Chapter 2 – SAMUEL’S GROWTH
1) The prayer of Hannah (cont - vv.1-10)
The psalm begins with Hannah’s exaltation ("mine horn is exalted in the Lord"), and ends with the exaltation of Christ ("the Lord…shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed"). That’s real progress! Christ has pre-eminence (Col 1.18). God enabled Hannah to see the ultimate glory of Israel, when God’s anointed King will reign from Zion (Psalm 2). It is therefore with regret that we now have to consider an entirely different picture.
2) The perversity of Eli’s sons (vv.11-17)
The outlook for Samuel looked decidedly bleak. "And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord." Samuel now lived among evil men. Their practices were so corrupt that "men abhorred the offering of the Lord" (v.17). Humanly speaking, Samuel was young and vulnerable. This was the boy of whom his mother said, "I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life" (1.11). But, to coin a phrase, it looked as though "he didn’t stand a chance". If Nathaniel had been alive, he would have said, "Can any good thing come out of Shiloh?" To which we answer, "Come and see!"
The Lord Jesus lived in a place of ill-repute, but He was never contaminated by its evil atmosphere. Job was wrong when he said, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one!" (Job 14.4). God preserved Samuel amongst ceremonial and moral evil. The Lord Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled" (Heb 7.26) in Nazareth. This particular passage describes the ceremonial wickedness of Hophni and Phinehas. We must notice at least four things about them: they were unregenerate (v.12); they were totally selfish (vv.13-14); they were intolerant (vv.15-16); they stumbled others (v.17).
They were unregenerate (v.12)
"Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord." The word "Belial" is not the name of some pagan deity: it simply means "worthless". Hophni and Phinehas were therefore "worthless fellows" (see also 1.16; 10.27). However, in the New Testament it is used as a synonym for Satan: "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor 6.15). Very clearly, it was not possible to be "a son of Belial" and "know the Lord", in the Old Testament. The two were mutually exclusive, in the same way that Christ and Belial are mutually exclusive.
The worship of Israel was in the hands of unregenerate men. The people who were supposed to represent the people before God, were worthless. They "knew not the Lord." It is all strikingly familiar, isn’t it? It happened when the Lord Jesus was here. It has happened since.
They were totally selfish (vv.13-14)
"And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priests’ servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; 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." The "priests’ custom" was at complete variance with the word of God. God had made adequate provision for the priests. For example, we read in Leviticus 7.31-33 that "the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons". And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. He among the sons of Aaron...shall have the right shoulder for his part".
But Hophni and Phinehas took whatever they wanted whenever it pleased them. As A.McShane observes, "Covetousness was the plague of their hearts. They lusted after the flesh of the offerings, and were not satisfied with the portion allotted to them by the Lord". We should remember that the peace offerings provided food for God (part of the offering was burnt on the altar), food for the priests (the breast and the right shoulder), and food for the offerer and his family. But Hophni and Phinehas totally disregarded the word of God. They were without any scruples. They took what they wanted, full stop. To put it another way, the priests fleeced the people. That’s also familiar, isn’t it? But worse follows.
They were intolerant (vv.15-16)
"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. 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." The fat was to be burnt on the altar. It was to be wholly devoted to God (Lev 3.14-17;7.23-25,30-31). Without going into detail, the priests were robbing God by demanding the sacrifice before it could be offered on the altar. "He will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw." Any protest was disregarded. The godly Israelite (like Elkanah who, presumably, suffered with everybody else), with a genuine desire to obey and please God, was threatened with force if he dared to question the priests’ wishes. This is precisely what happens today. People who love the Word of God are regarded as narrow, bigoted fundamentalists, whose protests deserve to be completely ignored. How dare they stand in the way of the enlightened leadership! We must not expect the religious world to applaud when we honour God.
They stumbled others (v.17)
"Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord." In fact, the priesthood never recovered from the damage caused by their disastrous conduct. Ellicott’s Commentary puts it like this: "Religion was being brought into general disrepute through the conduct of its leading ministers". This, too, is strikingly relevant today. But we must not evade lessons for ourselves here. Note the following: "Give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully" (1 Tim 5.14); "In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works...that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you" (Tit 2.7-8). God forbid that any of us should ever bring the name of the Lord Jesus, and the word of God, into disrepute. Unlike these wicked young men, we should "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things" (Tit 2.10).
Just think about it: Samuel was right in the middle of all this. The godly atmosphere of his home in Ramah had been exchanged for ungodliness in Shiloh. But the picture changes again. God, the Master-Jeweller, who loves to display his exquisite pieces against the darkest backgrounds, has a little gem to show us.
To be continued.
