1 Samuel 2:27-36, Lessons from Obscurity

The other day my wife mentioned that she didn’t care as much for the somewhat “disjointed” posts that have occupied the blog.  She prefers verse-by-verse through a book or some other “series.”  I have to agree, since the calling I have had from the Lord as a pastor has been to teach verse-by-verse one book at a time.  Doing things on a “topical” basis leaves too much responsibility on me to be seeking the Lord’s leading, as opposed to preaching on my “hobby-horse topics” or teaching the easy passages and skipping over the hard stuff.

So … here’s a “combination.”  Several years ago, early in my ministry, I preached several OT sermons on the topic, “Lessons from Obscurity.”  “Obscurity” is, of course, a subjective term.  What I meant by the term was to refer to some prophets and other figures that most people had never heard of.  With some of them, we don’t even have their names given to us.  What it meant was, of course, that they were obscure to me.  Maybe you, for some reason, are quite familiar with these men and their ministries.  Here is the introductory paragraph I wrote for this series:

If you are one who grew up in Sunday School and a church where the Bible was taught, and if your parents made a regular habit of reading the Bible, you are undoubtedly familiar with people like Gideon and Joshua, David, Daniel, the Apostle Paul and many other "well-known" figures from the stories of the Bible.  But how about Ahijah? or Shemiah or Hanani?  Ever hear of these men? or have any idea why they were included in the Bible?  This booklet is a tool to help us learn from what we may consider to be "obscure people".  All are prophets except for Ahithophel.  All have something to say to us today.  It's our prayer that we will listen as God speaks to us through them.

Let us begin this short journey.

I.                  An unnamed man of God.

a.     Scripture: 1 Sam. 2:27-36.

b.    Situation: 1 Sam. 2:12-17,22-25; 3:13-14

What was needed was a prophet who could reprove the man God chose to be High Priest.  The priest, Eli, also had a prophetic role in that he was to call the people to repentance.  That’s why his first response to Hannah’s praying (silently, but with her lips moving) was to reprove her for being drunk like all the other worshipers (1:13-14).  He reproved the righteous woman, but his own sons he did not reprove (2:12-17).  Eli knew about the despicable behavior of his sons, who were supposed to be helping in the ministry of the tabernacle at Shiloh (2:22-25).  He reproved them with words, but what was needed was decisive action.  They needed to be removed from their positions of authority.  “His sons made themselves vile, and he (Eli) did not restrain them” (3:13).  God had chosen Aaron as High Priest, with his sons to follow.  The position had been passed down to Eli, but it was going to stop there, and another son of Aaron would become high priest (2:30).  Eli was from the line of Ithamar (Aaron’s 4^th son, after the first two died in the wilderness).  The priesthood was to be returned to the line of Eleazer, the 3^rd son.

c.     The lesson: 1 Sam. 2:29-30,35.

Eli had not learned the lesson that Aaron had learned in the wilderness.  When Aaron’s two sons died, offering “strange fire” before the LORD (Lev. 10), Aaron was not permitted to morn their loss.  “And Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the LORD spoke, saying: “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.”’ So Aaron held his peace” (Lev. 10:3).  The one who is close to God must be one “who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind” (1 Sam. 2:35).  That applies to the priests and Levites in the OT, and to the believers under the New Covenant, all of whom are priests (Rev. 1:6; 1 Peter 2:5).