Samuel was about to begin a new phase of his young life.
Elkannah and Hannah returned home without Samuel. Life must have been very different for Hannah during those days.
THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE
I’m sure she knew she had done the right thing, but it could not have been easy. My mind went to the fact that both Abraham and Hannah were willing to sacrifice their most cherished sons because they thought it was God’s will for them to do so.
Of course God does not want child sacrifice. Hannah and Abraham were both being tested in their faith. They passed the test with high grades and God rewarded them both with the blessings of obedience.
We know from Hannah’s prayer at the Tabernacle that she believed in being obedient. Her words found in 1 Samuel 2:10 say; “Those who fight against the LORD shall be broken; He thunders against them from Heaven. He judges throughout the earth. He gives mighty strength to His King; and gives great glory to His anointed one.”
Hannah lived in the truth of that prayer.
Before they left the tabernacle that day, Eli prayed for Elkannah and Hannah. He asked God to give them other children to take the place of this one they had given to the LORD. Hannah later gave birth to three sons and two daughters.
GIFTS FROM HANNAH TO SAMUEL
Hannah was very happy with her growing family, but she never forgot about Samuel and his new life of service at the Tabernacle. She was proud of the way he was learning to become the LORD’S helper. I’m sure she must have prayed for him every day.
As he served at the Tabernacle in Shiloh Samuel wore a linen robe which was just like the priest’s. It was called an ephod.
Each year Hannah made a this special garment for him and brought it to him whenever they came to the tabernacle for the annual sacrifices. This made me think of Jacob and the coat of many colors which he gave to Joseph. In those days a garment was an extravagent gift for a growing child. The gift of an ephod sewn by a godly woman would have been extra special.
ELI’S EVIL SONS
So Samuel learned from Eli.
Eli was getting to be very old. He had observed for himself and had also heard from others the stories of how his two grown sons serving as priests alongside of him were sending forth a servant to the people offering sacrifices.
The servant they hired was told to put a three-pronged flesh-hook into the pot of boiling water which held the sacrifices. Whatever meat the hook brought up from the pot would then be taken away from the altar and given to Eli’s sons, even before the burning of the fat on the altar had been offered.
This was definitely out of order.
The greedy sons of Eli were taking God’s offerings without his permission. They were only serving themselves and neglecting God as well as the people worshipping God. Nothing was sacred to them; they were very evil to take what was not theirs without permission. They violated the sacredness of the offerings.
Through others, and even at times through his own witness, Eli had become aware that his sons were also seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance to the Tabernacle.
There was no limit to their comtempt for the things of God.
ELI SPEAKS TO HIS SONS
One day Eli addressed the deeds of these two evil priest/sons. He said “I have been hearing terrible reports from the Lord’s people about what you are doing. It is an awful thing to make the Lord’s people sin. Ordinary sin receives heavy punishment, but how much more this sin of yours which has been committed against the Lord?”
They did not listen to Eli.
Eli did not take action against their deeds.
Because of their gross disobedience and contempt and lack of respect for the sacred, The Lord was planning to kill them.
GOOD VS. EVIL
The same patterns have existed all through the pages of history. Every generation repeats the same story. Evil men have done wicked things before God when they should have had respect and honor for what is sacred. God has his own time for taking care of such matters; but they are always addressed.
Eli should have been confessing and asking forgiveness for the sins of his sons. We do not hear of this; only that he addresses them once in passing through a casual conversation. The sacred is not something to take lightly. Eli was well aware of this; but he did nothing.
How many Eli’s exist today? Do we let our sons serve at the altars of God without proper attention to how they address things that are sacred? Do we even notice if our own children immitate the world around us and take the name of God in vain? How often have we given permission or overlooked how the generation below us desecrates the Sabbath or fails to understand the importance of God’s Holy Days? We have let several generations pass without feeling the need for repentance and/or holiness before God.
If Eli was a priest from the lineage of Aaron and still received rebuke; how much more guilty are the parents of this day and time?
Do we expect things to instantly improve on their own with out proper teaching and instruciton? Perhaps this was the hope of Eli.
However; all of this did not interfere with the training and teaching of Samuel.
GOD BLESSES SAMUEL
At the same time, in great contrast to Eli’s sons, Samuel was growing up worshipping God. Every day he followed Eli around like a shadow, trying to learn all that he could about serving God at the Tabernacle. Samuel was getting taller now. He was also becoming everyone’s favorite personality at the Tabernacle. When the people came to worship; they noticed the child who had been dedicated to God’s service for life.
All of these things were taking place during a period in Israel’s history in which God had remained silent. Because of the great sins of the nation, God had not spoken to a prophet in a long, long time. Though Samuel knew his calling, God had not yet spoken to him in a personal way. At first the serving was simply about learning and being obedient. Samuel, in his time of his youth was given enough time in which to learn how to listen.
As he continued to grow in stature and health, God found favor with Samuel and blessed all that he did.
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