A Tale of Two Houses

I. The Scandal of Eli’s Sons

The sons of Eli were “sons of belial” meaning they were scoundrels with no conscience; sociopaths who do anything. The term is used of the wicked men who abused the Levite’s concubine in Judges 19:22; it is used to describe the false witnesses that Jezebel bought to get Naboth killed in 1 Kings 21:10, 13. It is used to describe Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:17. It is used to describe people who successfully get a whole town to worship idols, a crime so bad that God directed Israel to wipe any town that did that off the face of the earth Deut 13:12-18.

They “did not know the Lord” - that is, they had no regard for God; they do not care what God thinks. Pharaoh himself gave this as the reason he didn’t listen to Moses Exod 3:2.

A. The custom contrary to the Law

We first get a cultural note, which tells us that the customary practice in Shiloh was already not according to the Law. The priests already took liberties with the sacrifices they should not have. Most offerings didn’t require everything to be burned up - that was only the burnt offering. Rather, for peace offerings and for most celebratory sacrifices, the blood was poured out, the fat and innards were burned, but the meat was supposed to be divided up between the priest and the offerer. The priest’s “pay” was his share of the meat, the people got to take their share and enjoy a special feast. Thus, the regular worship at the tabernacle was supposed to be a banquet as well among the families.

But at Shiloh they did not perform the sacrifice properly. first of all, the priest was supposed to slaughter the animal at the entrance of the tent, process the meat by burning the offal and fat and sprinkling the blood. But it seems that this didn’t happen at Shiloh, for if it did, the priest would have taken his share at that time. But here, the priest sends a servant to collect the meat as it is boiling. He doesn’t even bother to get the meat himself, he just has a servant do it. So it seems that the people who came to the sacrifice did all the work themselves, and the priest’s servant came later and just collected his cut.

Second, the priest was supposed to get only specific portions of the sacrifice - the breast, and right thigh (Lev 7:28-34). It is, of course, the leaner portion, which in that day would be the less desirable section. However, it was actually the healthier portion. But at Shiloh, the priest’s servant would come and just stick his pitchfork into the pot and bring up whatever. They were already, therefore, robbing God since they would often get the more desirable cuts of meat instead of what God had assigned them.

This isn’t the sin of Eli’s sons - it’s the fault of the custom already in place. It seems, though, that God was gracious about the existing failures of the priesthood. But Eli’s sons chose to try God’s patience.

B. The Sin of Eli’s Sons

Eli’s sons took this already corrupt custom and made it much worse. When the sacrifice was being prepared, before a dedicated worshipper had the chance to burn the fat, etc., the priest’s servant would demand his cut early, so that the meat still had the fat on it. And if the worshipper objected, he would take it by force. What’s so bad about getting the meat with the fat still on it? Because it pollutes and ruins the symbolism of the fellowship offering. The fat was supposed to be God’s share, and it couldn’t be eaten at all.

Leviticus 7:25 NKJV

For whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.

This was pretty much the last vestige of what made the annual sacrifice a sacrifice and not just a cookout with some uninvited guests who crash the party and steal part of your dinner.

Now since Hophni and Phinehas were priests, they were supposed to be guiding the people to worship God. They were supposed to be protecting the people by mediating between them and God. Instead, they used the authority of their office to line their own pockets with the best of the sacrifice. It not only offended God by its very nature, but the obviously dishonest practices would put off many Israelites from worshipping God at all. Not only that, but in the near east, most cultures put a great deal of emphasis on getting the ceremony just right. If it wasn’t done just so, it was ineffective at appeasing the god. Of course, the God of Israel is not like that, but many Israelites would be too worldly to know that. So they would be further put off from bothering to come worship at all, since they assumed that the sacrifice wouldn’t work now anyway. And they would seek out a local Baal altar or Ashtera worship tree and do that instead.

Bad churches are not just inconvenient, they are positively dangerous. Many churches do not preach the gospel; others do preach it, but the preacher gets caught in dishonest gain. If the gospel isn’t preached, many ignorant people will continue to go to that church, and be misled, thinking that they are spiritually OK when the church is actively persuading people to damn their souls to hell.

If a church is caught in dishonesty, many people are harmed, for they think “those Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites”, and they just drop away from the church altogether. Of course, there are many faithful churches, but many people are too worldly to know that.

