– 5 Min Read
Then Yahweh came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your slave is listening.” 11 And Yahweh said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day I will establish against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew because his sons have been bringing a curse on themselves, but he did not rebuke them. 14 Now therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
– 1 Samuel 3:10-14 (LSB)
Introduction
Can your family disqualify you from ministry? According to the Old and New Testaments, they most certainly can. We not only have examples from the Old Testament, such as this case with Eli, but we also have the clear teaching of Paul in the New Testament. The family of God should be led by a man who has a godly family. This is only common sense. God requires that His leaders be “respectable” (1 Tim. 3:2), and no one should rightly respect a man in leadership who cannot lead his own family. Let us consider these things with 1st Samuel 3 as our base.
A Helpful Study Outline
I. God Calls (v.10)
A. God Calls Samuel Personally (v.10a)
B. Samuel Answers Humbly (v.10b)
II. God Informs (v.11-13)
A. God Now Informs Samuel (v.11-12)
B. God Already Informed Eli (v.13)
III. God Swears (v.14)
A Quick Exegesis
Eli was both a judge and a priest in Israel for forty years (1 Sam. 1:9, 4:18). His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also priests (1 Sam. 1:3). They served in Shiloh and were abusing their role as priests for their self-gain (1 Sam. 2:12-17). They were blatantly violating God’s commandments concerning the sacrifices. Whenever the people would attempt to correct them, Eli’s sons would threaten to use force (1 Sam. 2:16). They also were sexually immoral (1 Sam. 2:22). The text says that Hophni and Phinehas were “vile men” (1 Sam. 2:12). The Hebrew literally reads that “the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.” Belial means “worthless” or “wickedness” but is personified in the Bible and could be a synonymous title for Satan, but is not to be viewed as his proper name. This reminds us of the rhetorical question Paul asks the Corinthians: “What harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15).
The sin of the young men was very great before YAHWEH (1 Sam. 2:17). Though Eli “attempts” to rebuke his two sons, it is proven unsuccessful, and so “YAHWEH desired to put them to death” (1 Sam. 2:23-25). But Eli is not off the hook; his “attempt” is more understood by God as Eli honoring his two sons above God (1 Sam. 2:29), and so, not only will Hophni and Phinehas be put to death but because of Eli’s failure as a father and as a priest, but God is going to curse Eli and his entire house and give the priesthood to one who “will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul” (1 Sam. 2:31-36). This is when we arrive at our text where the Lord calls Samuel and tells him what will happen to Eli.
A Quick Application
It is very difficult to follow a leader who practices the “do as I say and not as I do” mentality. While laying out the qualifications of elders in his letter to Timothy, Paul says, “leading his own household well, having his children in submission with all dignity but if a man does not know how to lead his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Tim. 3:4-5). This is not only a reasonable point for Paul to make, but one of the greatest points to make. When considering an elder, one could be fooled. Maybe the candidate is not a drunkard, not unfaithful to his wife, not a lover of money, not pugnacious, but seems genuinely considerate, peaceable, and theologically smart (1 Tim. 3:1-3). But the proof is often found in the progeny. If the father could not lead his own children in the things of God, what makes us think he can lead Christ’s church in the things of God? John Calvin said:
“A preacher who goes into the pulpit and who rails against dissolute living, who calls youth shameless and lacking in self-control, and yet whose children are more wayward than other–or else no better than the average–does he not make a laughing-stock of God and of everything he teaches? It is not enough to condemn the children; we must condemn the fathers too when they allow their children to behave worse than all the rest.”
When speaking of elders to Titus, Paul explains that “his children are [to be] believers” (Titus 1:6). It is important to God that the appointed leaders over His people have faithful children, and Eli was no different. God judged Eli’s entire house because Eli knew what his sons were doing and “did not rebuke them” (1 Sam. 3:13). Eli proved to be an unqualified leader, so God appointed Samuel to be the new judge in Israel. The call for pastors is certainly a high calling. God will equip and qualify a man if he is truly called to be a pastor. But this is not a permanent position. Just as a man can become qualified, so he can then become disqualified. The right candidate for the office of elder is one who raises up a godly house. This is displayed in how he brings his children “up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Before a man should be concerned with ruling over the church, let him first be concerned with ruling his own house.
Conclusion
Though the roles of the judges and the priests in the Old Testament are not exactly equivalent to elders in the New Testament, they are certainly similar in many ways and are highly regulated by God. One of the measures we are to use for determining qualified leaders is their ability to lead their children. Fathers are responsible for their children and will have to give an account before God on the last day for how they raised them. Fathers should assume responsibility for the outcome of their children, just as righteous Job did.
Now it happened when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and set them apart as holy. And he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
– Job 1:5 (LSB)