1 Samuel 2:32 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 2:32
And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
to scan · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
enemy
צַ֣רtzar
H6862
narrow · adjective, masculine singular construct
habitation
מָע֔וֹןma.'on
H4583
an abode · noun, common masculine singular absolute
give
יֵיטִ֖יבyei.Tiv
H3190
to be (causative) make well · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
man
זָקֵ֛ןza.Ken
H2205
old · adjective, masculine singular absolute
house
בְּבֵיתְךָ֖be.vei.te.Kha
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
ever
הַיָּמִֽיםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Zechariah 8:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his h…
1 Samuel 4:11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
Psalms 78:59-64 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
1 Samuel 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the che…
1 Samuel 4:22 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.
1 Kings 2:26-27 And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at thi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 2:27–end
Eli reproved his sons too gently, and did not threaten them as he should, and therefore God sent a prophet to him to reprove him sharply, and to threaten him, because, by his indulgence of them, he had strengthened their hands in their wickedness. If good men be wanting in their duty, and by their carelessness and remissness contribute any thing to the sin of sinners, they must expect both to hear of it and to smart for it. Eli's family was now nearer to God than all the families of the earth, and therefore he will punish them, Amo 3:2. The message is sent to Eli himself, because God would bring him to repentance and save him; not to his sons, whom he had determined to destroy. And it might…
thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation--A successful rival for the office of high priest shall rise out of another family (Sa2 15:35; Ch1 24:3; Ch1 29:22). But the marginal reading, "thou shalt see the affliction of the tabernacle," seems to be a preferable translation.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 3
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 2:32
Thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation - Every version and almost every commentator understands this clause differently. The word צר tsar, which we translate an enemy, and the Vulgate aemulum, a rival, signifies calamity; and this is the best sense to understand it in here. The calamity which he saw was the defeat of the Israelites, the capture of the ark, the death of his wicked sons, and the triumph of the Philistines. All this he saw, that is, knew to have taken place, before he met with his own tragical death.
In all the wealth which God shall give Israel - This also is dark. The meaning may be this: God has spoken good concerning Israel; he will, in the end, make the triumph of the Ph…
And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation,.... Either the Philistines in the land of Israel, where God chose to dwell, who quickly after made war against Israel, and pitched in Aphek, 1 Samuel 4:1 or, as in the margin of our Bibles, and other versions (i), "thou shalt see the affliction of the tabernacle"; as he did when the ark of God was taken, at the news of which he died, 1 Samuel 4:17 and so the Targum understands it of affliction and calamity, yet not of the house of God, but of his own house; paraphrasing the words thus,"and thou shall see the calamity that shall come upon the men of thine house, for the sins which they have committed before me in the house of my sanctuary:''but it…
The Church Fathers
And you will see your rival in the temple, etc. Your descendants will see the people of the nations, beloved in the faith, spiritually using the Scriptures and promises of Israel from the temple.
33. For he sees his rival within the temple, because he himself has already been cast out. For who else is the rival of the old priesthood, if not the order of the new preachers? Who indeed, while striving to equal the zealous efforts of the ancient and chosen fathers by their manner of living and teaching, assuredly emulates the good things of Eli in a good way. Hence Paul admonishes, saying: "Be zealous for good in all good things" (Gal. 4:18). And what are the prosperous things of Israel to be understood as, if not the felicities of this passing age, in which Israel according to the flesh greatly rejoiced? Therefore, in all the prosperous things of Israel, he sees his rival—that is, he who beholds the preachers of truth in the holy Church prospering both in abundance of resources and in the eminence of their dignity. What is also asserted about his being seen in the temple is made clear by a more perfect understanding. For in all prosperous things the rival is in the temple, because the order of preachers arranges everything that serves them from temporal happiness in the contemplation of eternity. There follows: (Verse 33.) "Yet I will not entirely remove from you a man from my altar."
