Eli

A judge and high priest of Israel for forty years. He lived at Shiloh, near the tabernacle. Eli thought Hannah was drunk in the tabernacle because she cried loudly as she prayed for a son. Eli had two grown sons, Phinehas and Hophni, who had bad reputations. But Eli did not correct them. A prophet warned Eli that his two sons would die on the same day and that Eli’s family would no longer serve as God’s priests. When Eli was ninety-eight years old, the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant, and Eli’s sons were killed. When the sad news was brought to Eli, he fell over backward and died of a broken neck.