Good Morning Friends,
“The LORD said to Samuel: ‘I am about to do
something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.
I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family - from
beginning to end. I told him that I would judge his family forever because of
the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to
restrain them. I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli's house will
never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’'" (1 Samuel 3:11-14)
The story of Eli and his sons, Hophni and
Phinehas, is a sad one. Eli was a good man who loved the Lord. He did a good
job instructing Samuel and helping him to grow into a man who loved and served
the Lord. Eli did not do the same with his sons. They became unrestrained men. They
stole from the offerings brought to the Lord and were sexually immoral. God
told Samuel that Eli had failed to restrain them. He failed to teach and
discipline them when they were young boys and the result was disastrous for
them and for Israel.
Israel lost a battle against the Philistines.
They prepared for a second battle. They brought the Ark of the Covenant, the
symbol of God’s presence to the battlefield. Hophni and Phinehas came with the
Ark and Eli, a very old man, remained at home.
The Ark did not have the desired effect. The
Philistines defeated Israel again, killed many Israelites, including Eli’s
sons, and captured the Ark. When news of the death of his sons and of the Ark
reached Eli, he fell off his chair in distress, broke his neck and died.
About the same time, Phinehas’s wife gave birth
to a son and died in childbirth. As she was dying, she named the boy Ichabod,
which means “there is no glory.” She said, “The glory has departed from Israel,
for the Ark of God has been captured.” (1 Samuel 4:21-22)
All this because Hophni and Phinehas were
unrestrained and wicked. Eli had failed as a father. God punished Israel for
the failure of its leaders. God withdrew His presence in punishment.
You can do great things for God, but if you
overlook the work God wants you to do in your own family, you will be a
failure.
Everything rises and falls on leadership! The
fate of Israel was determined by the quality of those who led the nation.
His, by Grace, Steve
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