Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. The sons of Eli were sons of Belial - They were perverse, wicked, profligate men; devil's children. They knew not the Lord.
"They know! nor would an angel show Him; They would not know, nor choose to know Him."
These men were the principal cause of all the ungodliness of Israel. Their most execrable conduct, described 1 Samuel 2:13-17, caused the people to abhor the Lord's offering. An impious priesthood is the grand cause of the transgressions and ruin of any nation; witness France, Germany, Spain, Ac., from 1792 to 1814.