ELI

1 Samuel 1-4

Eli had two very important offices to fulfill—priest and father—he had significant shortcomings in both. Did Eli reflect the people or were the people a reflection of their leadership?

1:3,12-17,24-25; 2:20 ~ ELI THE PRIEST

• Eli is always described as "priest" never "high priest" though he is clearly the one in the priestly leadership
• Eli is among the judges (4:18)

2:12-17 ~ UNREBUKED WICKEDNESS

• Eli’s sons were "sons of Belial" = "sons of worthlessness"
• The PRIESTS did not know the Lord (cf: Jesus to Nicodemus, "you’re a teacher and you do not know…" (John3:10). Jesus to Pharisees and Scribes "…honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me (Matthew 15:7ff)
• What Eli’s sons did was scandalous even by the standards of the day.
• Portions of sacrifice allotted to the priests…see Leviticus 7:28-36; Eli’s sons were belly-servers (Romans 16:18, Philippians 3:19).
• Women serving in the tabernacle…see Exodus 38:8
• "Laymen" trying to correct the priests but with no success (2:16)
• Notice the effect of Eli’s sons actions (v.17) Read: Malachi 2:7-9, Mark 9:42, 2 Timothy 2:5

Correction/Discipline: Proverbs 3:11-12; 12:1; 13:8,24; 15:10,12,32; 17:10; 19:18; 20:30; 22:15; 23:13-14; 26:3; 29:15-17

2:22-36 ~ JUDGMENT

• Eli’s age may EXPLAIN but DOES NOT EXCUSE his actions toward his adult children
• The hearts of Eli’s sons were hard. They had rejected God. In turn, God confirmed them in their unbelief to bring judgment upon them, v.25. (cf: Pharaoh and the plagues Exodus 7:22ff; Romans 1:24)
• Read Ezekiel 33:7-9
• Eli’s Sin: Why do you…honor your sons more than Me and make yourselveS fat with the best…"(2:29) cf: Matthew 10:37
• A Judgment on Eli’s household, not the whole tribe of Levi
• God’s Judgment fulfilled: death of sons (sign of judgment 4:11); 22:11, 18-23 (Ahitub was Ichabod’s brother, 1 Samuel 14:3); 1 Kings 2:26-27

Re: 1 Samuel 2:30

"If we seek first the glory of God through the ministry of the Word, our glory, too, will surely follow, according to the word: ‘Them that honor Me I will honor’ (1 Samuel 2:30). In a word, let everyone else see to it, that is, be carefully concerned, that this ministry be faithful; for this is required most of all in ministers of the Word. It is as though Saint Paul were saying in 1 Corinthians 4:2: Let everyone strive to do this one thing: to teach the Word purely and faithfully and to look at nothing but the glory of God and the salvation of souls." {Luther--WLS #2930}

"…Let people only be confident in this matter pertaining to God’s Word; for Christ, whose cause it is, will surely defend and sustain it against the cunning of the accursed devil and the tyranny of the wicked, false world. And those who confess Him before this evil, adulterous generation and must bear much because of it, He, in turn, will confess before His heavenly Father and will compensate eternally for their suffering (Matthew 10:32).

So God Himself says (1 Samuel 2:30): ‘Them that honor Me I will honor.’ Therefore, though the sea run high, though its billows rise up and roar terribly, as if they would now drown all of us, the Lord on high—He who has begun His kingdom throughout the extent of the world and has prepared it to stay—is greater still, yea, is almighty. He will successfully carry out this matter. Amen." {Luther—WLS #3786}

3:1-4:22 ~ Judgment Confirmed Through Samuel

• Eli’s sin and judgment repeated (vv11-13)
• Eli’s submission to the Lord’s will (vv.17-18)
• Time had passed since chapter 3 (cf: 3:2 and 4:15)
• Eli’s primary grief and the primary grief of Phinehas’ wife were the same

Discussion

1. Compare Eli’s rebuke of Hannah (1:14) to his rebuke of his sons (2:23).
2. Elkanah and Hannah surely experienced the vices of Eli’s sons (1:3 & 2:14). Consider Hannah’s response to Eli in 1:15 in light of this fact.
3. Consider: If even the PRIESTS were so wicked what could be said for the people? Vs. A layman armed with Scripture is more powerful than any pope.
4. Eli’s sons and the people were wicked and perhaps would not have heard anything Eli would have said. Why does that not vindicate Eli? Cf: Eli and the prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, etc.
5. Was Eli responsible for his sons’ sin? What was his role as priest? …as father(of adult children)?
6. Compare Eli’s fathering of his adult children with that of Job (Job 1:2-5).
7. What was God’s purpose behind making "the ears of everyone who hears tingle" (3:11)
8. Compare the Israelites action in 4:3 with the practices of the church in the years preceding the Reformation. What conclusions can we make about peoples’ "spirituality? (cf: to our own time)

Conclusion: How would you characterize ELI?

--Pastor Wayne C. Eichstadt