New Year: 1 Sam 2-4 for Mar 20

Did Eli rebuke his sons (1 Sam 2:25), or not (3:13)? At some point he didn't, plus, in any case, there was an over-ruling by God on the earlier situation.

Notwithstanding that, his character shows other fatherly qualities, especially toward Samuel. Eli is given to the reader as the one who explained to Samuel for the first time about the spiritual implications of what must have been very perplexing to Samuel (3:4-10). Lest we miss it, 3:6 explains: "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him" (3:7) This distinction can help us understand the matter of Balak, no?