Sin, all sin brings harm

1Samuel 2:22-26

Does age excuse one from being faithful to the Lord?  As we look at Eli and his two worthless sons one might wonder, did Eli just get tired of instructing them in righteous living as he aged?  Verse 22 states; “Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.”  The sins of the sons were not hidden they were out in the open, everyone knew, and it brought shame to the house of God, and on Eli, his priest, the judge of Israel.

One might wonder, yes, even question how did two men raised in the house of the Judge of Israel turn out so bad, was Eli and his wife hands-off parents?  Was Eli so busy being the Judge of Israel that he did not take the time to instruct his sons in the laws of God?  The Scripture does not address the wife of Eli, and at the date of this report in the book of 1 Samuel she may not have been alive, but where was Eli, not in the role of being a dad!  Maybe he had never been a dad; perhaps he saw himself more like a buddy or just wanted his boys to like him and he withheld discipline from them.  One thing is for sure, he reaped a whirlwind, and his sons became men of no worth to God or man they were disdained by all.

So as the reports keep coming back to the ears of Eli, it seems necessary to have that father to son talk with the boys; in verses 23-25, “And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”

Sin, all sin brings harm not only to the one that sins but also to many others, in the case of Eli’s sons, it removed Eli’s house as fitting to serve the Lord.  It also turns the people's heart from God, and it also had a significant impact on the tribe of Levites who were dependent on the priest, and they served them at God’s requirement.  In the book of Numbers 18:21-24; “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, ²² so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel, they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

As one looks at the above and Eli’s words to his sons; “If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?”  You have been told that sin always takes one deeper than they wanted to go, it still causes pain and sorrow, and the old thief had that intention from the beginning, to kill, steal, and destroy.  The sons were so filled with pride and arrogance, why would they listen to the old man, no, not even their dad.

What a contrast they were to Samuel, and verse 26 makes a clear statement about Samuel.  “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.”   It makes ones mind go to Luke 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”  As a parent, their primary job is how much the child continued to grow; in stature and in favor with the Lord, and also with man.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice