Who was Eli in the Bible?

Descendant of Ithamar, and high priest in Israel. It is not recorded whom he succeeded; the book of 1 Samuel opens with Eli as priest. Samuel was lent to the Lord by his pious mother, and he ministered unto the Lord before Eli. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were 'sons of Belial:' they assisted their father, but interfered with the due offering of the sacrifices, and sinned greatly before the people. Eli spoke to his sons of their evil doings, but he did not with energy prevent the dishonour to the Lord. It should be remembered that the responsibility of maintaining Israel, the people of the Lord, before Him, rested on the priestly house, hence the enormity of the young men's sin, and the solemnity of Eli's negligent conduct. A man of God came and told Eli plainly that he honoured his sons before the Lord, and detailed some judgements that should befall his house, and that his two sons should be slain in one day.

As Eli allowed his sons to continue in their evil ways, God sent a message to him by Samuel, reminding him of the judgements of which the man of God had warned him, and repeating that it was because "his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not." Alas, poor Eli merely said, "It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good." A pious remark, but which did not correct the evil. This was Eli's great failing, though he otherwise apparently cared for God's honour. He trembled when the ark of God was carried to the war, which ended so disastrously. His two sons were killed and the ark was taken by the Philistines, and 'Ichabod' — 'the glory is departed' — marked the state of Israel through Eli's sin. When Eli heard these sad tidings he fell backward, and his neck brake. He had judged Israel forty years and was 98 years old. 1 Sam. 1 - 1 Sam. 4. Abiathar his descendant was thrust from the priesthood by Solomon that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which He spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 1 Kings 2:27.

Eli, the high-priest, was personally righteous and loyal in heart to God, but he was weak. This is bad enough in any position, but when one is entrusted with the priesthood of a nation, responsible to maintain them in relationship with God, it is a crime. Eli's sons were godless men without conscience, and yet in the priests' place, and one of them successor to the high-priesthood.

The carelessness of Eli is so dreadful that nothing but the tragic circumstances of his and his sons' death, can fittingly express God's judgment. We will look at that later. We turn now to something brighter.

The commencement of the story presents a God-fearing Levite with two wives; one fruitful and the other barren. The barren woman mourns her condition before the Lord and is persecuted by the fruitful wife. Elkanah goes up yearly to worship and to sacrifice before the Lord at Shiloh. There we find Hophni and Phinehas, two wicked men, as we know from 1 Samuel 2:12, officiating as priests of the Lord. Eli, the high priest, with much personal piety, comes before us as an enfeebled old man sitting by a post of the temple (verse 9) and mistaking the exercises of a godly soul for the vagaries of a drunken woman (13). Sitting where God had provided no seat would indicate a lack of spiritual energy; his mistake in regard to Hannah, a lack of spiritual discernment.

Evidently coming to Shiloh into the Lord's presence intensified her distress, and at the temple she prayed in bitterness of soul, weeping and vowing that if the Lord would give her a son, she would devote him to the Lord as a Nazarite (Num.6:2-12) all the days of his life. Eli was a stranger to such exercise: he sat on a seat by a post of the temple, virtually sitting as a judge rather than standing as priest. He saw Hannah's lips move as she prayed silently, and made the sad blunder of judging that she was intoxicated. He knew how to reprove her, but did not provide the help and compassion which was the very purpose of priesthood (Heb.5:1-2).

As before noted the Tabernacle, with the Ark, was in Shiloh until the days of Samuel. The first Book of Samuel opens with the interesting narrative of his birth, and tells us that his mother, in fulfilment of her vow, presented him to Eli the priest for the service of the Lord's house. "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. … And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord." (1 Sam. 3:19-21.)

From this last verse it would appear as if the Lord had temporarily withdrawn His presence from Israel, but however that may be their condition was low indeed. The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, by their impious conduct had brought the services of the Lord's house into contempt. "For the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord" (chap. 2:17). Eli; although pious and God-fearing himself, failed to maintain order in his family, and brought on a crisis in the history of Israel, resulting in their asking for "a king" like the nations around them. Of this change we may have to speak further on, but it was a momentous one. For they not only failed under the direct government of God, though receiving innumerable mercies nevertheless, but they now reject Him. Alone of all the nations of the earth in possessing this distinguished honour, they thrust it from them without compunction.

