Eli /ˈiˌlaɪ/



 Eli
    ascent, the high priest when the ark was at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3,
    9). He was the first of the line of Ithamar, Aaron's fourth son
    (1 Chr. 24:3; comp. 2 Sam. 8:17), who held that office. The
    office remained in his family till the time of Abiathar (1 Kings
    2:26, 27), whom Solomon deposed, and appointed Zadok, of the
    family of Eleazar, in his stead (35). He acted also as a civil
    judge in Israel after the death of Samson (1 Sam. 4:18), and
    judged Israel for forty years.

      His sons Hophni and Phinehas grossly misconducted themselves,
    to the great disgust of the people (1 Sam. 2:27-36). They were
    licentious reprobates. He failed to reprove them so sternly as
    he ought to have done, and so brought upon his house the
    judgment of God (2:22-33; 3:18). The Israelites proclaimed war
    against the Philistines, whose army was encamped at Aphek. The
    battle, fought a short way beyond Mizpeh, ended in the total
    defeat of Israel. Four thousand of them fell in "battle array".
    They now sought safety in having the "ark of the covenant of the
    Lord" among them. They fetched it from Shiloh, and Hophni and
    Phinehas accompanied it. This was the first time since the
    settlement of Israel in Canaan that the ark had been removed
    from the sanctuary. The Philistines put themselves again in
    array against Israel, and in the battle which ensued "Israel was
    smitten, and there was a very great slaughter." The tidings of
    this great disaster were speedily conveyed to Shiloh, about 20
    miles distant, by a messenger, a Benjamite from the army. There
    Eli sat outside the gate of the sanctuary by the wayside,
    anxiously waiting for tidings from the battle-field. The full
    extent of the national calamity was speedily made known to him:
    "Israel is fled before the Philistines, there has also been a
    great slaughter among the people, thy two sons Hophni and
    Phinehas are dead, and the ark of God is taken" (1 Sam.
    4:12-18). When the old man, whose eyes were "stiffened" (i.e.,
    fixed, as of a blind eye unaffected by the light) with age,
    heard this sad story of woe, he fell backward from off his seat
    and died, being ninety and eight years old. (See ITHAMAR.)

      Eli, Heb. eli, "my God", (Matt. 27:46), an exclamation used by
    Christ on the cross. Mark (15:34), as usual, gives the original
    Aramaic form of the word, Eloi.



 Eli, Eli, my God, my God



 Eli, the offering or lifting up