firm enough action when they take no notice of him. There would be things that could avert God’s wrath, things such as the sons’ changing their ways or Eli’s disciplining them, but the Old Testament knows that in the absence of people changing their ways, sacrifices and offerings can’t do that. Eli can submit to God’s declaration with courage, and he does so, a little like Achan in Joshua 7, but it is too late to change the waywardness that makes God’s action necessary. So God turns Samuel from a