Eli, the priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, under whose priesthood the Aaronic priesthood had become stale and waning is a holy reminder not to be old but be ver fresh and new in the continual exercise of our spirit. To be stale means to lose freshness and do things just in form without the exercise of the spirit. The word of God was rare when the priest who had received the word of God could have the Lord's speaking if the priest was normal. What a warning!
1S 14:3Including Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, wearing an ephod; and the people did not know that Jonathan went.
1S 23:16Then Jonathan the son of Saul rose up and went to David at Horesh, and he strengthened his hand in God.
1S 23:17And he said to him, Do not be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father will not find you; and you will become king over Israel, and I will be second to you; and even Saul my father knows that.
1S 23:18And the two of them made a covenant before Jehovah. And David remained in Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house.
But Saul disobeyed and rebelled against God's word and lost his kingship and his kingdom. This is a holy warning in our relationship with God and His heart's desire today. To not obey God's word absolutely will result in spiritual death and loss of spiritual inheritance; in fact, physical death even along with those who joined in rebellion.
Normally, in the priesthood, the first thing that a priest should do is to speak for God (Exo. 28:30); a priest must be a person who is intimate with God, who is one with God, who knows the heart of God, and who speaks forth the unique and healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3). But this was not the case with Eli and his sons. Besides, he did not discipline his sons as he could, thereby his sons had completely degraded in their services as "priests". As priests in the New Testament today, we must come to the Lord to hear His speaking day by day, even moment by moment.
Is 50:4The Lord Jehovah has given me the tongue of the instructed, that I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens me morning by morning; He awakens my ear to hear as an instructed one.
Is 50:5The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; And I was not rebellious, nor did I turn back.
This is a holy warning from the life of Eli, while still serving as a priest but could have been rejected by God. Today, we need to learn from Eli to have high regard for what God has given us; not to regard anyone or anything higher than God.
1S 2:12Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know Jehovah,
1S 2:17And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah, for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
1S 2:22Now Eli was very old, and he heard of all that his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women who were engaged in service at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
1S 2:23And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all this people.
1S 2:24No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear Jehovah’s people spreading.
1S 2:25If one man sins against another man, God will arbitrate for him; but if a man sins against Jehovah, who will arbitrate for him? But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for Jehovah was pleased to kill them.
1S 2:27And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, I revealed Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt as slaves to Pharaoh’s house.
1S 2:28And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod before Me. And I gave the house of your father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel.
1S 2:29Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering, which I have commanded in My habitation, and honor your sons more than Me by making yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?
1S 2:30Therefore Jehovah the God of Israel declares, I surely said that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever; but now Jehovah declares, Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who spurn Me will be lightly esteemed.
Samuel, was a priest, a judge, a prophet, a judge, and a man of prayer. He too had his failure as he appointed his two sons as judges among the children of Israel. The warning here is to not let our natural relationship come in between God and our service.
1S 2:35And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in My heart and in My mind; and I will build him a sure house, and he will go before My anointed continually.
1S 12:23Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I would sin against Jehovah by ceasing to pray for you, but I will instruct you in the good and right way.
1S 8:1Now when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
1S 8:2And the name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba.
1S 8:3But his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after unjust gain and took bribes and perverted justice.
Jonathan, the son of Saul, knew that one day David would be the king of Israel. He was also aware that the leading of God was with David. In fact, in his time, God's anointing was upon David; the minister of the age at that time was David, and Jonathan knew it.
But Jonathan did not follow David due to his natural relationship with his father Saul whom God rejected. Therefore, he lost the proper and adequate enjoyment of his portion in the good land promised by God; he stayed with his father, and as a tragic result, he suffered the same fate as his father and died with him in battle.
1S 31:2And the Philistines chased Saul and his sons; and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.
1S 31:6So Saul and his three sons and his armor bearer, as well as all his men, died that day together.
The holy warning here is, as God’s mercy has brought us to come into contact with the ministry of the age who ministers the present truth, we must also take up the courage to forsake past ministries and enter into God’s present ministry.
Saul was chosen and anointed by God.
1S 9:17And when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah declared to him, Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. This man shall rule over My people.
But Saul disobeyed God and God reckoned it as a sin of rebellion and divination. He was not absolute in obeying God's word. besides, he tried to set up his monarchy within the kingdom of God; a work with the Work of God despite being an anointed of God. Selfish ambition and rebellion are strictly to be avoided in our service to God.
1S 13:13Then Samuel said to Saul, You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of Jehovah your God, which He commanded you. For now Jehovah would have established your kingdom over Israel forever;
1S 13:14But now your kingdom will not continue. Jehovah has sought a man according to His heart for Himself, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over His people; for you have not kept that which Jehovah commanded you.
1S 15:19Why then did you not obey the voice of Jehovah, but flew upon the spoil and did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah?
1S 15:23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, / And insubordination is like idolatry and teraphim. / Because you have rejected the word of Jehovah, / He has also rejected you from being king.
1S 28:17And Jehovah has done for Himself just as He spoke through me, for Jehovah has torn the kingdom out from your hand and given it to an associate of yours, to David.
1S 28:18Because you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah and did not execute His burning anger upon the Amalekites, therefore Jehovah has done this thing to you this day.
David was chosen and anointed by God. He had many positive points concerning him; a man after God's own heart, who respected God's anointing upon Saul who tried to kill him, and he also enjoyed God's presence and blessing.
1S 16:1And Jehovah said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, though I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have selected for Myself a king among his sons.
1S 16:12So he sent for him and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And Jehovah said, Arise; anoint him, for this is he.
1S 16:13And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of Jehovah rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
However, David failed in the matter of indulgence of the lust of his flesh.
2S 11:2And late one afternoon David rose from his bed and went for a walk on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.
2S 11:3And David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, This is none other than Bath-sheba the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.
2S 11:4And David sent messengers and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house.
2S 11:14Then in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
2S 11:15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Put Uriah in the forefront of the hardest battle, and withdraw from him that he may be struck down and die.
2S 11:27And when the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to his house; and she became his wife and bore a son to him. But the thing that David did displeased Jehovah.
Regardless of our attainment in our spiritual life, we are still men in the flesh; the flesh is the flesh as long as blood runs in our veins. Anyone is vulnerable to falling. No one is an exception, however spiritual and aged he may be. Beware!
The failure of David must warn us of the indulgence of the flesh in a serious way. In fact, he was tempted simply by a mere idle look when he should have been fighting on the war field. This covetous look led him to commit adultery followed by murder. This should be a stern spiritual warning to all of us.
Lord, preserve us by Your mercy and grace. We cannot but You can.
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