1 Samuel 2:36

1Sa 2:36 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.

Ver. 36. Shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver.] As Abiathar did, that officiperda, when banished to Anathoth, where he had not a maintenance. {1Ki 2:26} Let those that would shun poverty, and prevent it in posterity, take heed of snatching from others, and of pampering their paunches.

That I may eat.] We preach the gospel, saith an ingenuous Papist, tantum ut nos pascat et vestiat, for this end only, that we may pick a living out of it. So do too many amongst us.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 2:36. Every one that is left in thy house — That remains of thy family, not being cut off; shall crouch to him for a piece of silver, &c. — Shall humble himself to Zadok, or the high-priests of his line, begging a small relief in the great poverty to which he shall be reduced. Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, &c. — Or, Put me into somewhat belonging to the priesthood, as it is in the Hebrew; that is, Give me the meanest pension that is allowed to those priests who are prohibited from officiating, or some part, of what belongs to the priests. See 2Ki 23:9; Eze 44:13. This was fulfilled in the days of Abiathar, who, for treason, was not only put out of his office, but sent to live upon his own farm in the country; and not suffered to enjoy the portion given to the priests at the temple, 1Ki 2:26-27. Through this, his posterity fell into extreme want, in which the just judgment of God may be observed, in that the children of those who were so wanton, that they would not be content unless they had the choicest parts of the sacrifices for their portion, should fall into so low a condition as to beg their bread!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, shall be inferior unto him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 36. Shall come and crouch to him] Shall prostrate himself before him in the most abject manner, begging to be employed even in the meanest offices about the tabernacle, in order to get even the most scanty means of support.

A piece of silver] אגורת כסף agorath keseph, translated by the Septuagint, οβολου αργυριου, an obolus of silver. The Targum translates it מעא mea, which is the same as the Hebrew gerah, and weighed about sixteen grains of barley.

A morsel of bread] A mouthful; what might be sufficient to keep body and soul together. See the sin and its punishment. They formerly pampered themselves, and fed to the full on the Lord's sacrifices; and now they are reduced to a morsel of bread. They fed themselves without fear; and now they have cleanness of teeth in all their dwellings. They wasted the Lord's heritage, and now they beg their bread!

IN religious establishments, vile persons, who have no higher motive, may and do get into the priest's office, that they may clothe themselves with the wool, and feed themselves with the fat, while they starve the flock. But where there is no law to back the claims of the worthless and the wicked, men of piety and solid merit only can find support; for they must live on the free-will offerings of the people. Where religion is established by law, the strictest ecclesiastical discipline should be kept up, and all hireling priests and ecclesiastical drones should be expelled from the Lord's vineyard. An established religion, where the foundation is good, as is ours, I consider a great blessing; but it is liable to this continual abuse, which nothing but careful and rigid ecclesiastical discipline can either cure or prevent. If our high priests, our archbishops and bishops, do not their duty, the whole body of the clergy may become corrupt or inefficient. If they be faithful, the establishment will be an honour to the kingdom, and a praise in the earth.

The words pillars of the earth, מצקי ארץ metsukey erets, Mr. Parkhurst translates and defends thus: "The compressors of the earth; i.e., the columns of the celestial fluid which compress or keep its parts together." This is all imaginary; we do not know this compressing celestial fluid; but there is one that answers the same end, which we do know, i.e., the AIR, the columns of which press upon the earth in all directions; above, below, around, with a weight of fifteen pounds to every square inch; so that a column of air of the height of the atmosphere, which on the surface of the globe measures one square inch, is known by the most accurate and indubitable experiments to weigh fifteen pounds. Now as a square foot contains one hundred and forty-four square inches, each foot must be compressed with a weight of incumbent atmospheric air equal to two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds. And as the earth is known to contain a surface of five thousand five hundred and seventy-five billions of square feet; hence, allowing two thousand one hundred and sixty pounds to each square foot, the whole surface of the globe must sustain a pressure of atmospheric air equal to twelve trillions and forty-one thousand billions of pounds; or six thousand and twenty-one billions of tons. This pressure, independently of what is called gravity, is sufficient to keep all the parts of the earth together, and perhaps to counteract all the influence of centrifugal force. But adding to this all the influence of gravity or attraction, by which every particle of matter tends to the centre, these compressors of the earth are sufficient to poise, balance, and preserve the whole terraqueous globe. These pillars or compressors are an astonishing provision made by the wisdom of God for the necessities of the globe. Without this, water could not rise in fountains, nor the sap in vegetables. Without this, there could be no respiration for man or beast, and no circulation of the blood in any animal. In short, both vegetable and animal life depend, under God, on these pillars or compressors of the earth; and were it not for this compressing power, the air contained in the vessels of all plants and animals would by its elasticity expand and instantly rupture all those vessels, and cause the destruction of all animal and vegetable life: but God in his wisdom has so balanced these two forces, that, while they appear to counteract and balance each other, they serve, by mutual dilations and compressions, to promote the circulation of the sap in vegetables, and the blood in animals.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

