Eli is the proper name of the high priest who served at the tabernacle in Shiloh during the transitional period between the judges and the monarchy. His 33 occurrences cluster in 1 Samuel 1-4 and a few retrospective references. He first appears as an elderly figure sitting by the doorpost of the temple, misinterpreting Hannah's silent prayer as drunkenness before blessing her petition for a son (1 Sam 1:9-17). He raised the young Samuel entrusted to the sanctuary and recognized that YHWH was calling the boy in the night (1 Sam 3:1-18). Yet his failure to restrain his corrupt sons Hophni and Phinehas brought a devastating oracle: his priestly line would be cut off (1 Sam 2:27-36). When the ark was captured and his sons killed, the ninety-eight-year-old Eli fell backward from his seat, broke his neck, and died (1 Sam 4:12-18). The fulfillment of his house's doom extends to 1 Kings 2:27, where Solomon expels Abiathar.