Claim to fame: Eli helped raise Samuel, serving as a priest and judge for 40 years.
Worst betrayal: Eli devalued the Lord God to keep the peace with his two sons
If you want to see what the Bible says about Eli, take 12 minutes and read 1 Samuel 1-4. Or take six minutes and read the last part of his life story (1 Samuel 2:27-4:22).
That’s not the last that we read about Eli. His name also appears in a brief genealogy (1 Samuel 14:3), and in Solomon’s dismissal of Eli’s priestly line (1 Kings 2:27).
After that, Eli’s name disappears for the rest of Scripture.
Eli’s life story really doesn’t start in earnest until he’s a senior citizen. From then until the age 98, Eli’s tragic story proves highly relevant to you and me today.
What a different story than other biblical men who did great things for God in their old age.
When we first meet Eli, he’s an old priest sitting by the door of the tabernacle in Shiloh (1 Samuel 1).
Shiloh was the first “permanent” home of the Lord’s tabernacle (presence) in the Promised Land.
Because of the sins of Eli and his two sons, however, the Ark of the Covenant was lost and the tabernacle in Shiloh was abandoned. It was abandoned, that is, until it was moved to Jerusalem, it’s much more “permanent” home.
Yet Eli’s sins are nowhere to be seen in the first chapter and a half of his story. That first half is intertwined with the story of Hannah, Elkanah, and their first son, Samuel. Samuel’s birth was a huge answer to prayer.
As promised, they dedicated him to serve the Lord in Shiloh under Eli’s supervision. Little did they know what a powerful man of God Samuel would prove to be!
Sadly, Eli’s own sons were terrible men who abused their power as priests. They also slept with the women assigned to help Eli at the tabernacle door. Eli rebukes them but doesn’t discipline them or remove them from office.
As a result, the Lord God judges all three of them severely, but Eli most of all (1 Samuel 2:11-17; 1 Samuel 2:22-25; 1 Samuel 2:27-36).
At that point, the Lord calls Samuel to replace Eli and pronounces further judgment on Eli and his house (1 Samuel 3:1-21).
That judgment on Eli and his two sons transpires with the further loss of the Ark of the Covenant and childbirth death of Eli’s daughter-in-law (1 Samuel 4:1-22).
That’s the beginning of the end of Shiloh and Eli’s priestly family. If only Eli had valued God more than his own peace and comfort.
What may have started as half-hearted allegiance to the Lord eventually became almost non-existent. What could have been a godly legacy ended in disaster.
Unlike Eli, may you and I always value God in our hearts and affections.
Jesus Christ’s teaching is that each of us must love God more than our own father and mother, spouse and children seems strange (Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26). Strange, that is, until we see someone who loves family more than God.
Eli was a man who, for all his priestly duties and privileges, had reduced God in his heart and life. On the throne of Eli’s life was his own comfort instead of the Lord.
His affections were set on the prosperity to be had from the tabernacle offerings and on the calm to be enjoyed when his sons were not provoked. So, he heeded his sons’ rebuke more than God’s.
Years before, Aaron’s famous grandson, Phinehas, had brandished a sword to protect the nation from gross immorality (Numbers 25:1-13). Eli, however, could barely protest the open immorality and theft committed by his sons within the tabernacle.
The difference between these two men was not some difference in personality. Phinehas acted boldly out of a deep passion for God’s holiness. Eli could not rouse his behavior beyond mere lip service to the Lord.
Perhaps saddest of all is that even when Eli was confronted with the reality of pending judgment, he didn’t seem to comprehend or care. Willing to take the consequences of neglecting God in his heart, he revealed himself as a man who had let God slip to last place in his affections.
Thankfully, as Jesus revealed, loving God “with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” doesn’t preclude loving others or ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).
On what have you and I set our own affections? Whom do we value most? Ourselves? Our loved ones? Or the Lord God?
For further reading:
12 Bible Characters Who Did Great Things for God in Their Old Age
What Does It Mean to Be in the Presence of God?
11 Proven Ideas on Ensuring a God-Honoring Legacy
What Does it Mean to Be Seeking God?
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