And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
Eli at last broke his long silence to question his sons about their conduct after reports of their wrongdoing reached him from every side and became widely known. Their wrongs were gross abuses of sacred office, defrauding the people in the offerings, bold transgression, and impurity that polluted worship and turned men away from sacrifice. His question was only a mild entreaty without restraint, punishment, or removal from office, springing from indulgent affection that honored his sons above God. That indulgence kindled God's anger so that his house was warned it would be cut off and both sons fall in one day, while leaving them in place corrupted the people, brought ruin to thousands, and stripped Israel of strength and glory. The verse therefore teaches that parents and those in holy office must do more than speak against wrong but promptly and firmly restrain it, for failure at home and lax discipline in leaders effaces the distinction between right and wrong and disqualifies a man to guide God's church.
Words and Historical Setting
Eli at last broke long silence to ask Hophni and Phinehas why they did such things, after hearing of their evil dealings from all the people. His knowledge came from faithful men who mourned the corruption of the priesthood and from complaints coming from every side, with the indignation of the people aroused against the priests. Their conduct was widely and publicly known among Israel, reported to him because it dishonored the Lord's people and harmed worship. He had passed over their transgressions until he dared remain silent no longer, yet though he knew God's will and had taught his sons, he had let them follow their own wishes until corrupt habits grew to defy human and divine authority.
Their evils were licentiousness and pollution of the tabernacle, which caused men of Israel to stay away from worship and to offer their own sacrifices. They defrauded Israel in offerings, boldly transgressing God's law with violent conduct that caused Israel to sin, and were selfish, covetous, gluttonous and profligate in abuse of sacred office. They served in holy office while living corruptly, polluting and corrupting the people, giving free rein to passion while hiding depravity beneath religion. Their course was open contempt for divine authority, with crimes known to all Israel.
He spoke as father, priest, high priest and judge in Israel, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for the character of his sons. As high priest he alone was permitted to enter the most holy once a year, and he had exalted his sons to the priesthood to minister at the door of the tabernacle in slaying the beasts and officiating at the altar of sacrifice. Though his sons were married men, adulthood did not remove his duty as both father and priest to restrain them, and he had authority to stop their wickedness and injustice.
The wording itself is only a mild remonstrance and mere entreaty, asking why they act wickedly without decisive measures to bring them to justice. It was words only, occasional rebuke and questioning without restraint, authority, discipline, or ending their place and support. He treated them as persons of tender conscience who had for once fallen under temptation, when parents must do more than speak against wrongdoing and must use firm, wise discipline to prevent irreverence and disobedience. Such weak reproof without decided authority stands to rebuke those who neglect to restrain their children and thus let God's cause be dishonored.
Eli's Weak and Partial Rebuke
Eli's question to his sons was words only, an occasional rebuke and advice and questioning about their wicked conduct without restraining or commanding them, without exercising control or enforcing discipline, without authority, punishment, or decisive measures to bring them to justice. Though as high priest and judge he was responsible for their conduct and had exalted them to minister at the door of the tabernacle in slaying beasts and at the altar, he did not remove them at once from the priesthood and from positions of trust, nor judge them as they deserved even unto death for their abominable example, nor end their place and support. His reproof set before them the enormity of their sin, that a sin of one man against another fellow priests could atone for, but when priests themselves sin against God with open contempt for His authority no one remains to atone for them, yet it remained mere entreaty without restraint and they disregarded his counsel. His rebuke was not followed by prompt action to restrain them and remove their wrongdoing from Israel, and that culpable neglect and delayed response allowed grave consequences to follow.
The failure came from indulgence and mistaken love and fondness, from undue affection and partiality, from ease-loving negligence and indolence, from fear of his sons' displeasure, and from honoring his sons above God. He followed his own judgment in overlooking faults and sins in childhood in hope they would outgrow evil tendencies, suffering them to go on in rebellion until they were a curse to Israel. Because he neglected his sacred duty and did not exercise his authority to restrain wickedness, his question was mere entreaty and not decided restraint, leaving them in sacred office while they compelled Israel to sin and transgressed God's law.
