1 Samuel 1:9

9. Hannah rose up To go to the tabernacle to pray before the Lord. 1 Samuel 1:12.

Eli the priest הכהן , the priest, made thus definite by the article, means the high priest, who was distinguished from the ordinary priests by being anointed in some peculiarly solemn manner, and therefore called the anointed priest, (Leviticus 4:3;) also by wearing a mitre, a breastplate, and a robe, (Exodus 28:4, where see notes,) and by holding peculiar functions. Hebrews 9:7. Eli was a descendant of Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron. Eleazar, the elder son, had been inducted into the high priesthood on the death of his father on Mount Hor. Numbers 20:28. On what occasion or for what reason this honour was transferred to the line of Ithamar we are nowhere informed. Keil supposes “that at the death of the last high priest of the family of Eleazar, before the time of Eli, the remaining son was not equal to the occasion, either because he was still an infant, or too young and inexperienced to enter upon the office; and Eli, who was probably related by marriage to the high priest’s family, and a vigorous man, was compelled by the circumstances to take the oversight of the congregation.” The transfer may, however, in the lawless period of the Judges, have been brought about in a much less honourable and lawful way. Ewald supposes that Eli was in his youth a great hero and deliverer of the people, and by his remarkable prowess raised himself to the office of judge, and then “the office of high priest at Shiloh probably devolved upon him simply as a descendant of Aaron. For this office had then fallen so low, the disorganized and scattered state of the priestly class was so deep-rooted, that probably any descendant of Aaron who possessed much consideration with the people was readily acknowledged as high priest in Shiloh by all his adherents.” From 1 Samuel 4:18, we learn that he was also one of the Judges of Israel.

Sat upon a seat Hebrew, upon the throne; an elevated seat near the door of the tabernacle, where, as judge, he could hear the complaints of the people and render judgment, as well as preserve proper order at the holy place.

The temple of the Lord Called at 1 Samuel 1:7, the house of the Lord. This was the enclosure of boards and curtains which contained the sacred shrines, of all which a minute description is given in Exodus 25-27, where see notes. It was carried with the Israelites in all their journeys, (Numbers 1:50-51,) until they set it up at Shiloh, (Joshua 18:1;) thence it seems to have been removed by David to Jerusalem, (2 Samuel 6:17,) where it was superseded by the temple of Solomon. “The sanctuary itself,” says Stanley, “was so encased with buildings as to give it the name and appearance of a house or temple. ” See on chap. 1 Samuel 3:15.