Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
The verse describes Hophni and Phinehas, the young priests ministering at the tabernacle in Shiloh when God's call first came to Samuel, whose abuse made the services of the sanctuary contemptible. They treated the sacred sacrifices as means of self-indulgence, defrauding Israel by demanding more than their allotted share, taking the chiefest for themselves, and seizing it by force and threat in open transgression of the prescribed ritual. Their sin was very great before the Lord because it was committed in holy office with irreverence and contempt for His authority, stripping the offering of its holy significance and obscuring its purpose to point faith toward Christ's death. By their conduct they caused men to abhor the Lord's offering, brought truth into reproach, polluted the community and led Israel into sin and widespread corruption. Eli as father and high priest knew of their wrongdoing yet only reproved them lightly and failed to restrain or remove them, thereby sharing their guilt and bringing calamity on his house in the death of his sons, the slaughter of Israel, and the capture of the ark. The history stands as a warning that God holds parents and those in sacred trust responsible to govern, restrain and correct evil firmly, since indulgence and unfaithful example corrupt the family, the church and the nation.
Sin in Sacred Office
The verse describes Hophni and Phinehas, the young priests ministering at the door of the tabernacle in slaying the beasts and at the altar of sacrifice in Shiloh, at the time when God's call first came to Samuel when the services of the sanctuary were held in contempt. Their grave sin while serving in holy office dishonored God and brought disrepute on His service. In contrast to that contempt, worship was later maintained throughout the land under Samuel when the people showed interest in religious services.
Their abuse of the offerings treated the sacred sacrifices as a means of self-indulgence through selfishness, covetousness, gluttony, profligacy and licentiousness. They defrauded Israel in the offerings, practiced extortion and selfish grasping, demanded more than their allotted share, took the chiefest for themselves, threatened to seize it by force, and with violence boldly transgressed the prescribed ritual and God's law. Their inclination to do evil was unrestrained, and right instruction and good example alone were not enough without prompt and decisive restraint. Their profligacy and sacrilege remained very great before the Lord.
Their sin was very great before the Lord because it was committed in holy office with irreverence and open contempt for God's authority. As men set to minister in holy things and speak His message of mercy and reconciliation, they used their sacred calling as a cloak for selfish and sensual gratification, which stripped the offering of its holy significance. Unlike a sin of one man against another for which officiating priests could make atonement, the sin of priests themselves against God left no one to make atonement for them. By that unworthy course they became the most effective agents of evil.
Their disregard for the ritual obscured the purpose of the sacrifices to point people in faith toward Christ's death, turning the offering God had appointed as a blessing to Israel into something people abhorred. Their conduct caused men to abhor and despise the Lord's offering and worship, brought the truth of God into reproach, polluted the community around them, compelled Israel to sin, led people to lightly regard crime, and produced widespread corruption. As a barrier against that corruption and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the people, the schools of the prophets were established to promote the righteousness that exalts a nation and to furnish men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.
That corruption tested the faith and devotion of Israel, bringing temptation by which some who cherished sin followed the priests' example or excused their own wrongdoing because leaders transgressed. Yet the people were far less troubled by that sacrilege than by later dangers threatening their temporal interests from the arrogance and injustice of their judges. Corruption under a religious guise damaged confidence in religion itself, for their evil course may go on in secret for a time but when the true character of unworthy ministers is exposed the faith of the people receives a shock. That shock often destroys confidence in religion, leaves distrust of all who profess to teach God's word, causes even the message of a true servant to be doubtfully received with the question whether he will prove corrupt like the one trusted before, and thus takes power from God's word upon souls and makes the ministry harder to trust.
Eli's Failure and Judgment
Eli as father and as judge and high priest in Israel knew of the wrongdoing of his sons yet passed over it lightly, only reproving them when their abominable example deserved death, and he did not restrain them, remove them from office, or judge them, but honored his sons above God and feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on. His reproof was disregarded, and by failing to restrain and remove them from the priesthood he dishonored God and allowed their evil practices to continue to the neglect of correction, rebuke and check.
