"Who Shall Entreat"
1Samuel 2:11-36
July 29, 2007
by C.W. Powell
Over the past two weeks we made some applications from that wonderful Son of Hannah, in which she rejoices in the Lord God and His anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, her song bears a great deal of resemblance to the Song of the Virgin Mary, after her conception by the Holy Spirit. Hannah’s son Samuel would be a child of the promise as Isaac was to Sarah, for both were born of a miracle, after their mothers had experienced long years of barrenness.
But Samuel had now been weaned and was ready to be committed to Eli the High Priest at the tabernacle in Shilo. Samuel would never, and could never, be high priest, but he performed many priestly functions, because he was of the tribe of Levi and could legitimately serve in the tabernacle.
The promised Messiah was rightly called the “Anointed,” for that is the meaning of the word Messiah, and the word Christ. Ceremonially, the offices would be priest, prophet, and king, and oil was used in the anointed ceremonies for each of these offices.
At this time there was only one divinely anointed office in Israel, that of high priest. Samuel was to be the first in a long line of prophets, who were also anointed to their office. It was fitting that Samuel would grow up under the tutelage of Eli, for this would show continuity between the offices. Samuel, himself, would anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. No man should undertake the perform any sacred office without the clear authority of that office, for to do so is sacrilege. It was not an illegitimate questions that the Jews asked Christ, “By what authority do you do these things.” Jesus did not ignore or turn aside that question, but answered it fairly and completely, although they did not like his answer.
Today, we do not anoint with oil, for that foreshadowed the coming of the Holy Spirit, who has already come adnpoured out his gifts on mankind and continues to do so. Instead of anointing, we lay hands upon those to be ordained to the prophetic office in accordance with the words of the apostles.
But let us look at the words of our Scripture this morning and make application along the way.
I. The Service of Samuel at Shiloh.
1 Samuel 2:18-21 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. 21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
1 Samuel 2:26 And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.”
A. His mother had made him a little coat. He also wore an ephod, like Eli’s, without the sacred emblems on the front and on the fringes. From his youth, Samuel, served the Lord in the tabernacle.
B. His family returned to their home and the Lord blessed Elkanah and Hannah and she bore three more sons and two daughters.
C. The story of his birth and his presentation to the Lord could not have failed to have attracted attention, and all knew that this child was destined to perform great and important work for the Lord.
D. There is a marked and deliberate similarity of the words to describe Samuel’s maturation with that of our Lord, who also grew in favor with God and with men. Samuel, the first of the prophets, certainly is a type of our Lord Jesus, just as was Aaron the first priest, and David the king. II. The worthless Sons of Eli
-
1 Samuel 2:12-17 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. 13 And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; 14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. 15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. 16 And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. 17 Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
1Samuel 2:22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
A. Sons of Belial: this means utterly worthless. No value at all. Humanism would have us believe that every person is of immense value, but this is not a biblical concept. The Bible speaks of those who are made to be taken and destroyed, who are utterly abandoned by God, and show this devastation of soul and spirit by the abominable choices they make throughout their lifetime. They make themselves enemies of God and enemies of man and live only for their desires and their own ambitions.
B. Their Spiritual Worthlessness and sacrilege.
1. They corrupted the worship of the Lord. They were not content with the portion that God had prescribed for them, corrupted the divine order.
2. Every detail was prescribed under the law because everything pointed to Christ; every detail is not so prescribed now because Christ has come and we do not need the ceremonial figures as we did before the Lord appeared.
3. It is a great sin to cause men to abhor the offering of the Lord.
4. Those who have office in the church are to conduct themselves with great care that their conduct does not detract from the honor of the Lord.
C. Their Moral Worthlessness.
1. They contributed to the moral laxness of the people: harlots assembled with the people who came to worship, and these harlots were encouraged and patronized by Hophni and Phinehas.
2. Sacrilege and Fornication [sexual sins] go together in Scripture. Men will not respect themselves if they do not respect the worship of the Lord.
3. When the soul is corrupted by profane worship, the body will be corrupted by moral laxity.
4. Fornication is a great sin in the eyes of the Lord and is to be hated by the holy people of God. “fornication” is sexual conduct not sanctified by marriage.
5. The body is to be kept holy before the Lord: As Paul tells us in 1Cor 6:12:
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1Co 6:12-20 AV)
A. The very worship that they corrupted was designed by God as a way for them to escape the bondage of sin and misery, according to I Corinthians 10.
B. How shall we escape the bondage of sin if we despise the very way that God has designed for us?
C. Men’s justice can only reach to man’s injustice to men. Eli could protect his sons from the justice of men, but who will protect them against God.
D. God’s justice will reach to man’s offenses against Him:
E. The secret purpose of God was to destroy Hophni and Phinehas. They therefore did not take good advice. This is always the mark of the ungodly: they do not listen to godly counsel and rush on to their confusion and destruction. The pride of their hearts have deceived them. Though countless millions have gone on in the way of sin and misery and have been destroyed, yet they do not have faith, and think they will be the exception to the rule, and think they can live without heeding the way of escape that God has provided for them.
F. What mediator will you choose, when you turn your back on the blood of Christ. For it was the blood of Christ that Hophni and Phinehas despised, for it was His blood that was pictured in the sin offerings and sacrifices of the worship prescribed through Moses. III. God’s Reproof to Eli:
A. We do not know the name of this man of God. We do not need to know, for the message came from God and announced the end of Eli’s house for the corruption of the worship of the Lord.
B. It was a great honor, and a great gift from God, for Eli to serve in the office of high priest.
C. It was a great sin for Eli and his house to corrupt the sacrifice: “kick at my sacrifice” to honor his sons above the Lord. Eli’s sin was not that his sons were wicked, but that he did not restrain them from corrupting the worship. Many a good man in the Bible has had wicked offspring—even Samuel himself had sons that took bribes; but the responsibility of Eli’s office was to protect the worship of the Lord; and this he failed to do. Only Jesus is pure and without sin and pollution, and only He is our true priest, prophet, and king.
D. God will not honor those who do not honor him: in worship; in tithes and offerings; in observance of his commandments. He would therefore remove the gifts he had given to Eli’s house, and raise up another priest. This priest would walk before Christ, the anointed. To do the work of the true Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
E. Eli’s house would be desolate in Israel, and the time would come when Aaron’s house would also be set aside, as Jesus said: “You house is left to you desolate.” Vs. 34-36. This judgment would begin with the death in the same day of Hophni and Phinehas, and would result in the impoverishing and desolation of Eli’s house.
F. Verse 35 is certainly a reference to Zadok, whom Solomon elevated to be priest in the place of Eli’s descendant, Abiathar, after the death of David; but this is a secondary application: the true and complete fulfillment of this prophecy of the man of god is in Jesus Christ, who is made a priest after the order of Melchizedic. When Christ appeared, not only was the priesthood changed, but the law of worship was also changed, and Moses passes away, to be replaced by the glorious work of the Holy Spirit.
G. It is Jesus Christ who entreats for us, for only One who is truly God can enter into the presence of the Father to make atonement and intercession for the people of God.
H. Let us give ourselves up to Jesus Christ, for we do not belong to ourselves. This is not only our only comfort in life and in death, but is the very heart of our worship and holiness before the Lord: we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Our true worship is the presentation of ourselves, body and soul, unto Jesus Christ, for we are not our own, but are bought by the blood of Christ, as the apostle writes:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
May God bless you.
Amen and Amen.