(22) Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (23) And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. (24) Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD'S people to transgress.
It doth not appear that Eli himself was concerned in this evil of his house. No doubt, he had educated his sons in the knowledge of the Lord. Perhaps he was too much relaxed in the discipline of his family; and his reproofs were not so sharp as they ought to have been. But Reader! do not fail to recollect, that grace is not hereditary. From what follows in the latter part of this chapter, it should seem that Eli did not enter into the full view of the enormity of his children's transgression. We do not hear of any prayers, or cries, he sent forth to God to reclaim them.