Musar sur Samuel 1 2:26

One pillar is the good and the pure heart, for when a man is good to his fellow man, he is good with God, and he will be good with people generally as Scripture says (1 Samuel, 2:26), “And he increased in favor both with the Lord, and also with men.”

The fourth quality is impudence. Know that the quality of impudence nullifies most of the worship of God, just as the prophet, Jeremiah, said (6:15), “They are not at all ashamed, neither know they how to blush.” For him who cannot be ashamed of his deeds before Him, the worship of God will not cleave to such a one, as Scripture says (1 Samuel 2:26), “And he increased favour both with the Lord and also with men.” Everyone who is modest before the Creator will be modest before every man. If this is so, then we can say that everyone who is impudent to men will also be impudent to the Creator. Therefore, every man must subdue his inclination to harbor this quality and remember the evil which exists in it. Let him be envious of the truly modest ones when he sees them or when he hears their praise on the tongue of every man. And if he wishes to remove this quality, let him accustom himself to humble his soul and be ashamed before all the children of man, and let him walk with bowed figure and with his eyes to the ground, and let him remember that impudence will destroy all of his service to God.

Our sages (Tanchuma Korach 5) have said that Korach was deceived by his mental eye, since he foresaw a chain of illustrious descendants among his offspring including the prophet Samuel. He did not realise that these descendants excelled exactly in the reverse characteristics he himself had displayed. Whereas Korach engaged in quarrels with Moses and G–d, Samuel was a man who was on a good footing with both man and G–d. He practiced the virtues of Aaron rather than those of his forebear. I have explained already that these three virtues have to be practiced both vis-a-vis G–d and vis-a-vis man. This is the meaning of ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלוקים ואדם, "and you will find favour and high esteem in the eyes of G–d and man" (Proverbs 3,4). This is what is meant that Samuel was טוב עם אלוקים ועם אנשים, that Samuel was "good to G–d and to men." This also explains what חנה meant when she prayed to G–d that He should grant her זרע אנשים, which our sages explained to mean that she asked for a son who would combine within himself the virtues of Moses and Aaron (Samuel I 1,11). We also find that Moses and Aaron are compared to Samuel in Psalms 99,6: "Moses and Aaron among His priests and Samuel among those who call on His name, and He answers them." How do we reconcile all this with the statement in Deut. 34,10, that "no prophet ever arose again who could compare to Moses who had known G–d face to face?" The answer is simply that Samuel possessed some of the virtues of Moses and Aaron, since Moses in his closeness to G–d had concentrated almost exclusively on devoting himself to G–d so that he did not have much time left for private matters. This too is what is meant when he is described as איש האלוקים. Aaron, on the other hand, concentrated on the virtue of "peace." He was always busy pursuing peace, trying to restore harmonious relations between husband and wife, etc. In other words, he was primarily טוב לאנשים, good towards people. The prophet Samuel concentrated on practising the two outstanding virtues of both Moses and Aaron. We find that he travelled from town to town in order to perform acts of justice, truth and peace (Samuel I 7,16).