1 Samuel 2:28

And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel? . . .—After such glorious privileges had been conferred on this favoured house, and such ample provision for all its wants had been made for it, it was indeed a crime of the blackest ingratitude that its leading members should pour dishonour on their invisible King and Benefactor.

To wear an ephod before me.—This included the privilege, which belonged to the head of the house of Aaron, the reigning high priest, of entering the Holy of Holies—that lightless inner sanctuary where the visible presence of the Eternal was ever and anon pleased to dwell—and also the possession of the mysterious Urim and Thummim, by which enquiry could be made of the will of the invisible King of Israel.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:27-36 Those who allow their children in any evil way, and do not use their authority to restrain and punish them, in effect honour them more than God. Let Eli's example excite parents earnestly to strive against the beginnings of wickedness, and to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the midst of the sentence against the house of Eli, mercy is promised to Israel. God's work shall never fall to the ground for want of hands to carry it on. Christ is that merciful and faithful High Priest, whom God raised up when the Levitical priesthood was thrown off, who in all things did his Father's mind, and for whom God will build a sure house, build it on a rock, so that hell cannot prevail against it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An ephod - The High Priest's ephod, in which was Urim and Thummim.

Did I give ... - The bountiful provision made by God for His priests is mentioned as the great aggravation of the covetousness of Eli's sons (compare 2 Samuel 12:7-9).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Sa 2:27-35. A Prophecy against Eli's House.

27. there came a man of God unto Eli, and said … that there shall not be an old man in thine house—So much importance has always, in the East, been attached to old age, that it would be felt to be a great calamity, and sensibly to lower the respectability of any family which could boast of few or no old men. The prediction of this prophet was fully confirmed by the afflictions, degradation, poverty, and many untimely deaths with which the house of Eli was visited after its announcement (see 1Sa 4:11; 14:3; 22:18-23; 1Ki 2:27).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Did I choose him, to wit, Aaron thy father? whereby he shows what he meant by his father’s house. An ephod; that golden ephod which was peculiar to the high priest.

All the offerings made by fire, i.e. all the priest’s part of the offerings. He only had the office, and he had the whole benefit.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest,.... He did; of all the tribes of Israel the Lord chose the tribe of Levi to place the priesthood in, and of all the families of that tribe he chose the house of Aaron, Eli's ancestor, to minister in the priest's office, see Exodus 28:1.

to offer upon mine altar; burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings; this is the altar of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the tabernacle:

to burn incense; on the altar of incense, which was in the holy place, and on which incense was burnt morning and evening:

to wear an ephod before me? in which was the breastplate, with the Urim and Thummim, with which the high priest went into the most holy place, where was the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, and where he inquired of the Lord by the above things:

and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? he did; the priests who were of the house of Aaron had not only the sin offerings, and part of the peace offerings, but even of the offerings made by fire, the burnt offerings; the skin of them was the priest's, and the meat offerings that went along with them, see Leviticus 6:25 and Leviticus 8:8 which were given them for their maintenance. Now these instances of God's goodness to the family of Aaron are mentioned to aggravate the sins of Eli and his sons.

Geneva Study Bible

And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. him] Perhaps we should read, it (the house of Aaron) to be my priests (Exodus 28:1-4). The priestly functions are mentioned in an ascending scale: (a) the common sacrificial duties, (b) offering incense in the Holy Place (Exodus 30:7-8), (c) wearing an ephod, i.e. serving as High-priest, for probably the High-priest’s ephod (the only one mentioned in the Pentateuch) is meant here, and not the ordinary linen ephod worn at this time by all priests. See note on 1 Samuel 2:18.

to offer upon mine altar] or perhaps, “to go up to mine altar,” to minister at it. But the E. V. seems best.

all the offerings made by fire] See Leviticus 10:12-15.

1 Samuel 2:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And did I choose him out of all the tribes for a priest to myself." The interrogative particle is not to be repeated before וּבחור, but the construction becomes affirmative with the inf. abs. instead of the perfect. "Him" refers back to "thy father" in 1 Samuel 2:27, and signifies Aaron. The expression "for a priest" is still further defined by the clauses which follow: על מ לעלות, "to ascend upon mine altar," i.e., to approach my altar of burnt-offering and perform the sacrificial worship; "to kindle incense," i.e., to perform the service in the holy place, the principal feature in which was the daily kindling of the incense, which is mentioned instar omnium; "to wear the ephod before me," i.e., to perform the service in the holy of holies, which the high priest could only enter when wearing the ephod to represent Israel before the Lord (Exodus 28:12). "And have given to thy father's house all the firings of the children of Israel" (see at Leviticus 1:9). These words are to be understood, according to Deuteronomy 18:1, as signifying that the Lord had given to the house of Aaron, i.e., to the priesthood, the sacrifices of Jehovah to eat in the place of any inheritance in the land, according to the portions appointed in the sacrificial law in Leviticus 6-7, and Numbers 18.