1 Samuel 2:36 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 2:36
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
to jut over or exceed · definite article + verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
house
בְּבֵ֣יתְךָ֔be.Vei.te.kha
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
come
יָבוֹא֙ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
crouch
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹ֣תle.hish.ta.cha.Vot
H7812
to depress · preposition + verb, infinitive construct
piece
לַאֲג֥וֹרַתla.'a.Go.rat
H95
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
silver
כֶּ֖סֶףKe.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
morsel
וְכִכַּרve.khi.kar-
H3603
a circle · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
bread
לָ֑חֶםLa.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
say
וְאָמַ֗רve.'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Put
סְפָחֵ֥נִיse.fa.Che.ni
H5596
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
one
אַחַ֥ת'a.Chat
H259
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
priests’ offices
הַכְּהֻנּ֖וֹתha.ke.hu.Not
H3550
priesthood · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
eat
לֶאֱכֹ֥לle.'e.Khol
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
piece
פַּתpat-
H6595
a bit · noun, common feminine singular construct
bread
לָֽחֶםLa.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular 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
1 Kings 2:27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfil the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the hou…
1 Samuel 2:29-30 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yo…
Ezekiel 44:10-12 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even b…
Malachi 1:13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and th…
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 2:36
Shall come and crouch to him - Shall prostrate himself before him in the most abject manner, begging to be employed even in the meanest offices about the tabernacle, in order to get even the most scanty means of support.
A piece of silver - אגורת כסף agorath keseph, translated by the Septuagint, οβολου αργυριου, an obolus of silver. The Targum translates it מעא mea, which is the same as the Hebrew gerah, and weighed about sixteen grains of barley.
A morsel of bread - A mouthful; what might be sufficient to keep body and soul together. See the sin and its punishment. They formerly pampered themselves, and fed to the full on the Lord's sacrifices; and now they are reduced to a morsel of bread.…
And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left in thine house,.... That is not cut off by death, the few remains of Eli's posterity in succeeding times, after the high priesthood was removed out of his family into another; so that they were reduced at best to common priests, and these, as it should seem, degraded from that office for their maladministration of it, or scandalous lives:
shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread; which Grotius interprets of their coming to God, and bowing themselves before him, and praying to him for the smallest piece of money to cast into the treasury, and for a morsel of bread to be accepted as an offering, instead of a…
The Church Fathers
And let him say, Let me go, I pray, to one of the priestly parts. It signifies to the very people, illustrious to Christ the priest; to whom Peter says: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood (I Pet. II). And as he adds: That I may eat a morsel of bread, he also elegantly expressed the very kind of that sacrifice, concerning which the priest himself says: The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (John VI). For since he had said above, giving food to the house of Aaron from the sacrifices of the Old Testament, which were the sacrifices of the Jews, therefore he said here: One must ask to eat a morsel of bread, which is the sacrifice of Christians in the New Testament.
It will happen, however, that whoever remains in your house, etc. And some daily not only from the priestly, but also from every tribe of Israel, and all at the end of the world the remnants of that nation, so that they may be reconciled to God, come to the church; and, rejecting the flesh of the sacrifices, they offer the word consummating and shortening of the life-giving confession, and the bread of spiritual sacrifice. For indeed silver signifies the word of the confession of faith, and the coin expresses the brevity of the same confession, which is contained in the Creed. And this man of God, who is shown to be a prophet by his office, said: Whoever remains in your house, which is what Isaiah said: The remnant shall be saved. (Rom. XII). And the apostle, recalling the words of Elijah: So therefore, he says, also at this time there is a remnant according to the election of grace that has been saved (Isa. XI).
42. Then indeed Judea asks that the Lord be prayed for on her behalf, when, with the elect already gathered from the nations, she does not ignore the darkness of her own blindness, when she desires that offering be made to her through the priests of almighty God by the confession of the Holy Trinity, because in her former old state she does not presume to merit heavenly joys, but also bestows the faith of the Redeemer, which she received upon her conversion, by preaching it to others who are yet to be converted. It is also well added: (Verse 33.) That he might offer a piece of silver money. For by silver the divine utterances are signified, because it is said through the Prophet: The words of the Lord are words tested by fire, silver tried by fire (Psalm 11:7). And indeed Judea then spends this silver in the praises of God, when she openly preaches our faith, which she previously contradicted while established in unbelief. And because she also imitates through compassion the same Redeemer whom she preaches through love, it is added: (Verse 33.) And a cake of bread. 43. For by the name of bread, He is expressed who says of Himself: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). The cake of bread, therefore, is the flesh of the Redeemer, afflicted with sufferings. For the prophet, beholding this cake of bread, said: "Truly He has borne our griefs, and He Himself has carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). And because it is said by a certain wise man: "If you sit down at the table of a powerful man, wisely consider what is set before you, for you must prepare similar things" (Proverbs 23:1–2, according to the LXX), Judea then offers a cake of bread and a piece of silver when she proclaims our Redeemer with open confession, and for the love of Him whom she proclaims, does not refuse to endure torments from the faithless. And because she is greatly delighted in this imitation of the Passion and refreshment of sweetness, there follows: (Verse 33.) "And let her say: 'Send me, I beseech you, to one of the priestly portions.'" 44. "Dismiss me," she says, as if to say: Do not reject me as infamous and stained with the blood of the Redeemer's death. She also begs that one priestly portion be granted to her, because she desires to be joined to the true priests, so that she may be able to share in the joys of those whose offerings she desires to imitate by…
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…
Bake — The duty of preparing bread was usually, in ancient times, committed to the females or the slaves of the family (Gen. 18:6; Lev. 26:26; 1 Sam. 8:13); but at a later period we find a class of public…
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…
Pieces — (1) of silver. In Ps. 68:30 denotes “fragments,” and not properly money. In 1 Sam. 2:36 (Heb. agorah), properly a “small sum” as wages, weighed rather than coined. Josh. 24:32 (Heb. kesitah, q.v.),…
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…
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…
a faithful priest: Zadok and his descendants later replaced Eli’s family in the priesthood (1 Kgs 2:26-27, 35).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 2:36
For a silver coin. In order to earn a מָעָה silver coin.
Silver coin. with a weight of twenty gerah.37Shemos 30:13.
Let me be included. Let me to join.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Eli · Prophecies of — Prophecies of
High Priest, The · Duties of: Appointing priests to offices — Duties of: Appointing priests to offices
Hophni · Sin of — Sin of
Judgments · Eli’s house — Eli’s house
Money · Was given: As alms — Was given: As alms
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).