Eli & Hannah: The Encounter and Lessons of Faith

(How deep is the WORD stored and revered in you?)

The book begins with a woman named Hanah, without children, barren, and heartbroken but loved by her husband dearly. With that love from her husband, she desires dearly a child but not only one who will be her husband’s but the LORD’S. Hannah is in the temple praying to God when she meets Eli.

With a vow and a promise, Hannah prays to God…

 O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

And God blesses her for as soon as she prays, crying unto the LORD, hearing, receiving, and believing Eli’s word she goes back home to her husband and she gets pregnant then.

And as soon as the child is of age, she sends him to the temple to God by her husband’s hand as she vows and with love and care, she sends yearly a garment for him. Lots of Motherly love and proof of the mighty of the LORD’S Word. 

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Eli Blesses Hannah & Elkanah

An old priest at the temple of the Lord served with both his son Hophni and Phinehas. As a priest, Eli serves at the temple of the LORD, Shiloh together with his sons. 

When the parents gave away their son Samuel to the LORD, Eli blessed them, and the LORD heard and blessed them with 3 sons and 2 daughters; 

…Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before the LORD.

But the account of his own sons is so bad that the first thing God calls Samuel is about the three of them and their fall because they sinned and led the people of God astray.

Eli’s Sons

• They took the fatness of God’s offerings for themselves 
• The biggest part they could get, they demanded
• They slept with the women who came for offering at the door of the Tabernacle
• BUT Eli didn’t rebuke them (strongly) nor said anything to the LORD
• Although Eli was faithful in service (tried but not enough), he let the temple of the Lord defiled by his own blood

With this sin, God calls the little boy, Samuel to service and speaks to him. Eli and all of Israel knew how God had chosen Samuel as his next priest. What would you do if you and your family are outcasts to your inheritance? Eli did nothing.

The first word God says to Samuel is about Eli and his children. And even when Eli is given an account of what’s coming on both him and his kids he does nothing. 

In the end, the ark of the Lord is taken out of Shiloh by his sons and captured by the Philistines, both his sons slayed and he dies of a broken neck after falling down a chair backwards. 

So much in one man’s life. But he was not an average man, he was a priest, the priest at the temple of the Lord and he was one who was to hear the LORD and speak the Word to the LORD’S people (all Israel).

But, he didn’t do what he was appointed to do. 

The Life System that Eli & Hannah Lived In

The story of Eli comes right after Ruth-Judges-Joshua. It was at the end of the book of Judges that we learn about how Israelites moved in what could be a circle or chain of events:

• A judge dies, 
• Israel does more evil against the Lord- 
• Israel is sold/delivered to an oppressor – 
• Israel cries to the Lord
• The Lord raise a judge
• Israel is at peace and free as long as the judge lives
• The judge dies and Israel does evil in the sight of the Lord 

………and it continues. 

With no king, everyone does what is good in their own eyes.

With this used life, Eli, although a priest, and minister, let things flow as they are even with his own sons.

Eli:

• Because he lives in a nation that was diluted with foreign people’s beliefs and ways of life, he lived a diluted life (and he thought it okay)
• Because Eli although a priest never heard the Word from God, he was aware that God speaks
• His perception of those who cried to the Lord was so bad to the point that Eli thought Hannah was a drunkard when she was crying to the Lord for a kid
• Even though he never heard, he knew God sees and answers when called ( he blessed and spoke so when Elkanah came to the temple)
• But why didn’t he say something to his sons or even of his sons to God

Maybe it was old age (98 when he died-may be the 80s when Samuel was brought in)? Was it just a man who chose to let things be)? Was he that hopeless?

Eli’s Life

Eli’s life in the priesthood and as a father is proof that although God may let us be; [walk in sin; let things just unfold while we have authority over; and intervene nothing], is not because we live right but because He still hopes for us to turn back and live right.

For the Lord to wait until Samuel was of age, and the first call/word to him is to Eli when there was silence for ages, is something to think about.

Not only does God tells Samuel about Eli’s wrongs and what will become of him, but He also tells Him that Eli knew of what will become of him and his lineage and yet does nothing. 

What if Eli turned? What if Eli intervened for his sons? Did he even regard his younger generation?

I believe it could have been different. He is God. He always has a plan for to right things.  This time it was Samuel. And while it might seem Samuel was only for this time, down the road, he was for a greater plan.

While there was more that Eli could have learned from Hannah, it is always the positions that blind us.

Just thinking.