WHO WAS ELI?
“leniency” derives from the Latin (lenitate) and means mildness, gentleness, meekness. slow, no attitude.
Eli was the high priest in the time of the prophet Samuel's youth. In addition to the priesthood, Eli also served as a judge of Israel for forty years (1 Samuel 4:18). Eli's story in the Bible was marked not only by his contact with young Samuel, but mainly by the rebellion of his children.
Eli was a descendant of Aaron through Ithamar
(cf. 1 Samuel 22:20; 1 Kings 2:27; 1 Chronicles 24:3) But his offspring are not named in the 1 Chronicles 6 list because of God's judgment on his family.
The priest Eli and Samuel
Eli ministered in the Tabernacle that had been raised in Shiloh after the time of wandering in the wilderness (cf. Joshua 18:1; Judges 18:31). He appears in the biblical narrative in the episode where Anna, Elkanah's wife, prayed to God for a son.
Initially the high priest Eli showed a certain lack of spiritual sensitivity by misinterpreting Hannah's attitude.
He thought that devoted woman was drunk (1 Samuel 1:14). But after she explained her reasons to him, Eli sent her away with a blessing (1 Samuel 1:17).
God granted Hannah's request and opened her womb. Hannah gave birth to Samuel and as soon as she fulfilled the vow she had made to the Lord. She took the boy to Shiloh to have a life dedicated to the service of God. This means that little Samuel was in the care of the high priest Eli (1 Samuel 3:1). Later, it was Eli himself who instructed Samuel in perceiving the voice of the Lord calling to him (1 Samuel 3:9). At that time Eli was already an old man (1 Samuel 2:22).
The sins of Eli's sons
Eli's Big Problem Was His Children
. He was the father of two unbelieving men, Hophni and Phinehas. As Eli was very old, his sons took on more and more responsibilities in the service of the Tabernacle.
But Eli's two sons had no fear of God and no respect for their father. They transgressed God's Law in many ways. They violated the regulations concerning offerings and sacrifices to the Lord, and they appropriated what was consecrated to God (1 Samuel 2:12). In addition, they seduced women who voluntarily engaged in some service related to the functioning of the Tabernacle.
The sinful and immoral practice of the sons of Eli was known throughout Israel and had a negative influence on the people (1 Samuel 2:22-24). The Bible shows Eli's pathetic attempt to rebuke his sons. But they were already seared in their minds by sin and had reached a level of hardening so deep that God's judgment on them was inevitable (1 Samuel 2:25).
God's Judgment on the House of Eli
Eli is always remembered as a tragic figure who had no control over his own home. Although he does not appear in the Bible directly participating in his children's sins, he ended up participating in them by omission. The fatal mistake that Eli made was to honor his sons more than the Lord. Furthermore, it seems that he ended up benefiting indirectly from the greedy behavior of his children (1 Samuel 2:29).
For all this God poured out his judgment on the house of Eli. Rather, He sent a prophet, about whom we know nothing, but who announced the judgment of the Lord. The man of God denounced the way Eli and his sons neglected the service of God and despised the great gift of the priestly office entrusted to them.
Then the prophet warned that the priestly lineage in Israel would no longer be counted through his house. In practice, this meant that the priestly lineage came to be considered through the descent of Eleazar, the other son of Aaron. This same message was again confirmed through the young prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1-21).
God also warned Eli that his sons would die on the same day, and that he would be the last elderly man in his household. All others would die in their prime (1 Samuel 2:32,33).
Later, many of Eli's descendants were decimated during Saul's massacre at Nob (1 Samuel 22:17-19). In David's day, the descendants of the priests through Eleazar were twice as numerous as those who descended from Ithamar, that is, from the house of Eli (1 Chronicles 24:4). Finally, during the rule of King Solomon, Abiathar, who was a descendant of Eli, was removed from the priesthood and the house of Eleazar definitely prevailed (1 Kings 2:26-27).
Eli's death
Eli's death took place in a context of true tragedy. The Israelites were at war with the Philistines and the sons of Eli took the Ark of the Lord into battle as a kind of talisman. But the Israeli army was severely defeated. The two sons of Eli who held the Ark of the Covenant were killed and the Ark was captured by the enemy army.
Eli was sitting in a chair by the wayside with a heavy heart – especially on account of the Ark of the Lord that was in battle. He probably knew that the fact that his wicked children were responsible for the Ark couldn't do any good.
By that time he had already lost his sight. Then a messenger from the tribe of Benjamin came to him and gave him the bad news. The messenger reported that his children were dead and that the Ark had been taken.
Interestingly, what really provoked the reaction that killed Eli was the information of the loss of the Ark, not the death of his sons and the defeat of the Israelite army. The man who had spent part of his life giving more importance to his children than being zealous for the things of the Lord, ironically ended up dying when he showed greater concern for the Ark of God.
The Bible says that when Eli received the news about the loss of the Ark, he fell backwards from his chair and broke his neck. When his pregnant daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, heard the bad news, he went into labor. She gave birth to a boy, and before she died she called him Ichabod, saying, “The glory of Israel is gone” (1 Samuel 4:21). She said this because she knew that her husband and father-in-law were responsible for the calamity in Israel with the loss of the Ark of the Lord. The high priest Eli died at the age of ninety-eight.
Eli's legacy
The Bible says that Eli judged Israel for forty years. It is possible that this period of Eli's leadership coincided, at least in part, with Samson's actions and the activities of other judges from that same period (cf. Judges 12-16). All this time he was in Shiloh.
Certainly Eli was marked in the Bible in a negative way. His conduct teaches us, mainly, about the danger of not watching over the work of the Lord. In other words, his life is a testimony that we must always prioritize the honor of God and not be oblivious to sin.
But one also has to recognize that there was some good in Eli's life. As R. L. Harris notes, Eli rightly exhorted Hannah to holiness and blessed her for her faith. Also, he certainly played a big part in Samuel's growth. In fact, he obviously did better with Samuel than with his own children.
SOURCE: https://estiloadoracao.com/quem-foi-eli-na-biblia/
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