Eli - Leadership gone wrong

Eli was the High Priest of Shiloh where everyone would come to worship in Israel with sacrifices and prayer. This is where Hannah went when she asked God for a son (Samuel.) The difference between a Priest (Eli) and a prophet (Samuel) is that a priest represents the people to God while a prophet (Samuel) represents God to the people by bringing His word to them.

Eli had 2 sons – Hophni & Phinehas - that served with him in the temple. It says in 1 Samuel 2:12 ”Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord.” The sons and their practices were corrupt. They stole choice meat that was supposed to be offered as a sacrifice to God and they pursued women that would come to worship. No one wanted to go and worship at Shiloh because of them. This was certainly an indictment on the sons but also on Eli as their father.

Eli called out his sons for their sins but they didn’t take heed because they didn’t fear the Lord doubted the seriousness of their sin. A key aspect of knowing the Lord for all of us is to fear the Lord and to recognize the consequences of sin. Sin always has consequences of some sort because it creates separation from God.

Eli was rebuked for the sin of his sons. God says that Eli was honoring his sons more than God. He didn’t teach them, instruct them in the ways of the Lord. God then tells Eli that his sons will die together on the same day. Eli’s family is the most powerful in all of Israel and they are about the be wiped out for their disobedience.

Sin is never to be glorified. Our culture often glorifies sin – lust, greed, selfishness etc…It is the ultimate deceiver. The lie is that sin will bring us satisfaction but the truth is that whatever satisfaction it may bring will only be temporary.

Obedience brings peace while disobedience brings oppression and death. This pattern repeated itself for Israel over centuries of time. They would make a mess of things and then God would allow a persecutor to torment them until they turned back to Him for deliverance and then the cycle would begin again.

The Philistines were one of the main tormentors during this time of Eli’s reign as High Priest. Israel had recently lost a big battle to them so the Elders came together to question why they have been defeated. They now wanted to know why they lost but didn’t really focus on why God was unhappy with them in the first place.

Their solution was to get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and bring it with them to their camp. The Ark was where God dwelled on earth & housed the 10 commandments. It was the most holy of all things on this earth and taking it out of the tabernacle was direct disobedience to Old Testament law. They were using the Ark superstitiously by putting their faith in it instead of God himself. They should have been focused on turning from sin – obedience

In the next battle with the Philistines, Israel was defeated again in a slaughter. The Ark was captured and taken by the Philistines and the 2 sons of Eli died in the battle. The news of his son’s deaths and the Ark being taken was reported to Eli and he literally fell backward off his seat and died. Scripture refers to him as “heavy” which points to him being overly absorbed in the things of this world instead of his responsibilities to God.

The consequences of unrepentant sin can be generational. At the same time, the impact of obedience and following God can be generational as well. This was highlighted to me in a unique and powerful way through studying 1 Samuel.

As i mentioned, I was inspired to study and teach 1 Samuel at The Cove by Will Graham - Billy Graham’s grandson. In contrast, we find out after Eli and his son’s deaths that the wife of one of Eli’s sons give birth to a son - Eli’s grandson. The mother ends up naming the boy Ichabod which means that “the glory has departed.” With that name, she was referencing the failed leadership of her husband, grandfather Eli and the departure of the Ark of the Covenant.

This is a stark contrast between the lives of obedience of the Graham family and the ones of disobedience of Eli’s and the generational impact that followed. Ichabod vs. Will Graham. Which do we choose?

Stay Hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6