If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. (1 Samuel 2:25)
Literally, “it pleased the Lord to cause them to die.” They had rejected God’s protective control, chosen their own selfish way, and deliberately forsaken the counsel of Heaven. In turning away from the angel of the Lord (Ps. 34:7), they sealed their own doom. It was the Philistines who killed them (1 Sam. 4:10, 11), yet God permitted their death because of their refusal to follow Him. “God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejecters of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown” (GC 36). So it was with Judas So it is with all who reject the pleadings of the Holy Spirit
Hearkened not.
The ministry of Eli’s sons is here contrasted with that of Samuel. Samuel grew in favor with both man and God; Hophni and Phinehas revered not the instructions of the Lord and turned deaf ears to their father’s counsel. All men are free moral agents. If they choose to rest under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6), they are exalted in due time; but if they choose to follow their own ways, they inevitably reap the fruit of such action.