Seder Olama timeline of Jewish history
Person · 2773–2871 AM · 988 BCE — 890 BCE

Eli the High Priest עלי הכהן

High Priest at Shiloh and judge of Israel

Eli served at Shiloh, where the Mishkan had stood for nearly four centuries; he was High Priest and judged Israel for forty years.

Two opposite scenes belong to him. In the first he sees a woman's lips moving without sound and takes her for a drunk; hearing Chana's explanation, he blesses her—and Shmuel is born, brought to the sanctuary for life. It is Eli who teaches the boy how to answer the voice in the night: "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears."

The second scene is the verdict on his own house. His sons Chofni and Pinchas abused the service, seizing sacrificial meat by force; Eli remonstrated but did not stop them. The sages say he was punished not for their sin but for failing to restrain them. Hearing the sentence from a child's mouth, he answered without argument: "He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes."

In 2871 the Philistines routed Israel at Even ha-Ezer, both sons fell and the Ark was captured. Eli, blind and ninety-eight, fell backwards and died.

Chain of transmission

Link no. 4 of 40 in the enumeration of Maimonides (Introduction to the Mishneh Torah): “from Rav Ashi back to Moses our teacher — forty men”. Maimonides’ own count runs the other way, making this number 37.
Phinehas → Eli the High Priest → Samuel the Prophet

On the timeline

2503 · 1258 BCEThe Tabernacle at Shiloh: 369 Years2871 · 890 BCEEli the Priest, the Capture of the Ark and the End of Shiloh2871 · 890 BCESamuel the Prophet: the Last of the Judges2516 · 1245 BCEThe Era of the Judges: "Everyone Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes"

Places

Shiloh

Related

Samuel the ProphetPhinehasSamson

Sources

Tanakh

  • Shmuel I 1–4 — Chanah’s prayer, the young Shmuel, the death of the sons, and the Ark

Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar

  • Shabbat 55b — the analysis of the fault of Eli’s sons: “the sons of Eli sinned”
  • Rosh Hashanah 25b — “Eli in his generation” — the chain of comparisons among the judges
  • Seder Olam Rabbah 13 — the forty years of his judgeship within the count

Basis: stated in the Tanakh.

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