His failure grew from lax, ease-loving family government and fond indulgence that overlooked faults in childhood and let wrong habits strengthen until they became second nature and confirmed habits. In self-confidence he thought he knew a better way of training his children than God had given in His word, and like Eve followed human wisdom in preference to the commands of the Omniscient One, letting feeling control instead of sanctified judgment and sound wisdom. Unrestrained passions, perverted appetites, corrupt morals, and forward selfish ways were allowed to follow their own will and grow worse, until his sons defied both human and divine authority and were taught to disregard God's commands. Right instruction and good example alone were not enough, because their inclination to do evil was not restrained with promptness and decision.
By that indulgent unfaithfulness Eli shared in their guilt and made their sin his own, dishonored God, and was responsible for failing to restrain them. Blind affection and concern for their reputation and approval above honoring God made parents answerable, for he failed to rebuke and correct evil first by mild measures and then, if those did not avail, by the severest means. Parental failure to recognize and correct wrongdoing in the home thus makes that sin the parents' own.
Unchecked sin brought fearful calamity and a curse on Eli and all his house for treating sin lightly and failing to follow God's commands in dealing with his sons. His sons fell in battle, thirty thousand Israelites were slain, the ark of God was taken from Israel by the Philistines, and Eli himself fell backward and died when he heard the ark was taken. Eli did not lead his children but was led by them, unlike Abraham who commanded his household after him and was faithful in his house, and permitting disobedience led to transgression and death.
God told Samuel that their sins would not be purged with sacrifice nor offerings forever, and when Samuel told Eli, Eli answered that it is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him. Judgment soon followed, for Israel had vainly thought the presence of the ark would insure victory over the Philistines despite sinful practices.
In contrast, the call of God first came to Samuel at a time when the services of the sanctuary were held in contempt, yet his careful early training to distinguish good from evil prepared him to resist the evil influences in Eli's household. The aged priest neglected his solemn, sacred charge and failed to train his children in the right way, so God passed him by and accepted Samuel when his mother dedicated him to His service, even communicating a solemn message to the boy. Under Samuel afterward the worship of God was maintained throughout the land and the people showed interest in religious services.
As a barrier against that widespread corruption and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the people, Samuel established the schools of the prophets. They proved a great blessing to Israel by promoting the righteousness that exalts a nation and by furnishing men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.
Warning for Today
The history stands for the benefit of future generations to warn fathers and mothers to shun Eli's example. God holds parents responsible in great degree for the conduct of their children because they have the formation of their characters, He has marked out their duty in His word as the only safe guide, and He weighs remissness and finds it wanting. The Creator understands all the needs of children and has the deepest interest in their welfare, having bought them with His own blood, and human philosophy has devised no wiser plan than His commands. In self-confidence Eli thought he knew a better way of training than God had given, and like Eve followed human wisdom in preference to the commands of the Omniscient One, allowing forward, selfish ways to grow without restraint until they became confirmed habits.
Parents are required to restrain their children, govern them, lead them and not be led by them, teach obedience, command their households after them to keep the way of the Lord as Abraham did, and correct passions and subdue them. Mistaken love and fondness, over-tenderness, favoring and seeking to please children without restraining them, letting feeling control instead of sanctified judgment and sound wisdom, tying the hands of right government, excusing and covering passionate, unthankful, disobedient, heady, high-minded sin, and letting children rule makes parents partakers of their wrongs and sustainers of them in sin, so that the blood of their souls is upon father and mother. Eli could have restrained his sons but feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on, and unlike faithful Abraham he did not command his house after him. Permitting disobedience leads to transgression and death, and parents who do not command their children after Abraham's pattern repeat Eli's mistake and show they lack wisdom from God in training.
Indulged children without respect for parents or for the authority of God or man disgrace the cause of Christ, bring ruin on themselves and their households, and bring reproach upon God's cause. Such indulgence nourishes pride and makes them vain, forward, self-willed, self-pleasing and pleasure-seeking, filled with self-love, haughtiness and uncontrolled passion, imagining that outward trimmings and fixings make the lady or gentleman while the heart is void of Christian graces. They dishonor parents and then show the same lack of honor and reverence toward God and truth, put the high, sacred and holy on the same level with common things and make religion a common thing, despise parental authority, exert a poisonous, corrupting influence that leads to death, and become candidates for perdition. Unless they are converted and come out from the world and are separate they can have no part with the redeemed in God's everlasting kingdom, for they have no true idea of what is required to become a Christian and of the purifying, cleansing work needed to fit them for the society of heavenly angels and to dwell in the presence of a pure and holy God; though reformation can redeem the past, the results of great neglect can never be wholly blotted out.
