(a) The two sons of Eli (Hophni and Phinehas) were useless and hopeless. Owing to their irresponsible behaviour, God pronounced the doom that would befall Eli's family through Samuel. Their father (Eli) knew this but due to his weakness, he could not caution his sons. The sons of Eli were bad in their behaviour to the extent that when the people wished to make sacrifice of peace offering on the altar of the Lord, they would seize them and take their own share with force. They would take with their fork the portion of the sacrificed meat they preferred in its raw form as they would not allow it to be cooked.
This attitude did not please God and He punished them for it at a later date. Eli was a good and just man but failed in his parental duties. As a result of his inability to caution and discipline his two sons, God pronounced judgement on the family. God told Samuel in a vision to pronounce the wrath of God on Eli's family. When Eli had the message, he did not object to the decision of God because God had control over His creatures. The sons of Eli went to war with the Amalekites taking along with them the ark of God. The Israelites lost the battle and the two sons of Eli were killed and the ark of God was captured. When Eli heard this, most especially that the ark of God had been captured, he fell head-long and died in the process.

(b) Reaction of God to Eli's lapses were as follows:
(i) The ark of God was taken away from Israel.
(ii) The priestly position was taken away from Eli's family.
(iii) In the war that was fought, the two sons of Eli were killed.