This post is part of my ongoing series of writing down my thoughts on the Bible passages I read each day. Some days I hope to have great insight that the Lord gives me, and many days, I will likely struggle through the text and not know what to write down based on what I read. My hope and prayer is that as I make this a habit, just as I did daily writing for so long, that I will improve on my ability to read and understand the passages I’m reading. Please keep in mind that many of these posts may be published late at night or with little time studying and simply be my first thoughts after reading. This is in no way a commentary that one should use to discern the Bible, but my own personal thoughts.
If anything, these chapters seem a reminder to me that hypocrisy in the church is not a new thing.
The men who were supposed to be priests at this time were making a terrible name for themselves by making the sacrifices of the people difficult, and they took advantage of the women who worked at the front of the tent and slept with them.
Eli rebukes his sons and says: “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?”
These men who were supposed to intercede for the people to the Lord were not committing heinous acts…who was to intercede for them.
It’s so unfortunate, but often people get a bad taste in their mouth for Christianity because of people who claim to be Christians using it for power and evil instead of drawing people closer to God. We should rebuke these people as it is within our power, but beyond that, we must seek to live as Samuel did.
In the midst of Eli’s sons living evil lives, Samuel grew in favor with the Lord and with the people. If you can’t control the actions of others, control the way you conduct yourself before the Lord.