Bad Choices In The Tabernacle
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:10-12
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
Philippians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Today we will once again be reading from 1 Samuel 3
Last week we took a look at only the first verse of 1 Samuel 3 where it says, “The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.”
This lack of hearing from God was due to the sin in the ranks of the priesthood, specifically, Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and, Eli’s failure to reign them in.
We also saw that Samuel, even as a youth was being trained by Eli to minister before the Lord in order to prepare him to replace both Eli and his rebellious sons.
This is something we as believers in Jesus Christ will all experience if we try to live with sin in our lives. We will find the Word of God to be tasteless in our mouths and our prayers to be dry. Times of reading the Bible and prayer will become only forced rituals or will cease to take place altogether, and the only message we will receive from the Lord will be repent, stop your sinning and follow Me. Then you will find delight in the Lord otherwise there will be consequences that will result from constant, willful disobedience.
Today we will take a look at parts of chapters 2, 3 and 4.
Please join me in your Bibles as we read: 1 Samuel 3
(Prayer for help)
Before we go on it is important to notice that the end of verse 1 says, “In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.”
It says the “word of the LORD was rare”, not nonexistent.
In chapter 2 we see a word from the LORD being spoken in verses 27-36 where it says,
Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. Why do you scorn My sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for My dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by My people Israel?’
“Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before Me forever.’ But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from Me! Those who honor Me I will honor, but those who despise Me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, and you will see distress in My dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at My altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
“‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you - they will both die on the same day. I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in My heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before My anointed One always. Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”
That sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it?
Often we don’t understand the magnitude of our sin because do not understand the magnitude of our God and His perfect Holiness.
“Do not be afraid” or “fear not” are phrases found in the Bible 70 times. These phrases are found when a person or the nation of Israel was walking closely and in obedience with God. It is at those times when the person or the nation has no need to fear because they are under the protection of the LORD.
On the other hand, “Fear God” or “Fear the LORD” is found 63 times in the Bible. Interestingly, it is used almost as a term of approval for those who are walking with Him faithfully but as a warning for those who are living in rebellion to Him. Either way, we are to fear the Lord!
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says,
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.”
If we fear the Lord we have no need to fear the world. If we do not fear the Lord then we REALLY need to fear not only the world but the Lord Himself.
Eli’s sons did NOT fear the Lord. Here they are. They are living near and serving in the most holy facility on the face of the earth. They are living near and serving in the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. This is where sacrifices and offerings are brought to the true and Living God, the Creator of all that Exists, the Almighty King of the host of Heavens angels.
All of the eyes of Israel are on this place. It is a Holy Place. Everything that is to take place is to be focused on honoring and worshiping Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel.
Instead, Hophni and Phinehas have turned it into a place of self-gratification. They want the best meat for themselves and most likely, the best of everything else as well. It is as if they are saying to God, “I am going to take what I want and You can have the leftovers!”
And, Eli was not only tolerating their actions but he was profiting from their actions along with them. We know this because the man of God who prophesied in 1 Samuel 2 says in verse 29.
“Why do you honor your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by My people Israel?”
All of the Israelites who were bringing offerings were seeing this disrespect for the gifts and the offerings. They were seeing the disregard of the laws governing the actions of the priests. They were seeing the scorning of the Lord Himself by Eli’s sons and their subordinates. And, they were taking the stories of this evil in the house of the Lord back to their communities throughout Israel!
And what was the report they were spreading? “The priests are blaspheming the name of the Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel.”
It was as Hophni and Phinehas were spitting into the very face of God and just daring Him to do anything about it.
What did Eli do to stop it? He rebuked them but took no action.
What should Eli have done?
In Leviticus 24:10-16 there is a ruling by the LORD regarding blaspheming the Name of Yahweh. And, here’s what it says,
“Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
“Then the LORD said to Moses: ‘Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: “Anyone who curses their God (that is Yahweh) will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.”’”
Just try to imagine how difficult this would be. And, this type of judgment by the Lord is why many people have difficulties with the Old Testament.
Here’s the thing that those who find the Old Testament distasteful don’t understand. Yahweh is a God of amazing love, amazing patience, amazing grace and amazing, perfect, absolute holiness.
On the other hand Yahweh is also a God of ultimate justice.
Galatians 6:7-8 AMP
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from [those choices] ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the [Holy] Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Here’s the thing about Eli and his wicked sons who blasphemed the name of the Lord. We can either classify it as a story about a mean old God or we can learn from it.
In 1 Samuel 2 we read the pronouncement of judgment against Eli and his family by “an unknown, nameless man of God”.
In 1 Samuel 3 we read the pronouncement of judgment from chapter 2 is confirmed through Samuel’s first interaction with Yahweh.
And, in 1 Samuel 4 we read the fulfillment of that judgment in the very way it was prophesied.
This is a sad story. They have dragged the name of Yahweh the Lord God of Israel through the gutter.
I am certain that Hophni, Phinehas, Eli and their fellow priests had many, many, many, many, many, many, many opportunities to turn away from their sin and return to a life of God honoring obedience before the Lord brought judgment down on their heads.
Try to imagine the very first time that Eli heard a whisper of what Hophni and Phinehas were starting to get into. Imagine that he had put a stop to it right then and there and had immediately removed them from service in the Tabernacle until they had turned away from their sin and back to the Lord. What would the story be like?
When we look at our nation what do we see? The world thinks of the USA as a Christian nation, a Christian nation that wants to fly the rainbow flag outside our embassies around the world; not a rainbow flag that is a promise from God never to destroy the world again by a flood but a rainbow flag indicating that any form of sexual deviancy is not only tolerated but protected by law in our “Christian” nation.
What does the world think when their minds make that connection?
What does the world think of the Christ of our “Christian” nation?
What does the world think of the Christ of our “Christian” nation when we insist on providing foreign aid funds that are specifically targeted for the purposes of abortion?
What does the world think of the Christ of our “Christian” nation when they see the filth we export as entertainment. TV and films that exalt violence and blood lust; TV and films that glamorize sexual involvement between unmarried couples with or without gratuitous nudity; music that promotes rape and drugs and the murder of the police. What do they think?
It does not take much for them to equate the trash we export to our country’s “Christian” standards.
Are we, as a nation, dragging the name of Christ through the mud in the same way that Hophni and Phinehas were dragging the name of Yahweh through the mud centuries ago?
Are we going to come under the same judgment that they came under? Are we going to be cut off; separated from God?
Is it too late for us to return to God and to bring honor and glory back to His holy Name?
Are there any worthy to claim the name of Christ anymore?
Yes, there are.
One time Elijah was complaining to the Lord that he was the only faithful servant left in all of Israel and the Lord said,
“I [the LORD] still have seven thousand in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18
Next week will be taking a closer look at the child who the Lord was bringing up to replace Eli, Hophni and Phinehas.
Will he be a righteous and faithful servant of the Lord most high?
Psalm 15 is a description of this upcoming prophet and can be a description of you and I as well …
“LORD, who may dwell in Your sacred tent? Who may live on Your holy mountain?
“He whose walk is blameless, and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the LORD; who keeps his oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends his money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
“He who does these things will never be shaken.”
Final thoughts and prayer
