If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.
In these verses we have the good character and posture of Elkanah's family, and the bad character and posture of Eli's family. The account of these two is observably interwoven throughout this whole paragraph, as if the historian intended to set the one over against the other, that they might set off one another.
Commenting on 1 Samuel 2:11-26
And the child Samuel grew up,.... Increased in stature and in grace, grew more and more in all respects, and better and better, while Eli's sons grew worse and worse; the contrast between these make the one to shine and appear illustrious, and the other to look the blacker: or "he went on, and grew, and was good" (z); as he proceeded on in years...
they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because--it should be therefore. the Lord would slay them--It was not God's preordination, but their own wilful and impenitent disobedience which was the cause of their destruction.