Restrictions for Children

When God spoke to Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:13 and told him about why He had rejected Eli, there was really only one reason.

God told Samuel that Eli’s parenting was to blame for the judgment that would come upon his house.

Eli’s sons had, according to God, made themselves vile.

We will look in a moment at what they had done.

First, we need to understand what this word “vile” means.

There are several Hebrew words that are translated “vile” in the Old Testament.

They all carry the same general meaning.

The specific word used to describe Eli’s sons means that they made themselves accursed.

This is due to the behavior that they engaged in.

Their behavior had brought a curse upon themselves.

While this was their own fault and decision, Eli was not faultless.

Though Eli’s sons were responsible for their behavior, Eli was responsible for his response.

According to God, Eli had failed as a father by not restraining his sons.

In a moment we will see that Eli’s sons were adults, what could he do?

God says that he should have restrained them.

This idea of restraining them is not the same as, like, handcuffing them.

The restraint that God is talking about in this verse has to do with expressing disapproval.

This is a really low bar.

Eli didn’t meet it.

Eli was so detached from his son’s behavior that he literally failed to “frown upon them” for their wickedness.

He knew what they were doing.

He knew it was wrong.

Yet, he did nothing to discourage them.

Don’t you want to know what Eli’s sons were doing that made them so vile?

For that, we will go back to the previous chapter.

Strap yourselves in, because this is not good.

In 1 Samuel 2:12, we see Eli’s sons stealing from God.

God had allowed for the priests to be fed from the sacrifices that were brought by the people.

The custom was to trim the sacrifice and give certain parts to God and other parts to be shared among the priests.

In this way, God got first choice.

It also insured that no one priest got more than they were supposed to.

Eli’s sons were not satisfied with sharing or with giving God first choice.

They began to intercept the offerings before the ceremonial trimming in order to take what they wanted.

The breast and the shoulder were supposed to be there portion, but this, apparently was not good enough.

The sad thing is that people protested what the sons were doing.

They were supposed to follow in their father’s footsteps as priests of God.

They were supposed to lead the people into a closer relationship with God.

Instead, they are putting people in a position where they have to try and resist their spiritual leaders.

When the sons of Eli faced any resistance, they responded with threats of violence.

What happens when children never learn how to respond when they are told no?

They turn into adults who don’t know how to respond when someone tells them no.

Eli’s sons cared only fo satisfying their physical appetites.

Anyone who got in their way, would face the consequences of an adult temper tantrum.

Unfortunately, their appetite for food was not the only appetite they sought to satisfy in evil fashion.

They’ve already shown a disregard for stealing what was rightfully God’s.

They also showed a disregard for stealing what belonged to others.

In 1 Samuel 2:22, we see Eli’s sons having physical relationships with the women that came to the tabernacle.

This is theft on many different levels.

Theft of innocence.

Theft of purity.

Theft of safety in worship.

Eli’s sons have become predatory serial abusers.

Girls and women fear stepping into the Tabernacle of God because they might be targeted by Eli’s sons.

How long did this go on?

How many individuals and families were affected before Eli found out?

We don’t know, but we know Eli did find out.

Here is where we get to observe Eli’s reaction to the wickedness of his children.

We must acknowledge this, first of all, Eli had the authority and power to remove his sons from their positions.

Instead he talks to them.

What he says is true.

He warns them about messing with the judge.

If a man sins against another man, the judge will decide who was right and wrong.

But, if a man transgresses against the judge, there is no hope for him.

Eli’s sons are sinning against their fellow man, but more dreadfully they are sinning against God, the judge.

So, true statement, but look at how his sons respond.

They didn’t listen to him.

Why would they?

Eli’s words are the quintessential example of “too little too late.”

Eli, as an example of God to his sons, had modeled a passive, uncaring God.

He had failed to ever restrain them or follow through with his threats of punishment.

Why would he then think that they would be afraid of God?

If dad, who they could see, didn’t care enough to restrain them, why would God, who they couldn’t see care?

Eli failed as a father because he failed to restrain his children from doing evil.

Not that he failed in locking them away and preventing them from doing anything ever.

He failed to follow through or actively try to direct his sons to serve and obey God.

As a result, he ended up with sons that did not fear God nor their father.

We want to avoid raising kids that will end up like Eli’s kids.

We need to get accustomed restraining our kids from wickedness.

Our goal is not to lock our kids down.

Our goal is to teach them how to follow Jesus in a world that is not.

What are some areas where we need to restrain our kids?

We need to restrain them from stealing from other people.

Your kid should not be responsible for stealing someone else’s innocence, purity, or worship experience.

Unfortunately, kids from Christian families do this on the regular.

I’ve seen kids do things that affect the innocence of other teens.

Vodka to a teen party.

Exposure at church camp.

I’ve known situations where a teens purity was compromised because another student took advantage of them.

Probably the most common theft of all is the theft of freedom to worship without fear of mocking.

I know kids do things when they are away from their parents.

We need to be doing everything we can to teach our kids to respect and protect others.

We need to restrain our kids from stealing from God.

Probably the first thing you think of when you here this is stealing money that God wants to be given back to Him.

This is certainly applicable, and fits with the passage.

Stealing from God can apply to so much more.

Teach your kids not to steal their bodies from God.

If your child is a Christian, they have been purchased by God.

Their body is not their own.

This applies to what they do with their bodies or what they put into their bodies.

Teach your kids about who they belong to…it’s not you as the parent.

There is another way that you or your kids can steal from God when it comes to our bodies and that applies to our talents.

God has given everyone talents that He intends for you to use for Him.

To hide or abandon or misuse that talent is the same as stealing from God.

Teach your kids not to steal their time from God.

Daily time with Him.

Weekly time with His people.

Do your kids need more or less time with Jesus?

Eli failed to restrain his children and they became accursed.

If we fail as he failed, we will get what he got.

Our kids will suffer for our mistakes.