For Those Who Honor Me, I Will Honor 1 Samuel 2:12-36 Eli was a priest and judge in Israel during the time of Samuels birth. This means that he served toward the end of the period of the judges and before Israel had her first human king. He served in the tabernacle at Shiloh. The temple had not yet been built at Jerusalem. The sons of Eli were corrupt and estranged from God. Eli spoke to his sons, and reprimanded them. However, they ignored their father and continued in their rebellion and Eli never took further steps to correct the situation. As a result, God was not pleased, either with the sons behavior nor with Elis failure to adequately correct them. Though God had blessed Elis house, He was going to withdraw His honor of them (1 Samuel 2:30). Profane and Irreverent Sacrifice The tabernacle of the Lord was in Shiloh. Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord there (1 Samuel 1:3,9). The Bible describes the corruption of Elis sons to be so complete that they did not know the Lord. No doubt they knew His name, but did not know Him (1 Samuel. 2:12). Elis sons profaned the sacrifices. They would take meat of the sacrifices before offering them to God. If the worshipper objected, wanting to offer the sacrifice to God before the priest took his portion, it would be taken by force (1 Samuel 2:16). It was supposed to be sacrificed unto God first, then the priests received their portions. In this way, the priests Phinehas and Hophni despised the offering of the Lord (1 Samuel 2:17). Today, all Christians are to be holy priests, offering spiritual sacrifices to the Lord (1 Peter. 2:5,9). Our sacrifices, too, must be acceptable to God (Romans 12:1,2). Conforming ourselves to the worlds standards rather than according to God makes for an unacceptable sacrifice. We are irreverent priests as well when we give God only the leftovers of our lives. Our priesthood is better than the one of the Old Law. First, because Jesus is our high priest today; a perfect High Priest unlike Eli and his sons (Hebrews 9:11-12; 7:23-25). Second, because we function as our own priesthood. No one can tamper with my sacrifice to the Lord... it is what I determine it to be. If God only gets the leftovers, then it is my fault, because I am my own priest making my own sacrifice.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 02:03:47 +0000
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