The Story of Samuel – Eli’s Sons
Steph Beth Nickel continues the story of Samuel, recounting the actions of Eli’s sons. Steph reminds us of the importance of raising our children to respect God’s commands.
The Story of Samuel
First Samuel 3:11-14 (ESV) says,
“And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, “The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”’”
Eli & His Sons
The Bible overflows with encouraging, uplifting verses. But we mustn’t focus on those exclusively. There are also many challenging and difficult passages we must examine and discuss. Today’s passage is one of them. Even so, for those of us alive today, there is hope of something infinitely better than the pronouncement God made against Eli and his family.
Eli’s sons did not respect him nor did they respect God. Instead, they rebelled; they blasphemed God. To make matters worse, Eli knew about their rebellion and did little to nothing to stop it. And there were consequences.
In this case, they were so drastic that God declared their sinfulness would never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering. How devastating! We’ll talk later about the sacrifice Jesus made, but for now, let’s consider our responsibilities as parents.
A Word of Caution
First, a few words of caution. I believe in having age-appropriate expectations of our children. Just because we are not always pleased with their behaviour . . . it may even frustrate and anger us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are acting willfully or sinfully. Just because others pass judgment on them—or on us—because of their behaviour doesn’t mean our children are doing anything wrong.
For example, expecting a three-year-old to sit still and be quiet for long periods of time isn’t realistic. Just because an eight-year-old gets bored and fidgety waiting for their parents to finish chatting with friends doesn’t mean they should be scolded. If a teen respectfully asks their parent to reconsider a household rule they find unfair doesn’t mean they are rebellious.
Our Responsibility
It’s our responsibility to learn what is reasonable to expect of children in general at each stage—and to take into consideration our children’s unique characteristics and abilities as well.
However, it is also our responsibility to teach our children the importance of obedience and submission to godly authority. We want the best for our children—and so does God. The rules He makes are for our good. We should keep that in mind when establishing boundaries for our sons and daughters. Their welfare and God’s glory should be the motivation for the rules we establish in our household.
Obedience to God’s Commands
Of course, our rules should reflect the Lord’s clear direction in the Bible. But even in this we must be careful. If we can’t walk in obedience to God’s commands without His indwelling Holy Spirit—and we can’t—we must not expect our children to somehow live up to a higher level of obedience. Plus, the Word of God points to His mercy and grace, to His patience and kindness, and to His willingness to forgive—repeatedly.
There are consequences to disobedience. In fact, our disobedience was the reason God the Father sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for our sin, to rise again and provide the only means to be saved from the punishment we deserve.
That is the difference between our time and Samuel’s: We can look back on the provision Jesus made for us. We can teach our children that He was the atonement, the sacrifice for our sinfulness, our disobedience—and theirs.
Love God With All We Are
While there are many commands in the Scriptures, let’s remember how Jesus summed them all up. He said that we are first of all, to love God with all we are and second, we are to love others. What a wonderfully simple way to gauge our behaviour!
Let’s prayerfully consider all these things when we’re establishing the boundaries and expectations for our family:
Household rules should be age-appropriate with natural consequences as much as possible.
These rules should reflect the teachings in God’s Word, remembering that we all need the Lord’s enabling to live a life of obedience.
Mercy & Grace
While there are consequences to disobedience, there must also be mercy and grace.
The fewer rules we have, the easier it will be on us and on our children. Do our household rules help us love God better? Do they help us love others better? If so, they’re probably good rules. If they really don’t have anything to do with either, it’s probably best to rework them—or eliminate them altogether.
Continued, willful rebellion—such as was the case with Eli’s sons—will have drastic consequences. It is our responsibility to do our part as parents to guide and direct our children from a young age and set a good example for them.
It is also our responsibility to do all we can to teach our family, in every way we can, about Jesus and all He accomplished for us.
How do you think Eli could have raised his children more effectively? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.
Steph Nickel
Steph Beth Nickel is eclectically interested and eclectically involved. In all she does, Steph seeks to nurture and inspire.
A prolific writer, Steph is currently working on the first book in a nonfiction series. Nurture and Inspire LOVE is a compilation of the first devotionals she wrote for HopeStreamRadio.
Steph is a freelance writer and editor. She is the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’ award-winning memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, published by Castle Quay Books. Deb and Steph are working on a follow-up book.
You can visit her website, stephbethnickel.com, to learn more about her.
Visit Steph’s contributor’s page or at Steph Nickel’s Eclectic Interests.
More Podcasts to Enjoy:
More Blogs
No Other God’s – Ten Commandments
Images Courtesy of:
Extreme Face – Bob Smith
Child – Daniel Hatch
Leave a Reply