Chapter 2 of Shmuel A divides into two parts. The first ten verses are the Song of Chana - the prayer and thanksgiving in which she thanks the Holy One, blessed be He, for the great kindness He did with her: that after long years of barrenness she merited this son named Shmuel. From here on the text returns to tell what is happening with Shmuel who is in the Mishkan, and what is happening with the sons of Eli - up to the first prophecy delivered to Eli through the man of God.
וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל חַנָּה וַתֹּאמַר עָלַץ לִבִּי בַּיהֹוָה רָמָה קַרְנִי בַּיהֹוָה רָחַב פִּי עַל אוֹיְבַי כִּי שָׂמַחְתִּי בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ׃ - And Chana prayed and said: My heart rejoices in Hashem, my horn is raised in Hashem, my mouth is opened wide against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.
There is a question here of definition: prayer means request. Yet all of Chana's words here are not a request but thanksgiving. It would have fit to write 'And Chana gave thanks,' or 'And Chana sang' - like 'And Devorah sang,' for song too is an expression of thanksgiving. Why does it say 'And she prayed'? The Metzudat David explains: the prayer appears at the end of her words. From verse 9 onward - 'He will guard the feet of His pious ones,' 'Hashem, His adversaries will be shattered' - these are requests for the future, and that is the prayer. And it is a principle in our hands: before a person prays, he must set forth the praise of the Omnipresent. Therefore Chana opens by describing the kindness that came upon her and the praise of the Creator, and only afterward reaches her request.
'My heart rejoices' - my heart is glad in the salvation of the Holy One, blessed be He. 'My horn is raised' - let us understand the concept of 'horn,' which appears countless times in Scripture: 'He raised the horn of His anointed,' 'He raised a horn for His people.' The horn is the goring instrument of the ox, and it is the symbol for goring one's enemies. When the horn of Israel is raised, it means that they have, as it were, a horn with which to gore their enemies. And so Chana says: now my horn is raised to gore my enemies. And who are my enemies? The Metzudat David explains: Penina and her children, who used to distress her, and mainly Penina, and she had no opening to respond. Now that a son is born to me I have received a horn - not, God forbid, to distress them, but to defend myself against what they used to inflict on me.
'My mouth is opened wide against my enemies' - consequently I can now open my mouth wide against my enemies. 'For I rejoice in Your salvation' - this is the essence of the joy: that the salvation came from You. Sometimes salvation comes, as it were, from another source, through doctors and through various agents, and though even then everything is from Hashem, it is not felt clearly. I rejoice that the salvation came in a clear manner from You, and when salvation is clearly from Him it is easier to give thanks, and one does not feel that the matter came by way of nature.
אֵין קָדוֹשׁ כַּיהֹוָה כִּי אֵין בִּלְתֶּךָ וְאֵין צוּר כֵּאלֹהֵינוּ׃ - There is none holy like Hashem, for there is none besides You, and there is no rock like our God.
'There is none holy like Hashem' - I prayed in the Beit HaMikdash and my prayer was heard. 'For there is none besides You' - there is no one worthy of praying to except You. 'And there is no rock' - a rock is a stone, an expression of strength: there is none strong like our God, who overturns nature - I was barren by my nature and I gave birth. And Chazal expounded: there is no rock (tzur) like our God - there is no painter (tzayar) like our God. The painter here is not specifically one with a brush but a maker. Give a maker a clay jug to make - he will make it. But after he has finished the jug and sealed it, tell him: form within the jug another jug. He will tell you: how? I have already finished, I cannot form from inside. Yet the Holy One, blessed be He, forms a shape within a shape - there is a woman, and within her He shapes and forms another form. This is 'there is no painter like our God,' who forms a shape within a shape.
אַל תַּרְבּוּ תְדַבְּרוּ גְּבֹהָה גְבֹהָה יֵצֵא עָתָק מִפִּיכֶם כִּי אֵל דֵּעוֹת יְהֹוָה וְלוֹ נִתְכְּנוּ עֲלִלוֹת׃ - Do not multiply speaking so very haughtily, let not arrogance come forth from your mouth, for Hashem is a God of knowledge, and by Him deeds are measured.
Here too she turns to Penina, who used to act arrogantly toward her: do not multiply speaking so very haughtily, in a manner of pride. 'Let arrogance come forth from your mouth' - two interpretations in Rashi: either an expression of something strong, that you speak with force and pride; or an expression of turning aside and removing, like 'and he moved from there to the mountain' - and he removed from there. 'For Hashem is a God of knowledge' - the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what your intent is and what is in your heart. 'And by Him deeds are measured' - 'measured' (nitkenu) is an expression of counted and numbered, like 'the count (tochen) of bricks you shall give' which means the number of bricks; all the deeds and acts of human beings are counted and numbered before Him.
קֶשֶׁת גִּבֹּרִים חַתִּים וְנִכְשָׁלִים אָזְרוּ חָיִל׃ - The bows of the mighty are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.
Often a person who is on top boasts and grows arrogant, for he feels that just as he is now, so he will always be, while the lowly will remain lowly forever. Chana says: it is not so, there are surprises in life. 'חַתִּים' is a term of breaking, as in 'from whom is he broken' - he is shattered. The bows of the mighty were broken, they who were the heroes and the strong ones. 'וְנִכְשָׁלִים אָזְרוּ חָיִל' - and those who were stumbling and lagging, the weak, girded themselves with strength and grew powerful.
שְׂבֵעִים בַּלֶּחֶם נִשְׂכָּרוּ וּרְעֵבִים חָדֵלּוּ עַד עֲקָרָה יָלְדָה שִׁבְעָה וְרַבַּת בָּנִים אֻמְלָלָה׃ - Those who were sated with bread hired themselves out, and those who were hungry ceased; while the barren woman bore seven, and she who had many children was forlorn.
