Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, х zªroa`
(H2220), the arm; also strength, power; and hence, the phrase, 'to cut off,' or 'break' ones arm, is equivalent to destroy his power (cf. Job 22:9; Job 38:15; Psalms 10:15; Psalms 37:17)]. The "arm" of Eli was either his priestly pre-eminence or his children, to whom the tenor of the subsequent context evidently points (cf. Genesis 49:3; Deuteronomy 21:17; Psalms 127:4-5). [The Septuagint takes it in this latter sense: for, having apparently read zªra` (H2234), seed, they render the clause, exolothreusoo to sperma sou kai to sperma oikou; and so also the Chaldee version, 'I will cut off the strength of thy seed.'] Eli was the first in his branch of the family who was made high priest (Josephus, b. 8:, ch. 1:, sec. 3). This judgment did not fall upon Eli's house immediately, but after the lapse of a considerable time; because his grandson, Ahitub (1 Samuel 14:3), and Abiathar (1 Kings 1:25; 1 Kings 2:26), Ahitub's grandson, successively held the office of high priest.
That there shall not be an old man in thine house. So much importance has always in the East been attached to old age, that it would be felt to be a great calamity, and sensibly lower the respectability of any family which could boast of few or no old men. Or, perhaps, as the people are taught universally to connect age with respectability and honour, the meaning of the words may be only this, not only that all the family should die comparatively young, but that they should die without public respect. The prediction of this prophet was fully confirmed by the afflictions, degradation, poverty, and many untimely deaths with which the house of Eli was visited after this announcement (1 Samuel 4:2; 1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 22:18-23; 1 Kings 2:27; 1 Chronicles 24:4: cf. Proverbs 15:10: see Pye Smith's 'Scripture Testimony,' vol. 2:, pt. 1:, 76).