שמואל א, פרק ג׳, פסוק י״ב

A harsh prophecy of doom against the family of Eli the priest shifts from a mere warning to an absolute certainty. God reveals Himself to young Samuel, declaring that the judgment is sealed and the punishment for the family's sins will be carried out irreversibly. He confirms that the severe rebuke previously delivered to Eli by a man of God will now be fully realized upon his household [ביאור שטיינזלץ, מצודת דוד]. Interestingly, this message is not intended for Samuel to pass on to Eli. Rather, God shares it with Samuel as a personal testimony, meant to strengthen the young boy's belief in the truth and reality of prophecy [אברבנאל].

The execution of this judgment is a continuous, relentless process from beginning to end [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The disaster will initially strike on the day of a brutal war against the Philistines. During this battle, the Ark of God will be captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be killed [מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. Their deaths will serve as the first concrete sign that the entirety of the curses decreed upon the family is guaranteed to unfold [מלבי״ם].

From that starting point, the devastation will follow Eli's family for generations until the decree is entirely fulfilled. Commentators offer complementary views on how this final completion plays out. One approach explains that the curse will persistently strike the family over time, causing Eli's descendants to die as young men at the age of eighteen [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. Another perspective points to a specific, tragic culmination many years later, when the curse reaches its absolute end in the massacre of the priests of the city of Nob—who were descendants of Eli—at the hands of King Saul [אברבנאל].