1 Samuel 3:14

1 Samuel 3:14

I. There must have been in Eli a real sense of the sacredness of his function. Whatever reverence a man can inspire by showing that his heart is personally engaged in his work, that it caused him inward delight, he will have inspired. But there is a limit to this kind of respect, and moreover a mischief in it. Eli was a pious or devout man; he was evidently a kind-hearted, amiable man, but he was not, strictly speaking, a righteous man. He did not care that God's order should be established, that wrong-doers should be punished. So long as he could keep his internal quietness all was well. He was the specimen of a departing age; he was sincere, no doubt, but his sincerity would die with him.

II. What then has become of that order of which we have heard so much? The order is just where it always was; not shattered or shaken in the smallest degree; confirmed and established by the unbelief of the people, the crimes of Hophni and Phinehas, and the imbecility of their father. If it was not of God, it was false from the first; if it was of God, He could prove it to be His, and prove that He was not dependent upon the order, but the order upon Him. Man breaks the course of his obedience; he will not believe that God is with him of a truth. Then God shows him that He is. He does not allow him to remain in his delusion, to shut his eyes and fancy that he is unseen.

III. There are two methods in which this revelation of the reality of things was made to Israel at this time: (1) by the call of Samuel; (2) by retribution. The righteous Judge of the world shows that the world cannot go on without Him; that priests who try to establish their rule as if they had one of their own and were not merely His servants, must of all men pay the penalty of their sin and unbelief. The people whom they have perverted into godlessness must taste the fruit of their godlessness. The Philistines came against Israel the ark was taken. But God was the same wherever the ark might be. He still spoke out His judgments and His prophecies by Samuel's voice. In due time, having proved that the nation lived only in Him and by Him, He gave it health and restoration.

F. D. Maurice, Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament,p. 336.