1 Samuel 2:17

8. The sin is recognized to be exceedingly great which is not washed away by the tears of repentance. For the prophet, beholding this exceedingly great sin of the Synagogue, says: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1). Or certainly the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord because it was dragging others into sinning. Wherefore it is also added: "Because they were drawing men away from the sacrifice of the Lord."

And to reveal the causes of his reproof, the priest's servant is recorded as coming with a three-pronged fork to every one who was sacrificing, and violently demanding raw flesh. By these words, indeed, three species of gluttony are noted in the greediness of their rapacity. For he whose servant came to inflict violence on their behalf before the flesh was cooked could not endure the lawful hour of refreshment; and he for whom flesh was sought did not know how to use simple foods; and because, refusing what was cooked, he demanded raw flesh, he disdained to eat that flesh prepared in the common manner. But since the perversity of the servants served the pleasure of the priests, why is it recorded that the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord, not of the priests themselves, but of the servants? Yet by these same words the greater guilt of the priests is shown; for he who asserts that the sin of the lesser ones was exceedingly great before the Lord recognized to what a heap of condemnation the iniquity of the greater ones had grown. This magnitude of guilt, however, is asserted not only on account of the appetite for unlawful eating, but also on account of the violence of their rapacity.

The sin of the boys was therefore exceedingly great, etc. The sin of the scribes and Pharisees was exceedingly great before the Lord, although before men they justified themselves through hypocrisy (Luke 11); because they, being men, annulled the commandment of God through their traditions; …

Secondly, That religion suffered by it: Men abhorred the offerings of the Lord. All good men abhorred their management of the offerings, and too many insensibly fell into a contempt of the offerings themselves for their sakes. It was the people's sin to think the worse of God's institutions, but it was the much greater sin of the priests that gave them occasion to do so.

) according as his capacity was. He learned his catechism and was constant to his devotions, soon learned to read, and took a pleasure in the book of the law, and thus he ministered to the Lord. He ministered before Eli, that is, under his inspection, and as he ordered him, not before Eli's sons; all parties were agreed that they were unfit to be his tutors.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens