At the Tabernacle in Shiloh, a tragic failure of leadership unfolds. The High Priest is advanced in years, and his sons, who are supposed to carry on his legacy in holiness, instead abuse their power and corrupt the sacred service.
Eli's extreme old age and physical frailty explain his failure to stop these abuses. Suffering from physical tremors, he was no longer able to perform the holy service himself and was frequently absent from the Tabernacle, preventing him from seeing the corruption firsthand [רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. His weakened state also made him incapable of harshly disciplining his grown, powerful sons [מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. Out of respect for his health and a desire not to cause an elderly man sorrow, the Israelites avoided complaining to him directly. Consequently, the rumors of shouting and strife only reached him through indirect channels [ביאור שטיינזלץ, אלשיך].
Eventually, Eli hears of two major offenses committed by his sons. The first impacts all the Israelites: the sons are taking the sacrificial meat by force [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג]. The second offense involves their treatment of the massive crowds of women who gather at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting [מצודת ציון, רד״ק]. These women, who have recently given birth, experienced impurities, or simply come to pray, wait outside the Tabernacle structure to offer their sacrifices and achieve purity [רד״ק, אברבנאל].
The exact nature of the sons' offense against these women is a matter of deep debate. A literal understanding suggests that Eli's sons engaged in actual illicit relations with them [רש״י, רד״ק, אברבנאל]. However, the primary approach among commentators rejects this literal interpretation, noting that when a prophet later rebukes Eli, he only condemns the desecration of the sacrifices and makes no mention of severe sexual sins [רלב״ג, מלבי״ם]. Instead, this perspective views the sin as an administrative and moral failure. Out of laziness, the sons delayed offering the women's sacrifices, forcing them to remain at the Tabernacle overnight rather than returning to their homes and husbands. Because this delay prevented the women from fulfilling the commandment to have children, the sons are held as accountable as if they had violated the women themselves [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, אברבנאל]. This aligns with an interpretation that the sons essentially forced the women to sleep at the site [מצודת ציון, מנחת שי].
Another perspective suggests that the severe delay in processing the sacrifices created massive, unsupervised crowds of men and women sleeping outside the Tabernacle. This chaotic environment led the Israelites themselves to stumble into immoral behavior, and Eli's sons bear the blame for creating the situation [מלבי״ם]. Finally, a tradition limits the direct guilt of the two brothers, asserting that Phinehas did not personally participate in these acts. Rather, he is held fully responsible because he failed to protest against his brother Hophni, who was the actual perpetrator [אברבנאל].