36. crouch] Lit. bow himself down.

a piece of silver] The Heb. word means such a coin as beggars would receive.

a morsel of bread] Rather, a cake of bread. The same word is used in 1Sa_10:3 (E. V. loaves), and denotes a round flat cake or loaf.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A piece - The word is only found here; but is thought to be connected in etymology and in meaning with the “Gerah,” the smallest Hebrew coin, being the twentieth part of the shekel. The smallness of the sum asked for shows the poverty of the asker.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Bread; like the poorest sort of people. (Menochius) --- Being degraded, they shall ask the other priests to offer sacrifice for them. Hebrew, "shall bend before him for a piece of silver, and for a morsel of bread." He shall humbly intreat to be employed as a priest, in order to get a livelihood. --- The piece of silver. Hebrew agorath, probably denotes the gerah, the smallest coin, or what was given for a day’s wages. Agor means to hire, in Chaldean, Syriac, &c. Hence the Greek, Greek: agorazo, "I purchase." --- Office. The priests served in their turns; (1 Paralipomenon xxiv.) so that the descendants of Heli must have been entitled to a subsistence. But whether God punished them, by requiring that they should ask the high priest for this, as for a favour, or this was required of all the inferior priests before they could be employed, or whether, in fine, the descendants of Abiathar were reduced to the condition of Levites, or wholly degraded, we know not. See 4 Kings xxiii. 9., and Ezechiel xliv. 10. (Calmet) --- They may petition for a part of the victims which fell to the share of the priests, (Menochius) and might be eaten by any that was not defiled. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Crouch to him, in way of humble supplication. See 1Ki 2:26;

A morsel of bread; whereas before they were so nice and delicate, that my liberal allowance could not satisfy them, but they must have their meat raw and fat, &c., above, 1Sa 2:13-16; so the punishment is suited to the nature of their sin.

Into one of the priests’ offices; into the meanest office belonging to it. See Eze 44:10,11, &c.

Quest. How could they be reduced to so great straits, seeing, though they lost the high priesthood, they still were inferior priests, and had a right to those plentiful provisions which belonged to that order?

Answ. First, They might be degraded, not only from the office of the high priest, but also from that of the inferior priests, and consequently might forfeit and lose all the privileges belonging to their office. Secondly, This might be from the tyranny and violence of some of the succeeding priests of Eleazar’s line towards that other line, which had long stood in competition with them, and had for a season got away the priesthood from them; for this text only relates the matter of fact, but doth not express an approbation of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

36. Every one that is left in thine house — Eli’s posterity should not be utterly cut off; but even after the deposition of Abiathar they would linger as mendicants around the faithful priest, and beg of him a pittance of money and of bread, or petition for some work pertaining to the priesthood, that would yield them food. Even after the seventy years’ exile we find descendants of Ithamar among the priests who returned with Ezra from Babylon. Ezr_8:2. “See,” says Dr. A. Clarke, “the sin and its punishment. They formerly pampered themselves, and fed to the full on the Lord’s sacrifices; and now they are reduced to a morsel of bread. They led themselves without fear; and now they have cleanness of teeth in all their dwellings. They wasted the Lord’s heritage; and now they beg their bread!”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Piece of silver is lit. a small silver coin got by begging and the word marks the extreme penury into which the race of Eli fell Gathered round the sanctuary at Shiloh, they were the chief sufferers by its ruin, and we have noticed how for a time they fall entirely out of view. During the miserable period of Philistine domination which followed, Samuel became to the oppressed nation a centre of hope, and by wise government he first reformed the people internally, and then gave them freedom from foreign rule. During this period we may be sure that he did much to raise from their misery the descendants of Eli, and finally Ahiah, Eli"s grandson, ministers as high priest before Saul. Though his grandson, Abiathar, was deposed from the office by Solomon, there is no reason for imagining that the family ever again fell into distress, nor do the terms of the prophecy warrant such a supposition.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

him

the faithful priest whom God will raise up

so I can eat a piece of bread

Here "piece of bread" is used for "food. "AT: "so I can have something to eat" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

bow

silver

bread

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

For a silver coin. In order to earn a מָעָה silver coin.

Silver coin. with a weight of twenty gerah.

Let me be included. Let me to join.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.