1 Samuel 2 · a question people ask
Who is the "faithful priest" of 2:35?
The man of God says, "I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever" (2:35). The chapter doesn't name him. The Bible does say when the word against Eli's house came true: "So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the LORD’s word which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh" (1 Kings 2:27). That verse speaks of the word about Eli's house; it doesn't name the faithful priest, and no later verse says in so many words who he is. Christians read the faithful priest in three main ways, and some hold more than one of them together, a nearer fulfillment and a further one. All agree that the promise is the LORD's own: "I will raise up" (2:35).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Samuel
Those who read it this way point to the next chapter. The boy who "ministered to the LORD before Eli" (3:1) grows up, and "All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD" (3:20). In Hebrew, established there is ne'eman, the word for faithful in 2:35 (tap faithful). Samuel offers "a whole burnt offering to the LORD" (7:9), he anoints Saul (10:1) and David (16:13), and before the people he says, "Witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed" (12:3).
1 Samuel 3:1 · 1 Samuel 3:20 · 1 Samuel 7:9 · 1 Samuel 10:1 · 1 Samuel 16:13 · 1 Samuel 12:3
Zadok and the priests after him
Those who read it this way point to how the book of Kings tells the end of Eli's house. When Solomon removed Abiathar, it was "that he might fulfill the LORD’s word which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh" (1 Kings 2:27), and "the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar" (1 Kings 2:35). Zadok is the priest who "took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon" (1 Kings 1:39). They read "my anointed" (2:35) as the kings, and "a sure house" (2:35) as the line of priests after Zadok.
1 Kings 2:27 · 1 Kings 2:35 · 1 Kings 1:39 · 1 Samuel 2:35
A fulfillment in Jesus
Those who read it this way hold that the promise is kept fully in Jesus. Hebrews says of him that he became "a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God" (Hebrews 2:17). It calls him "High Priest of our confession" (Hebrews 3:1), "who was faithful to him who appointed him" (Hebrews 3:2), and says, "because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable" (Hebrews 7:24). Hebrews doesn't quote 1 Samuel 2:35; this reading sets the promise of 2:35 beside Hebrews' words about Jesus as a faithful high priest.
Hebrews 2:17 · Hebrews 3:1-2 · Hebrews 7:24
The verses
“I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever.”
“So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the LORD’s word which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.”