Eli's neglect warns especially those in sacred trust, for as priest and judge he was held accountable in a special sense for the character of his sons and for the moral and religious standing of the people. Unfaithfulness is ten-fold greater in appointed teachers because their wrong example misleads many and guilt grows with responsible position, and lax, ease-loving family government imitated throughout Israel with lax discipline in one holy family can corrupt the whole nation. Every parent must make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household, and in a pre-eminent degree those who minister in sacred things to whom the people look for instruction and guidance must be examples to the flock, govern their own families and have them in good subjection, for he who fails to direct wisely his own household and has not order at home is not qualified to guide the church or to judge and decide its matters.
Church leaders in responsible positions must faithfully defend what is right by first reproving sin and executing justice by mild measures and then, if those do not avail, by the severest means, promptly and firmly reproving, restraining and removing wrongdoing that dishonors the cause of truth. They must not tolerate children's rebellion or wrongdoing as though it must simply be endured, nor know of evil and fail to remove men from positions of trust. Eli was cursed because he did not promptly and firmly restrain his sons, and his neglect to defend what was right ultimately deprived Israel of strength and glory. The same measure that condemned the extortion and selfish grasping of Eli's sons, which caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord, condemns selfish men in sacred office who eagerly grasp all they can get to advantage themselves, such as accepting large wages like $30 a week for their labor. Such turning things upside down and departing from the faith once delivered to the saints reveals hearts without the self-denial and self-sacrifice of Christ and sets an unsafe example at the very heart of the work, and God who tests devotion and principles sees all such selfishness and will not approve or bless it.
The Lord watched the conduct of Eli's sons as He watched Joseph's, and each is rewarded according to his deeds even before the heavenly universe. God noticed such things then and is no less particular in the last days. Parental neglect that fails to teach obedience and allows disobedience trains children to disobey their Heavenly Father, indulgence that leads children away from salvation shares responsibility for the harm that follows and brings judgment on parents, and God will destroy the children in the day of His fierce anger while the parents who did not govern them will not be blameless.
The verse describes Hophni and Phinehas, the young priests ministering at the tabernacle in Shiloh when God's call first came to Samuel, whose abuse made the services of the sanctuary contemptible. They treated the sacred sacrifices as means of self-indulgence, defrauding Israel by demanding more than their allotted share, taking the chiefest for themselves, and seizing it by force and threat in open transgression of the prescribed ritual. Their sin was very great before the Lord because it was committed in holy office with irreverence and contempt for His authority, stripping the offering of its holy significance and obscuring its purpose to point faith toward Christ's death. By their conduct they caused men to abhor the Lord's offering, brought truth into reproach, polluted the community and led Israel into sin and widespread corruption. Eli as father and high priest knew of their wrongdoing yet only reproved them lightly and failed to restrain or remove them, thereby sharing their guilt and bringing calamity on his house in the death of his sons, the slaughter of Israel, and the capture of the ark. The history stands as a warning that God holds parents and those in sacred trust responsible to govern, restrain and correct evil firmly, since indulgence and unfaithful example corrupt the family, the church and the nation.
Sin in Sacred Office
The verse describes Hophni and Phinehas, the young priests ministering at the door of the tabernacle in slaying the beasts and at the altar of sacrifice in Shiloh, at the time when God's call first came to Samuel when the services of the sanctuary were held in contempt. Their grave sin while serving in holy office dishonored God and brought disrepute on His service. In contrast to that contempt, worship was later maintained throughout the land under Samuel when the people showed interest in religious services.
Their abuse of the offerings treated the sacred sacrifices as a means of self-indulgence through selfishness, covetousness, gluttony, profligacy and licentiousness. They defrauded Israel in the offerings, practiced extortion and selfish grasping, demanded more than their allotted share, took the chiefest for themselves, threatened to seize it by force, and with violence boldly transgressed the prescribed ritual and God's law. Their inclination to do evil was unrestrained, and right instruction and good example alone were not enough without prompt and decisive restraint. Their profligacy and sacrilege remained very great before the Lord.