He was a partial judge who through undue affection excused in his sons what he would have condemned in others. He rebuked his own sons lightly while he was quick to see and rebuke the sins of others, even unjustly reproving Hannah, treating the sins of his sons as less offensive than the sins of others and ever ready to find excuses for their perverse course. That partiality is the natural but unjust and unchristian partiality of parents, especially parents who feel superior, to regard their own children as superior and to pass over in them as smart and witty what would be severely censured in others, doing them great wrong by leaving faults uncorrected until wrong habits strengthen into second nature. The guilt is greater when a parent with a disobedient child under his roof and dependent on him and on the church covers up a greater course while bearing down with an unsparing hand and making a public matter of another's lesser sin.
By believing himself wiser than his Creator and following human wisdom instead of God's commands, he disobeyed God's rules for family government in training his children. To the extent he permitted or excused sin in his children he became a partaker and partner in their guilt, and those who through lack of courage to reprove wrong or through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church are just as responsible for evils they might have checked by parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been their own. Because of his responsible position as priest and judge, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for his sons, and because as sons of the high priest they were connected with the work of God, his guilt was far greater than that of ordinary men and greatly heightened. Although he had authority to stop their wickedness and injustice, by allowing them to continue he incurred the Lord's displeasure and could not be depended upon to keep Israel pure.
Judgment and Widespread Ruin
God's anger was kindled against Eli for indulging his sons, and He cursed him and reproved him for rebuking them with words only after hearing of their evil dealings by all the people, without restraining them, removing them from holy office, or ending their place and support. He was warned that he had honored his sons above God and suffered them to compel Israel to sin, acting as a partial judge who excused in them what he would have condemned in others, and that for neglecting his sacred duty his cause would be dishonored. The warning declared that the transgressions of Hophni and Phinehas would not be pardoned, that his house would not be blessed but cut off, and that both his sons would be cut off in one day. Prompt and decisive restraint was required instead of tolerating rebellion as unavoidable, for fathers are held responsible for training and correcting their children even when experienced and serving in God's work.
God delayed His threatened judgments year after year to leave time to redeem past failures, giving Eli warning and opportunity to act, repent, and renounce the sin. Eli did not heed the warning and took no effective measures to correct the evils polluting the sanctuary, and his remonstrance was confession without true repentance because it did not restrain them. The delay only hardened Hophni and Phinehas and made them grow still bolder in transgression. Eli made known the messages of warning and reproof against his house to the whole nation hoping to counteract in some measure the evil influence of his neglect, but the warnings were disregarded by the people as they had been by the priests.
Leaving men loaded with guilt in the priesthood led the people to lightly regard crime and to despise the sacrificial offerings. Their openly practiced iniquities polluted the people and led thousands in Israel to ruin, while those inclined to cherish sin excused it because men in sacred office were leading others into transgression. The failure to stand for what was right and suppress their sin made Eli responsible for the harm that followed, including Israel's loss of strength and glory when the ark was taken. The iniquities openly practiced in Israel emboldened surrounding nations in idolatry and crime and took away their sense of guilt for sin because Israel had not preserved its integrity, making it necessary for God to interpose to maintain the honor of His name as the day of retribution approached.
In contrast Samuel, though surrounded by these corrupting influences that were corrupting Israel, remained untainted and close to God. God accepted the boy whom his mother dedicated to His service, while the aged priest had failed to fulfill his sacred duty and train his children rightly. An angel was sent to speak with Samuel about their sins, and God gave the boy a solemn message against Eli's house.
Parental Duty and Discipline
Merely asking wayward children why they act wickedly does not fulfill a parent's duty, for parents must do more than speak against wrongdoing and must use firm, wise discipline to prevent irreverence and disobedience. They are to watch strictly over their children, advise them, and promptly and decisively restrain wrongdoing rather than tolerate it as unavoidable. Restraint is to begin with mild measures, and if these do not avail the wrong is to be subdued by the severest means, reproving sin and executing justice upon the sinner before indulgence strengthens rebellion into second nature. Every parent must not only teach and exemplify right but actively restrain evil and strive to make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household, and in a pre-eminent degree this belongs to those who minister in sacred things.
A parent with a disobedient child under his roof and dependent on him and on the church must require conformity to rules and restraint by counsel and wishes. When she will not consent she must no longer remain dependent and supported while going and coming as she pleases, choosing her own society, writing to whom she pleases, talking and tattling as she pleases, bringing trial upon the church and reproach upon the cause, covering up her course while bound by the marriage vow yet scattering her ways to strangers and encouraging the addresses of corrupt and vile men. Parents are required to restrain their children with decision while they are under their roof and dependent on them, and not yield to them from mistaken love and fondness, because the salvation of children depends very much upon the course pursued by parents.