Here she repeats the principle with another example. 'שְׂבֵעִים בַּלֶּחֶם נִשְׂכָּרוּ' - people who were sated and prosperous, wealthy and moneyed, end up hiring themselves out as laborers for a piece of bread, looking for someone to take them on as hired hands so that they will have something to eat. 'וּרְעֵבִים חָדֵלּוּ' - and those who were hungry ceased from their hunger, becoming sated and honored. The same principle: the Holy One, blessed be He, reverses the order - the one who is arrogant and feels on top, the Holy One, blessed be He, humbles him; and the lowly one, the Holy One, blessed be He, raises him up. And so it was exactly with her and with Penina: Penina was on top and descended lower and lower, and Chana was below and rose higher and higher.
Now she arrives at the analogy itself: 'עַד עֲקָרָה יָלְדָה שִׁבְעָה' - this is Chana. 'וְרַבַּת בָּנִים אֻמְלָלָה' - this is Penina, who boasted of her ten sons and became forlorn. And Chazal expounded on what is said, 'seven': some say that 'seven' (sheva) equals in gematria 'Shmuel', meaning she bore a son who is equivalent to seven. And Rabbi Yehuda says: grandchildren are considered as children, for in fact we find that Chana had five sons, and Shmuel's two sons are counted as children.
And there is the well known and familiar midrash: Chana had five sons, but for every son that Chana would bear, Penina would bury two. When Chana bore her first son, two of Penina's sons died and she was left with eight. When she bore the second, six remained to her. The third, four. The fourth, only two remained to her. And when Chana conceived her fifth son, Penina understood that if she did not go to appease Chana, even her two last sons would not remain. What did she do? She went to Chana and asked for her forgiveness, and said to her: I have been reconciled to you, I know that I acted toward you improperly. Note that eight of her sons had to die before she would go to ask forgiveness. Chana rose and prayed that Penina's two last sons should not die. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: by your life, only for your sake do I leave them alive; for Penina's sake they would not have remained. And since they remained alive only through Chana's prayer, they were considered her children and called by her name - and this is why 'the barren woman bore seven'.
יְהֹוָה מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה מוֹרִיד שְׁאוֹל וַיָּעַל׃ - Hashem brings death and gives life, He brings down to the grave and raises up.
It is no coincidence that the barren woman bore seven and she who had many children was forlorn: the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One who puts to death the sons of her who had many children and gives life to the sons of Chana, who seemingly were never meant to come into the world. 'מוֹרִיד שְׁאוֹל וַיָּעַל' - He brings down her who had many children to Sheol, and the intention here is not Gehinnom but the depth of trouble; and the barren woman He raises higher and higher and higher.
The Malbim raises a difficulty: 'He brings down to Sheol and raises up' seemingly has no place here, for there is no discussion here of one who descended to Sheol. 'Brings death and gives life' is understandable and fits the analogy of Chana and Penina, but where does the matter of Sheol come from? He explains: since Chana mentioned in her prayer two of the three keys, she also mentioned the third. Chazal say: three keys were not handed over to a messenger - childbirth, the resurrection of the dead, and sustenance and rains. She mentioned childbirth - that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought about a birth for her that was not meant to be. She mentioned sustenance - 'those who were sated with bread hired themselves out'. And since it is so, she concludes with the third: the resurrection of the dead - the Holy One, blessed be He, raises up from Sheol and gives life.
יְהֹוָה מוֹרִישׁ וּמַעֲשִׁיר מַשְׁפִּיל אַף מְרוֹמֵם׃ - Hashem makes poor and makes rich, He humbles and also exalts.
'מוריש' is a term of making poor. The Holy One, blessed be He, makes poor and makes rich, humbles and exalts as He wills. And therefore it is not fitting for the wealthy to be arrogant, for if Hashem wills it, in a single moment he could become poor. And not only what we saw earlier, that those who were sated are hired out for bread and the hungry ceased, but 'He humbles and also exalts': this one He humbles, and the lowly one, who may have been working for him, He exalts over him, and suddenly it is he who becomes his boss and the one who gives him orders.
מֵקִים מֵעָפָר דָּל מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן לְהוֹשִׁיב עִם נְדִיבִים וְכִסֵּא כָבוֹד יַנְחִלֵם כִּי לַיהֹוָה מְצֻקֵי אֶרֶץ וַיָּשֶׁת עֲלֵיהֶם תֵּבֵל׃ - He raises up the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap, to seat them with nobles and grant them a throne of honor, for the foundations of the earth are the Lord's, and upon them He set the world.
One who was poor, despised and lowly - the Holy One, blessed be He, raises him up and elevates him. 'מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן' - the ash heap is the lowest place of all, and from there He lifts him up to seat him with nobles, that is, with dignitaries and men of wealth. 'וְכִסֵּא כָבוֹד יַנְחִלֵם' - they will be honored in the eyes of people. 'כִּי לַה' מְצֻקֵי אֶרֶץ' - the foundations of the earth are His, and He established the world, and therefore there is no one to tell Him what to do and what to bring about.
רַגְלֵי חֲסִידָו יִשְׁמֹר וּרְשָׁעִים בַּחֹשֶׁךְ יִדָּמּוּ כִּי לֹא בְכֹחַ יִגְבַּר אִישׁ׃ - He guards the feet of His pious ones, and the wicked are silenced in darkness, for not by strength does a man prevail.
Chana comes and says: know that everything is by judgment, nothing happens that is not according to law. The Holy One, blessed be He, guards the feet of His pious ones, and the wicked are silenced in darkness - when their measure is full He brings them to judgment. 'כִּי לֹא בְכֹחַ יִגְבַּר אִישׁ' - the matter does not depend on a person's talent and his deeds, not on strength nor on wealth nor on authority, but only on His blessed will.
יְהֹוָה יֵחַתּוּ מְרִיבָו עָלָו בַּשָּׁמַיִם יַרְעֵם יְהֹוָה יָדִין אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ וְיִתֶּן עֹז לְמַלְכּוֹ וְיָרֵם קֶרֶן מְשִׁיחוֹ׃ - The Lord, His adversaries will be shattered, against them He will thunder in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and He will give strength to His king and raise the horn of His anointed.
