1 Samuel 3:13, commentary and pictures

God declared He would judge Eli's house forever for the iniquity he knew, because his sons made themselves vile in profaning holy service and he did not restrain, correct and govern them. A verbal rebuke was not enough, for merely talking against sin without commanding, removing from trust and taking decided measures leaves wrongdoing unrestrained and makes the one who permits it a partaker in the guilt. Because sin had shut out communication with the high priest and his sons, God passed by the aged servant to give His first direct revelation to the innocent child Samuel, making the message of condemnation his commission as prophet to all Israel. The threatened judgment was delayed year after year, but forbearance only hardened the transgressors until Hophni and Phinehas were slain in one day, Israel was defeated, the ark was taken, and Eli himself died. The same curse rests on parents, teachers and leaders now who from indulgence, ease-loving and fear of displeasure fail to promptly and decidedly restrain evil, while children and youth who remain true amid corruption like Samuel may be honored with God's confidence and important work.

Message Given Through Samuel

God gave Samuel his first direct revelation to announce judgment on Eli's house before he knew the Lord in direct prophetic manifestation, speaking in an unexpected way through a child so that Eli would hear of it through the youth's surprise and inquiry. He would do a thing in Israel at which the ears of everyone who heard it would tingle, performing against Eli all that had been spoken concerning his house from beginning to end, beginning and making an end. He would judge Eli's house forever for iniquity Eli knew, because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them, and He swore that the iniquity of Eli's house would never be purged by sacrifice or offering.

The sins of Eli's house like a thick cloud had shut out the presence of the Holy Spirit, so that He could not communicate with the high priest and his sons. He therefore passed by Eli, the aged chosen servant, to commune with the innocent child Samuel who remained true to Heaven in the midst of evil, because Eli knew his sons did wickedly and made Israel sin yet from blind affection and desire to avoid unpleasant feelings in the home only remonstrated and did not command or take decided action against their wicked course. That passing by itself was a bitter yet deserved rebuke to Eli and his house, for by such neglect he proved unworthy of the trust given him and God could not go forth with His people. Eli awakened no envy or jealousy but directed Samuel to answer if called again, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

The message of condemnation to the house of Eli became Samuel's commission as a prophet of the Most High. After being established as prophet of the Lord to all Israel from Dan to Beersheba with further revelations at Shiloh, he made the warning and reproof known to the whole nation in hope of counteracting in some measure the evil influence of past neglect. The warnings were disregarded by the people as they had been by the priests, and because iniquities were openly practiced in Israel the surrounding nations who knew of them grew bolder and more determined in idolatry and crime and felt no guilt for their sins as they would have felt had Israel preserved its integrity.

Older persons can become so set in their own course of action that although God sends His messages to them they do not hear with a firm will to obey His voice. By contrast the Lord can communicate with children and youth, instruct them and mold their minds, because the youth are more impressible. So God revealed through the child Samuel what would befall Israel because of its wickedness, when Eli's failure to train his children in obedience and restrain their wickedness brought judgment on his household.

Enduring Judgment Pronounced

God declared He would judge Eli's house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. Eli knew his sons were doing evil yet failed to restrain, correct, govern and discipline them, and as priest and ruler he was responsible to govern his family according to God's will. His indulgence and parental affection did not excuse the failure, but allowed their wrongdoing to continue and to grow until judgment was pronounced on his household. A verbal rebuke was not enough, for he did not remove them from their holy office, and overlooking their faults and delaying correction let wrong habits grow stronger to lasting harm. That neglect makes parents responsible before God, warning that they must promptly and firmly control and discipline their children rather than indulge rebellion, lest failure to take firm measures bring consequences and harm upon the children and upon others.

The iniquity of Eli's house would never be purged by sacrifice or offering forever. God would not pardon their transgressions or bless the house but would cut it off in its sins, performing against Eli all that had been spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. This judgment followed when his sons were killed and Israel suffered defeat and loss of the ark, showing that God takes the responsibility of parents to lead and correct their children rather than be led by them seriously in every age. Family leadership in this bears on fitness to lead in the church, and those who neglect to govern and correct are not blameless before God.

The vileness was deliberate profaning of the sacrifices while ministering in holy office. It was an insult to God because those sacrifices pointed to the Son of God, so their conduct trampled on the blood of atonement. That willfulness was why no sacrifice or offering could purge their guilt.

Those who persist in sin without desiring to forsake their evil course may reach a point where forgiveness is no longer available even through sacrifice or offerings, facing irrevocable judgment. This is the warning when men disregard God's reproof, deceive themselves about their spiritual condition, and continue rejecting heaven's light, as Eli did by knowing his sons' persistent wrongdoing yet only mildly remonstrating from blind affection and even keeping them in sacred office. The same warning applies to teachers who reject the light given to them, for continued rejection brings judgment.

Eli's Failure to Restrain

As father, priest, judge and ruler Eli was responsible to govern his family according to God's will and to restrain wrongdoing with promptness and decision. He knew his sons were doing evil in their priestly office yet failed to restrain, correct, govern and discipline them, and his indulgence allowed their selfish, irreverent and licentious wrongdoing to continue until judgment was pronounced on his house. His guilt and the evil were greatly heightened because his sons were connected with the work of God, and his lax discipline in holy office exerted a corrupting influence upon the whole nation and harmed families and the wider community. Parents and religious leaders are therefore accountable for existing evils they might have checked by reproof, warning and exercise of parental or pastoral authority, and when mild measures fail stronger measures are required.

A verbal rebuke was not enough, for Eli only remonstrated, reproved and spoke against them without commanding, taking decided measures, separating them from the Lord's service, or removing men utterly unfitted for holy office from positions of trust. Though as judge he had authority to abolish their injustice and to put the evil away from Israel at once, he left them to serve and dishonor God and to make Israel sin, so merely talking against sin without firmly checking it left the wrongdoer unrestrained. His neglect was limited to mild remonstrance and submissive acceptance after warning, when he should have taken prompt measures himself, and by failing to judge his own sons he dishonored God and proved unworthy of the trust given him. Even keeping them in sacred office while they persisted in vile profaning of God's house brought God's curse not only on his sons but on himself, with terrible calamity upon the nation in Israel's defeat and the capture of the ark.

His neglect came from blind and foolish fondness, indulgence, an ease-loving and ease-seeking disposition, love of peace and harmony, fear of his sons' displeasure, and desire to avoid unpleasant feelings at home. He did not want to hurt feelings, so he would not rebuke and reprove sin, suppress evil, or remove his vile sons from their position of trust though he knew they profaned the house of God, and he became more and more insensible to impurity and crime. Though good and pure in morals and loving purity and righteousness, he was too indulgent and wanting in firmness of character, moral courage and moral force, weakly yielding control when his sons were impatient of it. He had taught them the law of God and given them a good example in his own life, but God required more than instruction and example, and instead of seeking guidance and help from God and following His word Eli chose his own easy way of management agreeable to his disposition.

He let his sons grow up with unbridled passions, perverted appetites and corrupt morals, overlooking the faults and sins of their childhood and flattering himself that they would outgrow evil tendencies. He did not regard his children as a sacred trust from God to be returned with interest but looked upon them as his own, and by permitting them to disregard his commands he taught them to disregard the commands of their heavenly Father until in manhood they were ready to defy all authority both human and divine, in striking contrast to the firmness and self-denial of the faithful Hannah. Undue affection made their sins seem less offensive than the sins of others, so he was quick to rebuke others but ever ready to find excuses for their perverse course, judging them partially and excusing in them what he would have condemned in others. To just such an extent as he permitted or excused sin in his children he became a partaker in their guilt, dishonoring God and misleading the people, and those who only ask children to stop wrongdoing but do not firmly restrain them allow them to remain to lead others into sin.

Eli confessed his guilt but did not show true repentance, for he did not renounce the sin and took no effective measures to correct the evils polluting the sanctuary and leading thousands in Israel to ruin. Though the warning gave him a chance to work and repent, unlike the Ninevites he only submitted saying the will of God be done, discouraged and thinking it no use to correct his children while remaining indolent and blind through neglect of duty. A father's duty to restrain continues while children remain under his roof no matter their age, for Eli's sons were married men yet Eli as father and priest was still required to restrain them. None of a man's children are too old to respect his authority and obey his commands while sheltered and dependent, and parents must require them to follow parental views of right instead of being in subjection to their children and yielding to their wills lest they indulge pride, follow their own inclinations, and become vain, self-loving, haughty and uncontrolled in passion. Eli was deluded, asleep, indifferent, blindfolded and deceived about his own children, not knowing or understanding the child's heart nor discerning wrong as a faithful watchman should, taking altogether too worldly and commonplace a view while evil was carried forward right in his presence unseen. Parents as stewards for souls must either see the defects in home management and training and faithfully correct them or have Satan blind their perception, and when they refuse correction the sin of Eli becomes their own sin.

Fulfillment Upon House and Nation

God held back the threatened judgment year after year, leaving time when much might still have been done to redeem past failures, but that forbearance only led Hophni and Phinehas to harden their hearts and grow still bolder in transgression.

When the blow fell it came as fearful calamity on Israel because sin had been lightly regarded and allowed to remain in their midst. Hophni and Phinehas were slain in one day in battle, thirty thousand of the people were slain, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, and the ark of God was taken from Israel. Eli's failure to stand for what was right helped deprive Israel of its strength and glory, and Eli himself lost his life, falling backward and dying when he heard the news. That iniquity would not be purged by sacrifice or offering, and the judgment followed in defeat and loss of the ark.

Eli made the warnings to his house known to the whole nation, hoping to counteract in some measure the evil influence of his past neglect. The warning and reproof were disregarded by the people as they had been by the priests. Because the iniquities were openly practiced in Israel and known to surrounding nations, those nations grew bolder and more determined in idolatry and crime and felt no guilt for their sins as they would have felt had Israel preserved its integrity.

God's authority had been set aside and His worship neglected and despised, so a day of retribution had to come for God to interpose that the honor of His name might be maintained. He will not delay His judgments beyond a limit. The overthrow at Shiloh when the Philistines overcame Israel and took the ark became the example behind the warning to make the temple like Shiloh. Eli himself accepted that God was just to punish his neglect, receiving the rebuke sent through the child Samuel without resentment toward Samuel, loving him as before while condemning himself as deserving it and knowing his neglect to stand for the right and restrain wrong had at last deprived Israel of strength and glory.

The ark was of no consequence to them while they were not keeping the law it contained, for they looked to the ark for help and Eli trusted more to the ark than to the God who gave it. The same danger faces God's people now when they say they have the law and understand the truth and expect that knowledge to save them while not yielding full obedience and not letting the law transform character.

Accountability of Parents and Leaders

Parents and guardians of youth, teachers, and those who minister in sacred service are held accountable for existing evils they might have checked by reproof, by warning, and by exercise of parental or pastoral authority, just as if guilty of the acts themselves. Neglect of this duty comes from too little courage to reprove wrong, too little interest, or indolence in purifying the family or the church, and Eli as priest and judge shows it, for he knew his sons' wrongdoing and failed to restrain and correct them when he should have used stronger measures after mild ones failed. Duty requires first attempting to restrain evil by mild measures, and if that does not avail subduing the wrong by the sternest measures, because God's honor must be sacredly preserved even if it separates from the nearest relative. One defect of indulgence and want of moral courage in a man otherwise talented destroys his usefulness in this life and causes his rejection in the day of judgment as a worker of iniquity, and such neglect harms families and the wider community. The Elis of today are called promptly to assert God-given authority to restrain and correct instead of pleading excuses and overlooking sin with unlimited indulgence, exchanging natural pride of heart and independence for a child-like teachable spirit that asks what Christ would have them do, and to use the chastening rod oftener, not in passion but with love and prayer, so youth are kept from drifting into the ranks of Satan to serve under the banner of the Prince of Life, producing happier families and a better state of society.

By giving consent to evildoers and approving and allowing children's wrongdoing a person becomes a partaker of sin and shares the guilt of those who do the wrong. Eli did not commit his sons' sins himself and he reproved them, yet by allowing them to go on in sin when as judge he had authority to correct them and abolish their injustice he made himself a partner in their guilt and swerved from loyalty to truth and equity. Such consent dishonors God and bears false witness concerning His character, whether the injustice is practiced in worldly business or in connection with God's cause, and consenting to even the least injustice degrades a person's own moral nature and develops the attributes of Satan, no matter how high his position or exalted his profession. Parents who approve and allow wrongdoing perpetuate it, damaging and ruining their own influence and failing the young people they should have corrected, and when children also uphold and perpetuate their fathers' sins both generations face recompense, judgment and bitter consequences.

Every parent is required not only to give right instruction and a good example but with promptness and decision to restrain the inclination to do evil, and all parents should make their families patterns of good works as perfect Christian households. This duty rests in pre-eminent degree on those who minister in sacred things and to whom the people look for instruction and guidance, who are to be examples to the flock, for he who fails to direct wisely his own household is not qualified to guide the church of God, and family leadership bears on fitness to lead in the church. Eli's lax discipline and failure to govern and correct his wicked sons was made worse by his standing in holy office, causing it to exert a corrupting influence upon the whole nation and to bring judgment on his household that could not be removed by sacrifice or offering, with grave harm to Israel, so those who neglect this duty are not blameless before God. Continued rejection of heaven's light brings judgment, a warning that applies to teachers who reject the light given to them.

Men holding responsible positions in the church are adjured faithfully to remove the wrongs that dishonor the cause of truth, reproving sin and not conniving like Eli by passing lightly over known iniquity in sacred offices and letting sin pass unreproved. Those responsible for correcting wrongdoing must not excuse it or let personal ties interfere with loyalty to God, for neglecting that duty sanctions sin and brings harm upon God's people, while sin left unreproved brings a demoralized state and incurs the frown of God, who holds leaders accountable for the sins that exist and the evils resulting from them. Because sin was lightly regarded and allowed to remain, judgment fell in fearful calamity with the sons slain, Eli himself losing his life, the ark of God taken from Israel, and thirty thousand of the people slain, and the overthrow at Shiloh became the example behind the warning to make the temple like Shiloh, showing God will not delay His judgments beyond a limit. Thorough work is required, especially of presidents, mission leaders and church workers who must not be easy, careless and ease-loving like Eli, unwilling to discern evil quickly and restrain and correct existing wrongs with firmness and fortitude, but must stand by experienced workers, educate those who can be used, refuse a place to those whose character will never exert a safe influence, right wrongs, rebuke sins and lift the standard, so the work is not burdened with a cheap irreligious element and God can bestow His favor.

Samuel is the contrast to Eli's neglect of duty to his sons, for he educated and trained his sons and did his duty to them, so no such message of judgment upon his house forever was sent to him. He is not to blame for his sons turning aside after lucre, taking bribes and perverting judgment, for children by their course can weaken and counteract the best efforts of faithful parents. Their defection tempted the people to charge Samuel with neglect like Eli, but the guilt rests on the sons who refused to follow their father's example and instruction. Children blessed with faithful instruction by precept and example and with knowledge of God's dealing with Eli must still be tested apart from a father's influence, and pride, self-sufficiency, avarice, selfishness and unjust judgment bring the same condemnation. The warnings to Eli that judgment would come upon him and his house for his sons' iniquity, and the visitation of that divine judgment upon them, were well known in Israel and were not unknown to Samuel's sons.

Faithful Training of Children

Neglect to train children and youth in childhood brings terrible loss that could have been avoided, for the history of Eli is left on record to warn every father and mother to shun his example. The first and most important work of parents is to bring sons and daughters under the control of God's holy law, educating them to fear God and keep His commandments and feeling it a solemn duty to exercise a restraining influence. The Word marks out the duty to restrain, govern, and command the household after them, not with unwisely fond tenderness that seeks to please and excuses sin, but with sanctified judgment and sound wisdom having the future happiness and welfare of the children in view. This requires restraining self-indulgence and teaching self-control with God's glory in view, establishing God's great standard of righteousness in the home and holding it up before the children as the rule of life so they may be useful in this life and enjoy the future life. Eli as father and judge in Israel knew the iniquity of his sons yet indulged their wrong habits and only remonstrated without taking decided measures or separating them from the Lord's service, leaving men utterly unfitted for holy office to serve and dishonor God, so that by failing to judge his own sons he dishonored God. A parent who is too lax and lets feeling control, who allows sin upon children and lets them remain passionate, unthankful, disobedient, heady and high-minded and covers it from others and from self, partakes of their wrongs and sustains them in sin, and the blood of their souls will be in the skirts of the parents' garments. God is not pleased with such management but holds parents responsible in great degree for the conduct of their children because they have the formation of character, and any neglect will be reflected back upon them in this life and will affect their future life.

Children in this age need strict watch-care with advice and restraint, and parents must control them without fear, promptly and decidedly restraining waywardness and correcting faults. God cursed Eli because he did not promptly and decidedly restrain his wicked sons though he knew they were doing evil, but merely expostulated and talked against sin without firmly checking it. Mere warning, talk and expostulation is not enough, and advising children about their choices without enforcing discipline does not fulfill duty. Parents cannot be too careful, for children are unacquainted with the evils of the world and do not realize the deadly corrupting influences surrounding them, while Satan and his angels surround them and where he cannot work directly he works through young companions to poison minds, so that evil communication breathed into the ear, if not decidedly resisted, lodges in the heart, takes root, springs up to bear fruit and corrupts good manners. Therefore parents must by living faith roll back the tide of darkness Satan presses upon and around their children, keeping them from the society of the young as far as possible and with double care binding them to their hearts with tenderness and showing that restriction labors for present good and future eternal happiness, even when children feel held in too much, feel impatient of restraint, and feel deprived of privileges other children have. Tolerating and supporting wrongdoing brings judgment upon both parents and children, and love requires that even unwilling faults be brought to remembrance for good, with plain reproof and restraint, lest promises fail and repentance unto life be missed.

The word of God must be the guide in educating children, seeking their future good rather than present convenience. Parents are required to restrain waywardness and correct faults, cultivating all that is good and true and noble, training children to bear burdens, to love useful employment, and to form habits of industry, self-reliance, self-control, economy, courtesy, benevolence, reverence and love for God. The lesson must be enforced by example, with the peace of Christ ruling in the heart and His love pervading the life in practical religion, teaching that the only way to be truly happy is to love and fear God. Faithful discharge of this duty makes home the most sunny and attractive spot on earth by pleasant words and kind acts and steadfast adherence to the right, and makes a happy year for children. Neglect to exercise this proper restraint creates great unhappiness, for youth left to constantly seek pleasure in amusement or selfish gratification cannot be happy.

Parents have the first and most favorable opportunity to control and train children while the spirit is teachable and mind and heart are easily impressed. Through slothfulness in permitting children to follow their own will they become hardened in an evil course and confirmed like flint. A teacher should not be expected to do the parent's work, and parents should not send crude undisciplined children to college to receive the discipline and training they should have given at home. Teachers have a task few appreciate, receiving little credit if they succeed in reforming wayward youth, while when youth choose evil society and go from bad to worse the censure often unjustly falls on teachers and the school is denounced, when in many cases it justly belongs upon the parents. Parents must study less of the world and more of Christ, putting forth less effort to imitate worldly customs and fashions and devoting more time and painstaking effort to molding minds and character according to the Divine Model, so they can send forth sons and daughters fortified by pure morals and noble purpose to be trained for usefulness and trust.

Restraining children means bringing them up free from evil habits by counseling and instructing them, praying and laboring for them, helping them see their faults before correcting them, praying with them, and not neglecting the rod. Parents who excuse children in sin merit God's displeasure and become accessory to the wrongs of those under their care, and the Elis of today must promptly assert God-given authority to restrain and correct, exchanging natural pride of heart and independence for a childlike teachable spirit that sits at the feet of Jesus and asks what He would have them do. The chastening rod must be used oftener, not in passion but with love and prayer, for such correction keeps youth from drifting into the ranks of Satan so they serve under the banner of the Prince of Life, and produces happier families and a better state of society. Husband and wife must unitedly subdue, govern, correct, restrain and discipline with firmness and decision and firm decided discipline mingled with prayer, not letting children do as they please and have their own way. Where the home cannot govern, children must be placed where they can have useful employment and labor and be under strict control and discipline even apart from parents, with earnest prayer and labor for them because their salvation depends on being disciplined. Such faithful restraint is blessed to the good of children, so their greatest pleasure is to please their parents and they may yet be numbered with the lambs of Christ's fold.

God cursed Eli because he did not promptly and decidedly restrain his wicked sons, declaring His house would be judged forever because he knew their vile sin and did not promptly restrain them. The same curse and punishment will as surely rest on parents now who follow his negligence in educating their children, for negligence that dallies with sin and crime and is slow to detect evil in families of professed Christians stands as a fearful warning. His negligence brought God's curse not only on his sons but on himself, and led to Israel's humiliating defeat and capture of the ark, showing parents accountable in great degree for the faults and follies of their children. Such indulgence closes the gates of heaven before the child so that with present habits and disposition she will never see the kingdom of God, endangers the parents' own salvation for they reap what they sow, and in the Judgment will show the loss of scores of children taught lax discipline by pernicious example. Failing to restrain after reproof and correction, warnings and counsels from God have been given lets hereditary and cultivated tendencies obtain victory while counsels go unheeded, putting poor defective material into character-building where pride and indulgence bear only briars and thorns, with always loss to the soul so that none of that class whose evil hearts are full of evil things will be among the saved and it would have been far better never to have been born. The blood of souls will be in the skirts of lax parents' garments, and neglect will be reflected back upon them in this life and affect their future life, a perilous position for eternal life when sacred responsibility is lost.

Parents do no better than Eli when they see their children serving Satan openly and pass it by as a disagreeable necessity that must be endured because it cannot be cured. A father who allows his children to disrespect their mother and leaves them to come up without restraint like Eli's sons bears guilt for their condition, leaving them untrained, unloving and unloved and uneducated to self-control to plant thorns in parents' hearts that cannot be prevented, reaping what he sows and called to account in the Judgment for bringing children into the world and letting them come up so, when without great change of character they cannot be saved in the kingdom. Letting children have their own head and come up without restraint to do as they please and follow an evil course is a reproach to the cause of present truth, and unless reformed will make a man's labors worse than lost and of no account. Parents must instead educate children to love and obey God and diligently teach them the way of the Lord, restraining them instead of allowing them to go out and come in when they choose, to associate with worldlings, and to meet the worldly standard in dress, looks and amusements, for conforming to the world and yielding to influences that counteract parental teaching leaves even children in profligacy, secret vice and the sins that characterized Sodom, destroying and defacing the image of God in them. To keep the curse from resting upon them parents must do all they can to make crooked things straight by firm decided discipline mingled with prayer, refusing to charge their course to circumstances or others, to settle matters by children's untrue testimony instead of laying the matter frankly open, to treat brethren coldly because they did not yield to perverse wills and ways, or to let true facts be perverted or children mislead others, because undisciplined children are an offense to God.

Parents must be deeply in earnest for their own souls and for their children's souls, with transformed life and humbled heart before God that never gives over effort until changed, placing all influence on the Lord's side. A father must be not a creature of impulse but a man of unwavering principle, because children copy the pattern he gives them, and without that change his anchorage will continually shift. This requires controlling self and teaching self-denial and self-control by both instruction and example, realizing obligations to command the household and discipline children as they should be disciplined. Parents who manage dear children in Eli's wrong order put salvation of themselves and children in danger and need to cut loose from everything that diverts the mind from God and strive earnestly for salvation. Parents and especially ministers must therefore take hold of governing families immediately with government, firmness and decision in training children.

Fondling and petting children, indulging them in pride, fearing to confront willful stubborn spirits, and holding blind confidence in their goodness and innocence while they practice secret vice repeats Eli's negligence, and the same sin of negligence marked against Eli will be marked against parents who sleep on duty and refuse to restrain. Eli let his children go on in sin without restraining them because he felt his darlings were about right, letting down the standard of piety in the home, and that course forfeits the divine presence and blessing, lets children go to destruction, and lets leaven go through the camp. Permitting disobedience displeases the Lord because it leads to transgression and death and makes children candidates for perdition, working counter to God's will instead of commanding children and household after them to keep the way of the Lord as Abraham was commended for doing, a cause that must be corrected because no wisdom, tact or zeal can separate cause from effect. Parents must instead begin missionary work at home by bringing their own hearts into subjection to God, having Christ in hearts and homes, teaching children perfect obedience and keeping them under parental guidance, and agonizing with God for them so the power of God is manifested in the family. When parents come to a crisis they must either see defects in how they govern the home or have Satan blind their perception, and when they refuse correction the sin of Eli becomes their own.

Parental partiality that passes over in one's own children what would be severely censured in others is unjust and unchristian, for undue affection made Eli's sons' sins seem less offensive so he was quick to rebuke others but ever ready to find excuses for their perverse course. To just such an extent as he permitted or excused sin he became a partaker in guilt, dishonoring God and misleading the people, with guilt greatly heightened because as sons of the high priest they were connected with God's work. Failure to correct faults fosters wrong traits until they become second nature, and the evil is tenfold greater in ministers and others who stand in Christ's stead to instruct the people, for by failing to control households and sanctioning growth of evil instead of repressing it they mislead many by wrong example and efface the distinction between right and wrong, purity and vice. Even experienced fathers serving in God's work are answerable when they neglect to train and correct children at home and to remove them from holy office when unfit, and must instruct and discipline them in God's way lest the curse of Eli come upon them. Reform requires bearing reproof and correction about children without offense, learning parental duty, and unitedly praying and laboring earnestly for them because their salvation depends on being disciplined.

God Honors Faithful Youth

Samuel as a child lived surrounded by the most corrupting influences, seeing and hearing things that grieved his soul, yet he walked untainted with spotless character. He had no fellowship with or delight in the sins that filled all Israel with fearful reports, while Eli's sons ministered in holy office yet were controlled by Satan, polluting the whole atmosphere around them and corrupting Israel by fascinating men and women daily with sin and wrong. He loved God and kept his soul in such close connection with Heaven that an angel was sent to talk with him about the sins of Eli's sons. His course proves that youth may have principles so firm that the most powerful temptations of Satan will not draw them away from allegiance, but they can stand firm amid pollution, united to God and angels and proof against every temptation.

Because Eli knew his sons were doing wrong and did not restrain them, neglecting his solemn duty and sacred charge to train them rightly, God passed by the aged priest and accepted the boy Samuel, whom his mother had dedicated to God's service, and gave to the boy the solemn message. That choice shows that God honors the young and can call them to important work. He will do a great work for children when parents cooperate with Him in training and educating them according to His instruction.

God called Samuel when he was still a child and committed a solemn message to him, which proves He honors young people and entrusts them with special work. Samuel ministered before the Lord as a child and grew in favor both with the Lord and with men. That growth shows the Lord watches over children with intense interest and notes the characters they form.