And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.
This man went up out of his city yearly to worship ... in Shiloh. In that place was the 'earth's one sanctuary,' and there he repaired at the three solemn feasts, accompanied by his family at one of them-probably the Passover. Although a Levite, he could not personally offer a sacrifice-that was exclusively the office of the priests; and his piety in maintaining a regular attendance on the divine ordinances is the more worthy of notice, that the character of the two priests who administered them was notoriously bad. But doubtless he believed and acted on the belief, that the ordinances were 'effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in those who administered them, but from the grace of God being communicated through them.'