With this pasuk, which is the essence of the prayer and the request, she concludes. 'מְרִיבָו' - who quarrels with God? Our Sages say: whoever quarrels with Israel quarrels with God. One who fights against the righteous and against the people of Israel fights against the blessed Creator. 'עָלָו בַּשָּׁמַיִם יַרְעֵם' - He will make thunder from the heavens to terrify them. And what is being spoken of here? In chapter 7 we will see the war of Shmuel against the Pelishtim, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, thundered against them with His voice from the heavens, sounding upon them terrible and frightening thunder, and they were terrified and fled.
'יְהֹוָה יָדִין אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ' - she prayed that her son Shmuel would be a judge throughout all the corners of the earth, and so indeed it was: Shmuel would travel from place to place and judge Israel. 'וְיִתֶּן עֹז לְמַלְכּוֹ וְיָרֵם קֶרֶן מְשִׁיחוֹ' - Shmuel crowned two kings, Shaul and David. 'His king' is the first king, Shaul, to whom strength would be given; 'His anointed' is David. And why is it said of David 'and He will raise the horn'? Our Sages say on 'רָמָה קַרְנִי': my horn is raised and not my flask is raised. Two kings were anointed in Israel - Shaul was anointed from a flask of oil, and David was anointed from a horn. And what is the difference? The flask is of clay and it breaks, and Shaul's kingship was broken and slipped away from him; but the horn, like a shofar, is very hard. And therefore 'my horn is raised' and not 'my flask is raised.'
וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶלְקָנָה הָרָמָתָה עַל בֵּיתוֹ וְהַנַּעַר הָיָה מְשָׁרֵת אֶת יְהֹוָה אֶת פְּנֵי עֵלִי הַכֹּהֵן׃ - And Elkana went to Rama, to his home, and the lad was serving the Lord before Eli the Kohen.
Elkana returns to his home after leaving Shmuel in the house of God forever. And our Sages learned from here: since he was serving before Eli the Kohen, he is considered as serving God - from here we learn that one who attends Torah scholars is like one who attends the presence of the Shechina.
וּבְנֵי עֵלִי בְּנֵי בְלִיָּעַל לֹא יָדְעוּ אֶת יְהֹוָה׃ - And the sons of Eli were wicked men, they did not know the Lord.
See the contrast: he served Hashem and Eli the Kohen, and rose higher and higher through the levels of Torah and holiness until he reached a lofty and mighty rung; while by contrast the sons of Eli, sons of Belial, did not know Hashem. When we say 'sons of Belial' it does not mean that their father was Belial - just as when we call a person a 'ben Torah' it does not mean his father is Torah, but that his very essence is a ben Torah. So too you, sons of Eli, your essence is 'bnei Belial' - 'bli ol,' without a yoke, they cast off the yoke of Heaven. They did not know Hashem and did not behave properly.
וּמִשְׁפַּט הַכֹּהֲנִים אֶת הָעָם כָּל אִישׁ זֹבֵחַ זֶבַח וּבָא נַעַר הַכֹּהֵן כְּבַשֵּׁל הַבָּשָׂר וְהַמַּזְלֵג שְׁלֹשׁ הַשִּׁנַּיִם בְּיָדוֹ׃ וְהִכָּה בַכִּיּוֹר אוֹ בַדּוּד אוֹ בַקַּלַּחַת אוֹ בַפָּרוּר כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יַעֲלֶה הַמַּזְלֵג יִקַּח הַכֹּהֵן בּוֹ כָּכָה יַעֲשׂוּ לְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל הַבָּאִים שָׁם בְּשִׁלֹה׃ - And the practice of the Kohanim with the people was: whenever any man brought a sacrifice, the Kohen's lad would come, while the meat was cooking, with a three pronged fork in his hand. He would thrust it into the basin, or the kettle, or the caldron, or the pot; whatever the fork brought up, the Kohen would take for himself. Thus they did to all Israel who came there, to Shiloh.
Here the verse begins to recount their sin. A person would come to bring an offering, and when they wished to begin cooking the meat, the Kohen's lad would come with the three pronged fork in his hand. He could have come with a one pronged fork, but a fork with three large prongs brings up more, and he would thrust and strike with force and take large portions. And what is 'the practice of the Kohanim with the people'? That they did not take at random, but rather they made a new practice and a new law that one must give the Kohanim far more than what the Torah allotted them. Furthermore: 'the Kohen's lad would come' - the Kohen would not come to take his portion himself, which is the dignified way, but would send his lad as a kind of collector. Instead of the Kohen approaching to receive from a high table, from Hashem's table, he sends someone to collect what is due to him from him - and takes a large amount.
And why does the verse mention all the names of the vessels? First one must know that these names are names of vessels according to their size: the kiyor (basin) is the largest of them, smaller than it the dud (kettle), smaller than it the kalachat (caldron) - all of them like a tub - and smaller than these the parur (pot), which is like a small pot. The Malbim says: it would have been fitting that according to the size of the offering so would be the size of the Kohen's taking, and according to the smallness of the offering so would his taking be reduced. If a person brings an ox weighing a ton and the Kohen takes ten kilos from it, there is no logic that he should take those same ten kilos from a lamb weighing a hundred kilos or from a kid weighing fifty. There is no proportion. And this is what the prophet comes to tell: they did not take according to the value of the offering, and it made no difference whether it was a large basin or a kettle or a caldron or a pot - 'whatever the fork brought up, the Kohen would take.' I always take what is mine.
Furthermore: it was also improper to treat all people equally. There are offerings in which the person himself receives a portion of the meat, like the peace offering, and it would have been fitting to take more from the wealthy and less from the poor. But they - 'Thus they did to all Israel,' with full equality, all were equal before them.
