Introductory Considerations
1. Passage from 1 Samuel not one we feel comfortable with. It is downright frightening, especially to those of us who are parents - a story of disobedient children who ignore their father’s scolding and as a result God severely punishes both them and their father - death to all of them.
2. Are we responsible for their disobedience? Will God punish us as a result?
3. Today is Father’s Day - a day in which we remember our fathers and give thanks to God for them and a day to reflect upon our role as fathers.
4 While passage relates to all parents, it especially does so to fathers who have ultimate responsibility for family and their upbringing.
5 Children - listen carefully for it is important to understand the God-given responsibility your parents have in raising you.
6. Bringing up children is a not only difficult but a very personal and sensitive matter - different styles - am I too soft? am I too authoritarian?
7. When the author of a book on child rearing chose the title he did, he had a sense of humour but was sensitive to how draining it can be to raise children - titled his book "Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours"
8. How then are we to raise our children?
Teaching
1. We begin by looking at Eli and his two sons
a. Eli - son of Ithamar who was the youngest son of Aaron, called by God to be the priests.
b. Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as priests in Shiloh, the central place for worshipping God.
c. God had provided for the needs of the priest in Lev 7:31. When anyone brought an offering to the Lord, they were to bring the fat, together with the breast and thigh which were given to the priest.
d. Fat was to be burnt on the altar by the priest - God forbade that anyone eat the fat. (Lev 7:25).
e. They disobeyed God’s word - they had no regard for the Lord - means that they did not maintain a proper relationship with God.
f. Their practice was not to accept the breast and thigh, but instead they plunged a three-pronged fork into the kettle and take for themselves whatever it brought up.
g. They did this before the fat was burnt on the altar - disobey rule about fat and took before sacrifice made to God.
h. If person making sacrifice objected and asked for the servant to wait until the fat was burnt up, they would say, "Hand it over or I will take it by force"
i. Greek Septuagint says that they told the people that they better give the raw meat or they would be sinning against God - this was a lie- instead, the two sons were sinning against God.
j. This sin was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt (1Sam 2:17)
k. Their crime amounted to robbery because they took what belonged to God.
l. They were also sleeping with the women who served the tables at the entrance to the temple (v. 22). The profaned the sanctuary of the Lord.
2. Eli failed as a father.
a. He was not even in touch with what his sons were doing. He heard about their sins from the people in Israel.
i. A father should be aware of what their children are doing, even if they are grown up as his sons were.
ii. Parents can be so busy that they are not aware of what is happening in the lives of their children.
iii. In trying to make their children better off, they fail to make them better .
iv. Are you aware of what is going on in your son’s or daughter’s life? Their struggles? Spend time alone with each of your children?
b. He failed in how he responded.
i. vs. 23-4 shows a feeble response - "no, no Johnny - you should not do that".
ii. He was that he was weak and gave no warning except that God may not intercede to help you in the future.
c. He did not take authority over the matter.
i. He did not outrightly tell his sons to stop profaning the house of the Lord nor take any action against them.
ii. As a father and as the high priest, he had the authority, the right to take away the responsibilities and duties of being priest from them, but he failed to do so.
iii. we must make children take responsibility for their actions.
3. God’s response.
a. It was the Lord’s will to put the sons to death. (vs. 25).
i. Because Eli’s sons have willfully turned against God, He is giving them over to the sin of their hearts and the required punishment for that sin. (see also Rom 1)
b. God took away their work of representing Him and gave that over to Samuel.
c. God kept his promise to the house of Aaron but Eli and his descendants would no longer be part of that promise.
d. God also cut short the strength of Eli’s people so that there would not be an old man in their house - they would die at an early age.
e. Eli’s sons were killed by the Philistines.
f. Eli heard that the Philistines had captured the ark and upon that bad news, he fell backward and died.
4. God explains his punishment in 1Sam 3:13, "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."
5. A call to discipline.
a. Paul tells children to obey or listen to their parents - they are to honour or to value their parents - to treat them with respect - to obey them.
b. He tells fathers to not exasperate our children - not to make them angry or to bring them along to a deep-seated anger - words or demands that affect rest of lives in bad ways.
c. We can be too authoritarian - a father can so strongly punish his children for little cause that the sense of unfairness makes them bitter.
d. Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Means education, child training and discipline - to teach, train and discipline.
e. The purpose of discipline - to correct, to restore. Takes effort.
6. A word on physically punishing our children - using the rod.
a. ’He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Prov 3:24) - represents all discipline.
b. Not a licence to hit or spank their children whenever they please. Spanking may be appropriate at times, but the rod was used not to punish sheep but to guide them.
c. Spend time with the child afterward, letting him know that you still love him and explaining exactly why the child was spanked but not apologizing.
7. While our parenting affects our children’s lives they still have some responsibility themselves. Good parents can have irresponsible children but the probability is less.
a. Even the best training cannot instill wisdom but can only encourage the choice to seek it (Prov 2:1f) - a son may be too opinionated to learn,(13:1) and a good home may produce an idler (10:5).
