A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

The degenerate lifestyles and actions of the Levites in the Age of the Judges reached their
utter depths of degradation in the persons of Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli and the priests
of the Lord in Shiloh. Their father may have had great ambitions for his sons when he named
them as they were born, but they failed in every way to live up to expectations. The name
Hophni means “strong, “ and Phinehas was probably named after the third high priest of Israel,
who was a personification of righteousness. But the sons of Eli were weak and wicked, so much
so they earned the reputation of being “sons of Belial” (1 Sam. 2:12). Though God had made
provision for the priests to remove a portion of some offerings for themselves as it boiled, the
sons of Eli bullied worshipers into giving them raw meat they could later roast rather than the
boiled beef (vv. 13-17). This was a practice apparently learned from their father by the lesson of
example. In addition to their abuse of the offering, they were also involved immorally “with the
women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting” (v. 22).
An unnamed prophet warned Eli that he kicked “at My sacrifice and My offering which I
have commanded in My habitation, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat
with the best of all the offerings of Israel My, people” (v. 29). Apparently, Eli complained about
burning up good meat in sacrifice to God. He kept it, as did his sons, and God made reference to
their overweight condition. Then God announced Eli’s life would be cut off and his sons killed in
their youth. The sin of Hophni and Phinehas was rebuked by their father and an unnamed
prophet of God, but still there was no repentance on their part. “They did not know the Lord” (v.
12) and brought disgrace on the holy things of God. It was this attitude on their part that led to
the loss of the very glory of God from Israel and resulted in their own deaths on the battlefield.
They must have felt God would give them a victory over their enemies no matter how
they profaned His holy name. They did not realize the judgment of God on the people of Israel
and the family of Eli. “And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who
killed about four thousand men of the army in the field” (4:2).
The military defeat against the Philistines caused people to begin asking an important
question. “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?” (v. 3) It was obvious to
all observers that the loss was an evidence of the displeasure of God. It was an important
question that needed to be asked, but they were asking the wrong people. It was widely known
that Samuel was the one God was communicating with, but it was Hophni and Phinehas who still
held the office of the priesthood and the elders of the nation who wielded the political clout.
Between them they were able to ask the right question, but could only arrive at the wrong
answer. “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes
among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies” (v. 3).
It was customary in those days when a nation went into battle to take their gods into
battle with them. Perhaps as they had fought the Philistines, some of the Israelites had gotten
close enough to the camp to see the Philistine god Dagon in a prominent place. Israel did not
have an idol it could carry into battle, but the Ark of the Covenant was perhaps the most sacred
portable article that was prominent in their worship of God. And so rather than trusting God for
victory over the Philistines, they chose to place their confidence in a box they could see and
carry from Shiloh to the battle.
Though Eli himself was concerned with the decision to remove the ark from the
tabernacle, Hophni and Phinehas could see no problem with the plan. Eli’s indecision and
passive nature again allowed his sons to make a tragic mistake. Their religion had become little
more than ritual and a convenient setting for their other less noble interests. Still, they knew the
religion of Israel had some meaning to many people in the land. Carrying the ark to the