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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

The Sons of Eli and Samuel

Father in Heaven, we thank you for this time that we have once more to always study your Word.

Lord, we are so thankful for this precious time.

We're thankful for the watch care through the week.

We're thankful, Lord, that you continue to speak to us and guide us.

And Lord, may you please grant us your Holy Spirit as we dig into your word once more, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would reveal to us the truth as it is written there in the Scriptures.

And most of all, may these words guide each and every 1 of us.

We are continuing our study series on the early kings.

And today our topic is entitled, The Sons of Eli and Samuel.

And last week we studied about Hannah and her miraculous birth.

Her son Samuel was dedicated to the Lord and she followed through with her vow.

Even though that was her only son, she was willing to still follow through with that promise that she had made to the Lord.

And so she brought Samuel to the temple eventually after he was weaned and she would leave him there even at a young and tender age, for the high priest to take care of him.

And so now we pick it up in 1 Samuel 3 and verse 1.

The Bible says, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli.

And the word of the Lord was precious in those days.

And so Eli, he was the 1 that was high priest and he was the 1 that was taking care of Samuel at the temple.

However, the Bible says there that there was no open vision.

What does that mean when it says no open vision?

You see, Visions were given from God to the people and usually through people we call prophets.

Look at what the Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 7 and verse 26.

Mischief shall come upon mischief and rumor shall be upon rumor.

Then shall they seek a vision of the prophets but the law shall perish from the priests and counsel from the ancients." So it says that when there's no open vision, you see here, vision comes from or goes at least to the prophets.

So when there's no open vision, it means that God was not communicating with the people through the prophets.

There must have been something that was taking place in the camp, in the Israelite nation that was hindering God from coming to them and willing to communicate with them.

There must have been some sort of sin that they were holding onto and here we're going to see namely in Eli's home as well.

However, before we get into that, how old was Samuel at this point?

You know, of course, he was left there, but then he was growing, obviously.

Let's keep reading in 1 chapter 2, verses 20 and 21.

And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bare 3 sons and 2 daughters, and the child Samuel grew before the Lord.

This is important to understand his age because of what we're going to be looking at here.

The text tells us that Samuel, when he was left there and Hannah went home, God blessed them with more children.

And so he must have been around 10 to 12 years old at this point.

Yes, it was only a few verses, but time passed by very quickly to the extent that the text says that Hanor had at least 5 more children.

And so if we were to go the minimum, right, 1 child per year, he would have been at least 10 up to 12 years old, possibly a little older, but definitely not into his twenties at that point, you see.

So, What was the wickedness that was taking place in Eli's home that caused there to be no open visions?

Let's keep reading 1 Samuel 2 and we're going to go back a little bit from verses 12 to 17.

This is what the Bible says, Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.

And the priest's custom with the people was, that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of 3 teeth in his hand, and he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, All that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself.

This was the custom of how the priests would perform their tasks.

So they did, Insha'Allah, unto all the Israelites that came thither.

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.

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.

Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.

So the names of Eli's sons was Hopni and Phineas, and they were priests that served under their father, Eli, who was, of course, the high priest.

And it was not that they didn't know the Lord, as it said there in verse 12, but they were rebelling against God and His instruction and all that He wanted them to do.

They were priests serving there, and you see the priests, they often, you see they couldn't work, they weren't given quote-unquote money, but everything that the people offered, the priests were allowed to take a portion home with them and it would feed their family and themselves.

And so they were allowed to take this food, but what was happening?

In Instead of just eating the food fully cooked, they were taking it raw.

They were eating the meat raw and not just that, they were eating the fat that was on the meat as well.

You see, the priests were not allowed to eat blood, they couldn't eat raw meat, they couldn't eat fat as well.

And so the fat had to be cut off and the meat fully cooked before they were allowed to eat it and yet they were doing it before that.

So They were despising all these offerings that people were bringing and coming to the Lord, but that was not all.

What else was taking place in the family of Eli with his sons?

So yes, they were eating raw meat, they were eating the fat that shouldn't have been eaten, They were eating things they should not have been eating.

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.

And he said unto them, Why do ye such things?

For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.

Nay my sons, for it is no good report that I hear.

The women that came to offer the sacrifices, they were sleeping with them at the temple there.

And so, Eli, he heard about all these wicked things and all he did was say, what, this is not good my sons.

He just gave them a little slight scolding.

He did not do what he should have done as a father nor as a high priest.

And so this was what was taking place in the family of Eli.

This is what was happening and as a result the Bible says there was no open vision.

The sons were eating raw meat, they were eating the fat and not cutting it away, and they were also committing fornication with various women that would come and offer sacrifices at the temple.

Now, from the position of high priest, let's put father aside for a minute.

As position of high priest, which was the highest position in the nation at that time, it was judge of Israel, Eli was the judge of Israel.

What should he have done for his sons or to his sons?

If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die.

But the man that lay with the woman and the woman, so shall both the man that lay with the woman and the woman, so shalt thou put away evil from Israel." What should Eli have done?

He should have pronounced judgment on his sons that they die.

He should have removed them from the position of high priest and sentenced them to death.

People were stoned in those days for committing fornication and adultery.

But all he did was just scold them with words a little bit and it didn't have any effect on them.

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The Sons of Eli and Samuel

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