ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Prophecy

The house of Eli cut off (1 Samuel 2; 1 Kings 2:27)

Samuel tells Eli of God’s judgments on his house: engraving by James Daniell (1805) after Copley. Artist’s impression.
Artist’s impression Samuel tells Eli of God’s judgments on his house: engraving by James Daniell (1805) after Copley. Artist’s impression. — James Daniell, after John Singleton Copley (Yale Center for British Art), Wikimedia Commons · CC0

○ Written after the events, according to historians; tradition dates it before

Written c. 1100–1050 BC according to tradition; c. 640–560 BC according to historians. Event: c. 1050–970 BC.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. In the first book of Samuel, around 1100–1050 BC according to tradition, the LORD announces to the priest Eli that his family will be cut off: no one in it will reach old age anymore, and his two sons will die on the same day.

What happened. According to the Bible, Eli's two sons die on the same day, around 1050 BC, then King Solomon removes the priest Abiathar, around 970 BC, in favor of Zadok. The sanctuary of Shiloh, where Eli served, did burn around 1050 BC, but no source outside the Bible names Eli or his family.

What is still debated. many historians see it as a justification, written after the fact, for replacing one priestly family with that of Zadok, which held the Temple in Jerusalem.

What would be striking if the text came first

The announcement runs over three generations, from a military defeat to the removal of a priest under Solomon. For historians, the account was written centuries later, perhaps to justify the priestly family that took over in Jerusalem.

Main objection (in French for now)

L’oracle est généralement lu comme une justification après coup du remplacement de la lignée d’Ithamar (Abiathar) par celle de Tsadok, qui contrôlait le Temple de Jérusalem.

The text (World English Bible)

Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever. The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure…

1 Sam 2:31-36

Sources