SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:3
Mas no anduvieron los hijos por los caminos de su padre, antes se recostaron tras la avaricia, recibiendo cohecho y pervirtiendo el derecho.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 8:3
Verse 3. His sons walked not in his ways] Their iniquity is pointed out in three words: 1. They turned aside after lucre; the original [ xb batsa) signifies to cut, clip, break off; and therefore Mr. Parkhurst thinks that it means nearly the same with our clipping of coin. It however expresses here the idea of avarice, of getting money by hook or by crook. The Targum says, "They looked after rqd wmm mamon dishkar, the mammon of unrighteousness;" of which they did not make unto themselves friends but enemies; see the note on Matt. vi. 24. 2. They took bribes; dj shochad, gifts or presents, to blind their eyes. 3. They perverted judgment-they turned judgment aside; they put it out of its regular path; they sold it to the highest bidder: thus the wicked rich man had his cause, and the poor man was oppressed and deprived of his right. This was the custom in our own country before MAGNA CHARTA was obtained; he that would speed in the king's court must bribe all the officers, and fee both the king and queen! I have found in our ancient records the most barefaced and shameful examples of this kind; but it was totally abolished, invito rege, by that provision in the above charter which states, Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimvs ant differemus rectum aut judicium; "To no man will we sell, to no man will we deny or defer, justice and right." It was customary in those inauspicious times, for judgment to be delayed in banco regis, in the king's court, as long as there was any hope that more money would be paid in order to bring it to issue. And there were cases, where the king did not like the party, in which he denied justice and judgment entirely! Magna Charta brought them to book, and brought the subject to his right. Of those times it might well be said, as Homer did, Iliad xvi., ver. 387.
oi bih agorh skoliav krinwsi qemistav, ek de dikhn elaswsi, qewn opin ouk alegontev.
"When guilty mortals break the eternal laws, Or judges, bribed, betray the righteous cause."When the laws are perverted by force; when justice is expelled from her seat; when judges are swayed from the right, regardless of the vengeance of Heaven." Or, in other words, these were times in which the streams of justice were poisoned in their source, and judges neither feared God nor regarded man.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. And his sons walked not in his ways , etc.] The meaning of which is not that they did not go the circuit he did, which is too low a sense of the words some Jewish writers give; but they did not walk in the fear of God, in the paths of religion and righteousness, truth and holiness; they neither served God, nor did justice to men, as Samuel had done: but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment ; indulged to covetousness, sought to get riches at any rate, took bribes, which blind the eyes of judges; and so passed wrong judgment, and gave the cause to those that gave the largest gifts, right or wrong.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - It does not appear that Samuel's sons were so profane and vicious a Eli's sons; but they were corrupt judges, they turned aside afte lucre. Samuel took no bribes, but his sons did, and then they perverte judgment. What added to the grievance of the people was, that they wer threatened by an invasion from Nahash, king of the Ammonites.
Original Hebrew
ולא 3808 הלכו 1980 בניו 1121 בדרכו 1870 ויטו 5186 אחרי 310 הבצע 1215 ויקחו 3947 שׁחד 7810 ויטו 5186 משׁפט׃ 4941
