Being a father is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It is a job filled with endless opportunities to fail and many occurrences of failure. It also seems as though children are particularly adept at spotting and remembering these. We all remember the sins of our fathers.
The Bible remembers them as well. It vividly records the failures of many fathers, including Eli, Jephthah and David. Perhaps by exploring their failures we can avoid repeating their sins as we raise our children. So let’s look firstly at the sins of Eli.
Eli had an impressive list of accomplishments. He was a descendant of Aaron, had served as a judge in Israel for 40 years and was high priest of the sanctuary at Shiloh. He also was a foster father to Samuel, one of Israel’s greatest prophets. But Eli had two problems -his son Hophni and his son Phinehas.
Hophni and Phinehas are described in Scripture as being wicked and worthless men (1 Samuel 2:12). Scripture also informs us that they had absolutely no regard for the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12).
Abominable behaviour
Their malevolent character manifested itself in their priestly service in God’s sanctuary. They abused their office and power in abominable ways. For example, they demanded that worshippers give them a portion of their sacrifices and if they refused would simply take it by force.