The first glimpse of the priest here is already a sad one. Eli, meaning "high," or exalted," expresses the moral condition of the priesthood, as we are shortly to be made to see. Personally he had a heart for the Lord, but not sufficiently to stand for Him; and with him the whole order to which he belongs is becoming decrepit. His spiritual sense is blunt, as is his nature. He cannot discern the character of the sorrowing woman before him; sees, indeed, but the moving of lips, and misconstrues it; pronounces a judgment which has speedily to be recalled. Yet this awakens in him no self-judgment, no discernment of his own levity: and this we shall find in Eli all the way through.

In the midst of all this ruin, was the high priest's function at least being maintained? Alas no! Eli, godly Eli, lacked spiritual discernment. Nevertheless he showed himself to be capable of teaching God's mind and ways to young Samuel. Furthermore, he formed a righteous judgment of the evil, and his heart bled at the sight of the dissolute life of his sons. He did not hide it from them. Doubtless no one had expressed his disapproval as plainly as their father had: “Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil deeds from all this people. No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people transgress. If one man sin against another, God will judge him; but if a man sin against Jehovah, who shall intreat for him?” (vv. 23-25).

This is what the man of God is charged to declare to Eli. In no way was Eli personally following the ungodly and disorderly behavior of his sons, but nevertheless these solemn words are addressed to him: “Wherefore do ye trample upon My sacrifice and upon Mine oblation which I have commanded in My habitation? And thou honorest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the primest of all the oblations of Israel My people” (v. 29). “Thou honorest thy sons above Me!” Poor Eli! despite all his piety, there were men, his sons — his behavior proved this — whom he was honoring more than the Lord. God had been patient with him, but now he was about to reap the bitter fruit of the lack of holiness in his walk, for holiness is nothing other than separation from evil in view of God's service. The house of Eli, the descendant of Ithamar, was about to come to an end; it could not, in the condition in which it was found, “walk before [God] forever” (v. 30). “For them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (v. 30). Did this righteous man, Eli, then despise the Lord? Yes, for “no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will cleave to the one and despise the other” (Luke 16:13). And so a terrible judgment is pronounced on the house of Eli (vv. 31-34). But God, the God of grace, takes no pleasure in judgment; He uses it in order to establish before Himself a priesthood once for all. He entrusts the priesthood to Eleazar's descendants: “And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before Mine Anointed continually” (v. 35). Simultaneously with the establishment of a priesthood according to His heart, the Lord makes known the change of dispensation which is to follow, but prophetically, this reaches far beyond the priesthood of the sons of Eleazar under David and under Solomon. The Anointed is Christ, and when He shall be on high as king and high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, on earth there will be, during the Millennium, a faithful priesthood of the family of Zadok whose functions will all tend to glorify the chosen king, the Man at God's right hand (Ezek. 44:13-15).

There is the stout and aged Eli, the very priest of Jehovah. Yes, age, antiquity, office, authority ― all these he has, and he is in the dwelling-place of God, but he does not hear a word. He had grieved the Lord by the allowance of evil. Is it so with any of us? Can we hear and understand the voice of the Lord if allowing evil? Impossible!

There was another person in the same house of the Lord. But what a contrast! It was the little child, Samuel. Are we like this little child, or like the ancient, aged Eli? There were two things very striking in the case of Samuel. He had been first weaned before he was presented to the Lord in Shiloh. You see that man of importance, who fails to hear the voice of the Lord in the assembly gathered to Him in Shiloh. Ah, he never was weaned. Have you been weaned, or did you take a place at Shiloh with your heart still linked with the world and like it in your ways? It was after Hannah had weaned him she "brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young" (1 Sam. 1:24). "And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli."

In chapter 3 we have the prediction of the terrible downfall of Eli's house. "And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; that the Lord called Samuel. " This was very expressive — solemnly expressive. Eli's eyes "dim," and the Lord's call to Samuel: in other words, Eli's house is passing away, and the faithful priest is about to enter upon the scene. Samuel runs to Eli, but, alas, all the latter could say was, "Lie down again." He had no message for the child. Hoary and dim, he could spend his time in sleep and darkness, while the Lord's voice was sounding so very near him. Solemn — most solemn warning!

Eli was a priest of the Lord, but he failed to walk watchfully, — failed to order his house according to the testimonies of God,— failed to restrain his sons; — hence we see the sad end to which he came. "And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." (1 Sam. 3:11-13)