For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:14
"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law." Isaiah 42:1-4
Men can be and are some times cold, callous, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; but Jesus Christ is not like that at all. He is compassionate, kind, loving, forgiving, merciful, discerning, gentle, warm and there is no searching of His understanding about all that God’s hurt and afflicted ones like Hannah are going through. Barren, embittered and hurt Hannah was an ordinary person with whom Eli by a prayer of agreement had made possible for a great miracle to happen. And because God is no respecter of persons and shows partiality to no one, He will hear the prayers of his hurt and embittered ones and do great things for them just like He did for Hannah!
Although, Elkanah, the husband of Hannah, loved her very much, Peninnah his second wife, who had children, made Hannah’s life miserable because she had no children. So whenever, Elkanah traveled from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD were, Hannah would weep and not eat. In the bitterness of her soul, she prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish, making a vow and saying:
"O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." (1 Samuel 1:11)
It’s amazing to see the Bible is a real book and it tells things as they are good or bad and the truth is not held back. So nothing is covered concerning Hannah and her problems and Eli and his problems. As Hannah continued praying before the LORD, Eli watched her and thought she was drunk. He told her to put away her wine but Hannah answered him and said:
"No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. "Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now."
Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him." And she said, "Let your maidservant find favor in your sight." So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. (1 Samuel 1:15-19)
Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, meaning "Because I have asked for him from the LORD.” So Hannah nursed Samuel and when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. Then, she and her husband slaughtered a bull before the Lord and presented the child to Eli saying:
"O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD. "For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. "Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD." So they worshiped the LORD there. (1 Samuel 1:26-28)
Then joyfully and tearfully Hannah prayed and said by the Spirit one of the most beautiful words in the Bible, that came from the heart of one who was at the uttermost part of hell and there the Lord saved and delivered her. She spoke truths that most of God’s people still don’t fully understand the importance of:
"My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. "No one is holy like the LORD, For there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God. "Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed. "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, and she who has many children has become feeble.
"The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and He has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed." (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
There is none like the Lord who gives victories over real enemies. Who is a God of knowledge and by Him actions and not just words are weighted. He breaks the bows of mighty men. He kills and makes alive. He makes poor and makes rich. He sets the beggars among princes to inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth, righteousness, justice and truth are the LORD'S. He guards the feet of His saints and makes the wicked silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail as the Lord will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the earth and exalt His anointed. Therefore, Hannah and her son Samuel were exalted in a time when the Word of God says:
Then the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. (1 Samuel 3:1)
As a result, Samuel didn’t sleep all night thinking of the vision the Lord gave him about Eli and he was afraid to tell him. However, in the morning Eli said to Samuel:
"What is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you." Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him."
So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD. (1 Samuel 3:17-20)
The real deeds and wickedness of the sons of Eli had caused the Word of the Lord to dry up. For Eli was very old and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel. How they slept with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. He asked them:
"Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. "No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the LORD'S people transgress. "If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them. (1 Samuel 2:23-25)
God was waiting on His prophet Samuel who grew in stature, and in favor both with the LORD and men. He then sent a man of God who came to Eli and said to him:
"Thus says the LORD: 'Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 'Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?'
"Therefore the LORD God of Israel says: 'I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.' But now the LORD says: 'Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
'Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 'And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 'But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
'Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. 'Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever. (1 Samuel 2:27-35)
It’s amazing, how even prominent servants of God, failed to do what God has required of them to do in raising up their children properly. They didn’t teach them to walk in the ways of the Lord and avoid stealing from God’s people. God doesn’t forget nor does he forgive such evil behavior, unless those who did it repent and make restitution. Though, God in His wisdom and patience He delays His judgments, nevertheless, He will require man to pay for all he does wrong.
God who blesses some and destroys others blessed and prospered Samuel but then He destroyed Eli, the anointed High priest and his family. God who doesn’t change does the same things today as He did for Hannah and Samuel. He answered their prayers and gave them real victories over their enemies, who were also God’s people. What an amazing, powerful, mighty and wise God that we serve who doesn’t do things by man’s understanding but by His own wisdom. Hannah was the fighter who overcame and Eli was the high priest and the loser who was overcome. Their ending was so different from their beginnings and yet they both worshipped the Lord. God‘s Word states:
So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (1 Samuel 4:4)
Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4:11)
Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God and a man said to him:
"I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?" So the messenger answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured." hen it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. (1 Samuel 4:16-18)
It doesn’t pay to become an enemy of God, for God will not honor those who dishonor him and those who despise Him. They shall be lightly esteemed even if they are a high priest like Eli or a king like Saul. They shall be cut off like Eli and his sons were--totally and completely. For God’s Word states:
So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the word of the LORD which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh. (1 Kings 2:27)
The foolish religious ones who created the doctrines of fundamentalism, dispensationalism, redemptionalism and other ‘schisms’ say this cannot happen today- that ‘He will not judge the false ones in the house of God?’ Why? Has God changed? Has His method of dealing with the wicked ones changed? Does He condone sin and is now tolerant of wrongs and injustices in the House of God? Obviously, the answer is No! So God’s people should be very careful what they do in the house of God, especially to His children or else their fate is guaranteed. Just like Eli’s they will end up in a place they never expected. In a place where unfaithful and wicked servants God are as Jesus told us:
"But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' "and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, "and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:48-51)
In the days of the high priest Eli, the real Word of the LORD was rare in those days and; there was no widespread revelation of the heart and mind of God just like in America for the last forty years. When the enemies of God’s people passed foolish abortion laws and rulings and discriminated against God’s people. The real men of God had become perverse and corrupt as seen by all the prominent ones who fought over the PTL Club.
It was a time period when the gospel of half-truths, especially about prosperity and giving was preached but not the gospel of whole truths, such as responsibility, accountability, integrity and of seeking justice, righteousness and truth. A gospel that did away with Apostles and Prophets and replaced them with false ones or none at all. A Gospel that did away with judging and judgments and only preached the half-truth of a God of love, redemption and compassion. However, they didn’t preach a God of anger, judgment and vengeance. As every true believer will agree there has to be a balance struck between both sides of God’s truth presented in His Word. The balance between God’s blessings and provisions and God’s judgment upon disobedience.
It was a Gospel, with great emphasis on money but little emphasis on doing things for the least. A Gospel of sissies who ‘tiptoed through the tulips’ so not to offend anyone, while God’s people were being robbed, raped and even murdered by wolves in sheep’s clothing. These prominent ones who preached to others forget the Word of God that spoke about them stating:
The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. (Deuteronomy 28:20)
God who never had changed had his Hannah’s, Samuel’s and men of God who had integrity and listened to the voice of the Lord and didn’t do what others did. They spoke the Word of the Lord without the niceties and corruption’s that many false ones had done. Hence, God had no choice but to move on their behalf against those who did such evil and wicked things in the house of God and caused the rains of revival to be held back. And move He did! God’s word is unchanging:
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:24-26
“Remember Lot’s wife. Luke 17:32
When Judgment fell on Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife was delivered but then she looked back and became a pillar of salt? Yes, those who don’t obey God’s word will be destroyed just like the others will be about whom Jesus said:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:15-18
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