גַּם בְּטֶרֶם יַקְטִרוּן אֶת הַחֵלֶב וּבָא נַעַר הַכֹּהֵן וְאָמַר לָאִישׁ הַזֹּבֵחַ תְּנָה בָשָׂר לִצְלוֹת לַכֹּהֵן וְלֹא יִקַּח מִמְּךָ בָּשָׂר מְבֻשָּׁל כִּי אִם חָי׃ - Even before they burned the fat, the Kohen's lad would come and say to the man who was sacrificing: Give meat to roast for the Kohen, for he will not take from you boiled meat, but only raw.
Another act of trespass. It was permitted to take after burning the fat, and they would come to take before it. And why? Because if he comes after burning the fat, the meat will already be in the pot and begin to cook, and he wants meat roasted over the fire, not boiled. Therefore he would come even before it was placed in the kettle, that is, before it was offered to Hashem. And what was his claim? 'For he will not take from you boiled meat, but only raw' - it is worth your while to give me raw for two reasons: one, that if you give boiled, I will come with the fork and take as much as I want; and the second, that with boiled you toil to cook, and it turns out that you invest and I eat. Give raw, without effort. But the man was willing to wait until they burned the fat - for the fats are Hashem's offering, and by right the Creator's portion should first be burned and afterward the Kohen may take. What do you want to take before the Creator? I brought this as an offering.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הָאִישׁ קַטֵּר יַקְטִירוּן כַּיּוֹם הַחֵלֶב וְקַח לְךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר תְּאַוֶּה נַפְשֶׁךָ וְאָמַר לֹא כִּי עַתָּה תִתֵּן וְאִם לֹא לָקַחְתִּי בְחָזְקָה׃ - And the man would say to him: Let them burn the fat right now, and then take for yourself as your soul desires. But he would say: No, for you shall give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.
The man would refuse and say: I do not want, do not spare me. I want first to bring Hashem's offering, and only afterward will you take what you want. And what is 'right now' (kayom)? You need not wait a month - now, immediately, wait a few minutes and right away they will burn the fat and you will take. That is: a little patience. And he would answer: No and no, 'for you shall give it now,' I am not willing to wait, and if you do not give willingly - I will take by force.
וַתְּהִי חַטַּאת הַנְּעָרִים גְּדוֹלָה מְאֹד אֶת פְּנֵי יְהֹוָה כִּי נִאֲצוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים אֵת מִנְחַת יְהֹוָה׃ - And the sin of the lads was very great before Hashem, for the men treated the offering of Hashem with contempt.
The Malbim explains: why does it call this a 'sin' (chatat) and not an 'iniquity' (avon)? Because in truth it was permitted for them to take meat and roast it before burning the fats, and only to eat before that was forbidden; the taking itself was permitted. If so, the great sin was not in the taking itself, which is also something improper, but in what is written at the end: 'for the men treated the offering of Hashem with contempt.' 'The men' are the people. The people would say: Is this how the Kohen behaves? I come to the House of Hashem to bring an offering, and the Kohen thinks it is a steakhouse - give me another piece, give me one like this, I want meat like that. Is this how one behaves in the holy place, where all the eating is for the sake of Heaven, the Kohanim eat and the owners gain atonement? And what happened as a result? People stopped coming to the Mishkan, they scorned Hashem's offering, they said: forget it, this is not a Mishkan, this is a soup kitchen, this is a restaurant, base men, God forbid, run this place. Such a person harmed not only himself - they did not only disgrace him but the entire service of Hashem, and that is an unforgivable iniquity.
וּשְׁמוּאֵל מְשָׁרֵת אֶת פְּנֵי יְהֹוָה נַעַר חָגוּר אֵפוֹד בָּד׃ - And Shmuel ministered before Hashem, a youth girded with a linen ephod.
Why does Shmuel suddenly come up here? To tell you: Shmuel, even though he was not the son of the Kohen Gadol and was not a Kohen, nevertheless ministered before Hashem; and even though he was a youth, he was girded with a linen ephod, which was designated only for those who minister before Hashem. Come and see that Shmuel was not at all like the conduct of those men; even though he was in their company, he was righteous and God fearing.
And notice the difference between what is written here and what was written above. There it says, 'And the youth ministered to Hashem before Eli the Kohen', while here it says, 'And Shmuel ministered before Hashem', without Eli the Kohen and without 'the youth'. At first, when he had just arrived, he was in the category of a youth, that is, a student, and in himself he was not yet worthy, and everything came from the fact that he ministered before Eli the Kohen, learning from him, growing wise from him and being sanctified through him. But here, once he had matured somewhat, he is no longer 'the youth' but 'Shmuel', and he ministers before Hashem himself. 'A youth girded with a linen ephod' means the youthfulness is only in his age, not in his service before Hashem; there his service of Hashem was on the level of a youth, who had only just begun and needed Eli, while here he no longer needs Eli but is wise on his own.
This is somewhat like what we find, to distinguish, with the Vilna Gaon, who from a young age grew wiser than all his teachers and needed no rabbi; his father, who was himself a tremendous genius, taught him, and to everything he was taught he would still add more, and from a young age it was no longer possible for anyone to teach him. So too Shmuel very quickly reached the stage where he ministered before Hashem independently, without needing Eli.
וּמְעִיל קָטֹן תַּעֲשֶׂה לּוֹ אִמּוֹ וְהַעַלְתָה לוֹ מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה בַּעֲלוֹתָהּ אֶת אִישָׁהּ לִזְבֹּחַ אֶת זֶבַח הַיָּמִים׃ - And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it up to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
She would bring him a special robe in the manner of the nezirim, not nezirim of our times, but those holy ones who served Hashem. And each year she would bring him a robe. 'The yearly sacrifice' is the sacrifice they would offer year by year, as we saw that Elkanah would encourage the people to come up, and each time he would go up by a different route in order to arouse them. And why did he need to encourage them? Because people would come up, see the conduct of the Kohanim, and no longer come. A terrible desecration of Hashem's name. And Elkanah had to keep going and encouraging them not to be affected by it, and to come to the House of Hashem in any case.