True parental love must be blended with duty to correct faults, rather than selfish and idolatrous affection that is partial, blinds parents to faults, and gratifies and indulges children. Such indulgence lets a child rule and become headstrong, willful, perverse, selfish, disobedient and ruler in the house, with strong will undirected and strong passions uncontrolled. Mistaken love and fondness that indulges children to their hurt nourishes pride and vanity over dress, leaves the heart void of Christian graces and filled with self-love, haughtiness and uncontrolled passion, sows seed that springs up to make children despise parental authority, and makes their company poisonous and leading to death to be shunned even when they are Sabbath-keepers' children. A father who only occasionally rebukes yet excuses faults and lets children act as they please repeats the same sin and risks a similar judgment, with his example harming other children as well as his own.
Parents who permit children to disobey teach them to disregard God's commands, and such indulgent neglect brings sorrow and ruin. They must not believe themselves wiser than the Creator and follow human wisdom instead of God's commands, nor trust self-confidence, learning and intelligence to find a better way than God has given in His word. God's word is the only safe guide in the management of children, because the Creator who bought children with His own blood best understands all their needs, and human philosophy has devised nothing wiser. Parents must earnestly pray, Teach us how shall we order the child, and faithfully study and obey God's word, or their unrestrained children will confirm forward, selfish, disagreeable ways into habits that render them unloving and unlovable and bring soul-anguish over perverse conduct, disaster and death to parent, ruin to sons, and ruin to thousands.
Leadership and Church Warning
Lax discipline by one in holy office exerts a corrupting influence upon the whole nation and church. Eli as priest and judge, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for his sons, was required first to restrain evil by mild measures and, if these did not avail, to subdue wrong by the severest means, reproving sin and executing justice upon the sinner. Instead he gave right instruction and good example but failed with promptness and decision to restrain inclination to evil, offering only mild words of reproof for evil dealings known by all the people, without ruling well his own house, restraining his children, or removing them from trust. Those who through lack of courage to reprove wrong or through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church are as responsible for evils they might have checked by parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been their own. Because of his responsible position his negligent, ease-loving, indulgent example was imitated throughout Israel, bringing reproach on truth, disgrace on the cause of Christ, ruin upon himself and his household, judgment from God as followed in his case, and guilt far greater than that of ordinary men.
Every parent must not only teach and exemplify right but actively restrain evil and strive to make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household. In a pre-eminent degree this duty belongs to those who minister in sacred things, to whom the people look for instruction and guidance. Ministers of Christ must be examples to the flock, and he who fails to direct wisely his own household misleads many by wrong example, sanctions the growth of evil instead of repressing it, effaces from minds the distinction between right and wrong, purity and vice, and is not qualified to guide the church of God. That evil is tenfold greater when found in those who stand in Christ's stead to instruct the people, for partiality that excuses in one's own sons and daughters what would be condemned in others dishonors God, makes one a partaker in their guilt, and shows blindness at home while judging other children. Eli revealed such undue affection, rebuking his own sons lightly while quick to see and rebuke the sins of others, treating their perverse course as less offensive and ever ready to find excuses for it.
A leader must not remain silent when people do wrong but should faithfully confront them and warn them of danger by asking why it is done. Even a person in position of authority may be challenged for wicked conduct, for power does not place anyone beyond correction. Resisting anyone who can say this leaves no room for the Saviour's presence. God sends warning, reproof and correction to expose transgression of His law and evil dealings, especially in ministers whose changeable, unconsecrated life unfits them to minister and makes them stumbling blocks pointing souls to death, so that souls blinded by the enemy may realize their condition and be saved and transformed by divine grace. Satan works to make such reproof of none effect and to cut off the light God has for His people, so that no correcting voice is heard and every man walks in his own light and follows his own judgment, refusing to be corrected and resisting anything that interferes with personal ideas and course of action. Unbelief and opposition still leave the duty to counsel, warn, entreat and reprove unchanged.
Religious position and outward piety do not prove faithfulness, as shown by men serving in sacred office while giving free rein to passion and hiding depravity beneath religion. Exposed corruption in sacred office damages confidence in religion and weakens trust in God's word. The wickedness of ungodly sons left unrestrained makes them corrupt and a proverb of reproach, exerts corrupting influence where they live, disgusts unbelievers, brings reproach upon the cause of truth, and brings judgment from God as followed in Eli's case.
