And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
Every one that is left ... shall ... crouch to him for a piece of silver, and morsel of bread. What a striking contrast to the superabundance enjoyed by Eli's two sons! The punishment was suited to the nature of the sin.
Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices - namely, some inferior or menial situation (cf. Ezekiel 44:10-11). It has been objected that there is an inconsistency in these statement; because if the posterity of Eli, though deprived of the high priesthood, should still be employed in the common offices of the priests, they would have a legal right to the abundant provision with which the tribe of Levi was endowed. But the answer is, that a deep-seated feeling of jealousy and rancour, as appears both from the sacred history and that of Josephus, long existed between the rival houses of Eleazar and Ithamar; so that, when the older branch was restored to the ascendency, some of the high priests of that line might exercise such tyranny and violence toward those who had been so long their competitors as to deprive them of the offices they held; or they might exhibit such a spirit of insubordination and enmity to the occupiers of the high priesthood that they forfeited their privileges. In either case they might be compelled by the pressure of poverty to "crouch for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread."