy but weak old man's race. A family lived in Ramathaim Zophim-" the two heights of the Zuphites"-perhaps "the watchers" or "lookers out" or "prophets," apparently in the very south of the mountains of Ephraim, where they reach down towards Jerusalem. The name of the husband was Elkanah"whom God created;" but there were two wives-Hannah, "Grace" or "Favour," and Peninnah, "Coral;" the second having likely been taken because the first had no children. But, as might have been expected, this double marriage a thing even then uncommon-did not add to his happiness, for even among Orientals the misery of polygamy is proverbial. "From what I know," says one, "it is easier to live with two tigresses than with two wives." And a Persian poet is of well nigh the same opinion : "Be that man's life immersed in gloom Who needs more wives than one: With one his cheeks retain their bloom, These speak his honest heart at rest, 1 So the Targums. "Zuph" is among the ancestors of Samuel. 1 Sam. i. 1. * Manners and Customs of the Women in Persia. Translated by J. Atkinson, Esq., for the Oriental Translation Fund. London, 1832. An old Eastern drama is no less explicit : "Wretch! would'st thou have another wedded slave! Presume to try the experiment: would'st thou not Be linked to misery? Sleepless nights, and days Yet Elkanah was a worthy man, and even in these wild and evil times went up yearly, with his whole family, to Shiloh, at the Passover. But the household sacrifices there brought him trouble; for he had to give Peninnah and her sons and daughters each a share in the offerings, while the childless Hannah could have only a single portion, though he loved her better than her rival. The story of Hannah's betaking herself, after the family rejoicings, to the door of the Tabernacle, where Eli used to sit; her bitterness of soul at Peninnah's taunts; her weeping and silent prayer for a son3 are exquisitely told; as well as her vow that, if God granted her desire, she would consecrate the infant to Him as a Nazarite. In due time the birth of Samuel, "Heard of God," answered the lowly cry. Grief had long saddened his 1 Sam. i. 5. Sept. If a daughter be born the father often refuses to see or speak to the mother, and the friends and relatives, particularly the females, upbraid her, and condole with the husband as if he had been ill treated. It is often, moreover, made an excuse for sending away the wife. Land and Book, p. 124. Vows in anticipation of the birth of a child are common in the East. Rosenmüller, Morgenland, vol. iii. p. 73. |