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Bible Encyclopedias
Hophni
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or The older of Eli's two sons who officiated as priests in the tabernacle of Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3). Hophni and his younger brother Phinehas are reproved as sons of Belial, and as rapacious and lustful (1 Samuel 2:12-17,22). Their misdeeds provoked the indignation of the people, and the divine curse was pronounced first by an unknown prophet and afterward by Samuel (1 Samuel 2:23-36, 3:11-14). They were both killed on the same day, in a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:11). The Talmudists do not agree as to the wickedness of both brothers: Rab concluded (Shab. 55b) that Phinehas was not guilty of any of the crimes mentioned, but that Hophni alone committed them; but R. Jonathan, quoted by R. Samuel b. Naḥmani (c.), declares that neither was wicked, and that the words in which the crimes are imputed to them in 1 Samuel 2:22 have a figurative meaning in this instance.
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Hophni'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/h/hophni.html. 1901.