Eli at last broke his long silence to question his sons about their conduct after reports of their wrongdoing reached him from every side and became widely known. Their wrongs were gross abuses of sacred office, defrauding the people in the offerings, bold transgression, and impurity that polluted worship and turned men away from sacrifice. His question was only a mild entreaty without restraint, punishment, or removal from office, springing from indulgent affection that honored his sons above God. That indulgence kindled God's anger so that his house was warned it would be cut off and both sons fall in one day, while leaving them in place corrupted the people, brought ruin to thousands, and stripped Israel of strength and glory. The verse therefore teaches that parents and those in holy office must do more than speak against wrong but promptly and firmly restrain it, for failure at home and lax discipline in leaders effaces the distinction between right and wrong and disqualifies a man to guide God's church.
Words and Historical Setting
Eli at last broke long silence to ask Hophni and Phinehas why they did such things, after hearing of their evil dealings from all the people. His knowledge came from faithful men who mourned the corruption of the priesthood and from complaints coming from every side, with the indignation of the people aroused against the priests. Their conduct was widely and publicly known among Israel, reported to him because it dishonored the Lord's people and harmed worship. He had passed over their transgressions until he dared remain silent no longer, yet though he knew God's will and had taught his sons, he had let them follow their own wishes until corrupt habits grew to defy human and divine authority.
Their evils were licentiousness and pollution of the tabernacle, which caused men of Israel to stay away from worship and to offer their own sacrifices. They defrauded Israel in offerings, boldly transgressing God's law with violent conduct that caused Israel to sin, and were selfish, covetous, gluttonous and profligate in abuse of sacred office. They served in holy office while living corruptly, polluting and corrupting the people, giving free rein to passion while hiding depravity beneath religion. Their course was open contempt for divine authority, with crimes known to all Israel.
He spoke as father, priest, high priest and judge in Israel, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for the character of his sons. As high priest he alone was permitted to enter the most holy once a year, and he had exalted his sons to the priesthood to minister at the door of the tabernacle in slaying the beasts and officiating at the altar of sacrifice. Though his sons were married men, adulthood did not remove his duty as both father and priest to restrain them, and he had authority to stop their wickedness and injustice.
The wording itself is only a mild remonstrance and mere entreaty, asking why they act wickedly without decisive measures to bring them to justice. It was words only, occasional rebuke and questioning without restraint, authority, discipline, or ending their place and support. He treated them as persons of tender conscience who had for once fallen under temptation, when parents must do more than speak against wrongdoing and must use firm, wise discipline to prevent irreverence and disobedience. Such weak reproof without decided authority stands to rebuke those who neglect to restrain their children and thus let God's cause be dishonored.
Eli's Weak and Partial Rebuke
Eli's question to his sons was words only, an occasional rebuke and advice and questioning about their wicked conduct without restraining or commanding them, without exercising control or enforcing discipline, without authority, punishment, or decisive measures to bring them to justice. Though as high priest and judge he was responsible for their conduct and had exalted them to minister at the door of the tabernacle in slaying beasts and at the altar, he did not remove them at once from the priesthood and from positions of trust, nor judge them as they deserved even unto death for their abominable example, nor end their place and support. His reproof set before them the enormity of their sin, that a sin of one man against another fellow priests could atone for, but when priests themselves sin against God with open contempt for His authority no one remains to atone for them, yet it remained mere entreaty without restraint and they disregarded his counsel. His rebuke was not followed by prompt action to restrain them and remove their wrongdoing from Israel, and that culpable neglect and delayed response allowed grave consequences to follow.
The failure came from indulgence and mistaken love and fondness, from undue affection and partiality, from ease-loving negligence and indolence, from fear of his sons' displeasure, and from honoring his sons above God. He followed his own judgment in overlooking faults and sins in childhood in hope they would outgrow evil tendencies, suffering them to go on in rebellion until they were a curse to Israel. Because he neglected his sacred duty and did not exercise his authority to restrain wickedness, his question was mere entreaty and not decided restraint, leaving them in sacred office while they compelled Israel to sin and transgressed God's law.
He was a partial judge who through undue affection excused in his sons what he would have condemned in others. He rebuked his own sons lightly while he was quick to see and rebuke the sins of others, even unjustly reproving Hannah, treating the sins of his sons as less offensive than the sins of others and ever ready to find excuses for their perverse course. That partiality is the natural but unjust and unchristian partiality of parents, especially parents who feel superior, to regard their own children as superior and to pass over in them as smart and witty what would be severely censured in others, doing them great wrong by leaving faults uncorrected until wrong habits strengthen into second nature. The guilt is greater when a parent with a disobedient child under his roof and dependent on him and on the church covers up a greater course while bearing down with an unsparing hand and making a public matter of another's lesser sin.
