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.
Ver. 22. Now Eli was very old.] And with it dim sighted, and so could not see so well into the evil manners of his sons; who also haply therefore slighted him the more, because old, and overworn.
And how they lay with the women.] a That came thither for better purpose: either to be purified, as Leviticus 12:6, or to fast and pray, as Luke 2:37, to perform service to God in an orderly way. The Hebrew hath it, which warfared, or came together by troops, b as Exodus 38:8, where in the LXX render the sense by the verb νηστευειν, to fast. The sin of these priests, therefore, was "exceeding sinful": for that being of a sacred calling, and wearing white ephods, they should in so sacred a place commit such villany with religious women, such as came in freely and frequently to serve God in the tabernacle: this also they did, though they had wives of their own, as being sick of a pleurisy, Now rare or Obs.; formerly almost always in sense ‘superabundance, excess' and like the devil, delighting to sow other men's grounds. Mat 13:25
a Hebraei intelligunt puerperas.
b Turmatim conveniebant. - Jun.