This scorner also, to the increase of his punishment, sees his rival in the temple amid all the prosperity of Israel. For the temple of God is the heavenly homeland, of which it is also said through the Prophet: "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven" (Ps. 11:4). And by Israel, which is interpreted as "seeing God," is signified that blessed multitude of angels, of whom the Lord says in the Gospel: "Their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). And the prosperity of Israel is the everlasting joy of those blessed spirits. Therefore the scorner will behold his rival in the temple, because the reprobate preacher, now condemned, recognizes the order of the humble already rejoicing in the heavenly places. To this rival indeed all the prosperity of Israel is granted; for it is written: "God will be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). Therefore all the prosperity of Israel designates all that God is to those most blessed citizens. For although that eternal essence—namely, the supreme and simple good—exists in itself, nevertheless, because by the revelation of his Majesty he satisfies all the desires of those blessed spirits, the distinguished Teacher shows this to be so. Whence he also carefully preaches that God is not all things in himself, but all things in all, because he who in his own nature exists ineffably as one and simple good, is as many goods to all the good as they themselves are filled with joys from the contemplation of his glory. Therefore all the prosperity of Israel is granted to the rival, because the order of the humble elect is received among the choirs of angels, so that it may be satisfied with an eternal perception of the joys of divine contemplation. He is rightly said to be the rival of the scorner, because the elect of God receive the encouragements of good admonition even from proud and negligent preachers. Whence the Lord also commands, saying: "Whatever they tell you, do; but do not act according to their works" (Matt. 23:3). Hence Paul says: "Be zealous for good in all things" (Gal. 4:18). But since Scripture says: "Let the wicked be removed, lest he see the glory of the Lord" (Isa. 26:10), it seems contradictory that those who are condemned in hell should be understood to see those who rejoice in heaven. But since "to see" also pertains to knowledge, he sees his rival in the temple…
Dictionary and topics
Abiathar — Father of abundance, or my father excels, the son of Ahimelech the high priest. He was the tenth high priest, and the fourth in descent from Eli. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he…
Eli — Ascent, the high priest when the ark was at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3, 9). He was the first of the line of Ithamar, Aaron’s fourth son (1 Chr. 24:3; comp. 2 Sam. 8:17), who held that office. The office…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Hannah — Favour, grace, one of the wives of Elkanah the Levite, and the mother of Samuel (1 Sam. 1; 2). Her home was at Ramathaim-zophim, whence she was wont every year to go to Shiloh, where the tabernacle…
Hophni — Pugilist or client, one of the two sons of Eli, the high priest (1 Sam. 1:3; 2:34), who, because he was “very old,” resigned to them the active duties of his office. By their scandalous conduct they…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Abiathar · .Thrust out of office by — .Thrust out of office by
Eli · Prophecies of — Prophecies of
High Priest, The · Family of Eli degraded from office of, for bad conduct — Family of Eli degraded from office of, for bad conduct
Announcement of the judgment upon Eli and his house. - Sa1 2:27. Before the Lord interposed in judgment, He sent a prophet (a "man of God," as in Jdg 13:6) to the aged Eli, to announce as a warning for all ages the judgment which was about to fall upon the worthless priests of his house. In order to arouse Eli's own conscience, he had pointed out to him, on the one hand, the grace manifested in the choice of his father's house, i.e., the house of Aaron, to keep His sanctuary (Sa1 2:27 and Sa1 2:28), and, on the other hand, the desecration of the sanctuary by the wickedness of his sons (Sa1 2:29). Then follows the sentence: The choice of the family of Aaron still stood fast, but the deepest d…
live out their days: In the Old Testament, a short life often expresses God’s disfavor, while long life represents God’s blessing (cp. Gen 15:15; 1 Kgs 3:14; Ps 91:16).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 2:32
And you will see a rival [in My] Sanctuary. And you will see your rival at your side in My Sanctuary just as a woman who sees her rival with her in the house.
Throughout all the good that He will bring upon Yisroel. When the Temple will be built in the days of Shlomo, and the goodness promised to Yisroel will be complete, as it is said there, "Not one word has gone unfulfilled from His entire gracious promise.30I Melochim 8:56. Yehudah and Yisroel were numerous, like the sand that is by the sea.31Ibid. 4:20. And Yehudah and Yisroel dwelt in security, each man under his grapevine and under his fig tree… all the days of Shlomo."32Ibid. 5:5.
But there will be no elder in your family. This is…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— Sin of
Judgments · Eli’s house — Eli’s house
Life, Natural · Sometimes judicially shortened — Sometimes judicially shortened
Parents · Involved in children’s wickedness — Involved in children’s wickedness
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