By believing himself wiser than his Creator and following human wisdom instead of God's commands, he disobeyed God's rules for family government in training his children. To the extent he permitted or excused sin in his children he became a partaker and partner in their guilt, and those who through lack of courage to reprove wrong or through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church are just as responsible for evils they might have checked by parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been their own. Because of his responsible position as priest and judge, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for his sons, and because as sons of the high priest they were connected with the work of God, his guilt was far greater than that of ordinary men and greatly heightened. Although he had authority to stop their wickedness and injustice, by allowing them to continue he incurred the Lord's displeasure and could not be depended upon to keep Israel pure.
Judgment and Widespread Ruin
God's anger was kindled against Eli for indulging his sons, and He cursed him and reproved him for rebuking them with words only after hearing of their evil dealings by all the people, without restraining them, removing them from holy office, or ending their place and support. He was warned that he had honored his sons above God and suffered them to compel Israel to sin, acting as a partial judge who excused in them what he would have condemned in others, and that for neglecting his sacred duty his cause would be dishonored. The warning declared that the transgressions of Hophni and Phinehas would not be pardoned, that his house would not be blessed but cut off, and that both his sons would be cut off in one day. Prompt and decisive restraint was required instead of tolerating rebellion as unavoidable, for fathers are held responsible for training and correcting their children even when experienced and serving in God's work.
God delayed His threatened judgments year after year to leave time to redeem past failures, giving Eli warning and opportunity to act, repent, and renounce the sin. Eli did not heed the warning and took no effective measures to correct the evils polluting the sanctuary, and his remonstrance was confession without true repentance because it did not restrain them. The delay only hardened Hophni and Phinehas and made them grow still bolder in transgression. Eli made known the messages of warning and reproof against his house to the whole nation hoping to counteract in some measure the evil influence of his neglect, but the warnings were disregarded by the people as they had been by the priests.
Leaving men loaded with guilt in the priesthood led the people to lightly regard crime and to despise the sacrificial offerings. Their openly practiced iniquities polluted the people and led thousands in Israel to ruin, while those inclined to cherish sin excused it because men in sacred office were leading others into transgression. The failure to stand for what was right and suppress their sin made Eli responsible for the harm that followed, including Israel's loss of strength and glory when the ark was taken. The iniquities openly practiced in Israel emboldened surrounding nations in idolatry and crime and took away their sense of guilt for sin because Israel had not preserved its integrity, making it necessary for God to interpose to maintain the honor of His name as the day of retribution approached.
In contrast Samuel, though surrounded by these corrupting influences that were corrupting Israel, remained untainted and close to God. God accepted the boy whom his mother dedicated to His service, while the aged priest had failed to fulfill his sacred duty and train his children rightly. An angel was sent to speak with Samuel about their sins, and God gave the boy a solemn message against Eli's house.
Parental Duty and Discipline
Merely asking wayward children why they act wickedly does not fulfill a parent's duty, for parents must do more than speak against wrongdoing and must use firm, wise discipline to prevent irreverence and disobedience. They are to watch strictly over their children, advise them, and promptly and decisively restrain wrongdoing rather than tolerate it as unavoidable. Restraint is to begin with mild measures, and if these do not avail the wrong is to be subdued by the severest means, reproving sin and executing justice upon the sinner before indulgence strengthens rebellion into second nature. Every parent must not only teach and exemplify right but actively restrain evil and strive to make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household, and in a pre-eminent degree this belongs to those who minister in sacred things.
A parent with a disobedient child under his roof and dependent on him and on the church must require conformity to rules and restraint by counsel and wishes. When she will not consent she must no longer remain dependent and supported while going and coming as she pleases, choosing her own society, writing to whom she pleases, talking and tattling as she pleases, bringing trial upon the church and reproach upon the cause, covering up her course while bound by the marriage vow yet scattering her ways to strangers and encouraging the addresses of corrupt and vile men. Parents are required to restrain their children with decision while they are under their roof and dependent on them, and not yield to them from mistaken love and fondness, because the salvation of children depends very much upon the course pursued by parents.
