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 remained in his family till the time of Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26, 27), whom Solomon deposed, and appointed Zadok, of the family of Eleazar, in his stead (35). He acted also as a civil judge in Israel after the death of Samson (1 Sam. 4:18), and judged Israel for forty years.
His sons Hophni and Phinehas grossly misconducted themselves, to the great disgust of the people (1 Sam. 2:27-36). They were licentious reprobates. He failed to reprove them so sternly as he ought to have done, and so brought upon his house the judgment of God (2:22-33; 3:18). The Israelites proclaimed war against the Philistines, whose army was encamped at Aphek. The battle, fought a short way beyond Mizpeh, ended in the total defeat of Israel. Four thousand of them fell in “battle array”. They now sought safety in having the “ark of the covenant of the Lord” among them. They fetched it from Shiloh, and Hophni and Phinehas accompanied it. This was the first time since the settlement of Israel in Canaan that the ark had been removed from the sanctuary. The Philistines put themselves again in array against Israel, and in the battle which ensued “Israel was smitten, and there was a very great slaughter.” The tidings of this great disaster were speedily conveyed to Shiloh, about 20 miles distant, by a messenger, a Benjamite from the army. There Eli sat outside the gate of the sanctuary by the wayside, anxiously waiting for tidings from the battle-field. The full extent of the national calamity was speedily made known to him: “Israel is fled before the Philistines, there has also been a great slaughter among the people, thy two sons Hophni and Phinehas are dead, and the ark of God is taken” (1 Sam. 4:12-18). When the old man, whose eyes were “stiffened” (i.e., fixed, as of a blind eye unaffected by the light) with age, heard this sad story of woe, he fell backward from off his seat and died, being ninety and eight years old.
Eli, Heb. eli, “my God”, (Matt. 27:46), an exclamation used by Christ on the cross. Mark (15:34), as usual, gives the original Aramaic form of the word, Eloi.
- 1Sam.1: And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.
- 1Sam.1: So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD.
- 1Sam.1: And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.
- 1Sam.1: Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
- 1Sam.1: And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.
- 1Sam.1: Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
- 1Sam.1: And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli.
- 1Sam.2: And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest.
- 1Sam.2: Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
- 1Sam.2: And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.
- 1Sam.2: Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
- 1Sam.2: And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?
- 1Sam.3: And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
- 1Sam.3: And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
- 1Sam.3: And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
- 1Sam.3: And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
- 1Sam.3: And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
- 1Sam.3: Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
- 1Sam.3: In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
- 1Sam.3: And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
- 1Sam.3: And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
- 1Sam.3: Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
- 1Sam.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 cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
- 1Sam.4: And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- 1Sam.4: And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.
- 1Sam.4: And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.
- 1Sam.4: Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
- 1Sam.4: And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?
- 1Sam.14: And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
- 1Kgs.2: 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 house of Eli in Shiloh.