1 Samuel 2

Thirdly, God has mercies for all sorts. Mercies for the poor (1 Samuel 2:8): He raises the poor out of the dust. Mercies for the prisoner (Psalm 69:33): He despises not his prisoners.

His spring feeds all our cisterns; he drops his holy oil of grace upon us. Fourthly, God is holy transcendently (1 Samuel 2:2): "There is none holy as the Lord." No angel in heaven can take the just dimensions of God's holiness.

For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed (1 Samuel 2:3). Glorious things are spoken of God; he transcends our thoughts and the angels' praises.

His kingdom rules over all; that is, the kingdom of his providence: This kingdom we do not pray for, when we say Your Kingdom come; for this kingdom is already come: God exercises the kingdom of his providence in the world (Psalm 75:7). He puts down one, and sets up another: Not…

Parents are as it were in the room of God; if they would teach you the fear of the Lord, you must listen to their words as oracles, and not be as the deaf adder to stop your ears. Eli's sons hearkened not to the voice of their father (1 Samuel 2:25), but they were called sons of…

His high birth, his learning, his legal righteousness, but he disclaims all in point of justification, and lays them under Christ's feet to tread upon. No angel could with all his holiness lay down a price for the pardon of one sin (1 Samuel 2:25). If a man sin against the Lord,…

Now, the Lord God approving of him, he has the hearts of all men in his hands, inclining them where he wills: and if it does stand with his glory, he will cause them to like, and to speak well of him, that does believe. Many, indeed, get great applause in the world, which little…

And this answer seems the better, because we may have some reason to think that God will save of every nation some, but no ground to imagine he will save all of any nation: much less all of every nation. 2. Here we may see, that God honoreth those his servants that honor him, as…

Thirdly, others there be which expound it thus: He descended into hell, that is, Christ Jesus, when he was dying upon the cross, felt and suffered the pangs of hell and the full wrath of God seizing upon his soul. This exposition has its warrant in God's word, where hell often s…

God is first transcendently holy. There is none holy as the Lord (1 Samuel 2:2). The blessed seraphims cover their faces, and cry holy, holy, but what angels can take the just dimensions of his sanctity? they are too low of stature to measure these pyramids.

(3) The mercies of God have been melting mercies to others, melting their souls in love to the God of their mercies. So Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1): when she received the mercy of a son, 'My soul,' said she, 'rejoices in the Lord' — not in the mercy, but in the God of the mercy. And s…

5. Mortify therefore your members, that are on earth, fornication, uncleanness, etc. Beza, Piscator, and others think it probable that Christ uttered this prayer to his Father, in the Syriac tongue, because the Evangelist uses the word [illegible], to be lifted up from the earth…

Therefore after their inward confusion, there followed also an outward confusion and shame among men, according to that saying: The Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain (Exodus 20:7). And again: They which despise me, shall be despised (1 Samuel 2:30). Co…

It is written (says he) that the mother of many children, and she which has a husband must be sick and die and contrariwise, that the barren and she which has no children, must have abundance of children. After the same manner Hannah sings in her song, out of which Isaiah the Pr…

Lastly, fearful judgments of God belong to ministers of wicked lives. Destruction befalls the sons of Eli and their families, because they by lewd example made the people of God to sin (1 Samuel 2:24). The like befell the sons of Aaron for their presumption.

And the precept of Saint Paul, commanding Timothy, that he should so reprove, as that he convict the conscience of the sin, when he says, Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and DOCTRINE (2 Timothy 4:2): now this is done by showing the true meaning of the law and the…

Light is sown for the Righteous, and Gladness for the Upright in Heart. Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous, and give Thanks at the Remembrance of his HOLINESS. 1 Samuel 2. 2. There is none HOLY as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any Rock like our God.

Section 10. The first considerable thing in God's command to this purpose is the authority with which it is accompanied — it is indispensably necessary that we should be holy on account of the authority of God's command; God himself uses this argument (Malachi 1:6), and there ar…

Who is like you glorious in holiness! There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none besides you, neither is there any rock like our God! (1 Samuel 2:2) And this is recommended and enjoined to his holy ones as the special matter of their joy and praise: Rejoice in the Lord yo…

Thus she thought, now shall I have the honor of raising Abraham's family; now I am at least as good a woman as my mistress — thus she despised Sarah. Again, 1 Samuel 2:30, where the Lord says concerning Eli's sons, Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me, shall…

And in Psalm 33 says David also: The rich shall want and suffer hunger: but they which seek the LORD, shall want no manner of thing that is good. Likewise also said Anna the mother of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 2): They that were filled before, are sold for bread: and they tha…

May not an Intercessor be obtained to plead in the behalf of the guilty soul? Eli determines this matter, 1 Samuel 2:25. If one man sinagainst another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?

But nothing will move a sinner; the rocks will sooner rend than his heart. If all that I have said will not prevail, it is a sign ruin is toward (1 Samuel 2:25). They hearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.