II. The Blessing of Samuel’s Family

The author wants to emphasize that Samuel was serving the Lord all this time, and that he was growing God’s way (1 Samuel 2:11, 18, 21, 26). In fact, you can outline this section just by making every mention of Samuel the start of a new point. Clearly, Samuel was faithful in his task, and he grew up. As he grew in age, he also grew in spiritual maturity and in social skills (v.26). The same expression was later used of Jesus himself (Luke 2:52). In other words, Samuel is doing everything right, even when he was just a boy.

His mother clearly hasn’t forgotten Samuel, for she takes the time to make him a new outfit every year. It is possible that this outfit was actual priestly clothing, rather than just new clothes: however, that isn’t certain. What is clear is that Elkanah and his family would continue to return every year for the annual feast, even with the terrible problems with the worship. It is also clear that part of the reason God blessed this family is that they continued to worship God in spite of those problems.

Now, to apply this to today, we need to remember that there are differences between worshipping in the tabernacle and worshiping in church. There was only one authorized tabernacle, and no one could set up another one. The priests were not elected, they inherited the position at the command of God. You couldn’t just appoint someone else, you were stuck with the one you got.

So the Israelite who wanted to be faithful to God would just have to keep faithfully going back to the right place of worship, and doing his best under the circumstances. Since God directly appointed the priests, the faithful Israelite would know that God would also take responsibility to remove the priests, if necessary.

However, today, there are many churches, and the pastors can be chosen by the congregation. That means that a church can remove sinning pastors. Also, that means that you do have a choice about where to go to church. So when is it acceptable to leave a church? Well, first of all, you ought to demand that the church leadership be qualified Biblically (1 Tim 3). There are churches were the pastor is a charlatan - since you have a choice, don’t go there. But also don’t just quit if you have a bad experience. God still commands believers to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb 10:24-25), so you must find a good church somewhere.

Second, you must demand that the church teach right doctrine. If it doesn’t, then find a different church. By right doctrine I mean important truths of Scripture. A church that teaches a false gospel will destroy you, and supporting it means being complicit in destroying others.

Beyond this, however, don’t leave a church unless you’re moving away. A personal conflict with someone in the church is not a good reason to leave. Learn to handle the conflict biblically instead. A lack of programs is not a good reason to leave - start some yourself if there is a lack. An opportunity to serve God better at another church is a good reason to leave. If you stay at a church through a difficult situation, God will bless you. If you leave a church that has bad doctrine, God will bless you. If you leave because you can serve God more effectively, God will bless you. But if you leave a church for the wrong reason, God will not bless you. Assuming you are really his child, he will chasten you to make you better.

Well, God blessed Hannah and Elkanah for their faithfulness. Eli’s prayer of blessing was answered, and Hannah had three more sons and two daughters. For a woman who used to struggle with barrenness, the children would have been such a blessing.

III. Eli’s Warning of God’s Judgment

The Significance of Eli’s Age is that he is now has little control over what his sons do, because he is too infirm to restrain them. Of course, that doesn’t excuse his lack of restraint during the many years he was high priest and young enough to do something about his sons.

Now observe that we here discover, along with Eli, the newest failure of Eli’s sons - they were sleeping with the serving women. This is, of course, a great evil. In fact, it competes with their failure to respect the sacrificial system. These women seem to be helpers with the tabernacle in some way. Exodus 38:8 They didn’t have official responsibilities, but these would be women especially dedicated to serving God, since they did so with no gain or position to show for it. What’s worse is that ancient Israel had no tradition of celebate priesthood or the like, and people married young. These women were probably not single. Hophni and Phinehas used their authority to sleep with them, and their authority protected them from the angry husbands.

Exodus 38:8 NKJV

He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

To compound this, remember that adultery was supposed to be a capital crime. Lev 20:10 I expect that this punishment was not carried out in many occasions, but that’s what God wanted. God takes this crime extremely seriously.

Leviticus 20:10 NKJV

‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

Eli’s warning is actually pretty good here. Eli unfortunately heard about this from other people, since he was old and partly blind. He has no power to punish his sons himself, not now. That opportunity is gone. But he reminds them that this is not just a sin against the women, or against their husbands. It is a sin against God. Adultery is a sin against God anyway, but because they bear the priesthood, it is especially offensive. If an offense is just against another man, God is high enough to arbitrate between them. Gen 31:49-50 But a sin against God had no mediator Job 9:32-33 That means that there is nothing between them and God’s wrath, no one who can protect them. Of course, today there is a mediator - only one - Jesus Christ 1 Tim 2:5 . But that only works when you repent of your sins. The same privilege was available to Hophni and Phinehas. If they did repent, they would receive forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus would have covered them, too. As evil as they were, they could still have been forgiven, if they had wanted to be. Eli’s warning is a desperate attempt to persuade his sons to repent, for Eli knows that God is a gracious and merciful God.

