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1 Samuel 2:27–29
” ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ ” (v. 29)
We have been told already by the author of 1 Samuel that Eli’s sons are living on borrowed time, for they are sinful and unrepentant. In today’s passage, God brings His complaint against them to Eli. Unfortunately, Eli finds himself under God’s indictment as well.
Our text says that a “man of God,” a prophet, comes to Eli. Prophets are messengers for God; for this reason, like the man of God in today’s passage, they typically begin their pronouncements by saying, ” ‘Thus says the Lord.’ ” The appearance of this prophet is a significant event, for “the word of the Lord was rare” (3:1) in these years. It is a time when God is saying little to His people. Prophets had been known in Israel’s past (Gen. 20:7; Deut. 18:15; 34:10; Judg. 6:8). Now, however, they will become more common in the Scriptural record, and we will meet several in 1 and 2 Samuel.
Like most prophets, this man is entrusted with a message of judgment. First, however, he speaks to Eli of God’s grace. He notes that God revealed Himself to Eli’s ancestor Aaron when Israel was enslaved in Egypt. Anyone to whom God reveals Himself is greatly blessed, but God went further in Aaron’s case, choosing him and his descendants, from all the families in Israel, to serve as priests. And even more, God provided a generous living for His priests from the offerings of the people. God did good for the priestly line, including Eli. But then comes the indictment: ” ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering … and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel?’ ” God holds Eli guilty because he has not done all he can to stop the sinful practices of his sons; in effect, Eli has shown more honor to them than to God. Also, God’s words seem to imply that Eli has grown fat (4:18) by eating the illicit meat his sons have poached. Eli has forgotten the goodness of God to his family, the privilege of serving as a priest.
However, as Matthew Henry notes, God has gracious reasons for sending this message to Eli. The hearts of Hophni and Phinehas are hard, and their doom is determined. But Eli might yet be called back to obedience. “The message is sent to Eli himself, because God would bring him to repentance and save him; not to his sons, whom He had determined to destroy,” Henry writes in his commentary.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Eli’s sons deserved to be deposed from the priesthood, but Eli’s “love” for them prevented him from taking strong action. In so doing, he set aside his love for God and His law. He needed to remember that proper discipline for sin shows love for God and the sinner. Pray that your church leaders will keep this balance of affections.
For Further Study
- 1 Cor. 5:4–5
- 2 Thess. 3:6, 14–15
- 2 Tim. 2:25–26
- Titus 1:13