Good evening y’all :). Today we are continuing our study of 1 samuel with Good Morning Girls. We will be looking at chapter 2. 

I will be looking at the lessons we can learn from Eli and his sons

I pray you are blessed as you read 🙂

^“Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered
sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling,
with a three-pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the
pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the
priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all
the Israelites who came there. Moreover, before the fat was burned, the
priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing,
“Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat
from you but only raw.” And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the
fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you
must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” Thus the sin of
the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt”. (I sam 2: 12- 17 ESV)
“But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.” (1 Sam 12: 18 NLT)

Eli was the High Priest. He knew the laws of God and understood what God
required of the priesthood. His children were also priests and were in
charge of the offerings and sacrifices the children of Israel brought to
God.

It’s interesting to see that Eli’s sons were foolish and corrupted in their priestly service to God but in the midst of the corruption, it is recorded that Samuel served the Lord as a priest. The latter part of Verse 21 also says “Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord“.  Samuel somehow managed to escape the corruption that was going on in Eli’s house.

I wonder how Eli got it right with Samuel but seemed to fail when it came
to his own children. Perhaps he was too busy with the priestly duties
that he forgot to truly disciple his children in the ways of the Lord.

It will be unfair to put all the blame on Eli as his children were grown men at this stage They were old enough to know right from wrong yet they chose to go the wrong way. Their actions where so bad that they even
went as far as sleeping with the women in the temple. God was pretty outraged by their actions. Verse 17 says “….for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt“. They had no regard whatsoever for God or the people bringing the offering.

Eli though didn’t seem to do much about his children’s behavior. What I would have expected from Eli was for him to discipline them when he found out about their nasty behavior. He should have reprimanded them
and probably suspended them from their duty till they repented. We are only told of one instance where he told them off.  And even at that, he didn’t take any action. They still continued in their office as priest
misleading and taking advantage of others.

Samuel on the other hand continued to grow in the presence of the Lord. Even in the midst of the corruption, God was raising Samuel as a godly priest.

Here are few lessons I gleaned today – 

1) Our service/ sacrifice to God should be done in an acceptable manner as
prescribed by God. The children of Eli were serving God as priests but
their service was done in an unacceptable manner, which eventually led
to their death and the destruction of their entire lineage.

“The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no
longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age. You will watch with envy as I
pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days”. (V31 -32 NLT)

Romans 12: 1 tells us offer ourselves as a pleasing sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. I have come to realize that partial obedience is as good as disobedience. With God, it’s either you fully obey or you don’t. there is no in between. God has standards and He won’t change His standards for anyone. He is a Holy God…

2) As parents we shouldn’t love our children more than God. It seems Eli didn’t want to offend his children and his insufficient enforcement of discipline upon them resulted in God punishing him and his entire generation. God said to him why do you love your children more than me.

“Disciplining our children is an act of obedience to the Lord. Leniency is not love. .
. it is idolatry. We are really putting our desire to be LIKED by our children above our responsibility to equip and train our children. We are putting ourselves before God andour
children! God has given us the charge to “train a child in the way they should go”. When we turn our head away from the wrongs our children do .. . we are turning our head from God and are abandoning our responsibility to our children! When we rationalize, excuse, blame others for, and condone wrong behavior, we sin against God” (Bruce Goettsche Union Church of LaHarpe)

3) Our sins may and can have serious impact on people around us and generations unborn. The whole of Eli’s lineage was in trouble and cursed because of the disobedience of his sons

I pray for the grace to offer our services and sacrifices to God in a pleasing manner. In Jesus’s Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to leave your thots on the chapter in the comments section

Have a blessed evening basking in Gods goodness and grace 🙂