1Sa 2:30-31 | KingComments | STEP | To despise the sacrifice ( ) is the same as to despise God. The consequences of this are serious. God cannot give what He promised ( ). Is God now going back to His promise and contradicting Himself? It cannot be and it is not. God has promised Aaron’s house that it will always serve Him. Aaron had four sons. Two are killed by the LORD ( ). Of the two remaining, Ithamar and Eleazar, Eleazar succeeds Aaron. Eleazar is followed by Phinehas. That has become the line of the priesthood in Israel. However, something has happened – what it is, cannot be inferred from the Scriptures – by which the line of the priesthood has been transferred to Ithamar. Eli does not originate from the line of Eleazar, but from the line of Ithamar. By his unfaithfulness to the LORD, the promise made to Aaron is taken away from Ithamar. The promise of a reliable priest will be fulfilled in Zadok ( ), who becomes a high priest at the time of David. Zadok comes from the line of Eleazar ( ). God always fulfill His promises in a way that shows He did it. God will break the strength of Eli and his whole family. His offspring will die young. Eli will experience it in his time that the LORD’s dwelling will be in distress. He will experience this when the ark is captured by the Philistines ( ; ). Later Shiloh is destroyed, and the ark is totally gone, captured by the enemies ( ). The few years Eli will live will be an affliction because of what is foretold to him here. Always the thought of this judgment will occupy him. His last years of life he will know no joy. The man of God also tells him the death of both his sons. Here their names are mentioned. Phinehas bears the same name as a former family member. That member of the family, however, has behaved faithful to the LORD when sin has entered the people ( ). That Phinehas was the son of Eleazar.

‏ 1 Samuel 2:30-31

Judgment on Eli’s house

To despise the sacrifice (1Sam 2:29) is the same as to despise God. The consequences of this are serious. God cannot give what He promised (Jer 18:9-10). Is God now going back to His promise and contradicting Himself? It cannot be and it is not.

God has promised Aaron’s house that it will always serve Him. Aaron had four sons. Two are killed by the LORD (Lev 10:1-2). Of the two remaining, Ithamar and Eleazar, Eleazar succeeds Aaron. Eleazar is followed by Phinehas. That has become the line of the priesthood in Israel. However, something has happened – what it is, cannot be inferred from the Scriptures – by which the line of the priesthood has been transferred to Ithamar. Eli does not originate from the line of Eleazar, but from the line of Ithamar. By his unfaithfulness to the LORD, the promise made to Aaron is taken away from Ithamar.

The promise of a reliable priest will be fulfilled in Zadok (Eze 44:15), who becomes a high priest at the time of David. Zadok comes from the line of Eleazar (1Chr 6:3-8). God always fulfill His promises in a way that shows He did it.

God will break the strength of Eli and his whole family. His offspring will die young. Eli will experience it in his time that the LORD’s dwelling will be in distress. He will experience this when the ark is captured by the Philistines (1Sam 4:10-11; Psa 78:59-61). Later Shiloh is destroyed, and the ark is totally gone, captured by the enemies (Jer 7:12 ; Jer 26:6). The few years Eli will live will be an affliction because of what is foretold to him here. Always the thought of this judgment will occupy him. His last years of life he will know no joy.

The man of God also tells him the death of both his sons. Here their names are mentioned. Phinehas bears the same name as a former family member. That member of the family, however, has behaved faithful to the LORD when sin has entered the people (Num 25:7-13). That Phinehas was the son of Eleazar.