2023 has truly been an experience for everyone alive to see it. All over the world, changes have happened overnight that completely altered the course of our lives, on both global and personal levels. And many of us are still learning how to live in the new realities we are being confronted with, and the constant changes and challenges that we face in the course of these realities. But guess what? There’s still one constant in the midst of the chaos. He never changes, is ever present, and always has the time for us. By now, you all should know me well enough to know I’m talking about Yahweh, right? Yup, that’s my Solid Rock right there.
But as present as God is in our day to day lives today, there was a time when that wasn’t the case. There was a time when God only spoke to the priests and through prophets and judges. And that brings us to our next point of conversation, because today we’ll be discussing the life of Eli, the priest that raised the prophet.
I realize that many of us know him as Eli, pronounced /ily/, but for some odd reason these days I’ve been calling him /eli/, the way old women call girls named Elizabeth, or boys named Elijah. Ask any Nigerian around you to clarify, and you’ll see the difference. But mental phonetics aside, Eli is really quite the character.
I recently started the book of 1 Samuel, and immediately I realized that every one of these people had a serious story to tell. From the popular Hannah, to Peninnah, and even Elkanah, but Eli commanded my attention in a different way. Why, you might ask? And really, it’s quite simple. He’s infuriating.
The very first time the Bible mentions Eli, it’s because of his sons who are said to be priests of the Lord. All good so far, right? Well then, let’s move on to the next time the Bible talks about him. So really, 1 Samuel chapter 1 focuses more on the background and family of Hannah, as the wife of Elkanah and co-wife of Peninnah, and how Peninnah was making life miserable for her because she was childless. Note that I said “childless”, and not “barren”. Even the Bible makes it very clear that the Lord had closed her womb. That’s a whole lesson in itself for those of us who help people to watch their wombs and count their blessings. Be guided.
Moving on. Elkanah, being a good man who knew and kept the law, used to take his family every year to Shiloh, to worship and sacrifice at the temple. That meant that Hannah and Peninnah had to go too. And the Bible makes us understand that Peninnah turned this trip into her yearly “I’m-better-than-you” Olympics, to taunt and shame Hannah for her childlessness, although it was clear that Elkanah loved her. There’s another entire series of sermons here, but for the sake of remaining on course, I’ll leave it alone. Anyways, that brings us to where we finally begin, with Hannah crying her eyes out in the temple, praying to her God and promising Him everything and more, if He would only pity her and give her a child. One child.She asked for one, and vowed to even give him back to God. And where was our main focus while this was happening? Sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple, watching her lips.
Let me provide a bit of context for you to fully understand my bewilderment. Eli was a priest, okay? He was the main person at Shiloh, where the temple of the Lord was situated. His sons, Hophni and Phineas, were priests serving under him. And truth be told, they weren’t winning any popularity contests because they were pretty bad at their priestly duties. So bad that God Himself had to warn their father about their shenanigans. But we’ll get there. For now though, we know that it was the time at which Elkanah was at the temple with his family to worship and sacrifice, and even though Eli knew that his sons were misbehaving, what was he doing? Sitting at the entrance to the temple, and watching those who were there. He was watching others, when he should have been watching his sons, watching the work that they were doing and doing badly by the way. His altered focus was the first thing that struck me when I went through this chapter, but because I already had an idea of where this story went, I decided to just read it through and then figure it out.
So yeah, Hannah was praying, and Eli was watching her pray. But because she wasn’t wailing and praying out loud, because he could see her lips moving but couldn’t hear her words, he jumped to conclusions. Eli wrongly concluded that Hannah was drunk. And not only did he literally fly to that conclusion, but he also judged her for it in his heart, and rebuked her for what he had assumed to her face. Let’s see it, shall we?
“Now it happened as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart (mind); only her lips were moving, and her voice was not heard, so Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Get rid of your wine.””
1 Samuel 1:12-14 AMP
So Eli made an assumption about Hannah, and based on that wrong assumption, he chastised her for something she had not even done in the first place. Why? Because he was focused on the wrong thing. He wasn’t even supposed to be there! Watching people who were praying, while the sacrifices were being done? A priest???
