Samuel’s Birth and the Death of Eli

So the Hebrews, as I have related above, were living as they pleased, without any judge or general. Eli was priest, and in his days Samuel was born. His father’s name was Elkanah and his mother’s Hannah. She had long been barren, and when she asked God for a child, she is said to have vowed that if it were a boy, he would be dedicated to God. So when she gave birth to a boy, she handed him over to Eli the priest. By and by, when he had grown up, God spoke to him. He announced his wrath against Eli the priest because of the way his sons lived. They had made their father’s priesthood a means of gain for themselves, and demanded gifts from those who came to sacrifice. Their father is said to have rebuked them often, but his rebukes were too mild to serve as discipline. [a]

Well, the Philistines invaded Judea, and the Israelites went out to meet them. The Hebrews were beaten, and prepared to fight again. They carried the ark of the Lord with them into battle, and the priest’s sons went out with it, because Eli himself, weighed down with years and afflicted with blindness, could not carry out that duty. When the ark was brought within sight of the enemy, the enemy were terrified, as if by the majesty of God’s presence, and ready to run away. But they recovered their courage and changed their minds, not without an impulse from God, and rushed into battle with all their strength. The Hebrews were defeated, the ark was captured, and the priest’s sons fell. When the news of the disaster was brought to Eli, he was overwhelmed with grief and breathed his last, after holding the priesthood for twenty years.