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1Sa_2:23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
Ver. 23. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things?] This was to reprove them, Lenitate patris, non auctoritate pontificis, saith Jerome, i.e., with the lenity of a father, and not with the authority of a magistrate. This was to shave the head, which deserved cutting off, saith another. A weak dose doth but stir bad humours, and anger them, not purge them out: so it fareth with sins. Castigantur a parente Eli, leniter tamen et molli tantum brachio: Chastised these varlets {A person of a low, mean, or knavish disposition; a knave, rogue, rascal.} were by their father, but so lightly, as if he were afraid to hurt them. It is likely he had always marred them with too much indulgence: David’s fault also. Pope Paul III, hearing of the abominable practices of his son Petro Alvigi Farnesis, thought it enough to say, Haec vitia me non commonstratore didicit, He never learned these faults of his father.
For I hear of your evil dealings.] Which Eli should have instanced and aggravated for their terror and shame. A reproof should be soundly set on. Jehoshaphat was to blame with his "Let not the king say so."