1 Samuel 2:12

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial,.... Not that Eli their father was Belial, a wicked man; but though they had so good a father, they were very wicked men, unprofitable abandoned wretches, that

Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial , [ bªneey (H1121) bªliyaa`al (H1100), sons of worthlessness (cf.

To wit, practically, i.e. they did not acknowledge honour, regard, love, or serve God; for so words of knowledge are commonly used in Scripture: see

1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli [were] sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.Ver. 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.] So were Jehoshuah the high priest’ s sons. Heroum filii noxae! Their parents, much employed about other things, are oft not so careful of well-breeding their children; and besides, they are apt to abuse their father’ s authority and power to a licentious practice. Eli brought up his sons to bring down his house. He might fitly have called them, as Augustus did his lewd daughters, his ulcers or cankers. They knew not the Lord.] Apprehensively they knew him, but not affectively; they had no lively light, their knowledge was not accompanied with faith and fear of God.

(12) Sons of.—The word Belial is printed here and 1 Samuel 1:16, as though Belial were the name of some pagan deity, but it simply signifies “worthlessness.” It is a common term in these records of Samuel, being used some nine or ten times. It is rarely found in the other historical books. “Sons of Belial” signifies, then, merely “sons of worthlessness,” worthless, good-for-nothing men. The Speaker’s Commentary ingeniously accounts for the use of Belial in the English Version here, and in other places in the Old Testament, by referring to the contrast drawn by St. Paul between Christ and Belial, as if Belial were the name of an idol. or the personification of evil (2 Corinthians 6:15). They knew not the Lord.—The whole conduct of these high priestly officials showed they were utter unbelievers. They used their sacred position merely as affording an opportunity for their selfish extortions; and, as is so often the case now, as it was then, their unbelief was the source of their moral worthlessness (see 1 Samuel 2:22). “Hophni and Phinehas (the two sons of Eli) are, for students of ecclesiastical history, eminently suggestive characters. They are true exemplars of the grasping and worldly clergy of all ages. “It was the sacrificial feasts that gave occasion for their rapacity. It was the dances and assemblies of the women in the vineyards and before the sacred feast that gave occasion for their debaucheries. They were the worst development of the lawlessness of the age, penetrating, as in the case of the wandering Levite of the Book of Judges, into the most sacred offices. “But the coarseness of these vices does not make the moral less pointed for all times. The three-pronged fork which fishes up the seething flesh is the earliest type of grasping at pluralities and Church preferments by base means, the open profligacy at the door of the Tabernacle is the type of many a scandal brought on the Christian Church by the selfishness or sensuality of the ministers.”—Dean Stanley, On the Jewish Churchy Lecture 17, Part I.

Verse 12. The sons of Eli were sons of Belial] They were perverse, wicked, profligate men; devil's children. They knew not the Lord. "THEY know! nor would an angel show Him; They would not know, nor choose to know Him." These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct, described 1 Samuel 2:13-17, caused the people to abhor the Lord's offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation; witness France, Germany, Spain, Ac., from 1792 to 1814.

12–17. The faithless priests of Shiloh 12. sons of Belial] Worthless men. See note on 1 Samuel 1:16. they knew not the Lord] Were ignorant of His character and so despised His laws. Cp. Judges 2:10; Job 18:21; Hosea 4:1.

Sons of Belial - See the marginal reference note. The phrase is very frequent in the books of Samuel.

12. Sons of Belial — Worthless, good-for-nothing fellows. See note on chap. 1 Samuel 1:16. Knew not the Lord — Had no reverence for his worship, and no deep sense of the Divine holiness.