וּבֵרַךְ עֵלִי אֶת אֶלְקָנָה וְאֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ וְאָמַר יָשֵׂם יְהֹוָה לְךָ זֶרַע מִן הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת תַּחַת הַשְּׁאֵלָה אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַל לַיהֹוָה וְהָלְכוּ לִמְקוֹמוֹ׃ - And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say: May Hashem grant you offspring from this woman in place of the request that she asked of Hashem. And they would go to their place.
When they would come, Eli would bless them. 'Offspring from this woman' means not from another woman but from this one. 'In place of the request that he asked of Hashem' means in place of the son you lent to the Mishkan, for from the son who was born to you after long years of sorrow you have no enjoyment; therefore I bless you that you should have additional children, children of your own.
כִּי פָקַד יְהֹוָה אֶת חַנָּה וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד שְׁלֹשָׁה בָנִים וּשְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת וַיִּגְדַּל הַנַּעַר שְׁמוּאֵל עִם יְהֹוָה׃ - For Hashem remembered Chanah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the youth Shmuel grew up with Hashem.
And as he blessed them, so it was, and Chanah bore three more sons and two daughters. 'And the youth Shmuel grew up with Hashem' means that while they all walked in the ways of Hashem, Shmuel was on a different level: he grew up 'with' Hashem, in complete cleaving, attached to Hashem within the Mishkan, entirely holy of holies, and all his days within the Mishkan.
וְעֵלִי זָקֵן מְאֹד וְשָׁמַע אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשׂוּן בָּנָיו לְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכְּבוּן אֶת הַנָּשִׁים הַצֹּבְאוֹת פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד׃ - And Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Yisrael, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the entrance of the Ohel Moed.
Here the verse comes to offer a defense for Eli: why did he not rebuke his sons as he should have? Because he was very old, and his strength had waned - they did not pay much heed to his words, and he himself had less strength to come and rebuke them properly. And even so, 'and he heard all that his sons were doing' - he knew of all their deeds.
And what is meant by 'who lay with the women who assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting'? 'Assembled' means gathering and coming together at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And why did the women come to the Tent of Meeting? To bring the offering of a woman after childbirth and the like. In explaining this there are several interpretations. Some wished to explain it literally, that they would, Heaven forbid, come upon those women, but this interpretation is difficult to understand and to accept. And some say that 'lay with' is like 'caused to lie down': when the women came to offer the bird offerings, the offerings of women after childbirth, the sons of Eli were lazy and did not hurry to offer their sacrifices, and through this they caused them to lie down at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, that is, they made them wait, and they were forced to wait from one day to the next and to sleep there.
And why did they do this? What does the woman offer? Bird offerings - which contain little food. A man comes with an ox: lady, please wait, someone is ahead of you. Another comes with a calf, another with a lamb, and she with her two doves - you will wait. And thus 'they caused the women to lie down,' they made them sleep there. And the Malbim says that some hold that this lying there sometimes led to matters of sin, for they remained there to sleep outside without their husbands, and there were men there too. And it is the task of the priests to sanctify the people, not, Heaven forbid, to do such things. And another explanation: since the woman came to offer her sacrifice and did not return home, they thereby prevented their husbands from fulfilling procreation, and Scripture reckoned it to them as though they had lain with them.
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם לָמָּה תַעֲשׂוּן כַּדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי שֹׁמֵעַ אֶת דִּבְרֵיכֶם רָעִים מֵאֵת כָּל הָעָם אֵלֶּה׃ - And he said to them: Why do you do such things as these, for I hear of your evil dealings from all these people?
He rebukes them from two angles. The first: on the assumption that all that is said is true - why do you do such things? And if you should answer, 'What are you talking about, it is not true, this is slander and falsehood' - he says to them, 'for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people.' Tell me, is it possible that it is a falsehood and yet everyone is telling it about you? There is no smoke without fire; if everyone is saying it, apparently there is some truth in it.
אַל בָּנָי כִּי לוֹא טוֹבָה הַשְּׁמֻעָה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי שֹׁמֵעַ מַעֲבִרִים עַם יְהֹוָה׃ - No, my sons, for the report that I hear is not good; you cause the people of the Lord to transgress.
And this is the second angle: even if you should say that it is only a report, and not exactly as they tell it - 'the report is not good.' 'Cause to transgress' means telling and passing it from mouth to mouth. Even if the matter is not one hundred percent accurate, what a terrible desecration of God's name there is in the fact that everyone speaks this way. It implies that you are not careful to keep everything as it should be, and therefore they speak of you; and even if it is not as loud as the outcry, it is a terrible desecration of God's name.
אִם יֶחֱטָא אִישׁ לְאִישׁ וּפִלְלוֹ אֱלֹהִים וְאִם לַיהֹוָה יֶחֱטָא אִישׁ מִי יִתְפַּלֶּל לוֹ וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ לְקוֹל אֲבִיהֶם כִּי חָפֵץ יְהֹוָה לַהֲמִיתָם׃ - If a man sins against another man, the judges shall judge him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who shall intercede for him? But they did not heed the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death.
Eli says to them: here is what the people are passing along and saying, words biting like sword thrusts. If a man sins against another in matters of money - he goes to the judge and to the arbiter; and if he sinned between himself and God - he goes to the Mishkan for the priest to offer a sacrifice for him to atone for him ('elohim' here is a term of importance and greatness, as in 'whom the judges shall condemn'). But if the priest himself sins against God - who shall intercede for him? Who shall judge him and who shall offer a sacrifice for him? When I sin you offer for me, but when you sin who shall offer for you? They come and argue: this one is supposed to atone for me? Who shall atone for him?
And this is the very same argument of 'who shall judge the judges.' People always demand transparency, and say that nothing disinfects sin like the light of the sun: that everything be open and clear, without concealments and without under the table deals. But how far does the transparency reach? Up to the court. How are judges appointed? A committee sits and deliberates, and not even a protocol is recorded. Between ourselves we shall close the matters, and those below need not interfere; we are the ones in charge, we know whom to appoint and we shall see to the appropriate agenda. And this is the argument: when a person has a claim he goes to the judge, but if the judge himself is a wicked and unjust man - against whom shall I turn?
