1 Samuel 2:15
Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
Before the fat was burned to God, the priest's servant demanded raw meat for roasting instead of accepting the appointed cooked portion. The appointed order gave the fat to God by burning, a set portion to the priests, and most of the meat back to the offerer for a shared thanksgiving meal pointing to Christ. Seizing whatever portion they wanted turned sacred service into selfish, covetous, gluttonous extortion that treated the sacrifices with contempt. The guilt was uniquely grave because it was not one man's wrong against another that priests could atone for, but open contempt for God's authority by the priests themselves. Their example led Israel to despise the Lord's offering, lightly regard crime, and excuse sin because leaders were transgressing, while Eli's fond indulgence that reproved but did not restrain or remove them left him accountable for their curse upon Israel.
The Priests' Sacrilegious Extortion
This verse belongs to the account of Hophni and Phinehas in their priestly service, when before the fat was burned their servant demanded raw meat for roasting instead of accepting the prescribed sodden portion. It is part of the record of Eli's sons doing wickedly in their office, disregarding the prescribed offering and treating the sacrifices with contempt. Their demand dishonored God's service through selfish misuse of office and formed the wrong example that Eli failed to restrain.
The prescribed order required the fat to be burned on the altar to God, a specified portion to belong to the priests, and most of the meat to be returned to the offerer for a shared sacrificial meal. Their refusal to wait and their demand for whatever portion they wanted disregarded that order and turned a sacred service into self-indulgence. The abuse took place at the door of the tabernacle where the priests officiated in slaying the beasts and at the altar of sacrifice.
The conduct was selfish, covetous, gluttonous, profligate, licentious and irreverent extortion that defrauded Israel in its offerings with bold transgression of God's law and violence. It treated the sacrifices with contempt and robbed the service of its holy meaning, leading the people to abhor the Lord's offering. The same condemnation rests on selfish men at the very heart of the work who accept thirty dollars a week without Christ's self-denial and self-sacrifice and set an example that cannot be safely followed. The sin was uniquely grave because it was not one man's sin against another which officiating priests could atone for, but open contempt for God's authority by the priests themselves, leaving no one to make atonement for them.
The peace offerings thus abused were meant to express thanksgiving and to direct the people's gratitude and faith toward Christ, the great sacrifice who would take away the sin of the world. Their violent example caused Israel to sin, tempting and testing the people's faith and devotion. It led the people to lightly regard crime, to despise and abhor the sacrificial offerings, and to excuse their own sins because leaders were transgressing.
Their corrupt handling of the sacrifices perverted worship, polluted the atmosphere around Samuel and Israel, and spread widespread corruption and unrighteousness. Against that corruption Samuel established the schools of the prophets as a barrier to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of the people. Those schools promoted the righteousness that exalts a nation and furnished Israel with men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors. Yet the people were troubled far less by this religious sacrilege than by dangers to their temporal interests from arrogant and unjust judges, so that grievances against those judges soon gave a pretext for pressing the change long secretly desired.
Eli's Failure and Its Warning
Eli as father, high priest, and judge of Israel bore a special accountability for his sons' character and for the moral and religious standing and purity of the people. Though he reproved Hophni and Phinehas for their evil practices in the priest's office, he did not restrain them promptly and firmly, remove them at once from their positions of trust, or judge them as their case deserved even to death. He feared their displeasure and let them continue in wicked rebellion until they became a curse to Israel. By overlooking their faults and suffering them loaded with guilt to remain priests, he honored his sons above God and could not be depended upon to keep Israel pure.
His failure was fond, indulgent laxness from babyhood that followed his own judgment and human wisdom instead of God's rules for family government, even as Eve followed human wisdom instead of God. He overlooked faults, flattered himself they would outgrow evil tendencies, and covered wrong with over-tenderness, tears and pleading that excused sin rather than restraining it. Right instruction and good example alone are not enough, for a parent must also restrain the inclination to evil, first attempting it by mild measures and reproof, and if these do not avail subduing the wrong by the severest means and executing justice upon the sinner. The same folly today, especially in those in holy office who think they know a better way than God's word, lets forward, selfish, disagreeable ways harden into confirmed habits that dishonor God.
God holds parents responsible in great degree for their children's conduct because they form their characters and must command their households after them. They are laid under heaven's burden to educate children to obey, to yield to parental will, and to practice self-denial instead of consulting their pleasures to the injury of their future and eternal good. The salvation of children depends very much upon the course pursued by parents, for mistaken love and fondness that indulges children to their hurt nourishes pride and vanity and sows seed bearing contempt for parental authority. When restraint is neglected children come to manage parents instead of parents managing children, and parents who allow a child to rule and persist in harmful habits will reap what they sow. Any neglect is reflected back upon parents in this life and will affect their future life, and the blood of souls sustained in sin will be upon the garments of unfaithful fathers and mothers.
Neglect leaves wrong habits to strengthen until they become second nature, a lifelong curse reproduced in others to the reproach of truth and disgrace on the cause of Christ. Those who through lack of courage, indolence, or lack of interest fail to purify the family or church are just as responsible for evils they might have checked by parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been their own. The guilt is ten-fold greater for teachers and ministers in sacred things to whom the people look for instruction and guidance, whose ill-regulated family is imitated and misleads many. All families should be patterns of good works and perfect Christian households, but especially ministers' families, for ministers of Christ are to be examples to the flock, and he who fails to direct wisely his own household is not qualified to guide the church of God.
The account warns those in responsible positions in the church to remove wrongs that dishonor the cause of truth, for Eli's neglect to stand for what was right deprived Israel of strength and glory. The same condemnation rests on selfish men at the very heart of the work who have accepted $30 a week for their labor, showing no self-denial and self-sacrifice of Christ and setting an example of devotion that cannot be safely followed by other institutions. Hophni and Phinehas thus stand as examples of corrupt ministers who give free rein to passion and hide depravity under religion.
Allowing sin to flourish unrebuked and unchecked brought God's curse and frown, with disaster to Eli, ruin and death to his sons, and calamity to Israel. Both sons fell in battle and were cut off in one day, Eli himself lost his life, the ark of God was taken by the Philistines, and thirty thousand of the people were slain. Corrupt children become a proverb of reproach and exert a corrupting influence where they live, disgusting unbelievers and bringing reproach upon the cause of truth.
The wicked conduct was watched by God and judged according to deeds even before heaven's universe. God therefore passed the aged priest by and accepted Samuel when his mother dedicated him to service, communicating a solemn message to the boy. This proves God honors the young and will do a great work for children if parents cooperate with Him in training and educating them according to His instruction.
The neglect is recorded for the benefit of future generations so that fathers and mothers will take warning and shun the example. Parents must not trust human judgment over God's commands or fail to recognize defects in home management. God as Creator best understands children's needs and as Redeemer who bought them with His own blood feels the deepest interest in their welfare, so His word established in family relations is the only safe guide, and careful study and faithful obedience would prevent soul-anguish over perverse conduct. Permitting disobedience trains children to disobey God, leads to transgression and death, and makes them candidates for perdition who place the sacred on the level with the common, discern no sacred things, and unless converted and separated from the world to come out from it can have no part with the redeemed in God's everlasting kingdom.