April 21 2024

No video. We were in the park. Here are song links with lyrics for the songs we sang. You will find 2 more after the sermon.

Havasu Christian Church         

Series in I Samuel            

April 21, 2024 

I Samuel 1:21-2:11       

“The fall of the house of Eli…” 

INTRO: To me, one of the greatest proofs of the truth of the Bible is that it’s honest about its heroes, not just its villains.     

The “Bad guys” do get painted pretty badly, mostly because they were really terrible! Sacrificing children to Moloch by burning them alive comes to mind… But even the good guys don’t get off “Scot free.” If a hero blundered, it’s faithfully recorded in Scripture. If the “good guy” fell prey to sin, you read about it. Whether it’s Elijah going into a tailspin after his confrontation of the Prophets of Baal, or Abraham telling his wife to claim to be his sister, we read about it.      

Today, in I Samuel chapter 2, we see a problem in Israel. This is before the land is ruled by a human King. Instead, God was supposed to be the King, and His people were to follow Him. They did…. For a while… then they didn’t… then they did… then they didn’t…. When they quit following Him, God sent someone to punish them. Then they would call out to Him for help, and God would raise up a Judge… a leader, who would get them out of the trouble they were in. Usually this was by military means, but not always. 

At the time we are looking at today, God’s High Priest, Eli, is His representative to the people. We don’t know how he was doing with the people, but we know that he wasn’t doing very well with his own two sons. That’s where we pick up today.  

1 Samuel 2:12–17     Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD  

13 and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.  

14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.  

15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.”  

16 If the man said to him, “They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”  

17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men despised the offering of the LORD. 

1. We get a description of Eli’s sons. 
2. Not a physical description, but a description of their character…. Or lack thereof.   
3. “Worthless men.” 
4. This phrase is only used a few times in the Old Testament. 
5. It’s used of men who “seduce” others to worship false “gods.” 
6. It’s used to describe men who are rapists. 
7. It’s used to describe men who will lie in court for money. 
8. It’s used to describe soldiers who don’t want to share the “spoils of war” with those who supported them but didn’t actually fight. 
9. They did not know the Lord! 
10. These men have grown up in the family of a Priest… the High Priest. But they haven’t really made a commitment to God. 
11. They’ve seen the rituals. 
12. They’ve heard the words. 
13. They’ve watched the sacrifices. 
14. But their hearts aren’t right! 
15. They don’t even care enough to find out how to do their duties the right way. 
16. We are given examples of how they lived.   
17. The current custom is to take part of the boiling meat as the Priest’s portion. 
18. They are also insisting on part of the raw meat, before the fat is even burned. 
19. Neither of these is the right way to do it. 

From: Bibleref.com  The law of Moses made it clear that the priests were to receive a portion of the sacrifices of the people for their own personal food. Deuteronomy 18:3 describes this as the priests' due from the people. The Law also made it clear, however, exactly which parts of the animal were to go to the priests. During a peace offering, the fat was to be burned on the altar, and the priests were to receive the breast meat and the right thigh (Leviticus 7:29–36). 

Over time, the people of the Israel paid less and less attention to the law of Moses and blended their worship of the Lord with the practices of the pagan worshipers of the false gods and idols of the day. The custom at Shiloh may have come from one of those other religions. 

Those bringing the peace offering would also receive a portion of the meat to eat by God's design (Leviticus 7:11–18). That meat would apparently be boiled (Numbers 6:19–20). The custom during this time was that the priest's servant would bring a three-pronged fork and plunge it into the pot. The priest kept for himself whatever was pulled out (1 Samuel 2:14), likely in addition to the breast and thigh meat he received following the offering. 

1. These sons of Eli are using their position to rob the people, even to the point of threatening to take what they want by force! 

1 Samuel 2:22–25  Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.  

23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?  

24 “No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD’S people circulating.  

25 “If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death. 

1. These men are even having sex with he women who “Serve at the doorway of the tent of meeting.” 
2. This might be consensual, it might be rape, but either way, they certainly aren’t living up to God’s idea of purity.  
3. When their father finally confronts them with their sin, they won’t listen… 
4. Apparently, their father chooses not to do something about it. 
5. They ARE his sons. He wouldn’t want harm to come to them. 
6. However, Eli had a responsibility to the people and to God that should have driven him to fix this. 

1. God sends a man to confront Eli! 

1 Samuel 2:27–36 Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?  

28 ‘Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?  

29 ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’  

30 “Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.  

31 ‘Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.  

32 ‘You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever.  

33 ‘Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.  

