Chapter 56—Eli and His Sons
This chapter is based on
1 Samuel 2:12-36
.
Eli was priest and judge in Israel. He held the highest and most
responsible positions among the people of God. As a man divinely
chosen for the sacred duties of the priesthood, and set over the land
as the highest judicial authority, he was looked up to as an example,
and he wielded a great influence over the tribes of Israel. But although
he had been appointed to govern the people, he did not rule his own
household. Eli was an indulgent father. Loving peace and ease, he
did not exercise his authority to correct the evil habits and passions
of his children. Rather than contend with them or punish them, he
would submit to their will and give them their own way. Instead of
regarding the education of his sons as one of the most important of
his responsibilities, he treated the matter as of little consequence. The
priest and judge of Israel had not been left in darkness as to the duty
of restraining and governing the children that God had given to his
care. But Eli shrank from this duty, because it involved crossing the
will of his sons, and would make it necessary to punish and deny
them. Without weighing the terrible consequences that would follow
his course, he indulged his children in whatever they desired and
neglected the work of fitting them for the service of God and the duties
of life.
God had said of Abraham, “I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of
the Lord, to do justice and judgment.”
Genesis 18:19
. But Eli allowed
his children to control him. The father became subject to the children.
The curse of transgression was apparent in the corruption and evil that
marked the course of his sons. They had no proper appreciation of the
character of God or of the sacredness of His law. His service was to
them a common thing. From childhood they had been accustomed to
the sanctuary and its service; but instead of becoming more reverent,
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they had lost all sense of its holiness and significance. The father had
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