1 Samuel 4:15
in 1 Samuel 4Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.
KJV
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Dim - Rather, “set.” The word is quite different from that so rendered in 1Sa 3:2. The phrase seems to express the “fixed” state of the blind eye, which is not affected by the light. Eli’s blindness, while it made him alive to sounds, prevented his seeing the ripped garments and dust-besprinkled head of the messenger of bad news.
This site's exposition
Eli was ninety-eight years old
on 1 Samuel 4:15-18
Eli is ninety-eight and blind, and the messenger tells him all at once that Israel fled, his sons are dead and the ark is taken. It is the ark that fells him, for “As soon as the ark of God was mentioned” he falls backward, breaks his neck and dies. The chapter closes his life in one line: “Eli had judged Israel forty years”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, etc. The legal priesthood at that time lacked two perfections that lead to life, namely faith and works. Therefore his eyes, that is, his announcements, were clouded in understanding, and they could not see Christ in the law. For …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2 · Written before 604.
proposed
17. For his old age would have been perfect if he had completed the full number of one hundred years in living. Since two years are seen to be lacking from this number, what else does this signify except that he would have been of perfect maturity if he had recognized the twofold mystery in the incarnation of our Redeemer, namely true divinity in his humanity and true humanity in his divinity? But now, because he rightly understands much from the old law and very many things from the heavenly commandments, he is ninety-eight years old.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), but the messenger was loth to tell him first, and therefore passed him by, and told it in the city, with all the aggravating circumstances; and now both the ears of every one that heard it tingled, as was foretold, ch. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Now Eli was ninety eight years old,.... Which is very properly observed, he being now come to the end of his days, and which also accounts for his blindness after mentioned: and his eyes were dim, that he could not see; could not see the messenger, and read in his countenance, and perceive by his clothes rent, and earth on his head, that he was a bringer of bad tidings; or his eyes each of them "stood" (h); were fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men be.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The calamities announced to Samuel as about to fall upon the family of Eli [1Sa 2:34] were now inflicted in the death of his two sons, and after his death, by that of his daughter-in-law, whose infant son received a name that perpetuated the fallen glory of the church and nation [1Sa 4:19-22]. The public disaster was completed by the capture of the ark.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעֵלִ֕י | veeli | and Eli | H5941 → | 33 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [was] a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| תִּשְׁעִ֥ים | tishim | ninety | H8673 → | |
| וּשְׁמֹנֶ֖ה | ushemoneh | and eight | H8083 → | |
| שָׁנָ֑ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וְעֵינָ֣יו | veeinav | and eyes his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| קָ֔מָה | kamah | it was set | H6965 → | 628 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָכ֖וֹל | yakhol | he was able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| לִרְאֽוֹת׃ | lirot | to see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
וְעֵלִ֕יand Eli
veeliH5941 →33 times
בֶּן־[was] a son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
תִּשְׁעִ֥יםninety
tishimH8673 →
וּשְׁמֹנֶ֖הand eight
ushemonehH8083 →
שָׁנָ֑הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וְעֵינָ֣יוand eyes his
veeinavH5869 →887 times
קָ֔מָהit was set
kamahH6965 →628 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָכ֖וֹלhe was able
yakholH3201 →194 times
לִרְאֽוֹת׃to see
lirotH7200 →1300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 27:1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
it leads to
- Genesis 48:10
Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Samuel 3:2
And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 48:10
Through
Psalms 90:10The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty if we are strong— yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 34:7
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Psalms 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
- 2 Samuel 19:35
I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men…
- Genesis 47:9
“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
- Deuteronomy 34:7
Through
1 Samuel 3:2And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.
it leads to
- Genesis 27:1
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 27:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
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About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.