'But they did not heed the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death' - ostensibly his words are just, so why did they not accept them? And does the Holy One, blessed be He, desire to put to death? Is it not said, 'For I do not desire the death of the one who dies, but rather that he return from his way and live'? Say the Sages: here is before the decree of judgment and here is after the decree of judgment. Before the decree of judgment the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I do not wish to decree evil upon him, I want him to repent, to atone for him and to set him right. But after the decree of judgment, after God has already tried everything, and they spoke with him and nothing helped - at this stage nothing will help anymore, and even if the person wishes to change, it is withheld from him. And where do we see this? With Pharaoh. As the words of the Rambam: Pharaoh could have turned back after the fifth plague, and God did not allow him - I gave you a chance and you did not use it, now you shall receive all that is coming to you. So too here their free choice was taken from them, for the Lord desired to put them to death.
As for the matter itself: a person's repentance is accepted even if he returns because he finds himself in a boiling pot and is about to die, even at the point of utter breaking of the soul, even in his final moments: 'You return man to contrition, and You say, return, O sons of men.' But sometimes there is a situation in which a person did much wickedness, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, says: his punishment must be seen here in this world, so that the thing itself will serve as strengthening. The very fact that people see a man who committed an act of injustice receiving his punishment, that itself is strengthening for the nation.
And this is what Rav Dessler says: one must know that the world was created so that His blessed Name be sanctified in the world, this is the purpose of the world's creation. And this purpose will be fulfilled in any case, whether by our will or against our will. If we do the will of Hashem, the Name of Heaven is sanctified, as in the time of Shlomo: everyone came to hear Shlomo's wisdom, they saw a well ordered kingship, and they saw the people of Israel dwelling in tranquility and quiet, engaged in Torah and holiness, a Temple and the Divine Presence resting there, and everyone came to faith in Hashem because we did His will. And when we did not do the will of Hashem, we were struck with blows, the Temple was destroyed, and the foreigner came from a distant land, whistled and was appalled: 'Why has Hashem done thus to this land, what is this great fury of anger?' - 'Because they forsook the commandments of their fathers.' Then too the gentile came to faith, then too the Name of Heaven was sanctified, but on your back and through the blows that you took. The Name of Heaven will be sanctified in any case: either by your doing the will of Hashem and receiving abundance, or by your taking blows and everyone saying: what happened to the Jewish people specifically like this?
Historians stand astonished before what happens to the Jewish people. On one hand there is no nation as persecuted as it, and there is no natural, logical explanation for this. Mark Twain wrote about this that the Jewish people is a nation that exists eternally: it passed through the harshest troubles, all the nations tried to eradicate it, to thin it out, to kill and slaughter it, pogroms and inquisitions, what did the Jewish people not go through? And with all this it lives and exists, and despite all the suffering it survives. The gentile sees a phenomenon he cannot ignore. Israel is a tiny pin on the globe, yet it takes up seventy percent of the world's news editions, and ninety percent of Security Council resolutions concern it. People ask: who is Israel? Where is Israel? They search and do not find it, it has vanished on the globe. And how many are we? Opinions differ, let us say fifteen million. Fifteen million is a small village in China. And what is all this noise? One who observes says: this nation is not standard, it has other laws of nature, it is clear that this nation has something with the Creator of the world, and it is not just any nation, and the suffering they undergo also proves this.
Once a Chinese minister met the Israeli ambassador and said to him: you make so much noise in the world, we constantly hear about you and talk about you, all the time pictures, Israel and the Palestinians, Israel and Lebanon, Israel and Syria, Hezbollah; the whole world suffers because of you. What does Al Qaeda want from America? It all began because of the Jews. Tell me, how many are you? He answered him: something like fifteen million, and in the land maybe six million. The Chinese man was stunned. He said to him: do you know what six million is? With us in China, when we do a census, the sampling error is six million, six million more or six million less means we counted correctly. And you make so much noise?
And this is what He says to them: had you awakened on your own, you would have sanctified the Name of Heaven through the service in the Mishkan, people would come and you would strengthen them, speak to their hearts and bring them back in repentance. You did not do so, and through the blows you will receive people will take a moral lesson, and say: see a man who so betrayed his trust, see how the hand of Hashem struck him.
וְהַנַּעַר שְׁמוּאֵל הֹלֵךְ וְגָדֵל וָטוֹב גַּם עִם יְהֹוָה וְגַם עִם אֲנָשִׁים׃ - And the youth Shmuel grew steadily, and was good both with Hashem and with men.
This is one against the other. Look at them, how they would gossip about them and what they would say about them, while Shmuel kept growing and was good both with Hashem and with men. No one had any complaints against him, beloved above and pleasant below, and his manner blended well with people. The Metzudat David says that Scripture inserted this matter here to teach you: there was room for the sons of Eli to think that perhaps it was Shmuel who was speaking about them, for he was always moving about there and perhaps the reports were coming from him. And even so they did not suspect him, it was clear to them that he was not such a person.
וַיָּבֹא אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים אֶל עֵלִי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הֲנִגְלֹה נִגְלֵיתִי אֶל בֵּית אָבִיךָ בִּהְיוֹתָם בְּמִצְרַיִם לְבֵית פַּרְעֹה׃ - And a man of God came to Eli and said to him: Thus said Hashem, did I not reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt, in the house of Pharaoh?
This man of God is Elkanah, who was a prophet, and wherever a prophet is mentioned and his father's name is mentioned, it is a sign that his father too was a prophet. 'The house of your father' is Aharon, and from here the Sages say that Aharon prophesied in Egypt. And what was his prophecy? As Rashi brings: 'And I said to them, let each man cast away the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.' This is the prophecy that Aharon conveyed to Israel.