34 ‘This will be the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them will die.  

35 ‘But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always.  

36 ‘Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, “Please assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.” ’ ” 

1. The man of God reminds Eli of the history that God has with the tribe of Levi. 
2. I chose your tribe to serve as priests. 
3. You don’t take it seriously. 

“Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?” 

1. God confronts Eli with allowing his sons to do wrong. 
2. Eli is also benefiting from that wrongdoing. 
3. He is enjoying the “ill gotten gains” of his crooked sons. 
4. God tells Eli that there is punishment for their sins on its way. 
5. Soon, there won’t be an old man in your household. 
6. Eli has to take that personally. HE is the “old man” of the household. 
7. Your whole household will be punished. 
8. Your family will no longer have any power. 
9. Your family will have your two sons die on the same day. 
10. Your family will no longer have anything to do with leadership within the Priesthood. 
11. Your family will be beholden to your replacement. 

1. The words of the “Man of God” come true. 

1 Samuel 4:1–18  Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped in Aphek.  

2 The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.  

3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.”  

4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.  

5 As the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.  

6 When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.  

7 The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.  

8 “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.  

9 “Take courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight.”  

10 So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.  

11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.  

12 Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head.  

13 When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. So the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.  

14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the noise of this commotion mean?” Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli.  

15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.  

16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.” And he said, “How did things go, my son?”  

17 Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.”  

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years. 

1. Israel goes into battle. 
2. 4000 men are lost. 
3. The people decide that they should use the Ark of the Covenant as a “lucky charm.” 
4. “If we take the Ark of the Covenant into battle, God will have to make us win to protect His fancy box!” 
5. NOT! 
6. The Ark of the Covenant is captured. 
7. Hophni and Phinehas are killed. 
8. When he gets the news, Eli falls over backwards and dies from a broken neck. 
9. The job of the High Priest is passed to Samuel, who has been proving himself to be a true follower of God!   

Conclusion: What a weird passage to study for Church in the park! 

What should we hope to learn from this today? 

• Eli had a problem with his sons. 
• Perhaps, he was a model father… Maybe we should just blame his wife for how their kids turned out! 😉   
• It seems however, that Eli neglected his duties as a father. 
• He didn’t train his sons to take over as Priests. 
• He apparently didn’t teach them to know God, or even respect and honor God… 
• God held Eli accountable for his sons’ evil deeds.   
• He is also called out for profiting by them. 
• As Christians, we need to be examples to those who are growing up around us. 
• Children, 
• Grand Children, 
• Great Grandchildren, 
• People we know. 
• We have a responsibility to be “a light in their darkness.” 
• We need to SHOW them Jesus in our lives. 
• We need to TELL them about Jesus with our words. 
• Eli’s shortcomings as a father, did not absolve his sons of the guilt they had for doing wrong. 
• They were still responsible for their own actions! 
• This is still true today. 
• People LOVE to blame their circumstances 
• They love to blame their parents. 
• They love to blame society. 
• But we all are responsible for our own actions. 
• Once you are an adult, blaming mommy and daddy for YOUR actions and sins isn’t going to work with God. 
• Don’t be a “Worthless Man” or a “Worthless Woman!” 
• Hophni and Phinehas made terrible choices. 
• They had no intention of choosing to change. 
• Most of us have made some terrible choices too! 
• We’ve done things that we certainly shouldn’t be proud of. 
• We all need God’s forgiveness, and He is willing to give us that forgiveness! 
• The question we need to answer though, is “Am I willing to change?” 
• Will I give my life to Jesus and follow Him from this moment onward. 
• Many of us have already made that decision, but are we pursuing it as strongly today as we once did? 
• God is faithful! 
• He told Eli exactly what He was going to do. 
• God carried through on those promises. 
• Those promises meant tragedy for Eli and his family. 
• Those same promises meant joy and a huge responsibility for Samuel. 
• God is STILL faithful! 
• If we choose to follow Jesus, He will send His Holy Spirit to live in us. 
• The Holy Spirit will help guide us in the choices we make. 
• He’ll also “beat us up” when we don’t listen to His guidance. 
• If we choose to follow Jesus, His death on the cross will cover all our sins and make us right with God. 
• If we choose to follow Jesus, we are Children of God by adoption! 
• If we choose to follow Jesus, death holds no terror for us anymore, because HE is on the other side of death, waiting for me… not just for now, but for all eternity! 
• God’s faithfulness extends to His promises to the pagan as well. 
• Hell is real. 
• Hell is a choice. 
• God won’t make someone who hates Him, live with Him forever!