Shortly (23) before Samuel entered upon his novitiate in the sanctuary,
Eli succeeded to the three highest offices in the land: he was made
high priest, president of the Sanhedrin, and ruler over the political
affairs of Israel. Eli was a pious man, and devoted to the study of the
Torah, wherefore he attained to a good old age and to high honors. (24)
In his office as high priest he was successor to no less a personage
than Phinehas, who had lost his high-priestly dignity on account of his
haughty bearing toward Jephthah. With Eli the line of Ithamar rose to
power instead of the line of Eleazar. (25) However, the iniquitous deed
of his two sons brought dire misfortune upon Eli and upon his family,
though the Scriptural account of their conduct may not be taken
literally. The sons of Eli transgressed only in that they sometimes
kept the women waiting who came to the sanctuary to bring the
purification offerings, and so they retarded their return to their
families. (26) This was bad enough for priest of God. Their misdeeds
recoiled upon their father, who was not strict enough in rebuking them.
Eli's punishment was that he aged prematurely, and, besides, he had to
give up his various offices.
During his lifetime, his youngest son Phinehas, the worthier of the
two, (27) officiated as high priest. The only reproach to which
Phinehas laid himself open was that he made no attempt to mend his
brother's ways.
The worst of God's decree against Eli he learned from Elkanah, (28) the
man of God who came unto Eli, and who announced that the high-priestly
dignity would be wrested from his house, and once more conferred upon
the family of Eleazar, and, furthermore, his descendant would all die
in their prime. The latter doom can be averted by good deeds, devotion
in prayer, and zealous study of the Torah. These means were often
employed successfully. (29) But against the loss of the high priest's
office there is no specific. The house of Eli forfeited it irrevocably.
Abiathar, the great-grandson of Eli's son Phinehas, (30) the last of
the high priest of the line of Ithamar, had to submit to the fate of
seeing David transfer his dignity to Zadok, in whose family it remained
forever.
The sons of Eli brought misfortune also upon the whole of Israel. To
their sins and the ease with which the people condoned them was
attributed the unhappy issue of the war with the Philistines. The holy
Ark, the receptacle for the broken table of the law, which accompanied
the people to the camp, (31) did not have the expected effect of
compelling victory for the Israelites. What Eli feared happened. He
enjoined upon his sons not to appear before him if they should survive
the capture of the Ark. (32) But they did not survive it; they died
upon the battlefield on which their nation had suffered bitter defeat.
The Philistines, to be sure, had to pay dearly for their victory,
especially those who had spoken contemptuous words when the holy Ark
had appeared in the Israelitish camp: "The God of the Israelites had
ten plagues, and those he expended upon the Egyptians. He no longer has
it in His power to do harm." But God said: "Do ye but wait to see. I
shall bring plague down upon you like of which hath never been." (33)
This new plague consisted in mice crawling forth out of the earth, and
jerking the entrails out of the bodies of the Philistines while they
eased nature. If the Philistines sought to protect themselves by using
brass vessels, the vessels burst at the touch of the mice, and, as
before, the Philistines were at their mercy. (34) After some months of
suffering, when they realized that their god Dagon was the victim
instead of the victor, they resolved to send the Ark back to the
Israelites. Many of the Philistines, (35) however, were not yet
convinced of God's power. The experiment with the milch kine on which
there had come no yoke was to establish the matter for them. The result
was conclusive. Scarcely had the cows begun to draw the cart containing
the Ark when they raised their voices in song:
Arise thou, O Acacia! Soar aloft in the fulness of thy splendor,
Thou who art adorned with gold embroidery,
Thou who art reverenced within the Holiest of the palace,