Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest. . . So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel, Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening’ ” 2 Samuel 2: 11, NIV.
Holy God, we need a Word from You today. As parents, and in a special way, fathers want to hear Your voice loud and clear. In the blessed name of Jesus we humbly pray. Amen.
Today we are continuing our conversation about Eli. Yesterday we observed how his two sons went astray. As priests in the temple of the living God, they were blatantly sacrilegious! If we are going only by what the Word of God says, it was not until Eli was “very old,” that we find him trying to correct his boys. By then they were grown men. It was too late to form their characters. Only God, could have made them over; but they obviously did not allow Him to do so.
Today, we are going to observe Eli as a father figure in the life of Samuel. I was just fascinated by what the LORD was showing me as I sat in His presence doing this devotional. Observe the very first sentence in our Scripture for today: “Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the LORD under Eli the priest.“ His blood father went back home. There is something else that is quite noteworthy: 1 Samuel, chapter 2, begins with Hannah praising the LORD for answering her prayer and giving her a child. This prayer is followed by the statement that the child was left to minister before the LORD “under Eli the priest[!]” Right after this comes the story of the evil deeds of the sons of Eli! It makes the contrast between the two behaviors so much more obvious!
Samuel. You will notice that I said yesterday, that Eli was helping to raise the boy Samuel. The foundation of his character was already formed by the time he arrived at the temple. Nevertheless, sacred Scripture informs us that while Hophni and Phineas “were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt . . . Samuel was ministering before the LORD -a boy wearing a linen ephod” (1 Samuel 2: 17, 18). Nestled between the history of the behavior of Eli’s two sons we see the innocence in the life of Samuel (17-26). While Hophni and Phineas refused to “listen to their father’s rebuke” we read, “the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men” (26). While it was being prophesied of the sons of Eli that “they will both die on the same day” (34); the Word of God reveals that, “Samuel’s word came to all Israel” (4: 1).
An entire household of priests was being completely wiped out, while a new prophet was arriving on the scene. The work of raising his sons for the glory of God that had been entrusted to Eli, had not been performed as it should have been. God was relieving the responsibility of leading the people of Israel from his house, and giving it to another: “The man who brought the news replied, ‘Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phineas are dead, and the ark has been captured.’ When he mentioned the ark of God Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years” (4: 17, 18).
Yet in mercy, before he died, God used the expertise of the old priest to help in the raising up of a new priest and prophet. What Eli had failed to do with his own sons, he had been given an opportunity to do with the son of Hannah and Elkanah. When I thought about this, I thought of grandparents. I believe that oftentimes, God will give grandparents “another opportunity” to undo a lot of the mistakes we made in raising our own children, by allowing us to have a part, to play in the lives of our grandchildren. I would recommend however, fathers, that by God’s grace, you try to get it right the first time. God is able, and more than willing, to help you!