Genesis 31:49–50 NKJV

also Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

Job 9:32–33 NKJV

“For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.

1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Alas, Eli’s warning fell on deaf ears. His sons are so full of themselves that they think they are beyond God’s punishment. Now our text declares that the reason they did not listen is that the Lord wanted to kill them for their great sins. That’s an uncomfortable statement today. But first of all, remember how great their sin was. They had completely ruined the only place in Israel where someone could rightly worship God. They had also defiled the tabernacle by sleeping with the serving women. Second, we should not imagine that God did anything underhanded or deceptive to get Eli’s sons to reject their father’s good advice. Rather, he didn’t step in earlier, when perhaps they could have still been reached. Here, they are so far gone that nothing will convince them, and God knew that and stayed his hand of punishment. His mercy to them only increased their guilt, because they took that extra time and used it to make themselves even more guilty.

IV. The Prophecy against Eli’s House

Now I always understood Eli to be too permissive, that his primary problem was that he didn’t ever restrain his sons. That indeed was part of the problem 1 Samuel 3:13. Yet we just read quite a good rebuke from Eli, and given his age, what else was he supposed to do? The answer is to look more carefully at the condemnation (v.29). There’s no mention of Eli’s sons sleeping with the serving women, only about the problem with the sacrificial system. And for that matter, it implicates Eli, since the problem is that they were taking the choicest parts of the sacrifice - something that Eli himself was already doing, before Eli’s sons started getting their cut of the sacrifice with the fat. Why? not because the other sin wasn’t serious, but because Eli did something about the other sin. He didn’t do anything about the problems with the sacrifice, in fact, he participated in some of the problems himself, when he was young enough to be in charge of the operation.

So the problem was that Eli’s sons took the already bad practice at Shiloh, and made it worse. Bad enough that God decided it was time to punish them himself. The punishment is severe. Yet, Eli is not punished for his son’s sins, but for his own. By continuing the custom of the sacrifice, and not restraining his sons when they made it worse, he honored them above God. My friends, to honor your children more than God is to make an idol out of your children. So Eli violated the first commandment (Exod 20:2-3).

The sign of the punishment was quite specific. There was going to be distress in God’s house (v.32). Now this verse is difficult to translate. It has the word for distress or trouble, and the word for dwelling. [NKJV has “enemy in my dwelling” ESV emends word to “eye” and take it to mean “envious eye”] So I think the idea is that there would be some kind of distress or trouble related to the Tabernacle (so NIV). Along with that, both Hophni and Phineshas would die on the same day. All this happened 1 Samuel 4:12-17.

However, this was only the sign to Eli that the punishment was going to happen. The actual punishment was that his entire lineage, and the entire priestly line of Ithamar, would be destroyed so that none of his male relatives would die of old age. This was fulfilled when Saul killed the priests of Nob and all their families out of misplaced rage against David (1 Samuel 22:6-23).

The only one who escaped was Abiathar, who fled to David the day Saul killed his whole family. Just as the man of God said, he escaped only to weep. Abiathar served David his whole life. But when David was old, he sided with Adonijah in a failed rebellion (1 kings 1:7). When Solomon took the throne, he exiled Abiathar from the priesthood for treason (1 Kings 2:26-27).

1 Kings 2:26–27 NKJV

And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

Now Eli inherited the priesthood through Aaron’s son Ithamar. Aaron was indeed supposed to have a priesthood in perpetuity Exodus 29:9. But God never said that the priesthood couldn’t pass to a different son of Aaron, and that’s what he means by the faithful priest (v.35). Zadok had begun serving as priest alongside Abiathar during his lifetime, but after Abiathar was put out of the priesthood, Zadok became the high priest (1 Kings 2:35). Zadok was also a son of Aaron, but through Eleazar. So God kept his word to Aaron. God’s promises are never licences to sin, for he always leaves himself the right to be a just God.