Asides from that, this part shows us the dangers of jumping to conclusions and judging people based on only what we can see. Our eyes can be deceived, because Eli was convinced he was seeing what he thought was drunken behavior. But he was wrong. And in his mistaken belief, he sinned against this woman and judged her to be who she was not. How many times have we been guilty of this exact same mistake? Sometimes, in our self righteousness and haste to be the one who says they right thing, or the one who is first to condemn sin, how many people have we judged in our hearts? How often have we jumped to very wrong conclusions about the people we meet or know, based on what they say, or how they dress, or how they walk, or whether or not they go to our church, or listen to our favorite podcasts, or know our favorite gospel artists? How many people have we condemned for “not being spiritual enough” or not “knowing God enough” or not being “Spirit-filled” enough for us? How many times have we judged someone based on the length of their skirt or the fact that they have dreadlocks on, or they have multiple piercings? And we say to ourselves, “ is this one truly a Christian like this, with all these tattoos?” Or it’s, “ what kind of upbringing does this type of person have?”
We draw all sorts of conclusions based on superficial subjective impressions and stereotypes that culture and erroneous beliefs have instilled in us. Unlearn, brethren, please unlearn!
And let us be careful, lest we fall into the pitfall of taking God’s place as Judge over men. None of us, I repeat, not one of us is spotless. Who are you, to cast aspersions on your fellow man? Who are you, really, but for the mercy of God? Who can any of us truly claim to be, outside of the goodness and grace of the Almighty?
Eli made a mistake, yes, but interestingly, he was humble enough to acknowledge his mistake when he was provided with an explanation. Hannah explained herself to him, (1 Sam. 1:15&16), and he tried to comfort her, bade her peace and even went ahead to intercede for her.
“Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.””
1 Samuel 1:17 AMP
Eli teaches us another important lesson here. Inasmuch as we may not be presented with an explanation every time (which is why we ought to avoid the issue of jumping to conclusions about people in the first place), when we are, we ought to be open minded enough to consider that explanation, even if it means we are wrong and have been exposed in our wrongdoing.
Nobody likes to be wrong. Let me just put it out there now and save us the trouble of arguing. Not one person appreciates being wrong, especially when you’re not coming to the conclusion by yourself, and someone else is telling you that you’re wrong. But as Christians, as true Believers, I think we need to realize that we’re very often wrong about a lot of things. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit, no? To teach us in all things, and guide us in all truths. But if we’re resistant to the idea of being wrong, and being shown what to do or what is right, then what are we really doing? Are we leading ourselves, or is Christ leading us? Are we forging our own paths in the world, or walking in the footprints of the One who has gone before us? There are times when I could have sworn on my life that I was right about a person, or a situation, and it turned out (usually in an embarrassingly short period of time) that I was so utterly wrong that my life would have ended. And then what?
I guess that’s the ultimate question for us all, isn’t it? “And then what?”
You’re wrong about that girl who wears trousers going to hell, and then what?
They’re wrong about God hating people who wear earrings, and then what?
She’s wrong about that guy who runs a modeling agency being a pimp, just because he’s surrounded by women every day, and then what?
He’s wrong about that girl that sells things by the roadside being loose and wayward simply because she gets a lot of male attention, and then what?
When we’re confronted with the error of our judgment, what then do we do? Do we shrug it off and say “c’est la vie”, continuing our days like we haven’t tried, judged and executed people in our hearts? Or do we repent, and go to the only One who knows them and knows us too, and beg for forgiveness, and the ability to love like He does?
We live in a generation where people take pride in having hearts of stone. We have become rude, arrogant, mannerless, inconsiderate and insensitive, hiding it under the banner of being “woke” and “blunt” and “speaking our truth”. But at the end of the day, we know the truth. We are called to live in truth, and it’s hard to lie to yourself when you carry the very definition of Truth Himself within you. God does not lie, and if we’ll be honest with ourselves, neither do we. No matter what we say or do on the outside, we know the truth. We live with that truth, wrestle with it, and eventually we either come to accept it or choose denial.
We were not made to have hearts of stone, we weren’t made to judge and hurt and disregard ourselves. We were made with one purpose, one simple purpose. Love. God made us from love, made us for love, and saved us because of love. If we function in love, if we choose to function in the capacity of our purpose, then we will truly be lights set upon the hills. And to be honest, this world is dark, it’s really dark, and we need all the light we can get right now. So be who you were made to be, and remember, light helps us to see. Illuminate, and bring clarity.
P.S: Part 2 will tell you why I think Eli is infuriating.
Calvary Greetings to You and Yours,
Gabrielle…
