CHAP. I. II. III.
[World 2870] [Eli 1] ELI judgeth 40 years: He was of Ithamar; For Eleazers line had lost the [Eli 2] High Priest-hood in the times of the Judges. It had been in that family [Eli 3] seven generations; viz. Eleazar, Phineas, Abishua, Bukki, Uzzi, Zerahiah, Me∣raioth, [Eli 4] [Eli 5] 1 Chron. 6. 4, 5, 6. and there it failed, till the seventh generation after; [Eli 6] namely, through the times of Amaziah, Ahitub, Zadok, Ahimaaz, Azaria, Jo∣hanan; [Eli 7] and then comes Azariah, and he executes this Office in the Temple [Eli 8] that Solomon built, 1 Chron. 6. 7, 8, 9, 10. observe these six that failed of the [Eli 9] high Priest-hood left out of the Genealogy, Ezra 7. 3, 4. Eli was the first of [Eli 10] the other line that obtained it, and it run through these descents, Eli, Phineas, [Eli 11] Ahitub, Ahimelech, Abiathar, 1 Sam. 14. 3. & 22. 20. & 1 King. 2. 26. SAMUEL [Eli 12] [Eli 13] the son of his mothers prayers, tears, and vows, was born in * 1.1 Aramathea, the [Eli 14] twentieth from Levi, of the off-spring of Korah, who was swallowed up of [Eli 15] the ground, 1 Chron. 6. and Numb. 26. 11. He had murmured at the Priest∣hood [Eli 16] and Magistracy, and now one of his line is raised up to repair both when [Eli 17] they are decaied. Samuel was a vowed Nazarite, and dedicated at the Sanctu∣ary [Eli 18] with a Sacrifice and a Song. The year of his birth is not determinable, [Eli 19] [Eli 20] no not so much as whether it were in the Judgeship of Eli, though it be un∣doubted [Eli 21] that it was in his Priest-hood. Eli's sons commit theft and adultery in [Eli 22] the very Sanctuary; they ravin from the men that came to sacrifice, and they [Eli 23] ravish the women that * 1.2 waited on the Sanctuary, and so they cause the Ordi∣nances [Eli 24] of the Lord to be abhorred. Under such example is Samuel educated, [Eli 25] [Eli 26] yet falleth not under that taint. A Prophet sharply reproveth Eli, for not re∣proving [Eli 27] his sons. This Prophet the Jews held to be Elkanah himself, and say [Eli 28] that he was one of the eight and forty Prophets that prophesied to Israel. In Chap. [Eli 29] 2. Vers. 11. it is said, that Elkanah returned to Ramoth to his own house: and yet [Eli 30] verse 20. it is said, that Eli blessed Elkanah; which is to be understood, that [Eli 31] he had done so from Samuels first dedication, and so did as oft as he came to [Eli 32] Shiloh. Samuel himself becomes a Prophet, first against Elies house, and then [Eli 33] afterward to all Israel, Chap. 3. 1. Impiety had exceedingly banished Prophesie [Eli 34] [Eli 35] in these times amongst them, but now the Lord begins to restore it for pre∣diction [Eli 36] of ruine, and then for direction of reformation. Urim and Thum∣mim [Eli 37] were ere long to be lost from the Priests, with the loss of the Ark; [Eli 38] and God pours the Spirit of Prophesie upon a Levite to supply that [Eli 39] want.