It is common knowledge that Eli’s sons
were openly sinning. Previously we have
seen the horror of their sin in the treatment of God’s offering (1
Samuel 2:12ff)). Now their
transgression is increased by their immorality.
They were having sexual relations with women “at the entrance to the
tent of meeting”. “This is obviously intended to show the incredible
degeneration of the worship of Jehovah in Israel. Whether this is cultic
prostitution, as was practiced in other Canaanite religions, or simply
fornication is academic and relatively unimportant. The point is that the depth
of this willful, flagrant, and unforgivable sin was appalling.”[1]
As noted in Exodus
38:8, these may have even been women who served in the Tabernacle.
Eli rebukes his sons for their sinful
behavior and tries to reason with them: “If someone sins against a man, God
will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede
for him?”[2]
This is a very interesting approach.
Some think that he’s saying, “If God would surely judge when one sinned
against another man, how much more would He bring judgment against those who
sinned against Him.”[3]
That does not appear to be what Eli says.
He clearly says, “If someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede
for him?”[4] It is more reasonable to assume that Eli is
reminding these men that they are intercessors; they are mediators. If they transgress, if they openly sin, who
is it that can mediate between them and God?
No one! It’s a weak theological
argument at best, for God had anticipated the need for the priests to be cleansed. The author of Hebrews, writing of Jesus,
writes, “He has no need, like those high
priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those
of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
(Hebrews 7:27, ESV)
The result of Eli’s plea falls on deaf
ears. The author’s point is profound, to
say the least. “For it was the will of
the Lord to put them to death.”[5] Let’s grasp this clearly. The inspired author is asserting that these
men did not and could not repent for it was God’s will to kill them. “When God is determined to destroy, no human
intercession is effective. For the writers of the Bible, the fact that divine
providence and human character mingle means that destinies are regarded as
ultimately the result of the divine will.”[6] God’s determination to take their life,
having been already determined could not be thwarted. This is called, in
theology, “judicial hardening”.
Judicial hardening is a clear and
repeated concept in the Bible. It is God’s
active, determinative, choice to blind and bind an already rebellious, calcitrant
defiant person in their rebellion that results in an inability to repent and be
saved. (Example: Esau[7]) One should note that in every case (e.g.
Pharaoh) that it is God’s purpose to bring to pass a greater redemptive purpose
through this hardening. For my discussion on Pharaoh you can read my Blog HERE.
In that Blog I write,
“When God is said to
"harden" the heart of a person, He is acting in divine justice.
Paul has already stated in Romans 1 that God's justice on the unrepentant human
race is that "God gave them up."[2] I suggest that this act of justice
is also called in Scriptures as "God hardening." The end result
is that those to whom God does not show mercy, He extends justice and that
justice is leaving man in his own sin and rebellion resulting in a hardened
heart.”
This is a warning if you the reader are
not in Christ. The inimitable John Owen
wrote, “No one knows where deliberate sin may lead.”[8] But the Divine Author also encourages us in
this text: “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in
favor with the Lord and also with man.” (1 Samuel 2:26, ESV). “God’s grace
is his own; he denied it to the sons of the high priest and gave it to the
child of an obscure country Levite.”[9]
[1] Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible
Commentary (p. 537). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 2:25). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[3] MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study
Bible (electronic ed., p. 380). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.
[4] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 2:25). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[5] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Sa 2:25). Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Bibles.
[6] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible
(p. 495). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[7] “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of
God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many
become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold
his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired
to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent,
though he sought it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:15–17, ESV)
[9] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s
commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume
(p. 385). Peabody: Hendrickson.
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