1 Chronicles 2 -- Eli And His Sons Pay The Price

"After Hannah left her son with Eli, she could have gone off alone and had a good cry, but instead she burst forth into a song of praise about the Lord."  Her song extols the joy of the Lord, the majesty of the Lord, the grace of the Lord, the protection of the Lord, and the reign of the Lord.  "Hannah went to the place of worship with a broken heart, but the Lord gave her peace because she prayed and submitted to His will."

Switching to Eli's family, the narrative tells us about God judging their sin.  His sons "took advantage of their father but doing what they pleased.  Neither personally knew the Lord ... the two brothers took the meat that they wanted and also took the fat parts that belonged to the Lord ... Godly people told Eli about his sons' sin, and he spoke to them about their conduct, but it did no good ... It's tragic when a father -- and a spiritual leader at that -- loses his influence over his own family and can only wait for God's hand of judgment to fall."

God even sent an anonymous prophet to tell Eli what would happen.  "God would take away the priesthood from Eli's branch of the family.  Eli's descendants would become weak and die off, and there would be no more old men like Eli in the family ... In the list of Jewish high priests in 1 Chronicles, the names from Eli to Abiathar are missing."

Father, seeing what happened to Eli and his sons is tragic.  They had so much and yet lost it all because they failed to honor You.  Help me to tell my own sons what I should, and to guide and direct them back to being men after Your own heart.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford