1 Samuel 2:12-21

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. What happens to Eli's sons or what are Eli's sons like and what's this Samuel boy like? So we're going to find out a little bit more about Eli and his boys and Samuel and his life and it's going to take us two days to kind of get through this a little bit but it's pretty interesting and what God's going to teach us from it. So let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father we thank you so much for this day. We thank you that we can grow in our love for you. Not automatically. but because you have given us your Holy Spirit, and you have given us certain means of grace. And we thank you for your word and for prayer being two of those.
So Father, we pray that you would please help us to know who you are, to love you, to understand the descriptive story of what has happened in the past, and that your Holy Spirit would please give us responsible interpretations of this passage, but also that you would fill us with your Spirit that we might have it truly applied to our hearts so we could live it out in our lives. In Jesus's name, Amen. Here you go, 1 Samuel chapter 2 verses 12 and we'll read through verse 21. It's really two parts, but we're going to save the third part for tomorrow. Now, the sons of Eli were corrupt. The word there is actually sons of Belial. Eli's sons were sons of Belial. Belial is the devil. They did not know Jehovah.
And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling. Then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle and the cauldron or pot and the priest would take it for himself, all that the flesh hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
Also, before they burned the fat, the pre-servants would come and say to the man who sacrificed, give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw. And if the man had said to him, they should really burn the fat first, then you may take as much as your heart desires. He would answer him. No, but you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.'
Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod, Moreover, his mother used to make him a little robe and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, Yehovah give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to Yehovah. Then they would go to their own house. And Jehovah visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, this child Samuel grew before Jehovah. Well, let's go ahead and stop there. And we have our three questions to ask ourselves. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to these words? So A, what's this about? We really have the first two portions here that we're going to deal with Eli's sons more tomorrow. But today's the description, right? Eli's sons are sons of the devil. sons of Belial.
They don't know the Lord and they actually abuse the Lord's people and abuse the Lord's sacrificial system. So much so that the Lord abhors them because people don't even want to come worship at Shiloh. They don't want to make the sacrifices. They don't want to deal with Eli's nasty boys. They don't treat anything as holy, they're all about themselves.
Actually this whole picture, sometimes if you think in your mind of the devil and you think of a pitchfork with three prongs, that's where this is coming from. This picture of Eli's sons being sons of the devil, that they're taking their three pronged flesh hook and shoving it into the pot or the pan and whatever gets stuck onto their nasty little forks, they just eat it up. And if somebody's going to have a burnt offering, the fat's supposed to go to the Lord, the best part, right? All the marbling and the meat, that's supposed to go to the Lord, and they're going to eat all of it. And if people say, no, no, no, no, no, hold on. That's supposed to go to the Lord.
They don't care. They just don't care. It's wicked. It's wrong. It's evil, right? And so the Lord abhors them for it. So therefore the sins of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord." And then you get a contrast in Greek. It's just one letter. It's a V, right?
But Samuel. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, right? Samuel seemed somehow to know the Lord. And it talks about this kind of loving picture that Samuel has, right? He's a little boy. He's a child. He's wearing an ephod, right? He's acting like a servant of the priests. He's caring for them and helping them doing stuff. And his mom comes every year with a new robe for him. She's making sure that he's cleanly and smartly dressed, you know. You've got to think about what a beautiful reunion this would be every year. She only gets to see her son probably once a year. She spends all year making this robe for him and comes and cares for him and loves him, but she never tries to take him back or force Samuel to go back home.
No, he's on loan to the Lord. And Eli, in response, by the way, the word Eli is my God, Eli. So if I was actually, I wouldn't pronounce it in the Hebrew, Eli, I would say Eli. So when Eli sees them, he blesses them. He's got that the Lord give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the Lord. Samuel's at loan and so he says may God bless you.
And what Deborah brought up yesterday with the seven sons, right? God does open the womb of Hannah. She has a whole bunch of kids. And the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel is growing before Yehovah. Right in front of the Lord's eyes, Samuel is being a faithful servant. God is blessing this situation. Even though Eli's kids are evil sons of the devil, Yet he's caring for Samuel. He's caring for Hannah and Ocana and the Lord is at work in this. The Lord takes sight of those who are believing and resting and trusting in him and the Lord also takes sight of those who are wicked and evil.
Now So, that's what this is about, right? So, this is Eli's sons compared to Samuel growing up, right? What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I would underline verse 17 and I would underline verse 21, right? The Lord takes notice of Eli's sons and in verse 20, the Lord takes notice of Hannah and blesses her with children.
What is this sea calling us to do? The Lord does take notice. God's not a fool. He's not a dummy. He's allowing these sons of Belial and these sons of Eli who do not know the Lord. He's allowing them to do this, but it's not going to last forever. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. We don't need to avenge ourselves.
We know the Lord will do this, but notice it's those people who are specifically in the religious offices who should be held to a high standard, who should treat God as holy. The people are even saying, hey look, God's supposed to get the fat. They know this from the law, and yet the priests don't even care. God's going to judge them for this. He's not just going to let it go.
I need to take that to heart as a pastor. I'm not a priest. We're a nation of priests, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, so I'm not a priest in the Aaronic sense like this is and neither are you. We are just Christians, but we are a royal priesthood in the order of Melchizedek, in the order of Christ, and so as we live our lives, even offering up our bodies as a living sacrifice to act like God doesn't see what we do or care about what we think or how we treat people or if we're treating Him as holy, He's going to judge us.
He won't be played for a fool. We reap what we sow. But if we are also responding in faith, even in the desperate circumstances as non-ordained, as regular people in the church, the Lord also sees that and blesses it, right? The Lord is noticing Elkanah and Hannah and Samuel and caring for them. So maybe sometimes you think, well I'm not a pastor, I'm not an elder, I'm not a deacon, I'm just a member in the church, I'm just a normal Christian. There's no such thing as just. Just the normal.
No. God takes notice. God cares for. God loves. So take confidence, Christian. The Lord sees. And what you do in faith, though it may be weak, though it may not be perfect, the Lord sees and knows and loves. So follow Him. Trust in Him. Walk in His ways.
Do what is righteous, not out of slavish obedience to the law, but because you love God, because you're united to his Son, and because the Spirit is provoking us to love God and others. Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would follow after you, that we would love you, that we would turn away from our sin, and that we would trust in you always. You are truly a wonderful and great God.
So help us, Lord. Help us to truly be the type of people who would treat you as holy. And that we would be, as the old language says, circumspect in the way we walk. Teach us to be careful, to walk before you in holiness and in love. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. May the God of holiness who has declared you a saint, if you are in Christ Jesus, protect you and encourage you and strengthen you for every good work. I'll see you next time. Bye.