First we need to look at Leviticus 3:14-17
14 From what you offer you are to present this food offering to the Lord: the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, 15 both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys. 16 The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord’s.
17 ‘“This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: you must not eat any fat or any blood”.’
(Also Leviticus 4:26,31,35)
Now read Leviticus 7:28-36
28 The Lord said to Moses, 29 ‘Say to the Israelites: “Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. 30 With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering. 31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32 You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. 33 The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share.
34 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their perpetual share from the Israelites”’.
35 This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. 36 On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come.
We are about to read about Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, the priests at Shiloh. Eli was an old man, Hophni had no children but Phinehas his younger brother was married with a son named Ahitub, possibly about the same age as Samuel, and Eli’s family line therefore continued through him.
Eli had delegated his priestly duties to his sons some time previously and perhaps concentrated on his office as Judge. 1 Samuel 4:15-18 tells us he had led (or judged) Israel for 40 years and he was 98 when he died). But 1 Samuel 2:12 tells us that ‘Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord’.
What do you think that phrase means?
Let’s read the whole passage: 1 Samuel 2:12-17.
12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.
15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, ‘Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.’
16 If the person said to him, ‘Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,’ the servant would answer, ‘No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.’
17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.
Note that it was a servant who was sent to take the priest’s meat.
How important were these young men in their own eyes?
How much contact did they have with the people?
Had they in turn delegated, or simply ignored their priestly duties?
In what way did they disobey the Lord’s specific instructions regarding sacrifices?
Now read 1 Samuel 2:22-25.
22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them, ‘Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. 25 If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?’ His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.
Eli seemed powerless to control his children. He had not restrained or corrected them when young. He turned a blind eye to their abuses in the service of the sanctuary until they had become normal – practices which should have been holy had now become sinful. Offences were committed even in offering the sacrifices for sins, which typified the atonement of the Saviour! Sin against the remedy, the atonement itself, can only lead to death (Matthew Henry).
The scriptures written by Moses were stored in the Tabernacle, beside the Ark (Deuteronomy 31:24-26). The priests would have had access to them, and Samuel too as he grew up. Look at 1 Samuel 3:21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
So would the priests have been able to refer to the rules governing the priesthood and sacrifices (Particularly the book of Leviticus)?
It would appear that Eli’s sons were happy to Ignore God’s word and to do their own thing. They regarded the priesthood as their passport to power and authority, taking anything or anyone they chose.
Many times the Lord had said of the Israelites: ‘you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.’ (Deuteronomy 7:6)
Had Eli’s sons bothered to read God’s word they would have found Leviticus 11:44.
44 ‘I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy’.
And Leviticus 22:9
‘The priests are to perform my service in such a way that they do not become guilty and die for treating it with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’
It was because of this blatant disregard for God’s ways that God now stepped in to defend his honour.
Now we all remember how the Lord called Samuel (we will look at that later). When he finally listened, what did the Lord have to say to him?
Read 1 Samuel 3:11-14.
11 And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family – from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family for ever because of the sin he knew about; his sons uttered blasphemies against God, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, “The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”‘
Verse 13 says ‘I told him’ – When did the Lord tell him? And what did he say?
Read 1 Samuel 2:27-36 (Perhaps several could join in)
27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?”
30 ‘Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: “I promised that members of your family would minister before me for ever.” But now the Lord declares: “Far be it from me! Those who honour me I will honour, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age,
32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age.
33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
34 ‘“And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you – they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, ‘Appoint me to some priestly office so that I can have food to eat.’”‘
What was their sin? (Taking what was God’s, bringing dishonour to God, leading the people astray, being bad shepherds)
What was their greatest sin?
Not acknowledging the Holiness of God.
So God steps in, using an unknown Godly man to pronounce God’s judgement. Note that the Lord spoke directly to Samuel, and to this unnamed man, but not to Eli or his sons. And note that the prophet who brings his message is referred to as ‘a man of God’ in contrast to Eli or his sons.
Note also that however dark the situation, God always has those who are true to him and who he can trust with his message. But this man is simply God’s messenger; we don’t need to know his name or family line.
And through Samuel, Eli is told that God is now about to act. We will find out what happens next, in our next study.
But what is God’s message to us now?
Let’s look again at Leviticus 11:44.
I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
Who was this directed to? (See v1).
What is emphasised again in v45?
Be holy because I am holy.
Now read 1 Peter 2:5, 9-12
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
What is God’s message to us?
Meanwhile, what was happening with Samuel?
Read 1 Samuel 2:11.
Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.
Read 1 Samuel 2:26.
And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people.
The years were passing – Samuel was older, but possibly not yet a teenager.
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-21.
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ 5 And he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’
But Eli said, ‘I did not call; go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, ‘Samuel!’ And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’
‘My son,’ Eli said, ‘I did not call; go back and lie down.’
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the Lord called, ‘Samuel!’ And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’
Then Eli realised that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’
Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’
11 And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family – from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family for ever because of the sin he knew about; his sons uttered blasphemies against God, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, “The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”‘
15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said,
‘Samuel, my son.’ Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’
17 ‘What was it he said to you?’ Eli asked. ‘Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.’ 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, ‘He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.’
19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognised that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
Read 1 Samuel 4:1
And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.
In 1 Samuel 3:17-18 Samuel had his first lesson as a prophet. What was that?
Hide nothing; don’t be afraid to give the whole message.
As Samuel moved from childhood to manhood, Samuel (v20) was accepted throughout Israel as a ‘prophet of the Lord’.
What does attested mean (v20)? Proved to be true or genuine.
The Lord spoke to him through his word, and Samuel spoke God’s words to the people.
What do you suppose he said?
What does ‘he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground’ (v19) mean?
(Picture an experienced archer firing arrows at a target).
