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what are we doing with what God blessed us with, worshipping God even when everyone else around us doesn’t
11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
We left off here after the Song of Hannah
Samuel was serving at Shiloh since his youngest days, learning the truths of the Lord all throughout his life
12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord.
usually when the Bible calls someone “son of Belial” it’s basically equivalent to saying “son of the devil”
“belial” can also mean “worthless/useless” too
you can see how theres kind of a double meaning of the word in this verse
we will see why they are evil coming up
and people who don’t know the Lord surely would be useless for being a priest in the tabernacle
so you have people who are overseeing the crowds who not only don’t care about God
but they are evil
let’s talk “not caring” or being passionate
it’s important that when we talk to people about God that we’re passionate, people can see these things
it’s also important that we try to stay passionate ourselves so that we don’t ever just find ourselves going through the motions
either way, God wants us to be passionate, He wants us to actually care
13 And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;
14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
16 And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
sodden
The priests are abusing the public, even when they plead
“if you don’t give it to us, we’ll take it by force”
THIS IS WHAT A FLESH HOOK LOOKED LIKE
unfortunately this is type of thing seems to have been happening for a long, long time - wolves in sheeps clothing
long before this we saw the priests who were drunks and offered the strange fire before God, now we have these guys
this is a special type of lowliness and evil
these guys are in charge over those who cared enough to come sacrifice to God
1 - they disrespected the people who brought their sacrifice
meat was not necessarily rare but it was certainly not in abundance like we have now
so this was a big hit to those who’s sacrifice they stole
now they didn’t steal every bit of their sacrifice, so some still made it to God, presumably
2 - they not only disrespected the people but most importantly they disrespected God
they robbed God of what was His and what He wanted
they were in a position over the people of God, they had a duty and responsibility to take care of those who brought sacrifices
Let’s look at some of the details of this:
they did not want it boiled
17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
the sons of Eli were in a privileged position, admistering the sacrifices and such
one could say their position was a blessing
what are we doing with what God blessed us with?
now we might not be blessed with being in the tabernacle, but we all have some blessings in life
God has always wanted humans to be fruitful, productive, since the beginning
We also have the Great Commission
God has given us all some kind of gift, some kind of skill or talent, even if we haven’t found it or tapped into it
So let’s put all these things together: God wants us to go around in this world using the blessings that God has given us
He wants us to put these gifts/talents/blessings to good use, to His use
there are unsaved people in this world who NEED to hear about God’s love and mercy
look at the community around us
if you live up a holler, look around you
there is great sin, injustices constantly going on
there is also the effect of sin - the misery, the meanness, going on
it’s almost as if sin has physically worn down the town
like Paul says, how can they hear without a preacher?
you may think, “surely they’ve heard about God and know this stuff” or “They see churches all the time, if they want to know, they can come in”
they may not know what God truly wants for them, that God wants to forgive them, have mercy upon them, love them, and change them
they may have only heard the stories
they may have had some kind of bad experience with a Christian unfortunately
but we still need to make sure they know what God really wants for their lives
how can they hear without a preacher? and who’s going to preach if not for the believers?
it’s up to ALL OF US to take on this mantle
we all have this burden, and one day, we will stand before Christ and be held to account for what we did in our life to fulfill the Great Commission
Don’t just take my word for it, look at what Hannah did with Samuel.
we’re just leaving it at right here for now, we’ll come back to this situation in a bit
18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
So we see here that Samuel had been serving even as a child
it says he was wearing an ephod, which was part of the priestly garments that they wore
among many other things, this indicated that he was in public service
We know God looks kindly upon children and children in his service, He helps look out for them
and we can see this in Samuel, God protected him from being influenced by the sons of eli
this shows us that a kids environment doesn’t have to define them
19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
we see here yet another example of Hannah being a good mother and an example to all to be a good parent and good to children
We see too how God worked through Hannah to take care of Samuel
When we go good to children, God could be working through us as well
additionally, we can see that the family never gave up on giving sacrifices, even though they had to take it to these crooked priests
20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went unto their own home.
21 And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
We may have thought before when Hannah gave up Samuel to the Lord’s service that it was kind of sad that she didn’t get to keep Samuel, who she wanted for years and years and prayed so hard to get
So now we see that God has truly blessed her - with 5 children who she gets to keep, raise, and be a mother to
so we can see a strong contrast here between the priesthood and Samuel and his famly
we see some who are faithful to God, praying, bringing their sacrifices consistently, serving the Lord with all they had
and we see the priesthood who were abusing the people
we can also see the consequences of both
we see the blessings that God gave to Hannah
and now we’re about to see what happened to the priests
one group did good things with the blessings of God, and used them appropriately
another used the blessings they had for evil
22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
We see even more about how evil the sons of eli, the priests, were being to the people.
taking advantage of not only their sacrifices, but in this way too
now you cannot try God like this without having some consequences
God looks out for His people, and will not be mocked
it’s up to God’s people to act like they are God’s people
when we are known as and call ourselves believers, we need to keep up a testimony to be consistent with that
people see us, but most importantly, God sees us, and we are responsible to do the work He’s charged us with to do
one day, we’ll stand before our beloved savior Jesus Christ and give an account of what we’ve done
let’s look at what Jesus tells us
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
from the parable of the unfaithful servant
we live in america, we are essentially free to spread the gospel without being thrown to the lions
we live in a time where we have the internet, or if you’re not using the internet, we have phones, we have worldwide communication available to us
we also live in a time where people VERY MUCH need the gospel in america
imagine if the apostles lived today, how much they could spread the gospel
we need to look to them and have the passion that they did, that Christ did during His ministry
Jesus came to heal the sick on earth, He came to spread the good news to those who were suffering in sin around Him
and we are called to do the same, to carry on the mission
the question arises again, what are we doing with the things that God has blessed us with?
are we using these blessings responsibly?
are we using these blessings in the way that God intended for us to use them?
let’s look at what becomes of the priests
23 And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
24 Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.
25 If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
In v24 we see that the priests actions had started rubbing off on the people of Israel
and sin does this right? it’s like a virus that spreads
think about it, when you sit around and talk about someone, often, the other person starts to join in and they start to do it too
essentially, our actions influence others, and as believers, this is something that we need to keep in mind
our actions have a ripple effect, like throwing a rock into the river, the ripple goes out and has consequences that we wold never see coming or imagine
In v25 we see that they did not end up listening to Eli, and often, it’s like this when one tries to warn someone of sin and it’s consequences
it’s our duty to warn them of the consequences, but it’s not our fault if they just continue to sin
we see that they went on and continued abusing the public, and then God slayed them
God did not continue to let this injustice go on at His tabernacle and where His sacrifices were being given
so not only did God judge the sin that was going on here, but He provided justice to His people
what did they do with the blessings that God had given them, in being a priest in the tabernacle? they did evil with it.
26 And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.
here we see the difference again, Eli’s house, his family, was and continued to be judged for misusing what God had given them whereas Samuel was blessed and finding favor with God
27 And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?
28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
31 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
God has pronounced judgement on Eli’s family, his house, because they cared about themselves more than God, even though they had the blessing of being a priest
32 And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
33 And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
34 And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
now let’s see what happens to the one who used God’s blessings for good, Samuel.
35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
36 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
this concludes the introduction to the book of 1 Samuel and the story of Hannah as well
we can see the contrast here between those who do God’s will and those who do not
Samuel grew in favor with God, and we’ll see that even more next week
But the whole house of Eli was judged and cursed
one day we’ll all be judge, we’ll all stand before Christ and give an account of what we did with what God’s given us
which side do we want to be on?