Eli’s Wicked Sons

Eli's sons are introduced as men without regard for the LORD, and their abuse of the sacrificial meat shows that contempt plainly. They take what is not theirs and treat the offering itself with scorn.

N¹²ow the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD ¹³or for the custom of the priests with the people. ¹⁴When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. ¹⁵Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹⁶And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!” ¹⁷Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

Against that corruption, Samuel ministers before the LORD as a boy, cared for year by year by Hannah's quiet devotion. Eli blesses the family, and the LORD gives Hannah more children.

¹⁸Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD — a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD. ” Then they would go home. ²¹So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.

Eli learns that his sons exploit the people and sleep with the women serving at the Tent of Meeting. He rebukes them and names the gravity of sin against the LORD, but they do not heed him.

²²Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ²³“Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people. ²⁴No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people. ²⁵If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”

Samuel continues to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with people.

²⁶And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.