1 Samuel 2:27, commentary and pictures

A man of God came to Eli with a message from the Lord that confronts and warns him, opening a rebuke over indulgence toward his sons and his house. The message recalls that the Lord plainly appeared to the house of his father while in Egypt in Pharaoh's house, choosing that family with special favor to sacred privilege and service as priests with a place connected with God. That remembered favor makes the charge more serious, that Eli and his sons answered it with ingratitude and dishonor to God and the sacred service, with Eli honoring his sons above God. Eli is charged with criminal parental neglect in knowing his sons' wickedness yet failing to restrain them promptly and firmly and remove them from holy office, for which curse, punishment and judgment are announced on him, his children and his household to cut off his house in their sins. The account warns parents today that knowingly letting children persist in wrongdoing repeats Eli's example and brings ruin, so they must train them from the cradle in the Lord's way, and it warns ministers to rebuke sin impartially even when the guilty are close.

Message and Its Setting

A man of God came to Eli with a message from the Lord that confronted and warned him, beginning a rebuke over indulgence toward his sons and his house. The confrontation was over the wickedness of his sons and over his own failure to restrain them and remove them from sacred office, and it announced punishment on Eli and his household for that failure. The warning showed that indulging his sons would bring sure consequences, yet Eli did not heed it, and that warning together with the judgments that followed became a lesson that Samuel's sons were taught but failed to heed.

The verse asks whether the Lord plainly appeared to the house of Eli's father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house. It recalls an open revelation to his ancestral house while under Pharaoh, while they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's household.

That reminder recalls God's choice and special favor to that family, raising it to sacred privilege and service as priests. He entrusted that chosen family with sacred service and sacred privileges and gave it a place of service connected with Himself, raising Eli to the honored roles of priest and judge.

The reminder of past favor sets up the charge that Eli and his sons answered it with ingratitude and dishonor to God and the sacred service. Eli dishonored God by honoring his sons above Him, and that ingratitude and misuse of entrusted privilege made their sin especially serious.

Eli's Failure and Judgment

Eli stands charged with criminal, sinful parental neglect in failing to restrain his wicked sons promptly, firmly and decisively and in failing to remove them from holy office. He knew their sins and remonstrated with them, and he had been charged with his duty, yet he did not restrain them or put them out of sacred service. As both judge and high priest he was responsible for their conduct. He should at once have removed them from the priesthood and judged them as they deserved, even to death for their abominable example, rather than let them continue as they pleased loaded with guilt.

As high priest he alone was permitted to enter the most holy place once a year, while his sons ministered at the door of the tabernacle in slaying the beasts and at the altar of sacrifice. They continually abused that sacred office as selfish, covetous, gluttonous and profligate men who defrauded Israel in its offerings, boldly transgressed God's law, and by violent conduct caused Israel to sin. He set before them that a sin against man could be atoned for by officiating priests, but when priests themselves sin against God with open contempt for His authority no atonement remains, yet they disregarded his counsel. Permitting them so loaded with guilt to remain priests led the people to lightly regard crime and to despise the sacrificial offerings.

He confessed his guilt but did not manifest true repentance, failing to renounce the sin and taking no effective measures to correct the evils polluting the sanctuary. God delayed His threatened judgments year after year, when much might have been done to redeem the failures of the past. That forbearance caused Hophni and Phinehas to harden their hearts and become still bolder in transgression. The message therefore announces curse, punishment and judgment on Eli, his children and his household for that failure. Through the youth Samuel it was declared that their transgressions would not be pardoned and his house would not be blessed but would be cut off in their sins. Because of this unfaithfulness it was declared that they would have no victory in battle but would be given over to their enemies. The terrible result was disaster and death to Eli himself, ruin to his wicked sons, and ruin to thousands in Israel.

God could not communicate through Eli as high priest and his sons because their sins like a thick cloud had shut out the presence of His Holy Spirit. While evil surrounded him the child Samuel remained true to Heaven, and another warning of condemnation to the house of Eli was then to be given through him as his commission as a prophet of the Most High. Eli made the messages known to the whole nation, and Samuel made those warnings known throughout Israel, in hope of counteracting in some measure the harm caused by past neglect. The warnings were disregarded by the priests and by the people as they had been by the priests. The surrounding nations, who knew of the iniquities openly practiced in Israel, became still bolder in idolatry and crime and felt no sense of guilt for their sins as they would have had Israel preserved its integrity, so that a day of retribution had to come for God to interpose to maintain the honor of His name.

Warning for Today

The warning that begins here falls on parents who see their children persisting in wrongdoing and let it continue, for to tolerate and support such a course knowingly is to repeat Eli's failure and to help bring ruin on the children and on others. Eli knew his sons' sins and remonstrated with them, yet he did not restrain them promptly, firmly and decisively but let them do as they pleased, and for that unfaithfulness judgment came on his children and his house, even to being given over to enemies without victory in battle. The lesson is that parents must train children from the cradle in the Lord's way, teaching submission of will and ways and guiding them in godly character and conduct with religious commitment shown in the home.

In holy office Eli followed human wisdom instead of God's commands in training his children, and as fond indulgent parents do he let them grow from babyhood without restraint until forward, selfish, disagreeable ways became confirmed habits, ending in disaster and death to himself, ruin to his wicked sons, and ruin to thousands in Israel. God's word is therefore the only safe guide in managing children, to be carefully studied and faithfully obeyed, with earnest prayer for how to order the child, a warning that presses especially on those in holy office. To leave children to grow up self-willed, stubborn, irritable, self-sufficient and insubordinate ruins Christian character and fills the church with untamable spirits that destroy peace, unity, love and patience, causing nine tenths of all church difficulties. That neglect is no less aggravating to God now than in Eli's day, and parents will be called to render an account to Him for it. The curse pronounced here falls on a father's house for failing to educate children to know and keep the way of the Lord, leaving them free to the demoralizing fashions and pride of the age instead of training them in simplicity, modesty and obedience, and it falls especially on fathers who minister in word and doctrine, whose children should be examples of what is taught to others.

Ministers are warned by this history to guard their hearts, uphold God's requirements, and rebuke sin impartially even when the guilty are close friends or hold high positions. Eli and his sons had answered great favors with ingratitude and dishonor to God and the sacred service, and Eli's failure to restrain their sin brought widespread harm. To neglect the duty of reproof disobeys God, sanctions sin, and brings judgment on His people. Age and experience in sacred work do not excuse neglect of duty in the home, for Eli was held responsible though long in office because he failed to train his sons in the Lord's way and did not remove them from holy office despite knowing their sins, and when warned he did not heed, so that through the youth Samuel it was declared that their transgressions would not be pardoned and His house would not be blessed but would be cut off in their sins.

The warning to Eli with its judgments should have fully influenced Samuel, yet he was to some extent too indulgent with his own sons. They had been taught the lesson of that warning and its judgments but failed to heed it, neither copying his pure unselfish life nor heeding his precepts. The same result appeared, for failure to restrain sons produces corrupt character and life, turning rulers aside after lucre to take bribes and pervert judgment. That course violated God's directions through Moses to judge righteously, deal justly with the widow and fatherless, and receive no bribes.