The sons of Eli : A warning for the servants of God .

34 “ ‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day.

35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.

“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:12). The term Belial means “worthless” or “wicked” (see Bible Dictionary, “Belial,” 620). They were men of greed and lust. They used their authority as priests to extort from the people the best of the meat brought before them for sacrifice (see 1 Sam. 2:13–16). In essence they were taking their portion before giving a portion to God! They were also committing immoral acts with the women who gathered at the tabernacle (see 1 Sam. 2:22). Eli knew what they were doing, and when the people saw that the priesthood at Shiloh was corrupt, they “abhorred the offering of the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:17). What was a father to do?

Consequences:

Death Visits the House of Eli

The army of the Israelites soon went out to war against the Philistines. In the first battle Israel was severely beaten, losing “about four thousand men” (1 Sam. 4:2). The elders of the people, apparently including Eli, supposed that the presence of the ark of the covenant on the field of battle would save them. The ark was brought to the battlefront by its caretakers, Hophni and Phinehas, from Shiloh, a distance of about 20 miles,¹ and “all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again” (1 Sam. 4:5). A new and tenacious battle ensued. Israel fled in defeat, suffering the death of 30,000 footmen and the capture of the ark. Hophni and Phinehas were also killed (see 1 Sam. 4:10–11).

A messenger was sent to Shiloh with the terrible news. From his chair by the gate of the tabernacle, Eli heard an uproar in the distance and feared for the safety of the ark, for there was great risk in removing the ark from the tabernacle except when directed by the Lord (see Ex. 26:34; Josh. 18:1). “What is there done, my son?” Eli asked the messenger. “Thy two sons … are dead,” the messenger replied. Then when Eli heard that the ark had been lost, “he fell from off the seat backward,” breaking his neck, and died (see 1 Sam. 4:16–18).

Jesus  said, “Repent, or the light will be removed” (Cf. Revelation 2:5).

Above all, Christians are called to keep the words of Christ and obey His commandments–to walk, or live, as Jesus did (1 John 2:3-6). Christians are called to a distinctive, separated life of purity from the obsessions of physical pleasure, which the Bible calls the lusts and worldly alliances that contradict spiritual fellowship. “What do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”

(2 Corinthians 6:14, NIV). “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:17, NIV). “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God”
(2 Corinthians 7:1, NIV). Do these commands seem contrary to contemporary Christian culture?

Jesus warned that the wheat and the tares, the true and the false, would grow together even in good soil. When there is no distinction between the Christian and the world, the appeal of the Gospel is lost and the impact of the Christian’s life diminishes. This intermingling of the lost and the saved, the sheep and the goats, will become more prevalent so that at the return of Christ He alone “will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42, NIV).

Sin in the first-century churches was identified and dealt with.

The Bible tells how a married couple sold some property and brought an offering to the church, passing it off as the entire amount they had received but in reality holding back a portion. The Apostle Peter said they were lying to the Holy Spirit, and both were struck dead (Acts 5:1-10).

The Apostle Paul identified sexual sin and the tolerance of it in the church at Corinth. He directed, “Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5, NIV). And where there was doctrinal error or divisiveness, Paul instructed the church to have nothing to do with those members (1 Timothy 4:7, Titus 3:10).

Likewise today, we must not disregard sin, whether in our churches or in our own lives. Our motivation should not be to shame and punish but to restore our brothers and sisters to a right relationship with God. We would do well to follow the directive of Paul to the church in Galatia: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1, NIV).

Remember that sin must be confessed and repented of–only then can there be forgiveness and restoration. The holiness of God remains forever. But at the same time, the substitution of the sinless Son of God for the sinner, and for His Church, redeems and reconciles forever.