Such a one we read of, Judges 6:8: "The Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them," etc. Such a one it seems to have been that we read of, 1 Samuel 2:27: "and there came a man of God to Eli," etc. But there was no such order of men upheld in Israel fo…

And your gravity and awful composedness therein will contribute very much to the preserving of your authority, and will command respect abundantly more than your noise and chiding. Masters of families (and masters of schools too) have need, in this matter, to behave themselves w…

In this sense is it used in that frequent expression, if I have found grace in your sight: that is, if I be freely and favorably accepted before you. So he gives grace, (that is, favor) to the humble (James 4:6; Genesis 39:21; chapter 41:37; Acts 7:10; 1 Samuel 2:26; 2 Kings 25:…

2. That he will sorely revenge the rebellion of evil wives: for again he has said, they that despise me, shall be despised. We know that fellows in office are ready to stand for the credit of one another's place, and to maintain the honor thereof: and that not without good reaso…

Upon these grounds holy men have not spared to rebuke their children as there was occasion (Genesis 9:25; Genesis 34:30; Genesis 49:4). Though Eli did somewhat in this duty, yet because he was not more severe therein, he brought destruction both upon himself and his children (1…

It is notable, that Pharaoh in his distress sent for Moses and Aaron, and not for the magicians. The consciences of wicked men are open at such a time, and they know God's children have special favor, and great audience with him; and he having the hearts of all men in his hands,…

2. We pray for strength to withstand his darts, that we may take the armor of God, and withstand the evil one (Ephesians 6:13). Alas! of ourselves, we cannot deliver ourselves from the least evil, or stand out against the least assault; therefore it is God alone that must keep t…

Does God take care of oxen? He deals bountifully with his enemies, but much more does he preserve the feet of his saints (1 Samuel 2:9). The care of his providence has its degrees; it is more intensively exercised about things of worth and value, and most of all about the life o…

God gives men over that trust in themselves. For the Lord takes it to be his honor to be the saints' guardian, to keep the feet of his saints (1 Samuel 2:9). He will be owned and depended upon.

5. Self-Confidence: When we think to bear it out with natural courage and resolution, and will be playing about the cockatrice's hole, and dallying with temptation: As Peter's confidence, you know how dear it cost him (John 18:16-17). It is God who keeps the feet of his saints,…

In its infancy there may be some relics of fear in a Christian; as (John 19:39), Nicodemus at first came to Jesus by night: but a grown faith counts it no loss of honor, or impeachment of dignity, to become vile for God. 4. The eternal recompense, (1 Samuel 2:30), Those that hon…

1. That natural comforts are the gifts of God (1 Timothy 1:17). He gives us richly all things to enjoy; and sets forth the bounds of our habitation where and how much we shall have; and gives and takes these things at his pleasure; raising up some from the dunghill, pulling down…

Another instance is: That of Eli (which is remarkable), who is charged with honoring his sons before God (1 Samuel 2:29). How so?

Men take reproofs for reproach, yet God having laid it on good men as their [reconstructed: duty] to rebuke, and not suffer sin to lie upon their brother, they dare not omit it (Leviticus 19:17). Though Eli reproved his sons for their sins, yet he is sharply reproved for not rep…

But when the heart becomes like the stomach, [illegible] weak it cannot help itself, nor be helped by physic, desperate diseases and dissolution of the whole follows, and in reason must be expected. Hence see how God looks at the least connivance, or a faint and feeble kind of o…

Too much leniency in a magistrate is not meekness but injustice. For him to indulge offenses and say with a gentle reproof, as Eli (1 Samuel 2:23-24): Why do you such things? Nay, my sons, it is not a good report that I hear — this is but to shave the head that deserves to be cu…

Satan says God is a hard Master and his commandments are grievous. It is the devil's design, as the sons of Eli did, to make the offering of God to be despised (1 Samuel 2:17). The devil raises in people's hearts two particular prejudices against Christ and his ways.

Christ is called a horn of salvation (Luke 1:69); the strength of a creature lies in his horn, and so the strength of a believer lies in this horn of salvation. The bird might as well fly without wings as we can do anything effective without Christ (1 Samuel 2:9): by strength sh…

And therefore if any yet in their natural estate would become wise to salvation, let them first become fooles in their own eyes, and renounce their carnal wisdom, which perceives not the things of God, and beg wisdom of God, who gives and upbraids not. If any man would have stre…

And as for creatures, there was none in heaven or earth that was fit to undertake this office. For if one man sin against another, the judge shall judge herein; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intercede for him? (1 Samuel 2:25). "There is not any mediator between us…

Sin is the great Leveller; it brings a Family low: it cuts off the Arm, and dissolves the Pillars thereof. 1 Samuel 2:29. Wherefore kick ye at my Sacrifice?

5th Commandment: Honor your father, etc. He breaks this commandment: who mocks or reviles or beats his superiors (Genesis 9:22); who disobeys their lawful commandments (Romans [reconstructed: 13]:30); who is unthankful to parents and will not [reconstructed: relieve] them if nee…

They, moreover, gave an instance of what they affirmed; and that was, he had stripped himself of his glory that he might do this for the poor; and that they heard him say and affirm, that he would not dwell in the mountain of Zion alone. They said, moreover, that he had made man…

Grace in either, contributes much to the spirituality of the actions one of another: so the mockers of eternity and judgment, are ignorant, because they will be ignorant (2 Peter 3:5). And Eli's sons will be abominably lustful in their affections, because they know not the Lord,…