True parental love must be blended with duty to correct faults, rather than selfish and idolatrous affection that is partial, blinds parents to faults, and gratifies and indulges children. Such indulgence lets a child rule and become headstrong, willful, perverse, selfish, disobedient and ruler in the house, with strong will undirected and strong passions uncontrolled. Mistaken love and fondness that indulges children to their hurt nourishes pride and vanity over dress, leaves the heart void of Christian graces and filled with self-love, haughtiness and uncontrolled passion, sows seed that springs up to make children despise parental authority, and makes their company poisonous and leading to death to be shunned even when they are Sabbath-keepers' children. A father who only occasionally rebukes yet excuses faults and lets children act as they please repeats the same sin and risks a similar judgment, with his example harming other children as well as his own.
Parents who permit children to disobey teach them to disregard God's commands, and such indulgent neglect brings sorrow and ruin. They must not believe themselves wiser than the Creator and follow human wisdom instead of God's commands, nor trust self-confidence, learning and intelligence to find a better way than God has given in His word. God's word is the only safe guide in the management of children, because the Creator who bought children with His own blood best understands all their needs, and human philosophy has devised nothing wiser. Parents must earnestly pray, Teach us how shall we order the child, and faithfully study and obey God's word, or their unrestrained children will confirm forward, selfish, disagreeable ways into habits that render them unloving and unlovable and bring soul-anguish over perverse conduct, disaster and death to parent, ruin to sons, and ruin to thousands.
Leadership and Church Warning
Lax discipline by one in holy office exerts a corrupting influence upon the whole nation and church. Eli as priest and judge, accountable for the moral and religious standing of the people and in a special sense for his sons, was required first to restrain evil by mild measures and, if these did not avail, to subdue wrong by the severest means, reproving sin and executing justice upon the sinner. Instead he gave right instruction and good example but failed with promptness and decision to restrain inclination to evil, offering only mild words of reproof for evil dealings known by all the people, without ruling well his own house, restraining his children, or removing them from trust. Those who through lack of courage to reprove wrong or through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church are as responsible for evils they might have checked by parental or pastoral authority as if the acts had been their own. Because of his responsible position his negligent, ease-loving, indulgent example was imitated throughout Israel, bringing reproach on truth, disgrace on the cause of Christ, ruin upon himself and his household, judgment from God as followed in his case, and guilt far greater than that of ordinary men.
Every parent must not only teach and exemplify right but actively restrain evil and strive to make the family a pattern of good works, a perfect Christian household. In a pre-eminent degree this duty belongs to those who minister in sacred things, to whom the people look for instruction and guidance. Ministers of Christ must be examples to the flock, and he who fails to direct wisely his own household misleads many by wrong example, sanctions the growth of evil instead of repressing it, effaces from minds the distinction between right and wrong, purity and vice, and is not qualified to guide the church of God. That evil is tenfold greater when found in those who stand in Christ's stead to instruct the people, for partiality that excuses in one's own sons and daughters what would be condemned in others dishonors God, makes one a partaker in their guilt, and shows blindness at home while judging other children. Eli revealed such undue affection, rebuking his own sons lightly while quick to see and rebuke the sins of others, treating their perverse course as less offensive and ever ready to find excuses for it.
A leader must not remain silent when people do wrong but should faithfully confront them and warn them of danger by asking why it is done. Even a person in position of authority may be challenged for wicked conduct, for power does not place anyone beyond correction. Resisting anyone who can say this leaves no room for the Saviour's presence. God sends warning, reproof and correction to expose transgression of His law and evil dealings, especially in ministers whose changeable, unconsecrated life unfits them to minister and makes them stumbling blocks pointing souls to death, so that souls blinded by the enemy may realize their condition and be saved and transformed by divine grace. Satan works to make such reproof of none effect and to cut off the light God has for His people, so that no correcting voice is heard and every man walks in his own light and follows his own judgment, refusing to be corrected and resisting anything that interferes with personal ideas and course of action. Unbelief and opposition still leave the duty to counsel, warn, entreat and reprove unchanged.
Religious position and outward piety do not prove faithfulness, as shown by men serving in sacred office while giving free rein to passion and hiding depravity beneath religion. Exposed corruption in sacred office damages confidence in religion and weakens trust in God's word. The wickedness of ungodly sons left unrestrained makes them corrupt and a proverb of reproach, exerts corrupting influence where they live, disgusts unbelievers, brings reproach upon the cause of truth, and brings judgment from God as followed in Eli's case.