1 Samuel 1:22

until the child be weaned He would then be two or three years old. It is still a common practice in the East to suckle children for two years: and in ancient times they were sometimes not weaned till three years old. See 2Ma 7:27, "O my son, have pity upon me that gave thee suck three years and nourished thee." The weaning was made an occasion of festivity (Genesis 21:8). The objection has been made that so young a child would have been troublesome to Eli, but there were women engaged in the tabernacle service (1 Samuel 2:22), to whose care he might have been committed. It was important that he should be dedicated as soon as possible. The house of God was to be the only home he knew; the earliest impressions of his boyhood were to be those of the sanctuary.

for ever Equivalent to "as long as he liveth" of 1 Samuel 1:28.