Their sin was very great before the Lord because it was committed in holy office with irreverence and open contempt for God's authority. As men set to minister in holy things and speak His message of mercy and reconciliation, they used their sacred calling as a cloak for selfish and sensual gratification, which stripped the offering of its holy significance. Unlike a sin of one man against another for which officiating priests could make atonement, the sin of priests themselves against God left no one to make atonement for them. By that unworthy course they became the most effective agents of evil.
Their disregard for the ritual obscured the purpose of the sacrifices to point people in faith toward Christ's death, turning the offering God had appointed as a blessing to Israel into something people abhorred. Their conduct caused men to abhor and despise the Lord's offering and worship, brought the truth of God into reproach, polluted the community around them, compelled Israel to sin, led people to lightly regard crime, and produced widespread corruption. As a barrier against that corruption and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the people, the schools of the prophets were established to promote the righteousness that exalts a nation and to furnish men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.
That corruption tested the faith and devotion of Israel, bringing temptation by which some who cherished sin followed the priests' example or excused their own wrongdoing because leaders transgressed. Yet the people were far less troubled by that sacrilege than by later dangers threatening their temporal interests from the arrogance and injustice of their judges. Corruption under a religious guise damaged confidence in religion itself, for their evil course may go on in secret for a time but when the true character of unworthy ministers is exposed the faith of the people receives a shock. That shock often destroys confidence in religion, leaves distrust of all who profess to teach God's word, causes even the message of a true servant to be doubtfully received with the question whether he will prove corrupt like the one trusted before, and thus takes power from God's word upon souls and makes the ministry harder to trust.
Eli's Failure and Judgment
Eli as father and as judge and high priest in Israel knew of the wrongdoing of his sons yet passed over it lightly, only reproving them when their abominable example deserved death, and he did not restrain them, remove them from office, or judge them, but honored his sons above God and feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on. His reproof was disregarded, and by failing to restrain and remove them from the priesthood he dishonored God and allowed their evil practices to continue to the neglect of correction, rebuke and check.
His failure grew from lax, ease-loving family government and fond indulgence that overlooked faults in childhood and let wrong habits strengthen until they became second nature and confirmed habits. In self-confidence he thought he knew a better way of training his children than God had given in His word, and like Eve followed human wisdom in preference to the commands of the Omniscient One, letting feeling control instead of sanctified judgment and sound wisdom. Unrestrained passions, perverted appetites, corrupt morals, and forward selfish ways were allowed to follow their own will and grow worse, until his sons defied both human and divine authority and were taught to disregard God's commands. Right instruction and good example alone were not enough, because their inclination to do evil was not restrained with promptness and decision.
By that indulgent unfaithfulness Eli shared in their guilt and made their sin his own, dishonored God, and was responsible for failing to restrain them. Blind affection and concern for their reputation and approval above honoring God made parents answerable, for he failed to rebuke and correct evil first by mild measures and then, if those did not avail, by the severest means. Parental failure to recognize and correct wrongdoing in the home thus makes that sin the parents' own.
Unchecked sin brought fearful calamity and a curse on Eli and all his house for treating sin lightly and failing to follow God's commands in dealing with his sons. His sons fell in battle, thirty thousand Israelites were slain, the ark of God was taken from Israel by the Philistines, and Eli himself fell backward and died when he heard the ark was taken. Eli did not lead his children but was led by them, unlike Abraham who commanded his household after him and was faithful in his house, and permitting disobedience led to transgression and death.
God told Samuel that their sins would not be purged with sacrifice nor offerings forever, and when Samuel told Eli, Eli answered that it is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him. Judgment soon followed, for Israel had vainly thought the presence of the ark would insure victory over the Philistines despite sinful practices.
In contrast, the call of God first came to Samuel at a time when the services of the sanctuary were held in contempt, yet his careful early training to distinguish good from evil prepared him to resist the evil influences in Eli's household. The aged priest neglected his solemn, sacred charge and failed to train his children in the right way, so God passed him by and accepted Samuel when his mother dedicated him to His service, even communicating a solemn message to the boy. Under Samuel afterward the worship of God was maintained throughout the land and the people showed interest in religious services.
As a barrier against that widespread corruption and to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the people, Samuel established the schools of the prophets. They proved a great blessing to Israel by promoting the righteousness that exalts a nation and by furnishing men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors.
