1 Samuel 2 · a question people ask
Eli warned his sons. Why is he blamed too?
Eli did speak to them: "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people" (2:23), and "No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear!" (2:24). But the man of God speaks to Eli himself: "Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering" (2:29), and "honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people" (2:29). In Hebrew, kick and yourselves are plural, spoken to more than Eli alone, while honor your sons above me is singular, said to Eli himself. In the next chapter the LORD says he will judge Eli's house "because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them" (3:13). In this chapter Eli hears (2:22) and speaks (2:23-25); it doesn't say that he did more.
The verses
“Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make the LORD’s people disobey. If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD intended to kill them.”
“Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’”
“For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.”