1 Samuel 2:34, commentary and pictures

The appointed sign was that Hophni and Phinehas would both die in one day, proving that the condemnation threatened against Eli's household had arrived. That doom was provoked by the sons' corrupt priestly service that polluted the sanctuary and led Israel into sin and ruin, which Eli knew yet failed to restrain or remove them from office, only mildly rebuking them and letting them continue as they pleased. His neglect came from fond indulgence that honored his sons above God, and though the warning was delayed year after year and made known to the whole nation through a prophet and then Samuel to give room for reform, priests and people disregarded it until retribution became necessary to maintain the honor of God's name. The sign therefore stands as a standing rebuke to parents, even those in sacred work, who are held accountable to restrain their children promptly and firmly by God's word rather than indulgent love, lest the same curse fall on parents and children together.

Sign of Judgment Foretold

The promised sign against Eli's household was that his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, would both die on the same day, and their joint death in one day would prove that the threatened judgment and condemnation had come. That sentence was spoken because Eli neglected his sacred duty and suffered his sons to remain in sacred office while they persisted in wrongdoing. Their deaths were the foretold consequence of his failure to restrain them and remove them from holy service despite their wrongdoing.

The judgment was provoked by the sons' own wickedness and corruption in priestly service, which polluted the sanctuary and compelled Israel to sin and transgress God's law. Their corruption caused the people to despise and neglect the worship God had ordained. Those evils led thousands in Israel to ruin.

Eli was guilty because, though he knew their sins, he neglected his duty as father, judge, and high priest to train, govern, restrain, correct, and remove them from holy office promptly and decisively. He only mildly entreated them with Why do ye so wickedly, remonstrated with them but let them continue as they pleased, confessed his guilt without renouncing the sin, and took no effective measures to correct them. His failure came from fond, indulgent, undue affection that made him a partial judge who excused in his sons sins he would have condemned in others. He feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on in rebellion until they became a curse to Israel, thereby honoring his sons above God and putting human wisdom above God's commands in training his children.

The warning was first spoken to Eli by a prophet that both sons would be cut off on the same day and perish. God could not communicate through Eli the high priest and his sons because their sins like a thick cloud had shut out the presence of His Holy Spirit, but the child Samuel remained true to Heaven in the midst of evil, and God made the further message of condemnation to the house of Eli Samuel's commission as a prophet of the Most High. Those warnings and reproofs delivered through Samuel were disregarded.

The threatened judgment was delayed year after year to give room to redeem the failures of the past. The warning to his house was made known to the whole nation in hope of counteracting the evil influence of past neglect, but it was disregarded by the people as it had been by the priests. God's forbearance caused Hophni and Phinehas to harden their hearts and become still bolder in transgression. Their openly practiced iniquity caused surrounding nations to become still bolder in idolatry and crime with no sense of guilt for their sins. Because God's authority had been set aside and His worship neglected and despised, a day of retribution was approaching to maintain the honor of His name. It was declared that their transgressions would not be pardoned, that Eli's house would not be blessed but cut off, and that because of that unfaithfulness Israel would not win its battles but would be handed over to its enemies.

Warning to Parents Today

God holds fathers accountable for their duties at home even when they are experienced men engaged in sacred work, for Eli knew his sons' sins yet neglected to train them and failed to remove them from holy office, and judgment fell with their transgressions unpardoned and his house unblessed and cut off. That neglectful parenting is no less aggravating to God now than in Eli's day, and Elis are numerous in this age, and parents will be called to render an account to God for such sinful neglect.

Parents are required to restrain their children, and the salvation of children depends very much on the course pursued by the parents. The restraint must be prompt, firm, and decisive against persistent wrongdoing, for Eli's failure to restrain promptly and decisively brought the judgment of the joint death in one day as the promised sign. Failure to teach children from the cradle to submit their wills and ways leaves them self-willed, stubborn, and undisciplined, and that undisciplined spirit sacrifices the prosperity of the church. Allowing children to grow up without restraint confirms forward, selfish, disagreeable ways into unloving habits that bring soul-anguish over perverse conduct. Such indulgence sows destructive seed that springs up and bears fruit in children who despise parental authority.

God's word is the only safe guide in managing children, since God as Creator and Redeemer knows their needs best. Eli's terrible end came from putting human wisdom above God's commands in training his children, and his fond, indulgent failure to restrain Hophni and Phinehas according to God's word brought disaster and death on himself, ruin on his wicked sons in their joint death as the promised sign, and ruin on thousands in Israel. Parents today, especially those in holy office, must therefore not think in self-confidence that they know a better way than God has given, nor neglect earnest prayer for how to order the child.

Mistaken love and fondness that indulges children hurts them, nourishing pride and vanity over dress and outward ornament. It leaves the heart void of Christian graces and filled with self-love, haughtiness, and uncontrolled passions which outward appearance cannot hide. Fathers and mothers, especially ministers, are therefore warned by the sign that both sons would die in one day to keep their children free from the demoralizing fashions of the age, to dress them in simplicity and modesty approved by God, to make them examples of what is taught, and to take greater pains to give them beautiful characters that keep the way of the Lord than to give them a stylish appearance in the way of the Sodomites.

Eli could have restrained his wicked sons but feared their displeasure and suffered them to go on in rebellion until they became a curse to Israel. His failure to heed the warning that Hophni and Phinehas would both die on the same day makes his example a warning against indulging a child in destructive ways. Because he allowed his sons' wrongs to continue, God would bring a bitter lesson on parents and children together when they perpetuated one another's sins. His failure to restrain them, letting them do as they please, brought God's curse upon his children and his own death after hearing the battle was lost. Eli neglected his duty to govern, restrain, and correct his sons, and because of that neglect his sons fell beneath the wrath of God the Father, and the same judgment will fall on children left without control and correction, whose lying, deceiving, stealing, and iniquity form characters that will certainly be punished with the plagues to come upon the earth. Such poisonous society leads to death and should be shunned even when it is Sabbath-keepers' children.

The warning to Eli about his sons should have governed Samuel in training his own sons, showing that indulgence toward sons placed in holy office brings corruption and judgment. Samuel did not let it influence him as it should have, but was too indulgent with his two sons and failed to impress God's precepts upon them, so they did not copy his pure unselfish life but chased profit, took bribes, and perverted judgment. Eli's undue affection for Hophni and Phinehas made him a partial judge who excused sins in them that he would have condemned in others and suffered them to remain in sacred office while they compelled Israel to sin and transgressed God's law, so God would cut off both sons in one day and they should both perish as punishment. The verse is therefore a standing rebuke to parents who profess to follow Christ yet neglect to restrain their children and exercise their rightful authority, but only entreat them as Eli did, and thereby suffer God's cause to be dishonored. In this sense Elis are numerous in this age, and parents will be called to render an account to God for their sinful neglect.