Warning for Today
The history stands for the benefit of future generations to warn fathers and mothers to shun Eli's example. God holds parents responsible in great degree for the conduct of their children because they have the formation of their characters, He has marked out their duty in His word as the only safe guide, and He weighs remissness and finds it wanting. The Creator understands all the needs of children and has the deepest interest in their welfare, having bought them with His own blood, and human philosophy has devised no wiser plan than His commands. In self-confidence Eli thought he knew a better way of training than God had given, and like Eve followed human wisdom in preference to the commands of the Omniscient One, allowing forward, selfish ways to grow without restraint until they became confirmed habits.
Parents are required to restrain their children, govern them, lead them and not be led by them, teach obedience, command their households after them to keep the way of the Lord as Abraham did, and correct passions and subdue them. Mistaken love and fondness, over-tenderness, favoring and seeking to please children without restraining them, letting feeling control instead of sanctified judgment and sound wisdom, tying the hands of right government, excusing and covering passionate, unthankful, disobedient, heady, high-minded sin, and letting children rule makes parents partakers of their wrongs and sustainers of them in sin, so that the blood of their souls is upon father and mother. Eli could have restrained his sons but feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on, and unlike faithful Abraham he did not command his house after him. Permitting disobedience leads to transgression and death, and parents who do not command their children after Abraham's pattern repeat Eli's mistake and show they lack wisdom from God in training.
Indulged children without respect for parents or for the authority of God or man disgrace the cause of Christ, bring ruin on themselves and their households, and bring reproach upon God's cause. Such indulgence nourishes pride and makes them vain, forward, self-willed, self-pleasing and pleasure-seeking, filled with self-love, haughtiness and uncontrolled passion, imagining that outward trimmings and fixings make the lady or gentleman while the heart is void of Christian graces. They dishonor parents and then show the same lack of honor and reverence toward God and truth, put the high, sacred and holy on the same level with common things and make religion a common thing, despise parental authority, exert a poisonous, corrupting influence that leads to death, and become candidates for perdition. Unless they are converted and come out from the world and are separate they can have no part with the redeemed in God's everlasting kingdom, for they have no true idea of what is required to become a Christian and of the purifying, cleansing work needed to fit them for the society of heavenly angels and to dwell in the presence of a pure and holy God; though reformation can redeem the past, the results of great neglect can never be wholly blotted out.
Eli's neglect warns especially those in sacred trust, for as priest and judge he was held accountable in a special sense for the character of his sons and for the moral and religious standing of the people. Unfaithfulness is ten-fold greater in appointed teachers because their wrong example misleads many and guilt grows with responsible position, and lax, ease-loving family government imitated throughout Israel with lax discipline in one holy family can corrupt the whole nation. Every parent must make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household, and in a pre-eminent degree those who minister in sacred things to whom the people look for instruction and guidance must be examples to the flock, govern their own families and have them in good subjection, for he who fails to direct wisely his own household and has not order at home is not qualified to guide the church or to judge and decide its matters.
Church leaders in responsible positions must faithfully defend what is right by first reproving sin and executing justice by mild measures and then, if those do not avail, by the severest means, promptly and firmly reproving, restraining and removing wrongdoing that dishonors the cause of truth. They must not tolerate children's rebellion or wrongdoing as though it must simply be endured, nor know of evil and fail to remove men from positions of trust. Eli was cursed because he did not promptly and firmly restrain his sons, and his neglect to defend what was right ultimately deprived Israel of strength and glory. The same measure that condemned the extortion and selfish grasping of Eli's sons, which caused men to abhor the offering of the Lord, condemns selfish men in sacred office who eagerly grasp all they can get to advantage themselves, such as accepting large wages like $30 a week for their labor. Such turning things upside down and departing from the faith once delivered to the saints reveals hearts without the self-denial and self-sacrifice of Christ and sets an unsafe example at the very heart of the work, and God who tests devotion and principles sees all such selfishness and will not approve or bless it.
The Lord watched the conduct of Eli's sons as He watched Joseph's, and each is rewarded according to his deeds even before the heavenly universe. God noticed such things then and is no less particular in the last days. Parental neglect that fails to teach obedience and allows disobedience trains children to disobey their Heavenly Father, indulgence that leads children away from salvation shares responsibility for the harm that follows and brings judgment on parents, and God will destroy the children in the day of His fierce anger while the parents who did not govern them will not be blameless.