Eli's Sons - 1st Samuel 2:12-36

Eli is the high priest in the temple that Hannah leaves Samuel with when he’s about 4-5 years old. I wonder what his reaction to all this was, like was leaving your children at the temple to be raised by the priests in priesthood service a regular thing? Were there other kids there? It’s just such a weird thing to me, not only for the parents be give up their kids but for the priests to be like yeah I’ll raise them. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense to me. But for what it’s worth, I guess Eli was fine with it.

Verse 12 introduces Eli’s son as “sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord,” which is interesting because this implies that Eli is the high priest but that his sons were not associated with the priesthood at all, which as it turns out, if I followed this correctly, was incorrect because they actually were priests who worked at the temple. So it’s an interesting commentary that you can physically perform a task repeatedly and even “fulfill” your duty to God but still be considered a “son of Belial.” This Belial is referenced in the previous chapter when Eli sees Hannah praying in the temple and accuses her of being drunk and she says that she is not a “daughter of Belial” the root word being Ba’al, the pagan god. It’s reference to the pagan god Ba’al and being one of his followers. Additionally, I googled it and it says, “The phrase ‘son of Belial’ means a worthless, lawless, or wicked person, rather than a literal child of a demon.” So it was a saying describing someone as worthless, or wicked. So even though Eli’s two sons are administering in the priesthood capacities that they were assigned, the still “knew not the Lord.” Just like we can be doing “everything right” and still not know God.

The next several verses describe what these sons and their servants did with the meat of the sacrifices, but some context is required. The IM explains that while yes, some of the meat of the sacrifices could be used by the priests to eat, most of it was forbidden and there was a process to be followed before they could eat the meat. Essentially, only a specific portion of the animal from specific sacrifices could be eaten and they could only be eaten after that meat was burned on the altar. Unfortunately, the activities that the sons and their servants were engaging in were that they were taking whatever meat from whatever sacrifice they wanted before it was burned on the altar and cooking it for themselves however they wanted. And if the offeror of the sacrifice objected because proper protocol wasn’t being followed, then the sons would say “give it to us or we will take it forcibly. The IM says, “Such conduct as this on the part of the young men (the priests’ servants), was a great sin in the sight of the Lord, as they thereby brought the sacrifice of the Lord into contempt.” The IM also noted that this type of activity was akin to stealing from God, which is a big deal.

Not only were they messing around with the sacrifices, but Eli’s sons were also using their position as priests in the temple to coerce women to have sex with them “at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” They were abusing these women on God’s holy grounds. I can only imagine how God felt about these actions. While Samuel “grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.” Such a contrast between Samuel and Eli’s sons, all raised by the same man, Eli, it’s just interesting to consider why Samuel went one way and the sons went the opposite way. The question is why? Why do some people end up one way and other people the other way, even when they have the same exact experiences? It’s just something that’s really messing with me recently. It’s a difficult concept to understand and maybe the point isn’t that I’m supposed to understand it. Maybe I need to stop thinking about this and try to be more productive with my mental capacity.

Anyway, Hannah and Elkanah return to the temple every year for their trip and Hannah brings Samuel a little coat that she made him and I thought that that was cute. Eli blesses the couple to have more children and they do, 3 more sons and 2 daughters, which is a decent amount of children. Eli also confronts his sons about their behavior bcause “Eli was very old.” I feel bad for Eli, it seems like he’s a decent guy, maybe not the most devout, but genuinely he seems distressed that his sons are being so awful. I feel bad for parents who genuinely tried to do their best and their kids are just little turds. It’s heart wrenching and lifelong.

Unfortunately, Eli’s pep talk to his sons don’t inspire their repentance and God is angry enough at this that He sends “a man of God” to Eli who not only condemns the sons but also Eli himself. If we remember in the Torah, there was a command that if a man’s son was worthless or wicked, that man was to put the son to death himself for the good of the community. If I recall correctly, when we discussed this rule TB said that to his knowledge it was never carried out, and that makes sense because that’s a really tough task to ask. And it was the father’s responsibility to carry out because God knew a mother would not do that to her own son, regardless of how awful he was. But because Eli failed to condemn his sons, or do more to reign in their behavior, he was also just as guilty. This man pronounces all types of curses on Eli and his family, mostly that all his descendants would die young, which makes sense, and that they will beg from God’s chosen for priestly work so that they could eat and feed their families. The curse includes, “and this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas, in one day they shall die both of them.” Pretty brutal. He continues, “And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.” This building him a sure house means, “his progeny shall be perpetuated.”

I wonder if Eli knew this man was talking about Samuel as the one who would be the “faithful priest.” This is another point where we can see God’s timing playing out. There was a converging timeline where the sons’ wickedness was peaked, Samuel was old enough, and Eli’s old age was too advanced to do anything about it. There was a perfect time when all this had to happen, and Hannah’s barrenness was just a part of that time line. I struggle to accept that there is a timeline to everything, I think because I’m so tired. I think mentally I’m just so exhausted that I have these tantrums and they are really holding me back spiritually. Or maybe that’s just the process I have to go through to get where I’m supposed to go. It’s a very complicated timeline, as all timelines are, mine is no exception. I’m just tired.