וּבָחֹר אֹתוֹ מִכָּל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִי לְכֹהֵן לַעֲלוֹת עַל מִזְבְּחִי לְהַקְטִיר קְטֹרֶת לָשֵׂאת אֵפוֹד לְפָנָי וָאֶתְּנָה לְבֵית אָבִיךָ אֶת כָּל אִשֵּׁי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And to choose him from all the tribes of Israel to be a priest to Me, to go up upon My altar, to burn incense, to bear an ephod before Me; and I gave to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the children of Israel.
He says to them: do you know what greatness I gave you? Already to your forefathers, to Aharon, I revealed Myself in Egypt, and I was not content with that but chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be the chosen tribe, burning incense on My altar and bearing an ephod before Me, and I gave to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the children of Israel, all of them, he is in charge of everything.
לָמָּה תִבְעֲטוּ בְּזִבְחִי וּבְמִנְחָתִי אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי מָעוֹן וַתְּכַבֵּד אֶת בָּנֶיךָ מִמֶּנִּי לְהַבְרִיאֲכֶם מֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל מִנְחַת יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעַמִּי׃ - Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering, which I commanded in My dwelling, and you honor your sons more than Me, to fatten yourselves from the choicest of every offering of Israel My people?
What is kicking? An expression of contempt. When a person wants to push something away, he pushes it with his hand; but if he pushes it away with his foot, that is a sign that he despises it and holds it in contempt. You kick at My sacrifice and at My offering, and you show that you did not come for the sake of Hashem nor for the dwelling, this great house, the Mishkan. Instead of seeing that the offering comes by the command of Hashem, who commanded it to be brought in His dwelling and His Mishkan, 'and you honor your sons more than Me' - your sons are more honored in your eyes than the offering for whose sake it was brought, which is for the sake of the Creator, and the whole aim is 'to fatten yourselves,' to grow fat from Hashem's offering, the main thing being that you should have what to eat. And the Radak notes precisely: it does not say 'to fatten them' regarding his sons, but 'to fatten yourselves,' because it is impossible that Eli himself did not benefit from what the sons took, and therefore the verse includes him along with them.
לָכֵן נְאֻם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמוֹר אָמַרְתִּי בֵּיתְךָ וּבֵית אָבִיךָ יִתְהַלְּכוּ לְפָנַי עַד עוֹלָם וְעַתָּה נְאֻם יְהֹוָה חָלִילָה לִּי כִּי מְכַבְּדַי אֲכַבֵּד וּבֹזַי יֵקָלּוּ׃ - Therefore the word of Hashem, the God of Israel: I surely said that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever; but now, the word of Hashem, far be it from Me, for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.
The original plan was that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever, that you would be the High Priests always, and the entire family of the descendants of Itamar would serve in the High Priesthood. But now 'far be it from Me' - it is profane for Me, it is unfitting for Me to do such a thing and to leave you appointed over the house of Hashem. 'For those who honor Me I will honor' - whoever honored Me I will honor him, and who honored Me? The Sages say: Pinchas ben Elazar, who honored Me by zealously championing My cause and giving his life at Shittim; therefore I will honor him, for from his seed the High Priesthood will continue from here on. And this did not come to pass immediately but from the days of Shlomo, for Shlomo removed Evyatar from serving as priest to Hashem, because he was from the seed of Eli, and then began the priesthood of Tzadok, who was from the seed of Pinchas.
And note the precision of the language: it should have said 'those who honor Me I will honor and those who despise Me I will lightly esteem,' but it is not so; rather 'those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed' - by themselves. A person who despises Hashem is himself despised by his own doing. And how so? If a person comes and speaks disparagingly about the Baba Sali, does the Baba Sali need to say something about him or curse him in order to respond and shame him? The very fact that people heard such a thing from him, after they heard this, how does everyone relate to him? As the lowest of people. Does a person want to speak such things about a great tzaddik like that? It reflects on you yourself. He does not need to be shamed; he shamed himself by the very act. And so the Holy One, blessed be He, says: 'those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed' by themselves, I do not need to despise them; the very fact that they despised Hashem, that is the greatest disgrace for them.
הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים וְגָדַעְתִּי אֶת זְרֹעֲךָ וְאֶת זְרֹעַ בֵּית אָבִיךָ מִהְיוֹת זָקֵן בְּבֵיתֶךָ׃ - Behold, days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will be no elder in your house.
The Malbim says that there are three punishments here: the first, that his honor will be taken from him; the second, that he will lose his livelihood and his wealth; and the third, that the days of his sons will be shortened. Corresponding to the first it says 'I will cut off your arm, so that there will be no elder in your house' - 'elder' is an expression for a judge; there will be no judge, elder, or leader in Israel from the sons of Eli; there will be no elder in your house, honor you will not have.
וְהִבַּטְתָּ צַר מָעוֹן בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר יֵיטִיב אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא יִהְיֶה זָקֵן בְּבֵיתְךָ כָּל הַיָּמִים׃ - And you will look upon a rival in the dwelling, in all the good that shall be done for Israel, and there will never be an elder in your house all the days.
And this is the second punishment, livelihood: 'and you will look upon a rival in the dwelling' - you will see within your dwelling, in the Mishkan, your distress; and who is your rival? The other priests who will be priests in your place. I was the director here, I received all the things, and suddenly I become marginal and someone else takes matters into his own hands, like one who brings his rival into his house, and so it will be for you in the dwelling, in the house of Hashem. And his livelihood will dwindle until he reaches a state where he even begs for bread to be given to him. And the third punishment: 'and there will never be an elder in your house all the days' - that the sons of Eli will not enjoy long life, and this is measure for measure: since you ate the holy portions before their time, before the burning of the fat, you too will die before your time.
וְאִישׁ לֹא אַכְרִית לְךָ מֵעִם מִזְבְּחִי לְכַלּוֹת אֶת עֵינֶיךָ וְלַאֲדִיב אֶת נַפְשֶׁךָ וְכָל מַרְבִּית בֵּיתְךָ יָמוּתוּ אֲנָשִׁים׃ - And any man of yours I will not cut off from My altar, so as to consume your eyes and to grieve your soul, and all the increase of your house will die as men.
Here he explains the matter. It would have been better for him that you should not serve in the Beit HaMikdash at all, and that you should seek a livelihood in the open market; but no, 'and any man of yours I will not cut off from My altar,' you will remain in the Mishkan, except that you will be lowly and despised, and this is far harder than not being in the Mishkan at all. 'To grieve your soul' - le'adiv is like le'hadiv, from the expression 'grief of soul,' pain and anguish of spirit; you will have terrible pain seeing others directing things here. To what may the matter be compared? To a person who was the director of a company and gave orders, and suddenly becomes a junior, and the one who was always beneath him becomes the director and starts issuing him orders. Great anguish of soul, and naturally people do not stay there. And so it is when they carry out a round of appointments in the General Staff and one becomes Chief of Staff, what happens to the rest? They go home. From him I will take orders? He grew up with me, we ate from the same mess kit, and suddenly he is my Chief of Staff?
Corresponding to the third punishment, that there will be no elder in your house but rather young men will die, He tells him: do not think they will die as infants; they will die when they are grown men, and then the pain is far greater. Someone who, God forbid, loses a two month old child is not like someone who loses a twenty year old child whom he raised and invested in and grew attached to. 'And all the increase of your house shall die as men' - not as infants but when they are already men.
וְזֶה לְּךָ הָאוֹת אֲשֶׁר יָבֹא אֶל שְׁנֵי בָנֶיךָ אֶל חָפְנִי וּפִינְחָס בְּיוֹם אֶחָד יָמוּתוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם׃ - And this shall be the sign to you, which shall come upon your two sons, upon Chofni and Pinchas: in one day they shall both die.
When you see that on a single day the two of them died together, Chofni and Pinchas, you will know that this prophecy is beginning to be fulfilled.
וַהֲקִימֹתִי לִי כֹּהֵן נֶאֱמָן כַּאֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבִי וּבְנַפְשִׁי יַעֲשֶׂה וּבָנִיתִי לוֹ בַּיִת נֶאֱמָן וְהִתְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵי מְשִׁיחִי כָּל הַיָּמִים׃ - And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to that which is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed all the days.
This refers to Tzadok, who took his place in the days of David, and he will be faithful to his God. And what is 'who shall do according to that which is in My heart and in My soul'? There are two ways to serve in the Mishkan: one can serve in a technical manner, slaughtering the offerings, receiving the blood, sprinkling it on the altar, like a robot; and one can serve 'according to that which is in My heart and in My soul,' truly doing the will of Hashem, so that the acts are a satisfaction before Him according to the inner spirituality of the mitzvah, and not merely to do it and be done with it. And then 'I will build him a sure house' - that his priesthood will endure forever.
וְהָיָה כָּל הַנּוֹתָר בְּבֵיתְךָ יָבוֹא לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת לוֹ לַאֲגוֹרַת כֶּסֶף וְכִכַּר לָחֶם וְאָמַר סְפָחֵנִי נָא אֶל אַחַת הַכְּהֻנּוֹת לֶאֱכֹל פַּת לָחֶם׃ - And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house shall come to bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say: Attach me, I pray you, to one of the priestly offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
Many will die, and whoever remains of your house will come to bow down and flatter the priest serving in the Mishkan, that faithful priest who will remain in the Mishkan, and for what? For a piece of silver, which is a small thing, and a loaf of bread, which is a small thing, and he will say to him: 'Attach me, I pray you, to one of the priestly offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread' - join me to one of the watches, do me a favor, give me something so that I have what to eat. And this comes as a result of how they degraded and took everything only for themselves: this will be their punishment.
Let us note the letters of 'sefacheini' (attach me): they are the letters of Pinchas. And what is the difference between 'Pinchas' and 'Chofni'? Only the letter samech; in essence they are the same letters. And Chazal say that Chofni and Pinchas were a reincarnation of Nadav and Avihu. And it is written that Chofni was worse than Pinchas (Pinchas was less bad) because Chofni lacked the samech. And the Rama miPano says: the samech is of the category of 'Hashem supports (someich) all who fall.' He had a fall, but Hashem supports all who fall; and Chofni did not have this.
And what was their sin? On one hand laziness, and on the other hand haste. Laziness: to delay the bird offerings of the women who came to bring them. Haste: to hurry and take the meat that was due to them even before it was offered up to Hashem. And Pinchas too sinned, for he did not protest against his brother and agreed with him. And they stumbled in what had already been in them earlier: there, in the incarnation of Nadav and Avihu, they too acted in haste, offering a strange fire that they did not need, and there too they hastened to take the eating before its time. And there too there was laziness in them: that they did not marry. And this time too there was laziness in them, in delaying the women's bird offerings. And this corresponds to that: by delaying the women's bird offerings they caused harm to holiness, for those women 'would lie with the women' as we said; and with them too, in that they delayed marrying, there was harm to holiness. And therefore their reincarnation was in essence an atonement corresponding to what they sinned.
The chapter opens with the Song of Chana, in which she sets out the praise of the Omnipresent before her request, and teaches a great principle: the Holy One, blessed be He, reverses the natural order, the bows of the mighty are broken and those who stumbled are girded with strength, and the exalted have no cause for pride and the lowly no cause for despair; and the keys of the womb, of livelihood, and of the resurrection of the dead are in His hand alone. And from the song we move to two poles set opposite one another: Shmuel the youth, who ministers before Hashem and rises from a lad who needs his teacher to one who stands on his own, growing and good with Hashem and with people; and opposite him the sons of Eli, who turned the House of Hashem into their own table, scorned the offering of Hashem, and caused people not to come to the Mishkan. From here comes the prophecy of the man of God: those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed, by their own doing. For the priesthood was given to serve, and one who turns holiness into a spade to dig with, from him honor is taken, his livelihood is cut off, and his days are shortened; while one who serves 'according to that which is in My heart and in My soul,' for him a sure house is built for all the days.